Yu Zigao

Zigao was the son of Yu Dayou, a notable pirate suppressor.[2]

He took command of Zhejiang and Fujian's military forces as dūdū (都督)[3] in February 1624 and immediately took a hard line against the Dutch East India Company stronghold on Penghu Island in the Pescadores.[2] They had previously agreed to withdraw to Taiwan but had continued to delay the move.[2] Yu commissioned several iron "red-barbarian cannon", one of the first Chinese officials to do so.[3] He assembled his provincial forces and forced the Dutch to dismantle their fortifications in August the same year.[2] They then removed themselves to Taiwan, where they established Fort Zeelandia.[2] Following the recovery of the Pescadores, Yu had its Mazu temple refurbished and enlarged.[4]

Yu Zigao was on friendly terms with the merchant and pirate Li Dan[2] and used his position to enrich himself.[5]

In 1627 and 1628, Li Dan's protégé[2] Zheng Zhilong launched a series of massive pirate invasions of the Fujianese coast, maintaining his popularity by targeting the wealthy and reserving some of the plunder for assistance to the poor.[6] He sank hundreds of Ming vessels and captured several county seats around Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.[6] In 1628, he successfully attacked Xiamen ("Amoy"), the base of Yu Zigao's anti-piracy forces, and forced Yu to flee.[6] By capturing and executing pirates affiliated with Yu and offering to submit to Ming control, he was able to legitimize himself at Yu's expense.[6] (Yu himself had difficulty at the imperial court owing to his association with the eunuch faction under Wei Zhongxian.)[6]

The 1624 stele recording Yu Zigao's ultimatum to the Dutch to abandon Taiwan was discovered at Magong's Mazu Temple in 1919[7] and is preserved by the temple.

• Sino-Dutch conflicts
• Zheng dynasty