Snowflakes are falling outside, and Dengzhou Port has long been frozen by solid ice.
In Penglai Palace, the interior is as warm as spring.
Guanglu Temple has been preparing for a long time, so even though it was wartime, the banquet still showed the true character of the Great Tomorrow Dynasty, and the various dishes were exquisite.
Van der Laan, the Far East commander of the Dutch East India Company from Batavia, sat in this brightly lit palace and enjoyed the exquisite delicacies in front of him. He felt that this was really an extremely magical place.
Before coming from Batavia, he once thought that the trip would not be difficult. After all, the Ming Dynasty in the Far East was a Han Chinese country that had long been decadent and backward, and it had just been invaded by barbarians from the northeast, and even two of its capitals were taken away.
, they are already lingering in the south.
To actually dare to send troops to Dutch Taiwan is really overestimating one's capabilities.
Although as early as twenty years ago, when Van Der Lang was just a musketeer on an armed merchant ship, he had come to the Far East and fought against the Ming army.
It was in the fourth year of the Apocalypse that the Dutch East India Company sent seven warships and 900 soldiers to invade Penghu for the second time in order to establish a transit station on the trade route from Batavia to Nagasaki, Japan, and even to trade directly with China.
, and blocked Zhangzhou’s outlet to the sea.
The last time they invaded Penghu was eighteen years ago in the 32nd year of Wanli. Fleet commander Wei Malang led the fleet to invade Penghu and demanded mutual trade. The governor of Fujian refused, and sent his chief Shen Yourong to Penghu to repel them.
Dutch.
The unwilling Dutch came back again eighteen years later. Nan Juyi, the governor of Fujian, personally arrived at Kinmen, led 10,000 soldiers and 200 warships, crossed the sea and recaptured Penghu.
After seven months of hard fighting and a military expenditure of 170,000 taels, the Dutch were finally driven back, forcing them to abandon Penghu, which they had occupied for two years, and retreat to Taiwan.
At that time, Van der Lang was just a young musketeer. After four months of training at the Batavia bastion, he came to Penghu by ship and garrisoned the castle on the island. Because the castle was relatively simple at that time and was an unfinished castle.
, an imperfect bastion, so faced with the siege of 10,000 Ming troops, especially when Zheng Zhilong was later mobilized to recruit pirates, the Dutch were finally defeated.
In that battle, although young Fan Delang suffered two wounds, he killed more than a dozen Ming troops, so he looked down on the Ming troops from the bottom of his heart.
After retreating to Taiwan, he stayed there for a while, and then returned to Batavia. In the next twenty years, he basically stayed in Nanyang, fighting the Portuguese, fighting the natives of Nanyang, and suppressing the sea.
Thief, he even fought against Zheng many times.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch went to war twice in Penghu, but the two sides had different philosophies.
The Netherlands was a land of sea coachmen and mercantile merchants, and the East India Company was even more of a magical thing. They came to the Far East and took a fancy to a small island like Penghu, purely because of its geographical location and wanted to establish a trade here.
The transfer station was not only to break through the trade blockade between Portugal and Spain, but also to trade directly with the Ming Dynasty.
It's a pity that although coastal trade in the Ming Dynasty was very popular, it was basically smuggling. The only official port was Yuegang in Zhangzhou. Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty didn't look down on the Dutch at all, and even directly designated them as pirates.
Fight when you come, and fight again when you come again.
The Dutch occupied Taiwan, but the Ming Dynasty ignored it at all. Anyway, the overseas desert islands did not affect the Ming Dynasty.
But Penghu can't do it, because Penghu is opposite Fujian, let alone the Dutch who occupied Penghu and started trouble. They not only blocked the Zhangquan port, but also attacked passing merchant ships. How can this be done?
Later, after they were repelled, Ming ignored them. Although they often came to ask for trade from Ming, but who cares about you.
The new Governor-General of the East India Company, Peterson Kun, was a very powerful man and very ambitious. He directly stated in his report to the Council of Seventeen that the example of China made us realize that we cannot pursue trade in a peaceful way.
You cannot gain trade rights by using force.
So he sent a fleet to expedition to the Ming Dynasty and told the fleet commander that the mission of this fleet was to establish free trade relations with China and at the same time destroy the trade relations between Spain and Portugal and the Ming Dynasty. In order to achieve this goal, he must first capture Macau by surprise and cut them off.
trade with Japan, and then sent part of the fleet to Penghu to build forts there to intercept merchant ships sailing between Xiamen and Manila.
As long as these goals are achieved, the monopoly of Fujian trade will fall into the hands of the Dutch as naturally as ripe apples.
He not only asked the fleet to use military means to knock on China's trade door, but even asked to plunder the population along China's coast in order to build a new colony, Batavia.
In the second year of the Apocalypse, the Dutch fleet of fifteen warships led by Commander Lei Yeshan first raided Macau and fought for two days, losing 130 people, and finally retreated without success.
