Now when it comes to piracy, many people first think of pirates of the Caribbean or the infamous Somali pirates in film and television dramas, but they know nothing about pirates in Chinese history. Some even believe that there were no pirates at all in ancient Chinese history. Xiaobian will introduce to you today a world-famous Female Pirate of the Qing Dynasty, the leader of the Red Flag Gang - Zheng Yiyi.
Zheng Yiyi's original surname was Shi, and her milk name was Xianggu, and she was the daughter of the Xinhui family in Guangdong. Before meeting her ex-husband Zheng Yi, she was a famous prostitute in Guangdong. Later, he was abducted by Zheng Yi and became the lady of the press. Zheng Yi has ambitions and has always hoped to unify the various pirate forces at the mouth of the Pearl River and establish a pirate alliance with him as the leader. At that time, the thieves at the mouth of the Pearl River had evolved from the four surnames of the late Ming Dynasty (after Kangxi regained Taiwan, some of Zheng Chenggong's remnants flowed to the Pearl River Estuary as thieves) to the red, yellow, blue, white, black, and purple six gangs in the early Qing Dynasty, and Zheng Yi was only the leader of the Red Flag Gang.
In the process of Zheng Yi's unification of the pirate forces at the mouth of the Pearl River, Zheng Yiyi has been involved in it, and she can be called "Xian Neisuke", so all the pirates have honored her as "Dragon Sister-in-law". After Zheng Yi's death, Zheng Yi's sister-in-law, with the help of her adopted son Zhang Baozai, successfully cleared the chaotic situation of the Hongqi Gang and became the leader of the Hongqi Gang. As the saying goes, "a son of heaven and a courtier", even in gangs. In order to deter the villains in the gang, Zheng Yiyi immediately established her authority by strengthening the organizational discipline of the fleet.
There was a wealthy British businessman named Graspool who was tied up by the Red Flag Gang as a "meat ticket" and lived with the pirates for a long time, witnessing The various controls on the pirates by Zheng Yiyi. After being redeemed, Grasspur wrote a memoir about what he saw and heard, and made public the anecdotes of Zheng Yiyi's sister-in-law. In Graspur's pen, Zheng Yiyi formulated many rules for the pirates of the Red Flag Gang, such as: 1. Those who dare to monopolize power or disobey the orders of their superiors will not be spared. (2) Anyone who steals public property or steals from a villager shall be punished as a capital offense. (3) Rape of a woman shall be immediately executed. 4. Men and women who have adulterers, men's beheadings, women's legs tied to heavy objects sink into the sea. 5. Those who desert or do not reach the post without permission, in front of the stock brothers, cut their ears and deal with it...
Under the strict rules and regulations of Zheng Yiyi, the Hongqi Gang has become a pirate force that is "brave in attack and tenacious in defense", and even if they are inferior, they have the determination and courage to fight to the end. And the Red Flag Gang's record is also dazzling. In 1809, in order to suppress the Red Flag Gang, the Qing government formed a joint fleet with Britain and Portugal to raid Lantau Island. Zheng Yiyi, who received the news in advance, on the one hand, personally sat on Lantau Island to entangle the main force of the combined fleet, and on the other hand, sent people to sneak into Guangzhou City and kill the general soldiers of Humen. When the combined fleet learned that Guangzhou was besieged, it had to retreat to reinforcements, only to be caught off guard by Zheng Yiyi's ambush. After nine days and nights of fierce fighting, the Red Flag Gang suffered more than 40 brothers casualties, while the combined fleet lost its armor and armor, and only a few ships fled back to Guangdong.
Later, the Qing Dynasty repeatedly sent large armies to conquest, but they were all beaten back by Zheng Yiyi. In the sea of Zhejiang, the Hongqi gang killed Xu Tingxiong, the admiral of Zhejiang Water Division; In Lantau Bay, Hong Kong, the Hongqi Gang destroyed 20 Qing Dynasty naval warships and 300 artillery pieces, and captured Sun Quanmou, the admiral of the Guangdong Marine Division; In Guangzhou, the Hongqi gang killed Lin Guoliang, the commander-in-chief of Humen, forcing the governor of Liangguang to change people frequently. The Qing Dynasty could not see these pirates, so it adopted a policy of Huairou and brought down the second largest force among the pirates at the mouth of the Pearl River, the Black Flag Gang.
The black flag gang boss Guo Podai once forced Zheng Yiyi to remarry him, but Zheng Yiyi was unwilling. In desperation, Zheng Yiyi also surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Later, the Qing Dynasty approved Zheng Yiyi and Zhang Baozai to marry, Zhang Baozai was officially awarded the title of Sanpin, and Zheng Yiyi was given the title of Lady of the Commandment. Later, when the Opium War broke out, Zheng Yiyi still actively participated in the war and offered advice to Lin Zexu. Therefore, Zheng Yiyi is also worthy of being a heroine among women, what do you think?