Timesuck with Dan Cummins - Short Suck #28 - The Pirate Queen

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

Ching Shih, born as Shi Yang, was quite possibly the most powerful pirate of all time. While famous UK pirates like Blackbeard, Black Bart, Calico Jack, Sir Francis Drake, or Captain Kidd get much more name recognition, none of them ever commanded a confederation of pirates up to 80,000 men strong, with around 2,000 ships. Learn some of the history you never learned in school, today, on Timesuck. For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com 

Welcome to another edition of Time Suck Short Sucks. I'm Dan Cummins and today I will be sharing the fascinating story of the Pirate Queen. If you like me, when you think of famous pirates, names like Blackbeard, Black Bart, Calico Jack, Sir Francis Drake, maybe Captain Kidd, those are the first that come to mind. At least out of real historical pirates. But the most successful pirate in history, the one who very likely, if not almost certainly, accumulated the most power and wealth during their lifetime, was neither a man nor were they from the UK. The most successful pirate was Chinese and a woman. Cheng Xi, born as Xi Yang. She's also known by about five other names. I'm just going to refer to her by her birth name of Xi Yang today to keep things simple

and a bit less confusing. Xi was born in southern China and grew up in poverty. She was forced into sex work as a teenager and seemed destined for a life that was short, hard, and historically completely forgettable. But she had a sharp shrewd mind and an ambitious spirit. And beginning with an advantageous marriage and then exhibiting an unexpected gift for military prowess, she became one of the richest women in all of Asia.

At the height of her power, she may have even been mightier than the Emperor of China. Words and ideas can change the world. I hated her, but I wanted to love my mother. I have a dream! I plead not guilty right now. Your only chance is to leave with us. I don't know why it surprised me that China had pirates

when I first came across Xi Young's story, but it sure did. But of course, China had pirates. It has a massive Pacific Ocean coastline, a ton of ports, doing a ton of business. Pirates are not unique to the British Isles, or to the Caribbean, or the British or Spanish colonial empires. Not at all. Wherever there have been humans using boats to transport items of value, items that have included the very people on those boats,

who can and have been captured and sold as slaves, there have been pirates. A pirate is defined as simply a menacing dickhead with strong sea legs, a sword, a parrot, and maybe two eyes. Well, that's my unofficial definition. The official definition is a person who attacks and robs ships at sea. And just like there have been pickpockets since, I'm guessing, shortly following the invention of pockets, there have been pirates and shortly after the invention of boats. Wherever there have been items capable of being stolen, there have been thieves to steal that shit. Scholar Joseph McKay's article, Pirate Nations, maritime pirates as escaped societies in late Imperial China,

published for the winter 2013 edition of the journal Social Science History, he gave us some valuable historical context for what life was like as a Chinese pirate, specifically when Xi Young was doing all her swashbuckling. McKay wrote, during the 17th to early 19th centuries, maritime piracy proliferated on the southern and southeastern Chinese coasts. In establishing and consolidating their power, pirate bands became political actors, distinct from the Chinese imperial project around them. They controlled sea routes, collected taxes, and often governed territory.

They provided mercenary naval services, alternately to successive Chinese dynasties and to European colonial powers. They granted persistent political loyalty to no one. They thus challenged the political legitimacy of the Chinese Empire and also the mercantile interests of European colonial projects in the region. McKay defines escape societies as decentralized horizontal social organizations. This term was also used by historian James C. Scott in his 2009 work on fugitive political communities in Southeast Asia.

Scott wrote that escape societies leverage their relative size, local knowledge of physical geography, flexible agricultural practices, and diffuse social configuration to escape the taxing, conscripting, and labor extracting powers of large coercive state and empire building projects. And McKay wrote that the South China pirates during Xing Yong's time could be classified as escape societies because they had their own political communities separate from the Chinese imperial government. At one point these pirates had enough power to rival the power of the state. So essentially they built a rogue renegade society within an empire, which means that when Xi Yong was active China's most powerful pirates were

so powerful, they essentially were their own heads of state, running their own nations within a nation, which is pretty fucking badass. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the imperial Chinese government chose to focus on agricultural development and expanding their inland empire, instead of focusing on ocean commerce, opening the door for a proliferation of powerful pirates. The ocean at that time was viewed by Chinese rulers as primarily a barrier against foreigners. China had several large ports, especially the massive port in Guangzhou, a large city in southern China. But China didn't use their ports to engage in international sea commerce as much as other powerful empires did. And because of of that those fucking idiots inadvertently created an environment where smuggling and piracy thrived. Kidding about the idiots designation. They had a

lot of shit going on. Big country to govern. A lot of people. And it's also pretty hard to accurately predict the future. McKay again writes about the pirates of southern China saying, these bands were effectively independent. That is, they recognized no external authority and none was forced on them. They often controlled large swaths of coastal water and intended coastal settlements. They provided leadership and thereby rules

and often quite strict enforcement. When they did at times recognize Chinese dynastic rule, they generally did so with expectations of a quid pro quo. Pirate leaders and those serving under them received legitimate, legitimated wealth, power, and autonomy in return. While their relationship with the settled populations they ruled was chiefly extractive, they did provide some public goods such as basic security in exchange for protection money. Members of the pirate gangs themselves had additional privileges. These included redistribution of looted wealth and access to rough and ready rule of law through

