Iquan's Party () is the name of an armed merchant company led by

Zheng Zhilong Zheng Zhilong, Marquis of Tong'an (; April 16, 1604 – November 24, 1661), baptismal name Nicholas Iquan Gaspard, was a Fujianese (Hokkien) admiral, merchant, translator, military general, politician, and pirate leader of the late Ming dyna ...

(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 The Tiandihui, the Heaven and Earth Society, also called Hongmen (the Vast Family), is a Chinese fraternal organization and historically a secretive folk religious sect in the vein of the Ming loyalist White Lotus Sect, the Tiandihu ...

'' ().

Development

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 fee would fly a flag indicating that protection. The enterprise was initially led by Li Dan 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).

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 rather than being part of the official Ming military. Iquan's Party would be inherited by

Koxinga Zheng Chenggong (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), born Zheng Sen () and better known internationally by his honorific title Koxinga (, from Taiwanese: ''kok sèⁿ iâ''), was a Southern Ming general who resisted the Qing conquest of Chin ...

, 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. Koxinga founded the

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning, also known as Tywan, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly ethnic Han state in Taiwanese history. At its z ...

with these forces. They fought in the

Sino-Dutch conflicts The Sino-Dutch conflicts were a series of conflicts between the Ming dynasty (and later its rump successor the Southern Ming dynasty and the Ming loyalist Kingdom of Tungning) of China and the Dutch East India Company over trade and land throug ...

in the Battle of Liaoluo Bay and

Siege of Fort Zeelandia The siege of Fort Zeelandia () of 1661–1662 ended the Dutch East India Company's rule over Taiwan and began the Kingdom of Tungning's rule over the island. Prelude From 1623 to 1624, the Dutch had been at war with Ming China over the Pescad ...

Notes

References