Lin Feng

Lin Feng ( traditional characters :林鳳, Abbreviation :林凤, Pinyin : Lin Feng), also known as Lima Hong and Lim ah hong known († 1575 in Pangasinan ) was a Chinese warlord and pirate of the 16th century.

Lin Feng, who came from a poor background, made a career as a criminal and plundered the east coast of China with his followers. In doing so, he undermined the power of the Ming dynasty.

In order to evade Qianlong's grasp, Lin Feng gathered 3,000 loyalists around him and in 1573 dared to attack the Philippines, which had recently been conquered by Spain .

In the spring of 1574 he landed with his men in Ilocos Sur in the far north-west of Luzón . He got involved in fighting with the Spanish conquistador Juán de Salcedo and decided to flee to the front. Lin Feng marched towards what is now Manila and besieged the fortress of Fuerza de Santiago, which was only built in 1571 . Lin Feng conquered the city and had it burned to the ground, the Spanish commander Martín de Goiti was killed.

In 1575, Juán de Salcedo, who came to the rescue, succeeded in forcing the men of Lin Feng to retreat to Pangasinan, where Lin Feng was finally caught and put to death at the stake .

Life

Lin Feng was born under the name Dim Mhon into a poor family in the city of Tru Cheo (Teochew) in the province of Cuy Tan (also called Catim by the Portuguese during the 16th century).

Limahong soon began to engage in criminal business and grew into a pirate with more than 2,000 followers. After his attacks on ports and ships in southern China increased, an arrest warrant was issued to arrest him alive and take him to the city of Tay.

Limahong then left southern China and began a life as a pirate on the high seas. After his fleet numbered over 40 ships, he returned to China and attacked a city which at that time was in the hands of another pirate, Vinh To Quiam. Vinh managed to escape on five ships, leaving his remaining 55 ships behind. In 1573 he gathered around 3,000 Chinese warriors, renegades and vagabonds and withdrew with them to the island of Luzon .

From their island the pirate leader and his bandits started a real war against the Spaniards. They landed for the first time in the spring of 1574 in Ilocos Sur , where there was a dispute with the commander Juan de Salcedo and his troops. The Spaniards finally succeeded in driving away the pirates.

The ruling emperor of the Ming Dynasty then sent 40,000 manned ships to capture the pirates, and the pirates began to hijack trading ships that were trading with China from Manila .

The pirates learned from two of these ships that Manila was a new, relatively unguarded Spanish settlement. Limahong, who knew that China at that time was pursuing a policy that refused to fight neighboring cities, decided to conquer Manila and found his own kingdom there.

Lin Feng married Nataracy.

On November 29, 1574, the pirates attacked the village of Parañaque and its residents on the way to Intramuros , the Spanish seat of government of the Philippines. According to reports from that period, the residents were disorganized until a man named Galo took over. With his help and the arrival of the Spanish military power under Captain Juan de Salcedo , it was possible to drive away the pirates. The fierce defense shocked the pirates, who assumed they would encounter little resistance and conquer Manila without difficulty. The blood of the fallen stained the water of the harbor red, and the battle became known as the "Incident That Colored the Sea". The Parañaqueños not only saved their village through their resistance, but also persuaded the pirates to give up his plans to conquer Manila. Galo was awarded the title “Don” by the Spanish Crown as a thank you for his help. A residential area was later named after him: Thus, Dongalo.

After his plans to conquer Manila were thwarted, Limahong ran towards the Gulf of Lingayén to settle in the Pangasinan province , where he knew he was out of reach of the Chinese and Spanish authorities. Near the mouth of the Agno River, he built a fortress with a palisade made of palm wood, dwellings covered with palm leaves and a palace. He then announced that he had defeated the Spaniards, that he would now rule over them as king and that they had to show him respect. To make things worse for the natives, he had their leaders captured and used as hostages

The Spaniards had sent a scout ship after the pirates, and the Captain Governor Lavezares returned after a short time with the exact whereabouts of the pirates.

An expedition of 256 Spaniards and over 2,500 Filipino soldiers - among them the Lakandula von Tondo and his son - left the port on March 23, 1575 on 59 ships to put an end to the pirates and their goings-on. More soldiers joined the army in Pangasinan, and on March 30th they crossed the Agno to surprise the unsuspecting Chinese. Juan de Salcedo had been appointed field marshal instead of Martín de Goití .

He was supported by the captains Lorenzo Chacon, Pedro de Chavez and Gabriel de Rivera. Upon entering the river, Salcedo noticed a narrow spot where the channel could easily be blocked to prevent the pirates from escaping. While he held the position there, he sent de Rivera ashore with 28 men and ordered de Chavez and Chacon to sail up the river with 9 small ships and 80 men in order to capture the Chinese ships. The attack had to be coordinated in order to ensure a simultaneous arrival of the three captains.

However, the men sailing up the river encountered 35 ships in the Chinese fleet, which were on their way to collect commissions. The unsuspecting pirates put the ships ashore and fled on foot.

source

• Antonio de Morga: Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas . Mexico City 1609, 2 volumes.
  • English translation by Emma Helen Blair entitled History of the Philippine Islands. From their discovery by Magellan in 1521 to the beginning of the XVII century. With descriptions of Japan, China and adjacent countries . The Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleveland 1907, 2 volumes (published in the series The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898. Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century as volumes 15 and 16).