the rules of conduct within the band. All that sounds to me, it's a very academic way of saying, that China's coastal land and water was ran by the equivalent of the mafia, with different mob families controlling different sections of the coastline and extorting protection money from anybody doing business in their territory. So good for the pirates, shitty for everybody else. Many of China's pirates were concentrated in the South China Sea, which is a large chunk of the Western Pacific Ocean, bordered by southern China to the north, Vietnam to the west, Taiwan and the Philippines to the east, and the massive primarily Indonesian island of Borneo to the south. Did you know that Borneo was the world's third largest island by the way? I did

not. So much world out there. So little life to use to explore it. Come on scientists, turn us into cyborgs already. I promise if I become a billionaire I'll fund you. I'm gonna need several lifetimes at least to do all the shit I wanna do and see all the shit I wanna see. Anyway, after that little smidgen of historical context, it is a short suck after all, no need to get into too much detail,

let's now focus on the life of Xi Young. Xi Young was born in 1775 in China's Guangdong province, born right as America's original colonies. We're beginning to fight in proper battles with Britain, the beginning of our Revolutionary War. She was born during the reign of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted from 1644 to 1912, China's final imperial dynasty. And she was born in Xinhui, an urban district within the city of Jiangmen, a city that today is part of a metropolitan area of over 14 million people. She was very likely one of the Tanka people. The Tanka, also known commonly and derogatively as the Boat People or Sea Gypsies, are an assimilated ethnic group from southern China.

Back at this time, they traditionally lived on ships and coastal areas including the Guangdong province. They were, they still are, considered social outcasts and for much of their history brothels were a common business for tanker women. Most brothels in China catering to Westerners and other foreigners in Xi Yang's day were tanker brothels. While the tankers still exist today their traditional way of life has nearly become a thing of the past as coastal areas have become much, much more desirable in modern times, both as a place for the rich to live and for the working class and, you know, big international corporations to do their

business. Business! The Tankas' traditional houseboats have been replaced by luxury yachts, jet skis, freighters, etc. Around 1790, she young was either captured by pirates and forced into sex work or pressured into sex work by her own family to help financially when she was only 15 years old. Can you imagine if you're a parent pressuring your daughter to sell her body to help pay the bills at any age, let alone 15? Or if you're not a parent just being pressured by your parents or a parent to literally sell your ass for cash. I'd like to think I would rob and even kill some strangers long before I did that.

She worked on a floating tank of brothel near her family for approximately the next decade. However, she was not allowed to leave the brothel for most of the years that she was there and rarely saw her family once her life took that turn. While it would have been so so easy to turn to despair as a teenage sex worker, start smoking that sweet sweet soul numbing opium, just give up on life. A life of one strange man after another, many of whom I imagine would physically and sexually abuse you until you either got sick from syphilis and ended up as a beggar dying on the street, or you got too old to be desirable anymore and also ended up as a beggar dying on the street. Or you got too old to be desirable anymore and also ended up as a beggar dying on the street.

Or maybe you were taken in by some man you didn't love, probably some dude who married you but also was ashamed of you in your past, through the judgment surrounding it in traditional Chinese society. And you lived life with some financial stability but also want to shame and misery until you then died, at least not in the street. Xi Yang did not succumb to any of those fates. She adapted.

She did what she could to gain some measure of control of her life. She strategized as to how to better her future. Also got quite a bit of help to be fair from nature. She was apparently born destined to grow up into an exceptionally beautiful woman. And she used her natural beauty and her brains and a cunning she developed to attract and keep quote, high profile customers like royal courtiers, military commanders, and powerful merchants. And also pirates.

She gathered information from her VIP clients then used that info as leverage to rise up to rank, start a very profitable smuggling business. And by 1801, just over a decade after she had first showed up, she reportedly was able to buy the brothel she had been trapped in. And she did that by the time she was just 26 years old. The same year she bought the brothel and became a madam, Xi Yang was also captured, or she also captured the attention

of the powerful pirate commander, Zheng Yi, who was captivated by her beauty, shrewd mind for business and social connections. And soon the two were married, not legally, according to the government of China, but married in some sort of pirate ceremony that pirates, for the lawless chronic rule breakers they were, apparently took very seriously. Everybody likes rules, some rules, even pirates. Xi's new husband was 10 years her senior, born in 1765 in Guangdong province. Zheng Yi's birth name was Zheng Wenxian. Zheng came from a family of well-known pirates, and as a young adult,

Zheng and some other southern Chinese pirates were hired as mercenaries for the Taishan dynasty in Vietnam. The Taishan dynasty was made up of three Wynn brothers. Taishan was the name of their home village. Back in 1771 they had started an insurrection that turned into a national movement called the Taishan rebellion and by 1778 they controlled most of central and southern Vietnam and they conquered most of the north by 1787. A parallel in what was going on in the US in some ways. The revolt that put them in power relied on peasants and merchants for support. The brothers sought political and social reforms. The youngest brother, Nguyen Huy, future emperor of Vietnam would

overthrow the Lê dynasty and the Tay Chion brothers would rule nearly all of Vietnam for less than five years from 1788 to 1792. And then they would lose the country to the Nguyen dynasty. Although the Taishan brothers were all named Nguyen, they weren't actually related to members of the Nguyen dynasty. A real common name in Vietnam is Nguyen. The Nguyen dynasty, while not royals, were another faction fighting for control over southern Vietnam at the same time as the Lê dynasty was being overthrown. Nguyễn Âng would defeat the brothers in 1792 and 1793 and eliminated the descendants of the Taishans by 1802. Later changed his name to Emperor

