From Prostitute to Piracy, A Woman Runs A Pirate Empire

Welcome to strange History, where we talk about the weird, the wonderful,

and sometimes strange history that is shaped who we are today. Today we're going

to be talking about pirates. Then, when you think of pirates, conscious

up the image of Captain Hook or perhaps Johnny Depp's betrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow.

But did you know the most successful pirate in history was a woman?

Of course it was a woman. Women are sly, cunning and ferocious.

The woman of the hour is a woman named Ching. She Ching was a

former prostitute in China. Ching She became a marauder on the high seas when

she was bought by the commander of the Red Flag fleet. He married she

and the two formed a formidable duo. When her husband died, she took

over the fleet and ruled the seas among the nineteenth century. She was born

in seventeen seventy five and was active in the South China Sea from eighteen o

one to eighteen ten. Born as She Yang in seventeen seventy five to humble

origins, she worked as a prostitute on a floating brothel. She married a

pirate named zang Ye at the age of twenty six. She was named zang

Yi Xiao, which means wife of zang Ye by the people of Guangdong.

In eighteen oh one, pirate zang Yi, who commanded a fleet of ships

called the Red Flag Fleet, noticed Ching Chi's beauty and wished to be with

her. There are two varying accounts of how they actually came to be together.

According to some, zang Ye sent a raid and ordered them to plunder

the brothel. He asked that they bring him Chang Hi, his favorite prostitute.

The men did as they were ordered, and zang Ye and Ching Xi

were married. By other accounts, zang Ye simply asked Ching Chi to marry

him. She agreed to his proposal so long as she would have some power

within his organization and they would receive an equal share of his plunder. While

the accounts vary as to how they actually came together, Ching Xi and zeng

Yi began to run the pirate Red Ship Fleet together. Zang Ye was a

pirate who fought as a privateer for the Vietnamese Taisan dynasty and the Tasan Wars

against Qing China and later Niu yen Ah. Zeng Yi hailed from a family

of well known pirates whose roots traced back to the Ming dynasty. He had

an adopted son, Zangbao, who had been abducted by zang Yi in seventeen

ninety eight at the age of fifteen. This guy apparently likes to abduct people.

He subsequently pressed Ziangbao into piracy. He also shared two other children with

Ching Xi. A year after the marriage, in February of eighteen oh two,

Zenie's cousin, who also commanded a fleet of pirates, was captured and

executed in the town of Jiangping on the border of Vietnam and China. Zang

Ye quickly took over Sean Ki's fleet after his death and sailed back to the

Chinese coast together with the rest Chinese pirates, formally under his cousin's patronage.

A period of infighting among the pirates near the Guangdong coast followed, but with

the help of zang Yee Sao, who was a capable consolidator and organizer,

zang Ye was able to unite the pirates into a confederation through the signing of

an agreement in July of eighteen oh five in which each pirate leader agreed to

sacrifice some of his autonomy for the greater good. The confederation consisted of six

fleets, known by the color of their flags, red, black, blue,

white, yellow, and purple. Zang Ye commanded the biggest fleet in

the confederation, the Red Flag Fleet. On November sixteenth, eighteen oh seven,

zang Ye fell overboard in a gale, and he died at the young

age of forty two. After the death of her husband in eighteen o seven,

she took control of his pirate confederation with the support of his adopted son,

zang Bao, with whom she entered into a relationship and later married.

As the unofficial commander of the Guangdong Pirate Confederation, her fleet was composed of

four hundred junks, forty thousand, and sixty thousand pirates. In eighteen oh

five, her ships entered into conflict with several major powers, such as the

East India Company, the Portuguese Empire, and Qing China. After a very

successful few years of raiding and pillaging, the Chinese called the Portuguese to help,

but this proved unsuccessful and the result of this was not a good outcome

for the Portuguese and zang Yi prevailed. The Portuguese fleet lost three ships and

at least seventy four men, while the pirates lost forty men and no ships,

and the pirates escaped back to the sea Yo Ho Ho. By early

eighteen ten, the pirates began to realize that they were in such a position

of power that they could negotiate the surrender to the Guangdong government without punishment or

repercussions being imposed upon them. Guangdong was so desperate to end the scrouche of

piracy that they were ready to legitimized their power in exchange for their retirement.

