Study On Piracy Related Issues In Song Dynasty

The coastline of the Song Dynasty stretches tens of thousands of miles,from Hebei East Road,Jingdong East Road,Huainan East Road in the north to Liangzhe Road,Fujian Road,Guangnan East Road,Guangnan West Road in the south,which became the natural conditions for the rise of piracy in the Song Dynasty.In the Song Dynasty,the land Silk Road was blocked by the regimes of Western Xia,Jin and other ethnic minorities.The importance of the sea was highlighted,the marine economy was unprecedentedly developed,and the marine trade entered a new stage of development,which became the social condition for the rise of piracy in the Song Dynasty.Song Dynasty economy developed,trade flourished,cultural prosperity.But in the face of prosperity,the excessive exploitation of local officials,the unreasonable civil service system,the private groups of wealthy families and so on,led to the life of ordinary people in coastal areas is still difficult,the courageous of them,desperate to take the road to piracy.There were also some salt traffickers and private businessmen who were active at sea or in coastal areas,because the trade activities were prohibited by the Song Dynasty.In order to ensure the normal trade and prepare for the attack and encirclement of the Song Dynasty,they also organized their own armed forces,so they were regarded as “ pirates ” by the Song Dynasty.Piracy activities in the Song Dynasty are characterized by irregular time and space,coastal counties,deeply affected.The Song Dynasty pirates had a small force of hundreds,many thousands,and many ships.Although the forces of the Song Dynasty pirates should not be underestimated,but still can not be compared with the activities of the land thieves,the Song Dynasty pirates in the final analysis is only a local problem,can not shake the country ’ s fundamental.Piracy activities in the Song Dynasty had a wide range of space,not only within the territory of the Song Dynasty,but also outside the territory of the Song Dynasty.The time range of piracy in the Song Dynasty was also very long.From the early Northern Song Dynasty to the late Southern Song Dynasty,piracy had always existed.Piracy activities in the Song Dynasty had dual influences.On the one hand,pirates poisoned the soul,robbed the property population,threatened the smooth passage of the sea,and led to the outflow of copper money.On the other hand,piracy broke the monopoly of the Song Dynasty in trade,promoted the development of commodity economy,and met the needs of people ’ s daily life.Some pirates also participated in the activities of anti-Jin and antiYuan.Overall,piracy in the Southern Song Dynasty was far more than that in the Northern Song Dynasty,and piracy in the southern coastal areas was far more than that in the northern coastal areas.Most of the piracy activities in Song Dynasty had no political purpose,just to obtain economic benefits.In order to solve the problem of pirates,the Song Dynasty formed a four-level processing mechanism,including patrol officers,governors,conciliators and the court.In addition,a special agency was set up,the coastal division,whose main functions were to defend pirates and maintain public security.In order to solve the problem of piracy,the Song Dynasty also adopted a variety of measures such as combating piracy by civil armed forces,managing piracy by theft,and appeasing the public.With the change of the situation,the rulers and some enlightened officials have gradually changed the prejudice of " people ’ s ignorance for theft," and gradually realized that comforting the people is the best way to solve the problem of piracy.