Xalong and became the first emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. And Zheng Yi and his fellow South China Sea pirates they would switch allegiances and fight for Emperor Zhao Long once long and defeated their previous employers. Pirates not known for loyalty especially when it comes to their employers. They would fight for just about anybody as long as the money was right. So backing up a bit during their brief time in power the Taishan brothers had unified damn near all Vietnam established a new government even received financial support from the Emperor of China and

1792 as the Taishan leaders were desperately fighting to hang on to their newfound power They hired a bunch of pirates lots and lots of pirates to strengthen their numbers Their pirates had not only their financial support But were essentially above the law as long as they were helping the cause of the Taishan leaders, they could rape, loot, pillage as they pleased. So this all made it a pretty attractive time for many to be a pirate. And there was an explosion in the number of pirates fighting in the South China Sea. This all led to associations of a few hundred pirates and a few dozen ships at a time. But there was no single commander for any of these associations and sometimes 10 to 12

different people are fighting for control of a given confederation of pirates. Pirates also not really historically known for falling in line and playing by the book when it comes to accepting any sort of leadership hierarchy and structure. Hard to get people who live by a code of lawlessness in many ways to follow a strict set of rules. It was a chaotic time and a time when someone, if they were fearless, ruthless, charismatic, violent enough to pull people

together, if they were good enough at looting and winning sea battles, well, they could quickly become very rich and very powerful. For a time when Shi Yong met Zheng Yi, he fought for his cousin Zheng Qi's fleet. But then in 1802, the year after Zheng Yi met Xi Yang, Zheng Qi was captured and executed by wind forces in the town of Zhengping on the border of Vietnam and China. And his execution coincided with the final executions of all those Taishan descendants.

So now, Jung Yi decides to consolidate his power over his cousin's fleet and return to South China. Should have gotten too crazy for the moment, Vietnam, and they headed towards the Pearl River Delta in the Guangdong province and started raising hell. So what happened now with Xi Yang? How does Xi tie back into all of this? Well upon Jung Yi's return from Vietnam, there was a bunch of infighting amongst his Wong Dong pirates. And Jung Yi needed help maintaining control of the pirates he had been commanding before he just loses his grip on his power and is no longer a commander of pirates and just

one of many rogue pirates. So he turns to an unlikely source for help to consolidate this power to keep his fucking grip on this little throne he has and his source is his new bride. Before the two had gotten married, Shi Young had proven herself to be a very strong and capable leader. Very charismatic. Sources do not provide a lot of details regarding how she proved this to him but she certainly did something impressive. Probably did multiple impressive things She actually negotiated a marriage with Jung-hee where he had to give her

50% of their earnings and partial control of his fleet of ships before she would marry him So and she did this, you know This in a day when when women in general were not pirates and they definitely didn't lead pirates. This is highly unusual. But Shi Young had incredible people and organizational skills and together Shi and Jung Yi were able to unite the pirates he had been fighting with into what was almost certainly the most powerful confederations of pirates in history by negotiating the big truce. An official agreement was signed by a bunch of these pirates in July of 1805. They won't follow the rules, but they will sign contracts. I love that.

Each pirate leader joining the confederation agreed to sacrifice some of their autonomy for the greater purpose of more effectively raiding the South China Sea and accumulating more wealth by working together than any of these pirates would have been able to do if they had worked alone. There ended up being six total fleets in what was to be the Pirate Queen's Confederation. Each was represented by a different color flag. Red, black, blue, white, yellow, and hot pink bitches! JK, no purple was the six color. Each fleet was led by an independent commander and they all operated in a different designated section of the South China Sea.

Zhong Yi commanded the red flag fleet, largest fleet in the Confederation with around 200 total ships. God dang, around 200 pirate ships, each of them fucking full to the brim with ruthless pirates and that's just one of six different fleets in the same pirate confederacy. The Confederation quickly grew into a massive organization. Scholar and historian Robert J. Anthony wrote that the Confederation had over 10,000 followers and hundreds of junks at its peak. Stanford historian Dionne Murray wrote that there were over 400 junks and around 40,000 men at the peak. Other sources say that at one point the Confederation had around 2,000 junks and

up to 80,000 pirates sailing in those ships that's fucking wild. So while we may not have a firm historical record for you know its exact size clearly this was a massive organized criminal syndicate and a junk by the way is just a type of Chinese sailing ship with quote fully battent sails. According to world history.org junks were excellent ocean going sailing ships with a flat bottom ship with quote fully battent sails. According to world history dot org, junks were excellent ocean going sailing ships with a flat bottom and a very high stern. Their rudder could be raised which allowed them to enter shallow waters. Other large ships could not. Junks typically had two or three masts carrying distinctive bamboo or rattan sails with four unequal sides. A large junk was about 80 feet long with a beam of about 18 feet

high. Another article from worldhistory.org states the junk had been the mainstay of Chinese waters for centuries. They could carry up to 800 tons of cargo and bristle with 40 cannons. Man, being without a keel and with a retractable rudder, junks could enter shallow waters and surprise a target vessel at anchor. Junks could carry small boats too and these carrying 20 men and a number of swivel cannons were used to approach a ship undetected. A whole fleet of these ships with those smaller boats also armed with cannons man that is that is formidable. One of our best sources I love academic articles on JSTOR.org

