In 1775, a baby girl entered the world with an unbelievable career ahead of her: ruling the high seas and terrorizing an entire empire.

In this episode of Never Heard of Her, we set sail with Zheng Yi (also known as Cheng Shih), the legendary mastermind who took a modest maritime gang and weaponized them into the unstoppable Red Flag Fleet. We explore how she turned a chaotic band of cutthroats into a tightly run corporate empire complete with strict codes of conduct, surprising rules on plunder-sharing and HR policies. Discover how this formidable commander brought the Chinese Empire to its knees, negotiated her own retirement package, and wrote her own rules from start to finish.

And what the heck could this Pirate Queen have in common with Jane Austen?!?

Tune in to find out about that and much more!

Chapters:

0:00:00 Intro & guesswork

0:03:50 Zheng Yi - where her story begins

0:09:24 Forging of the Red Flag Fleet Alliance

0:10:40 New Alliances instead of losing power

0:13:30 Zheng’s background & family

0:16:26 Consolidating power & the professionalisation of piracy

0:23:10 Accounting for pirates (pirates with rules!)

0:30:28 Two years later: there’s a Pirate Empire!

0:35:40 The reaction of the Chinese Empire

0:42:10 The orderly end of an unruly life

0:51:31 Badass Scale & Wrap

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Tags: #ZhengYi #ChengShih #PirateHistory #BadassWomen #Herstory #WomenInHistory #HistoryPodcast #FunHistory #TrueStories #NeverHeardOfHerPod

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