Pirates! Scallywag Swashbucklers of the Seven Seas,
Prolific plunderers of the pearly deep and uh ........
other amazing alliterative adjectives…
No matter which country you are from,
there is just something about these rum soaked deviants
that captures the imagination.
When you think of the most kick ass pirates
you probably think of a Jack Sparrow
a Long John Silver, a Red, Blue or even Black Beard
however none of those come even close
to the very real, and very awesome, Shi XiangGu
Shi Xiang Gu was born in 1785
somewhere in the south of China.
There are few records of her life as a child,
but we can assume it was pretty rough
as she spent her youth as prostitute in the area
which is now known as Guangzhou.
Around the age of 26, a group of pirates
came into her city and doing what pirates do best
captured her
The captain of the ship, named Zheng Yi
came from a long line of famous pirates
and quickly fell in love with Shi Xiang Gu.
The two were soon married and rather than hang up
his sword and retire into a life of mediocrity,
he and Shi Xiang Gu, who then became known as Cheng Yi Soa
became a pirate power couple and even adopted a boy
named Zhang Bao as their own!
A year after the defeat the entire Vietnamese Pirate Army
in 1802, Zheng Yi and Shi Xiang Gu
brought together pirates across the Chinese coastline
into a unified confederation of six fleets.
Every coastline from Korea to Malaysia
was under their mighty rule.
Unfortunately in 1802 Zheng Yi tragically passed away.
Now, if it were any other woman
this would have been the end of Shi Xiang Gu’s story,
but ...... this was no ordinary woman.
After a series of complicated power plays,
Shi Xiang Gu managed to take control
over the entire Pirate confederacy.
To solidify her position she married her adopted son
and name him her lieutenant.
Ah poor Zhang Bao, you were a badass in your own right,
but you will forever go down in history
as dude who married his mum….
Under Shi Xiang Gu’s rule, a series of pirate codes
were put into practice that drastically changed
the Chinese pirate game.
She created formal protection rackets for fishermen
issuing them with safe passage documents,
and establish financial offices across their borders
where people could conveniently pay their fees.
Pirates also had to share
their booty among the entire confederacy
Perhaps the most progressive rules she implemented
demanded that if any pirate were to rape
a kidnapped women he would be executed.
If a pirate purchased a pretty woman he had to marry her
and bizarrely enough if they captured an ugly girl,
she would be immediately set free unharmed
#feminism.
If anyone dared to break her laws
they would decapitated and thrown in the ocean.
Even more amazing than her laws
was the fact that it actually worked!
Under Shi Xiang Gu’s rule
her pirate army grew exponentially with some historians
estimating having around 17,000 men
under her command.
Her size combined with the strict laws
meant that this group of scallywags were no longer
just a band of pirates,
they basically became the government in Guangdong.
The Qing Emperor was understandably
not happy about the recent turn of events
and sent down a naval fleet to put an end
to this perceived uprising.
Unfortunately for the Emperor
Shi Xiang Gu’s fleet decimated the Qing's Navy
destroying half of his fleet.
Realizing they were outmatched
the Qing reached out to the British, and Portuguese
requesting to borrow their navy.
Shi Xiang Gu became sick of the constant war
and she entered into negotiations with the Qing.
The Qing agreed that no punishment would be given
to any pirate who surrendered
and they were to be granted places
in the military bureaucracy.
So in 1810, just 9 years after being a prostitute
kidnapped by pirates, Shi Xiang Gu retired as living legend.
She returned to the mainland
and lived to ripe of age of 69 when she passing away in 1844.
Oh then in 2007 helped out Johnny Depp
in the pirates of the Caribbean 3!
Thankyou so much for watching another one of my videos
don’t forget to like, comment and definitely subscribe.
If liked this video and would like to learn more
about other bad asses from Chinese history
why not check out Jing Ke, The unemployed swordsman
sent of a suicide mission
to kill the first emperor of China.
Once again thank you so much for watching,
I’m WooKong, ...... and goodbye.