Zheng Yi's widow took command of his pirate fleets, married his adopted heir, and surrendered to the Qing in 1810 keeping her plunder

Zheng Yi Sao had worked as a prostitute in Canton before she married the pirate chief Zheng Yi in 1801. His confederation had six fleets under coloured flags, and he led the Red Flag Fleet of about 200 ships. He died in November 1807, in battle or in a typhoon. The other five captains chose his widow to succeed him. Zhang Bao had been Zheng Yi's protégé; James Carter calls him Zheng Yi's adopted heir. She took him as her lover and put him in command of the Red Flag Fleet. Her rules required captured goods to be registered, gave the capturing ship a fifth of the cargo and set punishments from ear-cutting to death. By one estimate she led more than 70,000 people. In April 1810 she went with women and children to the office of the governor-general, Bai Ling, and offered to surrender. The pirates kept their plunder. Zhang Bao was made a Qing naval officer and kept his own ships, and his men could join the army or navy. She married him. They had a son. Zhang Bao died in 1822. She lived in and near Canton for two more decades, running a gambling house that fronted for smuggling, and died in 1844, aged 69.