Then he went north to Penghu. After arriving at Penghu, he sent ships to Taiwan and began to plunder inland and coastal areas.
The Dutch called Taiwan Island Formosa, but later they discovered that only a few mainland merchant ships came to trade here every year, and then a few Japanese merchant ships came to connect. This amount of trade did not arouse the interest of the Dutch at all.
In the end, I still thought that the port location and conditions in Penghu were better, so I chose to occupy Penghu and build a castle for development.
Later, in the early Chongzhen period, Zheng Zhilong gradually became stronger and accepted the imperial court's invitation to control Xiamen, Kinmen and other places.
Later, Zheng Zhilong took the initiative to sign a trade agreement with the Dutch. The two parties agreed not to attack or invade each other. The Dutch purchased Ming goods from Zheng, etc. In fact, both parties monopolized one side of the trade. Whether the Dutch bought Ming goods or
Goods exported to the Ming Dynasty can only be traded with the Zheng family, not with the Ming Dynasty or other maritime merchants.
And the Zheng family could only trade with the Dutch, and could not sail the ship directly to Manila controlled by Spain, or Macau controlled by Portuguese, or the further Southeast Asian islands for trading.
However, after the signing of this treaty, both parties were still not satisfied, and conducted various tests and even attacks.
Zheng Zhilong used the agreement he reached with the Dutch to induce Li Kuiqi's men, the largest fleet at sea at the time, to rebel. Then he cooperated with the Zheng family and the Dutch fleet to launch a three-party attack and capture Li Kuiqi alive.
The Dutch also followed suit and instigated Li Kui's men to rebel against Zheng Zhilong, hoping to take the opportunity to suppress the Zheng family and obtain more benefits. As a result, after Zheng Zhilong came to the Ming Dynasty, with the support of the Ming Dynasty, he quickly suppressed the rebellion and cooperated with the Dutch
Human conflicts are always on the verge of breaking out.
So the Dutch later launched an attack on the Ming Dynasty during the decisive battle between Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang. One fleet attacked Nan'ao, and another fleet attacked Xiamen, Zheng Zhilong's hometown.
The Dutch severely damaged the Ming Navy and Zheng Zhilong, but Zheng Zhilong used a delaying strategy to delay the Dutch. Then Zheng Zhilong united with the imperial navy, and the two sides held a naval battle at Liaoluo Bay.
But the result was that Zheng Zhilong sank two Dutch warships, captured one, and sank dozens of Liu Xiang's pirate ships, which greatly damaged the alliance between the Dutch and Liu Xiang.
Zheng Zhilong also showed his superb skills and took the initiative to write a letter to the Dutch, offering to accept the Dutch for coastal trade and encourage them to trade in Taiwan. By using some means, he successfully divided the relationship between the Dutch and Liu Xiang's pirate group.
alliance.
Later, Liu Xiang stationed troops in Penghu in an attempt to form an alliance with the Dutch again, but the Dutch rejected him. Liu Xiang became angry and sent troops to attack the Dutch fortress of Reba in Taiwan. However, he was weak and had no idea of such a Western-style fortress.
I had no choice but to return angrily.
Without strong support, Liu Xiang became a lost dog. Zheng Zhilong took advantage of the victory to pursue him, beat up the drowned dog, and successfully wiped out Liu Xiang.
After that, the Dutch also realized the stubbornness of the Ming Dynasty and the strength of the Zheng family, so they completely gave up their intention to directly attack China and simply developed in Taiwan with peace of mind. They were forced to accept the reality of trading through the Zheng family.
After years of operation, they established this trade route between Batavia, Taiwan, and Nagasaki.
The two sides have also maintained stability for more than ten years.
Van der Lang also went from a young boy when he attacked Penghu to an old man who is almost fifty years old now, and has gradually reached the position of fleet commander.
It's just that the situation he faces now is much worse than that of his fleet commander back then.
In fact, before the Ming army wanted to attack Taiwan, there had been rumors there for a long time. This rumor also came from the Zheng family. The Zheng family secretly sent people to inform the Dutch in Taiwan that the Ming army was coming to seize Taiwan.
The Dutch quickly sent a ship back to Batavia and asked for reinforcements.
After Batavia heard about it, they were still a little nervous, and immediately sent a fleet to the north. As a result, they first encountered a storm, and then contracted diseases along the way. More than 600 soldiers were infected, which made the expedition rescue fleet difficult.
Instantly loses combat effectiveness.
The rescue fleet wanted to return, but the Taiwan Council voted against their return and stopped another mission of their trip to wait for an opportunity to seize Macau.
They asked for reinforcements and stationed them in Taiwan.
However, the commander of the fleet is the confidant of the governor. To maintain the permanent station of this fleet in Taiwan, the benefits and costs are not proportional. They are originally from the East India Company. When doing anything, the first thing they look at is the return of benefits.
So in the end, the fleet left more than 600 sick soldiers, and then took away all the officers and two battleships.