said this confederation grew to the point of having twice as many ships as the Spanish Armada. They also had more ships than the Royal British Navy, the Navy of the world's biggest empire. Britain had around 600 warships at this time. Several sources say that at some point during her time as a pirate, Shi Young personally commanded 24 ships and over 1,400 pirates. For comparison, Blackbeard never commanded a crew of more than around 300 men during his career, and at the height of his power he commanded five ships, far cry from two dozen. Most of the Confederations pirates were former poor

fishermen trying to escape a life of poverty and or trying to get out from under the thumb of a repressive Imperial government Some were also just guys that got fucking kidnapped and told you're gonna be pirate or we're gonna kill you so there's that And now let's transition back to our timeline right after today's mid-show sponsor break and I'm back and now let's transition back to our timeline for reals in back. And now let's transition back to our timeline for reals. In 1803, Shi Yong had her first child, a son named Zheng Yingxi. In 1807, four years later, she gave birth to a second son with Zheng Yi, a boy named Zheng Xiangxi. Zheng Yi already had a son

when the two met, kind of. In 1798, he'd adopted, which sounds nice when you say it that way, Chung Pao. But yeah, he didn't really adopt him. Even though that's the word sources, some sources used. He kidnapped him. And they definitely did not have a traditional father-son bond. Thank God their bond is not traditional. Not even fucking close. You'll see. Jung Yi captured Chung Pao when he was just 15 years old, forced him into piracy. Cheng Pao was the son of a tank of fishermen similar to his adoptive mother, Xi Young. And several sources also state that Zheng Yi and Cheng Pao

were lovers, which was not unusual for the time. So adopted really is not the right term here, neither is lovers. No, Zheng Yi kidnapped a 15 year old boy, held him captive, forced him to be a pirate, fucked him for a while, brainwashed him into some weird father-son, but I also fuck you and you also have to be a pirate relationship, a horror show. A horror show that was apparently common at that time. Life was, well, it was certainly fucking different

back then. A historian D. Cordingly wrote about the relationships between male pirates in China at the time saying, when pirate gangs needed new recruits, it was not unusual to take captives and force them to join the pirate community by means of sexual assault. Consequently, it is difficult to know to what extent homosexuality was willingly practiced between the participants, and to what extent it was forced on captives by pirate leaders. Well, what a time to be alive! Getting captured by pirates who don't only hold you captive, they also fuck your butt on the high sea. Getting seasick.

And getting raw dog dicked out on some open water. Where I'm guessing lube, not exactly, in plentiful supply. Salt water sounds like anti-lube. Oh man, feeling real good about being a podcaster in 2025 right now. Chung Pau, after who knows how much raping, eventually became Jung Yi's protege, hello Stockholm Syndrome, and was later entrusted with commanding a ship of his own. He held a high rank within the Red Flag fleet. Okay, Jung Yi will die unexpectedly on November 16th, 1807 at just the age of 42.

He either fell overboard and drowned, according to some sources, or was killed by Vietnamese mercenaries, according to other sources, or was thrown off the boat by some dude he had ass-raped, according to me, or, and maybe this is most likely, Shi Young poisoned him. Whatever happened, following his demise, Shi Young was able to take control over his entire massive confederation with the support of her adopted son, Chung Pao, who probably liked her better than he liked dad since she had never kidnapped nor ass-raped him. He now took over as the commander of the Red Flag Fleet after his kind of, but not really

because that is so creepy, father died. Historian Deon Murray wrote about Xi Yong's transition to power saying, consisting of over 300 junks and between 20,000 and 40,000 men, control of this squadron, the Red Flag Fleet, was a prerequisite to controlling the entire confederation, and Shi Young wanted to ensure that it would remain loyal to her. For this position she needed a man, Chung Pao, to whom she could entrust considerable authority for the day-to-day operation of the entire fleet and for the execution of orders to the other pirate leaders. She also needed a person who could win the acceptance and engage the cooperation of prospective subordinates and at the same time, Wan Hu and owing to the Chung family his entire status within the hierarchy would

be absolute in his loyalty to it. Shi Young will later develop a romantic relationship with Chung Pao. What the fuck is even happening in this story? And will marry him, at least pirate marry him, which will further solidify her control over this confederation cool, so now Chung Pau has been sexually linked to both the person many sources refer to as his father and The person many sources refer to as his mother did not expect this level of incest in a pirate tale wild times Back then being a Chinese pirate They really didn't follow the rules. They didn't care for a lot of rules

being a Chinese pirate. They really didn't follow the rules. They didn't care for a lot of rules. Xi Yang and her son husband, I guess, would now proceed to make a lot of money in the lucrative salt game by controlling China's ports. Historian Dianne Murray wrote, the pirates mounted a series of coordinated attacks that succeeded in capturing fleet after fleet until at one point only four of the government's 270 officially built junks remained outside their control. As more and more vessels fell into their hands, the pirates put themselves in control of the imperial supply lines by forcing those captured to continue to haul salt on the pirates' terms. Another major source of income for the pirates was running protection rackets.

