On October 21, Li Zhi's fleet of 20 large ships arrived ten miles north of the city of Relanje, then landed on land and headed for the city of Relanje.
The troops participating in the battle not only included 2,000 soldiers of the Traps Regiment, 1,000 Hsinchu garrison troops, but also 1,000 naval artillerymen. The artillerymen unloaded 100 18-pound guns from the ship and became a naval force.
Marine Corps, accompanying Li Zhi in the expedition against Relan Zhe.
Li Zhi wanted to officially start a war with the Dutch who were plundering the southeast coast.
The Dutch are not a small enemy. You must know that the seventeenth century can be said to be the century of the Dutch.
The Netherlands had previously conquered Spain, which dominated the European continent, and gained independence from Spain. It developed into the number one shipping and trade power in the 17th century. In the 14th year of Chongzhen's reign, the number of Dutch merchant ships exceeded the total number of merchant ships of all European countries.
Known as the "Sea Coachman".
In 1602, the Dutch began to concentrate their efforts, eventually giving birth to the Dutch United East India Company. This company's operating model also became an organizational model for the overseas expansion of European powers for more than two hundred years. Subsequently, the East India Company established by various European countries,
It can be said that they are all the origins of the Dutch United East India Company.
The Dutch United East India Company was first a colonial organization and a military organization, and secondly an economic organization. According to the authorization of the highest authority of the Netherlands, the East India Company not only had the trade monopoly over the entire Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean from the Cape of Good Hope to the Strait of Magellan, but also had
The power to independently establish rule, recruit troops, declare war, conclude peace treaties and even mint currency in this vast area.
At this time, in the 14th year of Chongzhen, except for a few areas, the Dutch United East India Company had actually controlled the sea power in major sea areas around the world, and was the well-deserved global hegemon at this time.
The governor-general of the Dutch East India Company was located in Batavia, which later became Jakarta, Indonesia. It can be seen that the Far East, or East Asia and Southeast Asia, was the area that the Dutch East India Company focused on.
Taiwan Island, which was called Formosa by the Dutch at this time, was a battleground for military strategists in the Far East. Not only was Taiwan Island huge and vast, it was also located in the middle of the Japanese trade route among the Nanyang Islands. It can be said who controlled Taiwan.
, it controlled the trade routes between Western countries and Japan. Using Taiwan as a base, it could easily plunder Western ships bound for Japan from Southeast Asian colonies.
The Netherlands' national power was at its peak at this time, and it was aggressive and sent troops to compete with the Spanish for Formosa Island. The Spanish established the city of Keelung in northern Taiwan, and the Dutch established the city of Jelandja in the southwest of Taiwan. Compared with the Spanish
A small castle with a few hundred people, the Dutch city of Geranje was much larger.
Relanje Castle was built in the southwest corner of Taiwan Island. It was composed of a series of castles in the later Tainan area. The core Relanje Castle was built on a small island outside the harbor, four kilometers away from the main island of Taiwan.
"Fort Relanje is divided into two parts: the inner fort and the outer fort. The inner fort, the core castle, was started in the fourth year of Tianqi and completed in the fifth year of Chongzhen. The outer fort was completed in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen. It took a total of eighteen years to build."
Fort Geranje is a bastion from the era of hot weapons, equipped with a large number of heavy artillery for defense. "The inner fort is square, about 115 meters wide, facing south, with a total of three floors, and the wall is about 2 feet 9 high.
It is three feet and eight inches thick. There are bastions protruding seventeen feet and four feet at the four corners of the top floor. The wall is five feet and eight inches thick and has a watchtower attached. There are fifteen heavy artillery pieces on the top floor, and there are deep wells dug into the sea in the north and south.
, to prevent fire attacks. There are central round forts on each side of the second floor, equipped with twelve heavy cannons. There are small doors and brick ladders on the north side, which can go down to the basement and ammunition depot."
