[3][4] After the death of her husband in 1807, she took control of his pirate confederation with the support of Zheng Yi's adopted son Zhang Bao, with whom she entered into a relationship and later married.

[7] In 1810, Zheng Yi Sao negotiated a surrender to the Qing authorities that allowed her and Zhang Bao to retain a substantial fleet and avoid prosecution.

[20] Most importantly, Zheng Yi Sao had the support of Zhang Bao, who was in effect commanding the Red Flag Fleet at the time.

In September, Zhang Bao first lured then ambushed Lin Guoliang (林國良), brigade-general (統兵) of Humen, and destroyed his fleet of 35 ships near Mazhou Island, located east of what is now Bao'an District, Shenzhen.

A month later in October, Zhang Bao defeated lieutenant-colonel (參將) Lin Fa (林發) near present-day Weiyuan Island east of Humen Town.

[26] Guo Podai worked his way through the numerous waterways along the Pearl River for six weeks on a bloody raiding campaign which ultimately caused the deaths of approximately 10,000 people.

On the 29th, Zheng Yi Sao ordered Zhang Bao to raid the town of Shating (沙亭) further upriver, where he captured around 400 civilians; on October 2, Zheng Yi Sao ordered Guo Podai to anchor around Jigongshi (雞公石), presumably near Sanxiongqi (三雄奇, modern day Sanhongqi 三洪奇), where he raided two days later.

[29] In desperation, Chinese officials looked with renewed interest at the "foreign barbarians", hoping to obtain aid against Zheng Yi Sao and the Pirate Confederation.

[30][31] In early November, 1809, Zheng Yi Sao suddenly left the Pearl River with only a few ships, and anchored at Tung Chung Bay, north of Lantau Island, for repairs.

Frustrated with the lack of progress, Sun Quanmou converted 43 of his ships into fireships and set them adrift towards the pirates in Tung Chung Bay on the 28th.

On the 29th, Zhang Bao and Zheng Yi Sao, taking full advantage of the wind, broke through the blockade, and escaped into the South China Sea.

On January 13, 1810, Guo Podai officially surrendered to the Viceroy of Liangguang, Bai Ling, and was rewarded with the rank of sublieutenant (把總).

The negotiations quickly broke down when Bai Ling refused Zheng Yi Sao and Zhang Bao's demand of retaining 5,000 subordinates and 80 ships for entering the salt trade and joining the anti-pirate campaign in western Guangdong.

At the end of the day, ten British Indiamen sailed past the pirate fleet and alarmed Zhang Bao, who suspected some sort of Sino-European trap and quickly retreated.

[44][45] On April 17, Zheng Yi Sao, wanting to break the deadlock, personally led a delegation of 17 women and children to the Yamen at Guangzhou and negotiated with Bai Ling, where he yielded to her demands.

On April 20, 1810, Zheng Yi Sao and Zhang Bao officially surrendered to Bai Ling near Furongsha (芙蓉沙, near what is now Guzaiwan 古仔湾)[46] with 17,318 pirates, 226 ships, 1,315 cannons, and 2,798 assorted weapons.

[50] In 1840, while living at Nanhai, Zheng Yi Sao filed charges against a government official, Wu Yaonan (伍耀南), for having embezzled 28,000 taels of silver that Zhang Bao had handed over to him in 1810 for the purchase of an estate.

[51] In 1844, Zheng Yi Sao died at the age of 68 or 69, having led a relatively peaceful life after the death of her second husband, as the proprietor of an infamous gambling house somewhere around Guangdong.

[55] It is thought that Gosse was primarily interested in a sensationalized account of Zheng Yi Sao, as he claimed in The History of Piracy that "the original (Jing hai fen ji), published in Canton in 1830, is chiefly devoted to the exploits of one pirate, and that a woman,"[56] while in fact Jin hai fen ji contains significantly more mentions of Zhang Bao (88) than Zheng Yi Sao (25).

[57] Although the fact that the codes were misattributed was established, other sources list additional codes that may have been issued by Zheng Yi Sao, which is compiled below:[58] A semi-fictionalized account of Zheng Yi Sao, based on Philip Gosse's The History of Piracy, appeared in Jorge Luis Borges' short story The Widow Ching, Lady Pirate (part of A Universal History of Infamy (1935)), where she is described as "a lady pirate who operated in Asian waters, all the way from the Yellow Sea to the rivers of the Annam coast", and who, after surrendering to the imperial forces, is pardoned and allowed to live the rest of her life as an opium smuggler.

[60][61] In 2020 Angela Eiter finished the first ascent of the mountain climbing route Madame Ching (which she named after Zheng Yi Sao) in Imst, Austria.