Confederation charged trading vessels and fishermen a fee for safe passage through their waters. Basically, a situation of, hey, it's really dangerous and shit out here in the South China Sea. You can easily get all your shit taken by pirates who would then enslave and rape you and probably kill you. Luckily, we can protect you from that horrific fate for a small fee. Okay, but aren't you guys the main pirates in the South China Sea doing all this terrible shit? So aren't you essentially asking me to pay you to be protected from you? Just shut the fuck up and give us your money! It's kind of that situation. Xi Yong's confederation did at least develop official certificates that could be presented

to other members of the Confederation. So lowly fishermen weren't forced to pay the same protection racket fee over and over again as they encountered more and more ships from the same Confederation. The payment could cost anywhere from 50 to 500 Spanish silver dollars per trip, which sounds pretty expensive. Pretty hard to determine inflation rates, what that money would be equating to today. So expensive, I'm thinking, and also you know better than not paying them. The consequence for not paying was having your shit stolen and to be possibly you know raped, executed, tortured, etc.

Shi Young did a lot towards making her organization of pirates run more like a corporation. She oversaw the establishment of numerous financial offices in various coastal villages and harbors to serve as collection points for their fees. Villagers also supplied the pirates with essentials like rice, gunpowder, oil, and water. Xi's pirate confederation established a supply network throughout the entire Guangdong province to ensure her ships and men always had whatever supplies they needed. And apparently many villagers did not protest supporting Xi Yang's Pirate Confederacy because

at least they had an established code of conduct that ensured their protection. Although as we will soon see, the pirates did not always follow that code. Xi Yang's Pirate Confederation at the height of her reign controlled the South China Sea from Hong Kong all the way to Vietnam, around 600 total miles of coastline. European sailors would encounter this confederacy and refer to them as Ladrones, aka thieves. A member of the British Royal Navy made the following remarks after two of their ships tried to warn off the pirates and failed, wrote about 60 or 70 sail of Ladrones passed in the most impudent manner within range of the guns.

Determined to punish the presumption of these pirates, the frigate opened a smart fire on them, which was received by the Ladrones with the utmost coolness and indifference and without even returning a shot. That sounds pretty badass. I just picture them just getting shot at and being like, pfft, whatever. That's all you got? Those tiny little cannonballs? Get the fuck out of here!

We're not even gonna, you know, stop eating our lunch to acknowledge that. These pirates captured cargos of gold, silver, silk, spices, porcelain, tea, cotton, salt, from an unknown number of both Asian and European merchants. They resold the goods to merchants along the coasts and would also ransom sea captains and their crews for extra cash if Those sea captains and crews were European Chinese seaman typically tortured executed or forced into piracy Yeah, the European Mariners they got off a lot easier in 1806 a European Mariner named John Turner was captured by Jung Yi's fleet and

Lived to write about it. He was held captive for ransom for five long months. And he described how during that time, a captured officer from a Chinese imperial Navy ship had his feet nailed to the deck. They nailed this dude's feet to the deck of the ship. Then they beat him to the edge of death with a rattan cane. Then he was taken ashore and he was cut into little pieces. Holy shit. So many people have died. So many horrific deaths. In his 1809 book titled Sufferings of John Turner, Chief Mate of the Country Ship Tay Bound for China and Captivity Among the Ladrones, fucking long ass title,

he also described another brutal torture session, ending in murder, writing, a man was here put to death with circumstances of peculiar horror, being fixed upright. Okay, so he's probably tied to some mast or something. He's tied so he's standing. His bowels were cut open and his heart was cut out, which they afterwards soaked in spirits and ate. Mr. Turner did not witness this bloody execution, but he was shown the mangled body. He also understood that the shocking treatment is frequently experienced by those who after offending the ladrones Should ever be so unfortunate as to be in their power Yikes

Fucking eating a guy's pickling some dude's heart and eating it or Turning into like I don't know some weird version of Spodey. We called it when you like soak fruit and alcohol I don't know some weird version of Spodey we called it when he like soaked fruit and alcohol soaked that dude's heart and some rum just chopped it up and ate it. 1809, Shi Young's pirates captured an Englishman named Richard Glasspool. Oh fucking dick pool. He was an officer on a ship belonging to the East India Company. He was imprisoned by pirates for four months and during that time became an important source of information regarding what we now know about the pirate queen. He described living on the dirty overcrowded ship with little access to food. Glasspool said

quote, we lived three weeks on caterpillars boiled in rice. Excuse me? Caterpillars boiled in rice? For three weeks? I feel like after eating nothing but caterpillars and rice for like a week or two, I might be like, excuse me, if I were to offer myself up as a pirate sex slave, would I be able to eat something other than caterpillars and rice? I'm just trying to, you know, figure out what my options are. Around this time, the Chinese government attempted to starve Xi Yang's pirates out by forbidding all other ships to enter her territory. With a lot of unruly mouths to feed and enrich, she ended up abandoning her civilian protection policies now and her pirates began to attack and raid the same coastal villages who had

been supplying them and paying them protection money for years. In October of 1809, an entire settlement in the Pearl River Delta was just burned to the ground, just completely erased. Glasspool and many of the men who had been captured alongside him participated under the threat of death and were given $20 for each head they brought back to the ship. Glasspool reported that many returning pirates brought heads back by tying their victims long hair into pigtails and then tying one man's pigtail to another man's and another man's and another man's etc forming some real macabre necklaces. Glasspool reported that many of the

