421 years ago today, on April 16, 1604 (March 18, 1604 lunar calendar), Zheng Zhilong, the only power in the Eastern Ocean World, was born. Zheng Zhilong (April 16, 1604 - November 24, 1661), Flying Yellow, a native of Nanan Shijing, Quanzhou Prefecture, Fujian, was a representative of Minshang merchants. He was the largest maritime merchant and military group leader in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Zheng Chenggong's father, and the founder of the Zheng dynasty in Taiwan. When Zheng Zhilong was seventeen years old, due to the difficult livelihood of his family, he went to Xiangshan Macao (Macau), Guangdong Province, one of the centers of Sino-foreign trade at that time, with his younger brother Zhihu and Zhibao. Huang Cheng was a maritime merchant who engaged in overseas trade in Macau. He left Zheng Zhilong by his side as a helper and assisted in business. Zheng Zhilong used his wisdom and talents in business competition and interest competition, learned to do business and trade, went to Manila, and learned Lusita and Portuguese. In dealing with the Portuguese, under his influence, he was baptized in Catholicism and took the Christian name Jasper, another name Nicolas, foreigners called him Nicolas Zhilong. Huang Cheng bought foreign goods and sold goods to the East. Seeing Zheng Zhilong's ability, in the third year of Ming Apocalypse (1623), he was condemned to accompany Li Dan (Quanzhou), an overseas Chinese from Hirado, Japan, and escorted a batch of sugar, Chinan, musk, deerskin and other goods from Xiangshan Australia to Japan, where he lived in Nagasaki. Unfamiliar with people and places, he began to "sell shoes" as a business, or "sew for people to paste their mouths". Later, he turned to business, selling sugar, Chinan, musk and other things for his uncle Huang Cheng. Zheng Zhilong engaged in commercial activities and foreign trade, and later joined Li Dan's family to help Li Dan do business. He became the subordinate of Li Dan, the most powerful maritime merchant at that time, and "took care of his father". Li Dan had strong capital, owned a fleet, specialized in overseas trade, and was the leader of the local overseas Chinese. Li Dan felt that Zhilong was capable and reliable, so he "stroked it as a son" and handed over some assets and ships to let him do business in Vietnam, and won a lot of money. In a few years, Zheng Zhilong became a tycoon, often traveling between China and Japan, and living in Japan. Overseas Chinese, and respected him. After the Zheng Zhilong Group cleared the obstacles at sea, "From then on, the sea atmosphere has been quite relaxed, and all foreign goods are sold, domestic customers and foreign businesspeople, all using the Zheng's banner, without warning, and the merchants have 20 times the benefits. Zhilong does his best to make Haili's transportation noble, so that it can be greatly displayed." He used the navigation and business base of Anping Town, Quanzhou, to break the official sea ban and prosper the sea market. The armed fleet is clear-cut, and Goga Jianli sailed between the coast of China, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, the Philippines and other parts of South East Asia. He made full use of his power and financial resources to expand maritime trade and almost monopolized the trade between China and overseas countries. Zheng Zhilong "Since then, those who do not have the Zheng's flag in the sea cannot communicate with each other. Each ship earns 3,000 gold, and the annual income is tens of millions. Zhilong is rich enough to rival the country. Since the city was built in Anping (now Anhai, Jinjiang River), the sea ship can go straight to the bedroom, and can berth ships to reach the sea.... The Great Wall of Baimin is Zheng's. "With his strong armed forces and abundant capital, he competed with the commercial and trade companies of the Netherlands, Japan, and Nanyang countries in the international market. He was a representative of the combination of government and business and the germination of Chinese capitalism. To the regime of King Tang of Nanming, Zheng's maritime power was also the pillar. As Zheng Zhilong said:" The three gates are the subjects who are paid, and the sea is taken by the subjects. Without the sea, there is no home. "Zheng Zhilong engaged in overseas trade, mainly with Japan. According to the Dutch East India Company's "Batavia City Log" and "Hirado Dutch Pavilion Log" records: In the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), Zheng Zhilong and two merchant ships returned to Anhai, Quanzhou with goods from Nagasaki, Japan. Dozens of Zheng Zhilong merchant ships sailed to Nagasaki in the twelfth year of Chongzhen (1639). In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640), two Zheng Zhilong merchant ships were full of yellow and white silk, gauze, satin and other goods, and shipped to Japan. According to the "Nagasaki Dutch Merchant Ship Log" records, from 1641 to 1643 (the fourteenth to sixteenth year of Chongzhen), Zheng Zhilong carried a large amount of raw silk, various textiles, black and white sugar, musk, soil and other medicines, which were shipped to Japan and were very popular. In the summer of the 14th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1641), Zheng Zhilong's 22 merchant ships arrived in Nagasaki, Japan from Anping Port in Jinjiang County, accounting for 22.68% of the total number of Chinese merchant ships bound for Japan that year. The main goods were raw silk, textiles, porcelain, etc. Zheng Zhilong established trade relations with the Portuguese and Spaniards. Some of the silk fabrics he shipped to Japan were purchased from Macau, and Japanese goods were also shipped to Luzon for resale in Spain. Zheng Zhilong made great efforts to develop maritime trade, often laden with silk, porcelain, iron and other goods, sailing to Cambodia, Siam, Zhancheng, Jiaotou, Sanfoqi, the Philippines, Yaluba (now Jakarta), Malacca and other countries for trade, in exchange for Sumu, pepper, ivory, rhino horn and so on. In just a few years, it became the strongest competitor of the Dutch East India Company in commercial trade in Asia. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Chenggong and his son successively established a shipbuilding workshop in Nan'an Ishijing, building military and commercial ships, building three or five ships a year and repairing dozens of them. Due to the large-scale development of Zheng Zhilong's group's power, it also posed a great threat to the Dutch colonists. As soon as the Dutch ships appeared in the China Sea, they were intercepted by Zheng Zhilong's group. For this reason, in the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627), there was also a war between the Dutch army stationed in Taiwan and Zheng's army, which resulted in the defeat of the Dutch army. Zheng Zhilong cut off the heroes and incorporated the sea power into the local government system, obtained sea control, and legally controlled the operation of the Eastern In the 12th year of Chongzhen (1639), Japan locked up the country and withdrew from the maritime competition in East Asia; the Dutch colonists also had to reach a maritime navigation and trade agreement with Zheng's, stipulating that the Dutch trade with Japan required Zheng Zhilong to transport Chinese specialties to Taiwan, and after changing hands, the Dutch side shipped them to Japan for sale. Zheng Zhilong then became the only power in the eastern maritime world.