Various - History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea From 1807 to 1810

In the summer of the year Ke sze (1809), 16 16 In prefaces and rhetorical exercises, the Chinese commonly call the years by the names employed in the well-known cycle of sixty years. The first cycle is supposed to have begun with the year 2697 before Christ. In the year 1804, the ninth year of Këa kïng, was the beginning of the thirty-sixth cycle. – Histoire générale de la Chine, XII. p. 3 and 4. I returned from the capital, and having passed the chain of mountains, 17 17 The Mei ling mountains, which divide the province Kwang tung from the province Këang se. See Note in the beginning of the History of the Pirates. I learned the extraordinary disturbances caused by the Pirates . When I came home I saw with mine own eyes all the calamities; four villages were totally destroyed; the inhabitants collected together and made preparations for resistance. Fighting at last ceased on seas and rivers: families and villages rejoiced, and peace was every where restored. Hearing of our naval transactions, every man desired to have them written down in a history; but people have, until this day, looked in vain for such a work.

Meeting once, at a public inn in Whampo, 18 18 The place where European ships lie at anchor in the river of Canton, and one of the few spots which foreigners are allowed to visit. with one Yuen tsze , we conversed together, when he took a volume in his hand, and asked me to read it. On opening the work, I saw that it contained a History of the Pirates ; and reading it to the end, I found that the occurrences of those times were therein recorded from day to day, and that our naval transactions are there faithfully reported. Yuen tsze supplied the defect I stated before, and anticipated what had occupied my mind for a long time. The affairs concerning the robber Lin are described by the non-official historian Lan e , in his Tsing yĭh ke , viz. in the History of the Pacification of the Robbers . 19Respectfully looking to the commands of heaven, Lan e made known, for all future times, the faithful and devoted servants of government. Yuen tsze's work is a supplement to the History of the Pacification of the Robbers, and you may rely on whatever therein is reported, whether it be of great or little consequence. Yuen tsze has overlooked nothing; and I dare to say, that all people will rejoice at the publication. Having written these introductory lines to the said work, I returned it to Yuen tsze. 20

Written at the time of the fifth summer moon, the tenth year of Tao kwang, called Kăng yin (September 1830).

A respectful Preface of Ying hing Soo , from Peih keang .

My house being near the sea, we were, during the year Ke sze of Këa king (1809), disturbed by the Pirates. The whole coast adjoining to our town was in confusion, and the inhabitants dispersed; this lasting for a long time, every man felt annoyed at it. In the year Kăng yin (1830) I met with Yuen tsze yung lun at a public inn within the walls of the provincial metropolis (Canton). He showed me his History of the Pacification of the Pirates , and asked me to write a Preface to the work; having been a schoolfellow of his in my tender age, I could not refuse his request. Opening and reading the volume, I was moved with recollections of occurrences in former days, and I was pleased with the diligence and industry of Yuen keun 22The author was so careful to combine what he had seen and heard, that I venture to say it is an historical work on which you may rely.

We have the collections of former historians, who in a fine style described things as they happened, that by such faithful accounts the world might be governed, and the minds of men enlightened. People may learn by these vast collections 23what should be done, and what not. It is, therefore, desirable that facts may be arranged in such a manner, that books should give a faithful account of what happened. There are magistrates who risk their life, excellent females who maintain their virtue, and celebrated individuals who protect their native places with a strong hand; they behave themselves valiantly, and overlook private considerations, if the subject concerns the welfare of the people at large. Without darkness, there is no light; without virtue, there is no splendour. In the course of time we have heard of many persons of such qualities; but how few books exist by which the authors benefit their age!