Chinese people who were captured and not beheaded were forced to choose between joining the pirates forming some real macabre necklaces. Glasspool reported that many of the Chinese people who were captured and not beheaded were forced to choose between joining the pirates or then being flogged to death. Shi Young seemed to favor Glasspool. Before each battle she would sprinkle some garlic water over him because she believed that would help prevent harm from coming to him. Glasspool estimated that Shi uncontrolled around 80,000 pirates during his time as her her captive 80,000 that is insane She and her pirates earned a fearsome reputation with the robbing and murdering expeditions

The provincial Navy was so afraid of them that they spent most of the time waiting for favorable winds so they could make their trips As fast as possible, you know when they're just like sail on past them. They just wanted to avoid them By 1810 the Imperial Navy was sabotaging their own ships to make them look like they'd already been looted, so the pirates would just leave them the fuck alone. Xi Yang proved herself as a skilled military strategist. She planned her offensives well in advance, so she almost was always successful. That helped her enforce compliance over power, the provincial navy as well. Pirates in her confederation had a strict code of conduct that members were required to follow. Again, I love this, love these pirates, these rule breakers, chronic rule breakers,

you know, always ended up with their own codes of conduct, their own rules. The punishment for breaking the rules was beheading. They didn't fuck around. Some sources attribute the codes to Shi Yong while others say that they were developed by either Cheng Pao or Zheng Yi. The code read as follows. 1. If any pirate goes privately on shore, he shall be taken, his ears mutilated, he will be paraded around the fleet and executed.

2. Not the least thing shall be taken privately from the stolen and plundered goods. All shall be registered. The pirate receives for himself out of ten parts only two. Eight parts belong to the storehouse, called the General Fund. Those who steal anything out of this General Fund shall be executed. 3. Women captured from villages shall not be harmed or harassed. All women captives shall be registered, their place of origin recorded, and be given separate quarters. Those who rape or commit adultery with the women captives shall be, I bet you can guess, yes, executed. And that's it. Don't rape, don't steal more than your share of stolen loot, and don't go ashore without permission.

Weird that only going ashore without permission got you paraded around with mutilated ears before being executed. I guess that was the most serious offense because if everyone started doing that, well I guess bye bye confederacy. But yeah, the pirate queen, she didn't fuck around when it came to the mistreatment of women. I mean, she'd cut off a villager's head. No problem. She'd nail, you know, some guy who happened to, you know, work for the imperial Chinese government, you know, captain of their ship. She'd nail that guy's feet to the floor and you know or have his stomach you know sliced open and somebody reach in and just rip his

heart out need it but don't touch ladies she had her own moral code this code was recorded in an account by the Pirate Confederation written by a Qing official other sources list additional codes that might have been issued by Xi Young as well, such as Members were allowed one violation before execution if someone got caught for their first time, you know Taking some loot before sent into the general fund for inspection say well they would receive a beating If they did it again, they would be beheaded Deserters would have their ears cut off the first time they deserted if they were caught a second time then they were beheaded So, you know, so they would give some warnings. Serious warnings. You could lose both ears with

a warning, but you did get some warnings according to this source. It seems like the unforgivable infractions were unauthorized attacks, rape, and so random, adultery. In cases of adultery, the man was beheaded and the woman was just thrown overboard just to drown. Pirates under Xiyang were required to marry their female prisoners before they could have sex. Am I guessing this was because adultery could wreak havoc with morale and camaraderie? Not sure. In 1808 the Pirate Confederation became significantly more active in their military operations under the leadership of the Pirate Queen. In July of that year, Young's fleet defeated the Chinese Imperial Navy. The Navy had a small

fleet of ships guarding the delta between Macau, a former Portuguese colony, and the city of Guangzhou. Macau is an interesting place. Macau, aka the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. I can love communism and their titles for things. It's a city and special administrative region in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. To date has a population of around 680,000 people who live in just a just under 33 square kilometers making it the most densely populated region in the entire world. Macau is a Portuguese colony for many many years. It was first leased to Portugal as a trading post way

back in 1557 during the Ming Dynasty Portugal paid an annual rent administered the territory under Chinese sovereignty or Chinese sovereignty all the way until 1887 and then the colony remained under Portuguese rule until less than three decades ago in 1999 it was finally transferred to China, but actually today, it is still governed differently than mainland China. Huge gambling destination also. Each year, the city still earns five to seven times the annual gambling revenue of Las Vegas.

It's sometimes called the Las Vegas of Asia. Back to the Pirate Queen now. Her confederation's first battle with the Imperial Navy near Macau lasted 16 hours. Only ending when the Imperial Admiral were with the Imperial Admiral they were fighting taking his own life. Then in a second wave of attacks, Shi Young ordered her pirates to swim to board some Chinese ships and take them over. And they did. Two months later, in September of 1808, Shi Young's adopted son husband, Cheng Pao, lured and ambushed the Brigade General of Humen, a city in Guangdong.

