There are many heroes in China's history, but there are very few pirates. Because in the lawless pirate den where the strong are respected, women have a natural disadvantage. However, in the late Qing Dynasty, there was a pirate female leader named Zheng Yiyi, who could be called the hero of the pirates.
Calling Zheng Yiyi a hero is not only because she has been traversing the sea for decades and twice defeating the Encirclement and Suppression of the Qing Government and foreigners, but more importantly, she has also assisted Lin Zexu in resisting the British army, making it impossible for the British to succeed.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, piracy has always been the main scourge in the coastal areas, which is mainly caused by the policy of sea ban. The policy of sea ban has led to a large number of maritime smuggling trade, from which the rich merchants have made huge profits, while the poor people along the coast have a small fishing income, which is difficult to feed their families, and sometimes even going to the sea to fish is prohibited. As a result, some fishermen took the risk and engaged in pirate trading.
The Qing Dynasty's sea ban was particularly strict, giving rise to a powerful pirate group. Guangdong originally had four pirate surnames, and Zheng Yiyi came from the Shi surname. Her real name is Shi Xianggu, and she is the daughter of the Yan family of Guangdong Xinhui. The Yan family is a traditional Chinese boat-based floater family, which is distributed in Both Guangdong and Fujian.
Shi Xianggu married Zheng Yi of the pirate family and became Zheng Yi's sister-in-law. Zheng Yi integrated the pirates of the Pearl River Estuary into a grand alliance and strengthened his own power. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the remnants of the Zheng clique in Taiwan fled to the mouth of the Pearl River and merged with the original pirates to form six gangs of red, yellow, blue, white, black and purple, of which Zheng Yi was the leader of the Red Flag Gang.
Zheng Yi fell into the sea in the typhoon and died, and Zheng Yi became the new leader, who had been assisting Zheng Yi in his management, so she quickly won the support of everyone. Zheng Yiyi stipulated strict gang rules, prohibiting the gang from stealing the property of the poor people, prohibiting rape, and beheading all violators. After her vigorous rectification and development, the Hongqi Gang became the largest maritime gang in Guangdong.
Zheng Yiyi had 30,000 to 40,000 troops, 500 or 600 ships, and her own base and shipyard. Don't look at them as very local pirates, but they use foreign guns and cannons bought from Macao and other places, which can be said to be the most world-minded group of people in China at that time.
In front of Zheng Yiyi's sister-in-law, the decaying Man Qingshui Division was not an opponent at all, and was defeated after repeated encirclement and suppression. Just when the Manchu officials were in a hurry, someone gave them an idea, hired the British and Portuguese, and formed a coalition with the Manchu Qingshui Division to attack Zheng Yijie.
The British and Portuguese also hated and feared Zheng Yiyi, and they had a feud with Zheng Yiyi. Zheng Yijie once attacked a British ship that broke into the inland river in Guangzhou, killing dozens of British soldiers and capturing a British ship. Macau's fleet was also defeated by Zheng Yiyi, and even surrounded and blockaded by Zheng Yiyi, almost cutting off grain.
In 1809, the British and Portuguese families and the Manchu Qing government immediately hit it off, each taking out the strongest warships and assembling a combined fleet, and their goal was to raid Lantau Island, Zheng Yiyi's base. Unexpectedly, Zheng Yiyi received intelligence in advance, and he made a plan to attract the enemy army on Lantau Island, and sent a capable man Ma Qi to attack the city of Guangzhou, catching the Manchu Qing by surprise.
The general soldiers of Humen were killed, and the gate of Guangzhou was wide opened. When the combined fleet heard about it, it immediately retreated, and was ambushed by Zheng Yijie on the way. The battle lasted for nine days, and most of the ships of the combined fleet were destroyed and suffered heavy losses. Only forty members of the Red Flag Gang were killed.
The British sent only armed merchant ships, which were neither strong in firepower nor in maneuverability. But it was in these battles with pirates that the British experienced the weak combat effectiveness of the Qing army, laying the groundwork for future wars of aggression.
At this time, a new leader, Zhang Baozai, rose from the Red Flag Gang, who was originally the adopted son of Zheng Yi and his wife, and stood out in previous battles and became Zheng Yi's sister-in-law's right and left arm. Zhang Baozai led the crowd to defeat the Qing army one after another, killing or capturing a general of the rank of commander-in-chief.
The Portuguese in Macau hated Zhang Baozai to the bone, and once again formed a joint fleet with the Qing army's sailors, and saw the opportunity to blockade Zheng Yiyi and Zhang Baozai in the lantau general village. Like Zhuge Liang, Zhang Baozai calculated the direction of the wind and the tides, attacked with all his might, rushed out of the encirclement, and got rid of the combined fleet.
Seeing that the Manchu Qing could not suppress the pirates, he began to recruit security, and Xu Yi was a high-ranking official Houlu. Soon, many pirates defected to the Qing Dynasty, and the situation became more and more unfavorable. These recruited pirates turned into officers and soldiers, and would immediately attack their former accomplices in turn. They are very familiar with the tactics of pirates and can be said to be the biggest enemy of pirates.
Zheng Yiyi and Zhang Baozai weighed for a long time and finally decided to accept Zhao'an. They accepted the emperor's marriage, on their behalf they accepted the court's offer, Zhang Baozai was appointed as a deputy general, Zheng Yiyi became the lady of the commandment, and the legend of a generation of pirates came to an end.
Thirty years later, Lin Zexu presided over the anti-smoking ban in Guangzhou, learned that the British were preparing to start a war, and specially sent someone to consult Zheng Yiyi. Because Zheng Yiyi had fought with the British, she was familiar with their weapons and tactics. Zheng Yiyi actively offered advice, and during Lin Zexu's tenure, he did not let the British fleet get any advantage in Guangzhou.
[References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, History of Chinese Piracy]