nominally called the "wokou" were mostly not Japanese, but actually Chinese. According to the History of Ming and other contemporary Chinese records, only thirty percent of the 16th century wokou were Japanese, while seventy percent were ethnic Chinese. Moreover, the Chinese played the leading role in these later wokou raids, with the Japanese and those of other nationalities being mere associates and hired hands. The Chinese people at the forefront of the wokou activities were merchants whose trade overseas was deemed illegal by the Ming government. Since the Ming government prohibited people from travelling heading out to sea and forbid those who had from returning home, a large number of Chinese maritime merchants were forced to establish themselves on offshore islands or even overseas trading ports. Among the traders stationed overseas, of note were Xu Dong (許棟) and his brothers who began their fortunes in Malacca and Patani; and Wang Zhi and Xu Hai (徐海) who based themselves in the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. The Chinese traders in Kyushu had deep ties with the local daimyo, who provided patronage and refuge for the merchant-pirates in return for a share of their profits. For example, Xu Hai's right-hand man was described to be the younger brother of the Satsuma lord Shimazu Takahisa, while his associate Chen Dong (陳東) held a high position in the Satsuma court as the chief of Shimazu's secretariat. To protect their cargo from rival pirate gangs and the Ming navy, the merchant-pirates armed themselves with Portuguese guns and cannons and hired Japanese fighters. Despite the Ming being introduced to Portuguese firearms in the 1520s, these firearms were mostly deployed on the northern frontier and not on the coast. Furthermore, Wang Zhi helped the Portuguese traders reach Tanegashima in 1543, where the Portuguese introduced the arquebus to the Japanese for the first time. This armed the Japanese, who already had a reputation for being fearsome swordsmen, with firearms more advanced than what the Chinese coastal defense forces had at the time. The Ming aboriginal troops were said to be especially afraid of the pirates' arquebuses. Coastal defence and politics The blunder of the Ming navy during the 1523 Ningbo Incident highlighted the decline of Chinese naval capabilities since the cessation of the famed treasure voyages in 1433. The early Ming had a system of coastal patrols and island bases for the defence of the Chinese coast, but