The pirates destroyed a fleet of 35 Imperial ships near Ma Zhou Island. Wow, 35! They were literally stronger than the Chinese Navy. The following month, in October of 1808, Cheng Pao and the pirates he commanded defeated Chinese Lieutenant Colonel Lin Fa and his men near Wei Yun Island in Guangdong province. Also in 1808, Shi Yong's pirates killed the provincial commander of the entire Zhejiang province after he sailed into Guangdong for a special assignment that he obviously did not complete. Then to kick off 1809, the pirates destroyed most of the navy's defense vessels for

Guangzhou and reduced Imperial China's naval numbers so greatly, they had to recruit over 30 pirate junks to boost those numbers. In one year, the pirates destroyed 63 out of 135 total Imperial vessels in Guangdong. And the rest that they didn't destroy were now too scared for the most part to engage with them. Also during this time, while Xi Yong's confederation was pillaging and plundering coastal towns it's estimated that over 10 000 civilians were killed in what was called a quote sustained campaign of terror. The pirate queen and her men make the pirates of the Caribbean look like a bunch of boy scouts. In March of 1809 a small group of pirates engaged a provincial fleet of roughly a hundred government ships near Duanhan Island. These pirates called on Xi Yong for help. She took command of

both the Red Flag fleet and the White Flag fleet and once again Imperial China is defeated. On July 21st 1809 the Imperial Navy finally got a victory. They destroyed the White Flag fleet and killed his commander, not Xi Yong at the moment, near the Jinwan district in southern Guangdong. However, the Navy lost their brigade general and 25 ships to Xi'an's forces during the fighting. Then in August of 1809, Chung Pao posted notices of his intention to attack the heart of Guangzhou, which is pretty funny. He would post notices, I'm gonna attack you guys

pretty soon, get ready, get your defenses ready, Oh, attacks are coming. Xi Yang led a raid at this time near Xinhui, the urban district within the city of Jiangmun where she was born with her fleet at this time. A successful raid. A few weeks later, the Pirate Queen's confederations sailed within gunshot range of Macau, causing five American schooners there to flee to safety. The confederation was able to capture a brig belonging to the Portuguese governor of the island of Timor and then they blockaded a tribute mission arriving from Thailand. By 1809 the Chinese Imperial government was forced to accept military help from both the British and the Portuguese to fight against the pirate queen even though they consider these Westerners to be

quote barbarians. On September 27th 1809, staying away from Macau for the time being, due to the navies of three different world powers banding together to defend against pirate attacks, Xi Yung headed to Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, formerly called Tanzhou, where her men took command of 500 ships that were anchored in the area. These guys are just fucking kicking ass everywhere they go. Two days later on September 29th, Xi Yang ordered Cheng Pao to raid a town called Shaoting inland along the Pearl River. 400 civilians were captured during the raid and forced into lives of piracy.

The imperial fleet attempted to fight back in October, but they were defeated again on October 21st by Cheng Pao's forces. Then in early November of 1809, Xi Yang left the Pearl River with a few ships and anchored at Tongchung Bay, north of Lontow Island, the largest island in Hong Kong, to get some needed repairs done. On November 4th, the Portuguese sent three large ships and a brig to the island. Shi Yong called on her Red Flag fleet for assistance when she heard about these ships coming.

Chung Pao and the remaining ships arrived at Tung Chung Bay November 5th. Didn't see any Portuguese ships, so they now also anchored for repair and maintenance. But then on November 8th, six Portuguese ships, surprise motherfuckers, were still here. They blockaded the red flag fleet within Tung Chung Bay. And on November 20th, they were reinforced by 93 additional provincial ships The pirates tried several times to break through this massive blockade over the next few weeks But they kept getting pushed back by strong winds that sucks that you had to factor wind into your fighting plans back then Like it's such a different ballgame. Like at least if you have like a engine you might okay

Here's what we're gonna do should be should be fine I mean, yeah, you know storm might toss around a little, but you still get to like motor around where you want. Back then, you're like, you can put the fucking best plan together ever. And then the winds are like, nope, we're literally gonna blow your plans all to shit. Well, I guess they wouldn't literally blow them into actual ship. You get what I'm saying. Then on November 23rd, the pirates capture one provincial ship. They kill 74 men on on board Provincial commander son Chuen Mo then did something very strange set 43 of his own ships on fire I'm guessing they were small ships like more like boats And he you know just sent these little boats towards the pirates to try and burn down their fleet on November 28th

The pirates were able to divert the burning ships away from them They even were able to tow one of them ashore and ironically use it for firewood. After that disaster, the winds finally became favorable for the pirates now, who sent two burning ships back towards the provincial fleet, which were successful. They set a few of their ships on fire. And on November 29th, Chong Pao and Xiong finally break through the blockade and escape into the South China Sea. They're not done pirating. They won this battle, losing only 40 men and no ships. finally break through the blockade and escape into the South China Sea.

They're not done pirating. They won this battle losing only 40 men and no ships. The provincial fleet lost three additional ships and 74 men now. A week earlier, November 23rd, in the middle of the blockade, the Portuguese had signed a new agreement with the Chinese Navy to give them six ships to assist with patrols between Hunan and Macau for six months. In early 1810, the British were now negotiating with the Pirate Queen's Confederation, a senior naval official and the captain of an East India company ship both met with Chang Pao on his flagship. He agreed not to further disrupt British trade and he released a Dutch man who

had been held captive for almost two years. How much horror to that poor son of a bitch witness? How many hearts did he see get eaten? The Portuguese also negotiated with the pirates around this same time during one meeting Chung Pau proposed to the commander of the Macau fleet that he loaned them three to four ships in Exchange for two or three provinces to govern after he overthrew the Chinese government in those provinces That would never happen though, but pretty pretty crazy to govern after he overthrew the Chinese government in those provinces. That would never happen though. But pretty crazy that he was like, yeah, we'll just fucking overthrow these provinces and you guys can just have them and then in exchange you kind of let us do what we want.