"The outer fort is lower and overlaps the northwest corner of the inner fort. The wall is three feet eight inches thick and the parapet is four feet high. There are also bastions protruding from the northwest and southwest corners. The outer fort is 165 meters long and 70 meters long.
Seven meters wide.”
"The walls of the entire castle are paved with bricks, made of oyster ash pounded with sugar water and glutinous rice juice and sand made into three-component clay. The inner castle bricks are one inch and a half thick, and the outer castle is one and a half inches thick. The entire castle is a Dutch design.
The governor's station and military center in Taiwan."
To the east of Fort Relanje, on the land of the main island of Taiwan, there is also Chikan Fort. Chikan Fort is smaller. "The fortress consists of a large platform and two small platforms in the southwest corner. The entrance to the fort is located at
There are gun mounts in the center of the west, east, west, south and north, with a total of eight heavy guns. The perimeter of the building is 140 meters, and the height of the building is unusually 3 feet and 6 feet. There are also cellars and wells in the fort, and the outer wall is 1 meter and 80 centimeters thick.
"
There are many merchants and residents around Chikan Fort, which is actually a town. The Dutch trade deer skins and other items with the local indigenous people in this town. The Dutch not only conduct trade here, but also use force to coerce the locals.
Aboriginal and Han people collected taxes.
This time to attack the Dutch, Li Zhi relied on his own one hundred 18-pound cannons, so Li Zhi appointed Lu Hu, who was experienced in artillery command, as the frontline commander.
According to reports, there were 2,000 garrison guards in Fort Relanje and Fort Chikan. Among them, there were 300 in Fort Chican and 1,800 in Fort Relanje.
Li Zhi landed to attack the city of Relanje from the land route. The first thing he had to capture was Chikan Fort. After capturing Chikan Fort, Fort Relanje became an isolated city on a small island. By then, Li Zhi could attack, retreat or defend, and he could win the war.
initiative.
When Li Zhi landed, he asked a Han from Fujian who had lived in the lower town of Chikanbao for many years to lead the way.
The Fujian Han seemed to be very afraid of the Dutch red-haired man. Although he got twenty taels of silver from Li Zhi and decided to take the risk to lead the way, he was trembling all the way and looked behind him all the time, as if he was worried that he would not have an escape route after Li Zhi's defeat. How many times did he walk
He stopped for a few steps and didn't move forward until the guards behind him pushed him.
The closer he got to Chikan Fort, the paler his face turned. Finally, five miles away from Chikan Fort, he knelt on the ground with a plop, trembling all over.
He knelt on the ground, raised his head and said loudly to Li Zhi: "Uncle, I can't go ahead. If I go further, the red hair will come out and kill me. I don't want the money anymore. Uncle, you are so kind and merciful, let me go back!"
Li Zhi looked at the guide coldly and said nothing.
Lu Hu, the "Navy Admiral" next to Li Zhi, kicked the guide and scolded: "Dignified citizens of the Ming Dynasty, are you so afraid of red hair? Xing Guobo fought in the north and south, and killed tens of thousands of Tatars.
Are you that afraid of a few red-haired people?"
The guide kept kowtowing on the ground and said tremblingly: "Uncle Xingguo, this red-haired man is not as good as the Tatars, he is even more ferocious than the Tatars! When Wanli was the emperor and the Ming Dynasty frightened the barbarians, the governor
Nan Juyi used 10,000 men to attack Penghu, where Hongmao's hundreds of men were stationed, and fought in darkness for several months. The Hongmao was rampaging all over the world, and they were sweeping everywhere. At least one of Hongmao's men and horses could withstand it.
Ten Han soldiers!"
"When my uncle said he was going to attack Relanze, I thought he would mobilize at least tens of thousands of people to attack. Now there are two thousand red-haired men in the city of Relanze, but my uncle sent four thousand Han soldiers to attack. This battle..."
The guide glanced at Li Zhi with a pale face, and suddenly said loudly: "I'm afraid this battle will be a disaster!"
