# Zheng Yi (pirate)

Zheng Yi (also romanised as Cheng Yud or Cheng I; born Zheng Wenxian, courtesy name Youyi; 1765 – 16 November 1807) was a powerful Chinese pirate operating from Guangdong and throughout the South China Sea in the late 1700s.

## History

According to Antony, "From 1802 until his death in a typhoon in the Southern Ocean in 1807, the most formidable pirate leader in Guandong was Zheng Yi, a cousin of Zheng Qi. Both Zhengs belonged to a notorious family of professional pirates, which for nearly a century and a half were the predominant pirates in the Canton delta. They traced their beginnings to the mid-seventeenth century with Zheng Jian, who hailed from Fujian and was subordinate of Zheng Chenggong. Two descendants, the brothers Zheng Lianfu and Zheng Lianchang, carried on the family tradition as sea bandits. They in turn were followed by their sons, Zheng Qi and Zheng Yi...After the death of Zheng Qi in 1802, Zheng Yi took command of his cousin's forces."
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 and other pirates were recruited as mercenaries by Tây Sơn dynasty up until 1801. In the year of about 1798, Zheng Yi kidnapped Cheung Po (simplified Chinese: 张保; traditional Chinese: 張保; pinyin: zhāng bǎo), 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 (Chinese: 石香姑; Jyutping: sek6 hoeng1 gu1), 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" (simplified Chinese: 郑一嫂; traditional Chinese: 鄭一嫂; pinyin: zhèng yī sǎo; lit. 'wife of Zheng Yi'. They adopted Cheung Po as their step-son, making him Zheng's legal heir. She also bore him two sons; Zheng Ying Shi (simplified Chinese: 郑英石; traditional Chinese: 鄭英石; pinyin: zhèng yīng shí) and Zheng Xiong Shi (simplified Chinese: 郑雄石; traditional Chinese: 鄭雄石; pinyin: Zhèng xióng shí).
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.
The pirate coalition besieged Macau for several weeks in 1804. In September 1805, a Chinese attack consisting of 80 gunboats in Guangzhou Bay captured or destroyed only 26 pirate vessels. The general who had led the attack subsequently offered pardons to those who surrendered; perhaps 3000 accepted this offer before it was withdrawn in December 1805.
By 1806, virtually every Chinese vessel along the coast paid the pirates for ostensible protection.

## Death

Zheng Yi died suddenly in Nguyễn Vietnam on 16 November 1807, sources varied on whether he died in a typhoon, falling overboard in an accident, or if he was killed by his wife, or his new heir. Soon after his death, his widow Ching Shih (simplified Chinese: 郑氏; traditional Chinese: 鄭氏; pinyin: Zhèng Shì; meaning "widow of Zheng") acted quickly to solidify the partnership with her step-son Cheung Po Tsai. The two soon became intimate. Their first success came when they are able to secure the loyalty of Zheng's relatives. Cheung Po Tsai, would act as Ching Shih's second-in-command of the Red Flag Fleet.