But yeah, but that would never happen. The pirate queen decided to shut her confederation down early in 1810. Xi Yang negotiated her surrender to Qing authorities. And sources differ on why exactly she would agree to surrender in the midst of kicking so much ass. It's possible that the timing just felt right. Right? They'd already made a lot of money. Battles with the military are becoming more and more frequent and yeah they're winning a lot of these battles. Most of, almost all of these battles actually. But you know not even these

pirates could defeat the Chinese Navy and the Portuguese Navy and the British Navy if those two Western Imperial powers decided to send enough ships and But, you know, not even these pirates could defeat the Chinese navy and the Portuguese navy and the British navy if those two Western Imperial powers decided to send enough ships and sailors to join the Chinese in the fighting. She and her pirates perhaps realized it was a good time to get out while they still had serious leverage. And they could still negotiate a surrender without any punishment because the government was so fucking afraid of them, so desperate to end their ferocious attacks. Another theory is that by the end of 1809 the pirates were starting to turn on Xi Yong and the confederation. That it was getting a lot harder to keep the band together. Guo Poudai, the leader of the Black Flag fleet, had already refused to

reinforce Xi Yong and Zhang Bao during the Battle of Tungchongbei and later openly battled against Zhang Bao near Hoomin in December of 1809. And then perhaps feeling that the confederation was coming to an end soon, Guo surrendered himself January 13, 1810, and he was immediately made a sub-lieutenant for the Imperial Navy, and he would lead several thousand men against his former fellow pirates in the Yellow and Green fleets. So what if other pirate leaders were now to follow his lead, to switch allegiances and fight for the government instead of against it? The Imperial government was also putting more emphasis on militia training and embargoes that were cutting off the pirates' supply lines.

This may have had the biggest role in prompting Xi Yong to consider surrendering. Whatever the reason, February 21, 1810, Xi Yong, Cheng Pao, a representative of the Imperial government and a Portuguese magistrate, met on Cheng Pao's flagship. The magistrate there was a mediator as requested by the pirates. The first round of negotiations failed because the governor-general wanted the pirates to give up all their ships and they were like fuck that. Shi Yong and Chung Pau demanded permission to keep 80 junks and 5,000 subordinates so they could continue working in the lucrative salt trade. After several weeks without a deal reached,

Xi Young then decided to handle things herself. On April 8, the pirate queen took several pirate wives and children with her to the highest official in the province as a gesture of peace. She was ready to negotiate her surrender once and for all. She insisted the Chung Pao be allowed to keep 80 junks and 400 pirates for participation in the salt trade. Two days later, the Governor General left Guangzhou to meet the pirates on the outskirts of Macau and the agreement for surrender was finalized. Cheng Pao was allowed to retain a private fleet of 20 to 30 ships. He and Xi Yang were also given permission to legally marry and all the pirates of the

confederation were pardoned. They also all got to keep the loot they had taken over the years. And they even received additional gifts of pork, wine, and money. So that is one hell of a surrender deal. In November of 1810, the Emperor of China recommended that Cheng Pao be moved to the Fujian province. Where he was made Lieutenant Colonel. And now commanded Imperial Military Battalions. Many of the Pirate Queen's former men were recruited to join the navy. Now these pirates also became pirate hunters. They were assisted by the British Royal Navy

after the British established a colony in Hong Kong in 1841. As for Shi Young, she traveled with Chung Pao to Fujian where their son, Zhong Yi Lin, was born in 1813. Chung Pao then died a decade later in 1822 near Penghu while serving as the colonel in charge of the Penghu garrison. He was just 36 years old. Shi Yang and her son now returned to Guangdong province together. Sources are not clear if the two sons she had previously had with Zhong Yi were with her at this time. Also she might not have returned to Guangdong at all. Some sources say, and I hope these sources are correct, that she relocated to Macau where she opened a lucrative gambling house, continued her involvement in the salt trade, and just became even more fabulously

wealthy than she already was. She young then died in 1844 at the age of 68. Pretty long life for someone who was a sex worker for a decade and also a ruthless pirate for roughly another decade. And while we don't know any of the exact details, she is said to have spent her final years in peace and prosperity, enjoying the profits of her career and piracy, maybe also enjoying a shitload of gambling and salt money as well. While Shi Young's memory has been overshadowed in the West by famous male pirates, dedicated historians in recent years, along with some TV and video game producers, graphic novelists, and podcasters have all helped make the incredible legacy of the pirate queen more widely known.

We don't know a ton of the details about her. We actually don't know a ton of the details about most pirates. They weren't exactly keeping diaries. She didn't have a parrot, didn't have an eye patch, didn't have a peg leg, didn't even say, I don't make it you walk the plank you scurry dog. But Boss Bitch, she young, was certainly one hell of a pirate. Maybe the most successful pirate of all time. And that's it for this edition of Time Suck Short Sucks. If you enjoyed this story, check out the rest of the Bad Magic catalog. Beefier episodes of Time Suck every Monday at noon Pacific time.

New episodes of the now long-running paranormal podcast, Scared to Death every Tuesday at midnight. And two episodes of Nightmare Fuel. Some fictional horror, scored immersively, thrown into the mix each month. Thanks to Olivia Lee for her initial research on this one. Thanks to YouTube for about fucking 10 million pronunciation guides. And thank you to Logan Keith polishing up the sound of today's episode. Please go to badmagicproductions.com for all your bad magic needs and have yourself a great weekend.