This is the Preface respectfully written by King chung ho , called Sin joo min , 24at the time of the second decade, the first month of the autumn, the year Kăng yin (September 1830) of Tao kwang. 25

There have been pirates from the oldest(1 r.) times in the eastern sea of Canton; they arose and disappeared alternately, but never were they so formidable as in the years of Këa king, 26at which time, being closely united together, it was indeed very difficult to destroy them. Their origin must be sought for in Annam. 27In the year fifty-six of Këen lung (1792), a certain Kwang ping yuen, joined by his two brothers, Kwang e and Kwang kwŏ, took Annam by force,(1 v.) and expelled its legitimate king Wei ke le. 28Le retired into the province Kwang se, and was made a general by our government. But his younger brother Fuh ying came in the sixth year of Këa king (1802) with an army from Siam and Laos, 29and killed Kwang ping in a great battle. The son of the usurper, called King shing, went on board a ship with the minister Yew kin meih, and Meih joined the pirates, Ching tsih, Tung hae pa, and others, who rambled about these seas at this time. The pirate Ching tsih was appointed a king's officer, under the name of master of the stables . King shing, relying on the force of his new allies, which consisted of about two hundred vessels, manned(2 r.) with a resolute and warlike people, returned in the twelfth moon of the same year (1803) into that country with an armed force, and joined by Ching tsih, at night time took possession of the bay of Annam. The legitimate king Fuh ying collected an army, but being beaten repeatedly, he tried in vain to retire to Laos.

Ching tsih being a man who had lived all his life on the water, behaved himself, as soon as he got possession of the bay of Annam, in a tyrannical way to the inhabitants; he took what he liked, and, to say it in one word, his will alone was law. His followers conducted themselves in the same manner; trusting to their power and strength, they were cruel and violent against the people; they divided the whole population among themselves, and took their wives and daughters by force. The inhabitants felt very much annoyed at this behaviour, and attached themselves more strongly to Fuh ying. They fixed a day on which some of the king's officers should make an attack on the sea-side, while the king himself with his general was to fight the van of the enemy, the(2 v.) people to rise en masse , and to run to arms, in order that they should be overwhelming by their numbers. Fuh ying was delighted at these tidings, and on the appointed day a great battle was fought, in which Ching tsih not being able to superintend all from the rear-guard to the van, and the people pressing besides very hard towards the centre, he was totally vanquished and his army destroyed. He himself died of a wound which he received in the battle. His younger brother Ching yĭh, the usurper, King shing, and his nephew Pang shang, with many others ran away. Ching yĭh, their chief, joined the pirates with his followers, who in these times robbed and plundered on the ocean indiscriminately. This was a very prosperous period for the pirates. So long as Wang pëaou remained admiral in these seas, all was peace and quietness both on the ocean and the sea-shore. The admiral gained repeated victories over the bandits;(3 r.) but as soon as Wang pëaou died, the pirates divided themselves into different squadrons, which sailed under various colours. There existed six large squadrons, under different flags, the red , the yellow , the green , the blue , the black , and the white . These wasps of the ocean were called after their different commanders, Ching yĭh , Woo che tsing , Meih yew kin , O po tai , Lëang paou , and Le shang tsing . To every one of these large squadrons belonged smaller ones, commanded by a deputy. Woo che tsing, whose nick-name was Tung hae pa , the Scourge of the Eastern Sea , 30was commander of the yellow flag, and Le tsung hoo his deputy. Meih yew kin and Nëaou shih, who for this reason was called Bird and stone , were the commanders of the blue flag, and their deputies Meih's brethren, Yew kwei and Yew këe. A certain Hae kang and another person Hwang ho, were employed as spies. O po tai, who afterwards changed his name to Lustre of instruction , 31was(3 v.) the commander of the black flag, and Ping yung ta, Chang jih këaou, and O tsew he, were his deputies. Lëang paou, nicknamed Tsung ping paou, The jewel of the whole crew , was the commander of the white flag. Le shang tsing, nicknamed The frog's meal , was the commander of the green ; and Ching yĭh of the red flag. Every flag was appointed to cruise in a particular channel. There was at this time a gang of robbers in the province Fo këen, known by the name of Kwei këen (6760, 5822); they also joined the pirates, who became so numerous that it was impossible to master them. We must in particular mention a certain Chang paou , a notorious character in after-times. Under Chang paou were other smaller squadrons, commanded by Suh ke lan (nicknamed Both odour and mountain ) Lëang po paou, Suh puh gow, and others. Chang paou himself belonged to the squadron of Ching yĭh saou, or the wife of Ching yĭh , 32so that the red flag alone was stronger than all the others united together.