Vintoquián

Vintoquián (Chinese: 林道乾; pinyin: Lín Dàoqián; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm tō-khiân, Malay: Tok Kayan, Thai: ลิ้มโต๊ะเคี่ยม) was a Chinese pirate and trader. He was born in modern-day Huilai County, Jieyang, Guangdong. Vintoquián's forces took the Penghu islands. He was later driven from Taiwan by the Ming dynasty navy.

Life

One of the most famous folk characters of the pre-Dutch Takau region was the pirate Vintoquián (林道乾, Lin Daoqian) (林道乾), reputed to have been active in robbing ships of their treasure during the reign of the Ming Jiajing Emperor (1522–1566). Folklore holds that while anchored at Takau in 1563, Lin placed his treasure into eighteen and a half bamboo baskets, hiding them in the surrounding hills. During this time, Lin was told by a feng shui master named Wu Ban-hsien (吳半仙) that if he were to bury his deceased father in a "dragon cave" near modern-day Jiali, leave an offering of an arrow upon the altar , and sleep while holding one hundred grains of white rice in his mouth for one hundred days, before firing three arrows towards the imperial capital in the northwest on the dawn of the last day, he would be able to conquer all the lands under heaven. Shortly after hearing this, Lin discovered a "divine rooster" while hunting in the hills, whose call could be heard for over 300 li and would cause all other roosters to call at the same time. Upon capturing the divine rooster, Lin handed it to his sister Jin-lien (金蓮) to care for, while he prepared to fire the arrows towards the imperial capital at the crack of dawn on the one hundredth day.

On the final night, Jin-lien was unable to sleep, sitting awake under a lamp with the divine rooster. At the hour of midnight, Jin-lien touched the rooster to pet it, but inadvertently startled the rooster, causing it to call. Upon hearing the rooster calling, Lin awoke and mistakenly thought that dawn had arrived, immediately firing off three divine arrows with his name towards the imperial capital in the northwest. Thinking he had succeeded, Lin went back to sleep dreaming that he had become emperor. The three arrows flew into the imperial palace, unerringly striking the dragon throne. However, as it was midnight, the throne was empty. The next morning, the emperor found the three arrows with Lin's name on them stuck in his throne. Realizing that Lin had attempted to kill him, the emperor became enraged and ordered his troops to arrest Lin.

With imperial troops closing in, Lin attempted to flee, but was delayed by his sister who refused to leave without their eighteen and a half baskets of treasure. In a fit of panic, Lin killed his own sister before fighting his way out of the sieging forces. In the process, Lin struck the side of the valley between Takou Mountain and Chi-hou Mountain, breaking a hole through which seawater poured in. Lin and his men escaped by sea from this hole, according to legend.