With the Magistrate's help, Miguel Jose Diaragia as mediator, zang Yi Sao,

Zangbao and Bailing officially met on Zangbao's flagship on February twenty first, eighteen ten.

The negotiations quickly broke down when Bailing refused Yao and Zangbao's demand for retaining

five thousand subordinates and eighty ships, for entering the salt trade and joining the

anti pirate campaign in western Guandong. At the end of the day, ten

British Indian men sailed past the pirate fleet and alarmed Zangbao, who suspected some

sort of Sino European trap and quickly retreated. Fast forward a few short months

to April seventeenth, zang Yi Sau wanted to break the deadlock, and she

personally led a delegation of seventeen women and children to the Yamen at Guangzhou and

negotiated with Bai Ling, where he yielded to her demands. In April twentieth,

eighteen ten, zeng Yi Sao and Zangbao officially surrendered to Bailing with a

little over seventeen thousand pirates, two twenty six ships, cannons, and assortments

of weapons. Zang Yi Sao surrendered with twenty four ships, one thousand,

four hundred and thirty three pirates under her personal command. Zangbao was awarded the

rank of lieutenant and was allowed to retain a private fleet of twenty to thirty

ships. Zang y Sao was also given permission to officially marry Zangbao. Zang

Yi Sao and her crews were pardoned, and the men received pork, wine

and money. Zang Yi Sao gave birth to another son, zang Yulen,

in eighteen thirteen. In eighteen twenty two, at the age of thirty six,

Zangbao died near Pengu while serving as a colonel in charge of the Pengu

Garrison. In eighteen twenty four, Zengia returned to Guangdong with Yang Yulen.

In eighteen forty four, zang Yi Sao died at the age of sixty eight

or sixty nine, having led a relatively peaceful life after the death of her

second husband. She was a proprietor of an infamous gambling house somewhere around Guangdong.

Zhang Yisao has been described as history's most successful female pirate and one of

the most successful pirates in history. Let's talk a little bit about the codes

of conduct for her pirates. These rules were created by zang Bao, and

you can't help but think she had a hand in creating them. Some of

the rules were, if any pirate goes privately on shore, he shall be

taken his ears mutilated, he will be paraded around the fleet and then executed.

Women captured from villages shall not be harmed or harassed. All women captives

shall be registered, their place of origin recorded, and given separate quarters.

Those who rape or commit adultery with the women captain shall be executed. If

a pirate wanted one of the captain women, they would have to marry them

and remained faithful. The women who were deemed unpleasant to look at were actually

set free. Anyone caught giving commands on their own or disobeying a command from

the superior was to be immediately decapitated, off with his head. I guess

pilfering from common treasury or public fund and stealing from villagers who supplied the pirates

were capital offenses. No pirate could retain any goods before inspection. Goods had

to be registered and then distributed by the fleet leader. Twenty percent of the

booty was to be returned to the original captor, and the remainder was placed

in a joint treasury or a storehouse. If anyone kept more than twenty percent,

they would be executed. Currency was to be handed over to the squadron

leader, part was turned over to the fleet, and some back to the

captor. I would imagine this would also follow the twenty eighty split rule Pirates

of the Caribbean at World's End in two thousand and seven, which was directed

by Gore Verbinsky featured a character played by Takeo Fisher which was named Mistress Ching,

which is loosely based on zang Ye Sal. There's a virtual reality experience

called Madam Pirate Becoming a Legend which was made in twenty twenty one. It's

a fictional retelling of zeng Ye sALS Rise to Power. I may have to

check that out. Other things like video games also honored her life with the

pirate hero from for Honor, which was heavily inspired by Ching. She Bales

High, a character from Invisible, is also inspired by Ching. She Well,

this is the end of the plank for us on this episode. You

enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe wherever you listen to Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

etc. This episode was produced by Dead to Me Productions and I your host,

Amy Mexico, plundered all this research from the Internet. Thank you Spreaker

for being the best podcast platform on the High Seas. Love you guys.

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