Born on 25 October 1642, he was the eldest son of
Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong) and a grandson of the pirate-merchant
Zheng Zhilong. After the
conquest of Fort Zeelandia in 1662 by his father, Zheng Jing controlled the military forces in
Amoy and
Quemoy on his father's behalf, but the friction between him and his father was later provoked by a domestic dispute, as he secretly had an
incestuous relationship with his brother's
wet nurse, with whom he had a newborn son (
Zheng Kezang), despite having been married. Koxinga was ashamed and resentful by his son's behaviour and ordered Jing's execution, but his order was never implemented due to the opposition by Amoy's forces, and Koxinga's sudden death of
malaria in June 1662. Upon the death of his father six months later, Zheng Jing contested throne as the King of
Tungning with his uncle, Zheng Shixi. The civil war was end in Zheng Jing's victory after he successfully quelled the hostile forces of his uncle in Taiwan and captured Fort Zeelandia. This was followed by Zheng Shixi withdrawing his claim and his surrender to the
Qing dynasty next year. With both the vast armed merchant fleet and the throne of Tungning, he intended to continue his father's former plan to invade
Luzon which was
under Spanish rule; however, he was forced to abandon this venture when faced the immediate threat of a Manchu-Dutch alliance. His defeat of a combined Qing-Dutch fleet commanded by Han Banner General Ma Degong in 1664 resulted in ending the brief alliance. Ma Degong was killed in the battle by Zheng's fleet, but the islands of Amoy and Quemoy fell to the Qing forces, forcing him to withdraw all his troops and resources to Taiwan. The Dutch looted relics and killed monks after attacking a Buddhist complex at Putuoshan on the Zhoushan islands in 1665 during their war against Zheng Jing's fleet. Zheng Jing's navy executed thirty four Dutch sailors and drowned eight Dutch sailors after looting, ambushing and sinking the Dutch fluyt ship Cuylenburg in 1672 on northeastern Taiwan. Only twenty one Dutch sailors escaped to Japan. The ship was going from Nagasaki to Batavia on a trade mission. During his 19-year reign, he tried to provide sufficiently for the local inhabitants and reorganized military forces in Taiwan. He frequently exchanged ambassadors with the
Kangxi Emperor from the mainland. Although he continued to fight for the cause his father died for, he had largely abandoned any pretense of restoring the
Ming dynasty by the time he invaded
Fujian in 1676. Zheng's forces land in
Siming at the behest of
Geng Jingzhong, who had joined the
Revolt of the Three Feudatories, following the lead of
Wu Sangui. He occupied key cities in the province for a year before losing them back to the Manchus by the end of 1677. Invading Fujian once more, he led a force of 30,000 men to capture
Haicheng as well as taking the provincial commander prisoner. In 1680, Zheng Jing was forced to abandon
Amoy,
Quemoy and
Tang-soaⁿ after losing a major naval battle to Chinese
Qing admiral
Shi Lang. Driven off
China proper by the Manchus, he retreated to modern-day Tainan where he died on 17 March 1681. Zheng named as his successor his oldest son,
Zheng Kezang; however, Zheng Kezang was quickly toppled in favor of
Zheng Keshuang. == Family ==