Iquan's Party
Encyclopedia
Iquan's Party is the name of an armed merchant company led by Zheng Zhilong
(also known by his baptismal name Nicholas Iquan Gaspard) that appears in the novel The chronicles of Zheng Zhilong. Although Zheng Zhilong was a real person the company as it is portrayed in the novel is fictional and not an actual historical organisation.
According to the book Iquan's Party was the Zheng clan's
trading fleet, which in general referred to Zheng Zhilong's armed merchant enterprise, more specifically this was made up of the Five Mountain Merchants and Five Seas Merchants responsible for trade, Zheng's household forces and an intelligence division known as the Hongmen Tiandihui
.
would fly a flag indicating that protection. The enterprise was initially led by Li Dan (sometimes known as Andrea Dittis) who was a leader of the Chinese merchant community in Japan, at this time Zheng Zhilong was the youngest member of the Society of the Twenty Eight Brothers. By 1625 Zheng Zhilong had become the leader of a group of eighteen birth and oath brothers
known as the Eighteen Zhis (so called because all eighteen shared Zhi as a generational name
).
Militarily in addition to expanding his existing naval forces, Zheng created land forces. However because official resources were lacking, Zheng's army were closer to being household retainers rather than of being true professional soldiers; their role being to protect the group's trade by providing security both at sea and ashore. Income from the group's trade activities went back into the maintenance of its military, the relationship with the government being similar to modern outsourced private military contracts
rather than being part of the official Ming military.
Iquan's Party would be inherited by Koxinga
, and under his leadership the development of the trade arm of the organisation would become ever more intricate whilst the military arm was effectively unified.
Zheng Zhilong
Zheng Zhilong also known as Nicholas Iquan Gaspard, a native of Nan'an, Fujian, China. He was a Chinese merchant, pirate and admiral for the Ming Empire. He was the father of Zheng Chenggong , also a military leader. Under the Qing Dynasty, Zheng was elevated to the rank of Count of the Second Rank...
(also known by his baptismal name Nicholas Iquan Gaspard) that appears in the novel The chronicles of Zheng Zhilong. Although Zheng Zhilong was a real person the company as it is portrayed in the novel is fictional and not an actual historical organisation.
According to the book Iquan's Party was the Zheng clan's
Chinese clan
A Chinese clan is a patrilineal and patrilocal group of related Chinese people with a common surname sharing a common ancestor and, in many cases, an ancestral home.-Description:...
trading fleet, which in general referred to Zheng Zhilong's armed merchant enterprise, more specifically this was made up of the Five Mountain Merchants and Five Seas Merchants responsible for trade, Zheng's household forces and an intelligence division known as the Hongmen Tiandihui
Tiandihui
The Tiandihui is a fraternal organization that originated in China. The Hongmen grouping is today more or less synonymous with the whole Tiandihui concept, although the title "Hongmen" is also claimed by some criminal groups.As the Tiandihui spread through different counties and provinces, it...
.
Early period
Initially Iquan's Party was a simple trading enterprise plying the Japan-China Southeast Asian trade routes. In addition it operated a business providing security to trading ships, ships that had paid a protection feeProtection racket
A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...
would fly a flag indicating that protection. The enterprise was initially led by Li Dan (sometimes known as Andrea Dittis) who was a leader of the Chinese merchant community in Japan, at this time Zheng Zhilong was the youngest member of the Society of the Twenty Eight Brothers. By 1625 Zheng Zhilong had become the leader of a group of eighteen birth and oath brothers
Blood Brothers
Blood Brothers is a musical written by Willy Russell, based loosely on the 1844 novella The Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas, père. The story is a contemporary nature vs. nurture plot, revolving around fraternal twins who were separated at birth...
known as the Eighteen Zhis (so called because all eighteen shared Zhi as a generational name
Generation name
Generation name, variously zibei or banci, is one of the characters in a traditional Chinese name, and is so called because each member of a generation share that character, unlike surnames or given names...
).
Middle period
During this period Zheng temporarily left the organisation, turning to outright piracy in Taiwan under Yan Siqi. When this pirate grouping dissolved some of its members continued to follow Zheng Zhilong, this becoming the core of his personal navy.Late period
Later, in 1628, Zheng accepted the authority of the Ming government, the Eighteen Zhis splitting into pro and anti Ming factions. From this time onwards Zheng worked to suppress smuggling, apprehending even those who in previous days were oath brothers, at one time presenting to the court papers relating to "The arrest of Zhengyi Guan by Zheng Zhilong" documents created to show that he had washed his hands of his previous life of brigandage.Militarily in addition to expanding his existing naval forces, Zheng created land forces. However because official resources were lacking, Zheng's army were closer to being household retainers rather than of being true professional soldiers; their role being to protect the group's trade by providing security both at sea and ashore. Income from the group's trade activities went back into the maintenance of its military, the relationship with the government being similar to modern outsourced private military contracts
Private military company
A private military company or provides military and security services. These combatants are commonly known as mercenaries, though modern-day PMCs refer to their staff as security contractors, private military contractors or private security contractors, and refer to themselves as private military...
rather than being part of the official Ming military.
Iquan's Party would be inherited by Koxinga
Koxinga
Koxinga is the customary Western spelling of the popular appellation of Zheng Chenggong , a military leader who was born in 1624 in Hirado, Japan to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant/pirate, and his Japanese wife and died in 1662 on the island of Formosa .A Ming loyalist and the arch commander of...
, and under his leadership the development of the trade arm of the organisation would become ever more intricate whilst the military arm was effectively unified.