Zheng Yi (pirate)


Zheng Yi was a powerful Chinese pirate operating from Guangdong and throughout the South China Sea in the late 1700s.

History

He was born Zheng Wenxian in 1765 in Xin'an County, Guangdong, Qing China. His family, including his father Zheng Lianchang and his younger brother Zheng San had been pirates for generations, he was heavily involved in government intrigue and was instrumental in China's interventions during the Tây Sơn dynasty's control of Vietnam. In the year of about 1798, Zheng Yi kidnapped Cheung Po, a 15-year-old son of a Tankan fisherman and pressed him into piracy. Cheung Po's natural talent helped him adapt well to his unplanned new career, and he rose swiftly through the ranks.
In 1801, the nefarious intrigues of the 26 year old Cantonese floating brothel madame or prostitute known as Shi Xianggu, known for her shrewd business savvy and trade in secrets through the pillow talk of her wealthy and political clientele, caught his attention. Either he became infatuated with her or purely as a business move, Zheng Yi made a proposal of marriage to Shi Xianggu to consolidate the powers of intrigue, as it were, which she is said to have agreed to by formal contract granting her a 50% control and share. Shi Xianggu was known as "Zheng Yi Sao" and Zheng Xiong Shi.
Zheng Yi used military assertion and his reputation to consolidate a coalition of competing Cantonese pirate fleets of uncertain numbers into an alliance. By 1804, this coalition was a formidable force, and one of the most powerful pirate fleets in all of China, they were known as the Red Flag Fleet.

Death

Zheng Yi died suddenly in Nguyễn Vietnam in 16 November 1807, sources varied as he died in a typhoon or in an accident, falling overboard and some even pointed at his wife, or his new heir. Soon after his death, his widow Ching Shih acted quickly to solidify the partnership with her step-son Cheung Po Tsai which soon became intimate. Their first success came when they are able to secure the loyalty of Zheng's relatives, they became lovers within weeks. Cheung Po Tsai, would act as Ching Shih's second-in-command of the Red Flag Fleet.