Therefore, when the Ming army crossed the sea to attack, there were only four Dutch warships left in Relande. Among them, the largest Hector could only carry more than 30 guns, and the second largest Lagerflan could only carry more than 30 guns.
More than twenty cannons.
The Ming army crossed the sea to attack, and more than 20,000 troops arrived one after another.
Only then did the Dutch defenders finally believe that the Ming army was really coming.
They could only hurriedly bring all the food supplies into the Castle of Relanja, and at the same time blockaded the town, not allowing the Chinese in the city to go out, and even detained some Chinese elders to avoid being exposed by insiders.
At this time, the Dutch had three strongholds in Taiwan.
Among them, the Chicken Coop Castle was actually originally occupied by the Spanish. It is in northern Taiwan and is too far away.
The southern sandbank where Fort Geranzia and the town are located is very close to another fortress, Fort Prominsi, and faces each other across the sea.
However, due to nothing happening for many years, all the Dutch's peripheral fortifications in the city of Jelanda were abandoned long ago and were not completed. There is a fortress in Chikan City in Prominsi Fort.
It’s just that there are very few personnel stationed in Taiwan.
There are only over 800 soldiers in Relanja Fort, more than 30 gunners, and only over 800 men, women, and children plus slaves.
The garrison at Fort Prominsi was even smaller, with only more than a hundred soldiers, and not much gunpowder.
The Dutch did not expect that the Zheng family, which had always been an ally, would attack again after many years of peace and harmony, led by Zheng Zhilong's son.
As the commander-in-chief of the attack on Taiwan, Zheng Zhilong's troops mainly focused on the imperial camp in Fujian, but he also mobilized many Zheng clan troops from Fujian, many of whom were familiar with Taiwan.
For example, when Zheng Zhilong signed an agreement with the Dutch, in order to win the trust of the Dutch, he sent his brothers Zhihu and Zheng Cai to stay in Relanja City for a year as hostages and trade representatives, so they had no idea about the situation here.
very familiar.
The Luermen waterway in Damuan Bay is shallow and has twists and turns on both sides, making it difficult for large ships to pass through. It is a natural defense. However, the Zheng family has already mastered the seasonal laws of tides, and took advantage of the high tide to allow large and small warships to surge in.
With the Ming army's overwhelming warship superiority, they successfully landed on the coast near Chikan City and Promincia Fort.
In order to rescue this stronghold, the Dutch sent more than 200 musketeers to rescue, but Zhu Chenggong personally led the Iron Man Army and used naval guns to cover it.
The five hundred iron soldiers, with their swords and shields raised, cut down the entire army of two hundred musketeers, and cut their commander into two pieces.
In order to provide fire support, the Dutch warships approached, but they fell into Zheng Zhilong's trick of luring the enemy. Hundreds of large and small warships surrounded them like a pack of wolves.
The battlefield space was so narrow that it was difficult for the Dutch warships to perform. The largest warship, the Hector, was hit by a shell in the powder magazine and exploded directly. It sank with more than a hundred soldiers. The other three warships saw the situation and did not think well.
As a result, the second-largest Lagerflan was surrounded. The Ming army jumped on board, fought in close combat, and captured the warship with more than 20 heavy guns. All the more than 100 soldiers on board were also captured.
.
More than 200 musketeers were wiped out, and two main warships were lost, which made the Dutch in the castle tremble. In fact, Taiwan has been without war for too long, so the musketeers sent here are all unprofessional.
Originally, before they were sent here, they should have received at least two months of training in the Batavia bastion.
However, these people did not receive training according to the rules at all, and many of them were sent here as new recruits.
Moreover, the salaries of these people in the East India Company are extremely low, and they usually have to spend money to buy clothes, clothing and equipment from the company. Therefore, most of the soldiers usually have to work part-time, and often even desert to work full-time, and then hire comrades to help on duty.
Or just pay the officer directly.
The result is that these soldiers have very low combat effectiveness.
As the commander, Pedel actually received the retreat signal, but his son was killed in the previous battle, so he wanted to kill the enemy to vent his anger, ignored the retreat signal, and just pushed forward with more than 200 musketeers.
, and even wanted to use the few light cannons he brought to repel the Ming army.
He felt that only about 500 infantrymen landed on the opposite side, and they were armed with cold weapons such as swords. Such an indigenous army, their musketeers could defeat them with just a few rounds of fire.
But he didn't expect that what he met was the elite of Zhu Chenggong's camp, the Iron Man Armor Battalion of Tibiao's personal soldiers.
The divided and surrounded Fort Promincia did not have many defenders, not much ammunition, or even much food. After being surrounded by Zhu Chenggong's troops and bombarded day and night, it quickly surrendered.
Several hundred Dutch people in the city fled to Geranje.
Then Chikan City, which lost its guard, fell into the hands of the Ming army.
Even the local Chinese have organized themselves to provide assistance.