However, after the Ming army went smoothly at the beginning, it became difficult when facing the city of Relanze. Relanze was a bastion. Although the outer fortifications were not completed, it was still a bastion with strong defensive capabilities.
It has a lot of artillery, there are also a lot of musketeers in the castle, and there are even two battleships parked outside.
In addition to the main bastion and half-moon fortress, the city of Geranje even has a Utrecht Fort that stands on the outer sand dunes to provide additional firepower.
Although there are no supporting auxiliary fortifications such as dikes, ditches, fences, and low walls, the Ming army has never defeated this kind of castle. In particular, the imperial camp also belongs to a new army.
However, the Zheng's army in Fujian did not work hard, and the soldiers transferred from Guangdong and Guangxi were inexperienced. Zhu Chenggong spent a lot of time, but he had to be busy reorganizing the troops in various departments, and even often had to urge Fujian to transport food and pay.
come over.
After several strong attacks without success.
Zhu Chenggong began to use clumsy methods to build a stronghold to fight the war. He first surrounded it, then dug surrounding trenches, and then built forts.
Fight with the Dutch artillery and gradually destroy the outer wall of the Dutch castle.
Just wait until August.
The Governor of Batavia sent a second batch of reinforcements, consisting of four battleships and 900 soldiers. Fleet Commander Van der Lang was also a battle-hardened commander.
The four battleships are also more advanced, equipped with thirty-six, thirty-four, thirty-three and thirty-two cannons respectively.
In the Far East, this is very powerful.
However, Van der Laang finally arrived in Taiwan. As soon as he unloaded some supplies and fifty soldiers, strong winds arose in the calm sea, forcing the ship to retreat to Penghu for temporary shelter.
The trip lasted more than twenty days.
He was even forced to wander to the sea in Zhangzhou, Fujian, and wanted to return when the wind stopped. However, he was attacked by the Ming Dynasty's coastal navy. When he returned to Taiwan in embarrassment, he was intercepted by the Ming fleet under the personal command of Zhu Chenggong.
Van Delang hoped to directly solve the siege on both sides of the sea and land by relying on the advantage of ships and cannons, but as a result, neither the wind speed nor the hydrology were conducive to them, and the advantage had long been seized by Zhu Chenggong.
Not only was the Dutch fleet unable to launch a fierce shooting formation as planned, but they were huddled together and unable to move. Their twelve small boats were forced to rush into the Ming fleet alone, were attacked head-on, and the entire army was annihilated.
Although Zhu Chenggong was young, he had many experienced naval warfare officers of the Zheng family under his command. Under his leadership, he stormed the Dutch fleet.
The gunners on the Cochrane were so panicked that they overfilled the cannon with ammunition and exploded. Then it ran aground and was directly sunk by the Ming army's fort on the shore.
Another ship, the Kedenhof, was also beaten and stranded on the beach. Although the crew and soldiers abandoned the ship and escaped, the battleship was captured by the Ming army.
After one battle, more than 300 Dutch were killed, countless others were injured, and two battleships were lost.
After this battle, the Dutch company had a total of four remaining battleships from the previous two.
After van der Laan unloaded the wounded soldiers and left some supplies and ammunition for the city of Jelandja, he took all four ships away from Taiwan. He left the castle to continue to stand and wait for reinforcements. He took the fleet away to avoid being surrounded by the Ming navy.
annihilated.
After leaving Taiwan, Van der Lang sent people back to Batavia to report to the governor for help, and at the same time ran to Japan.
Years ago, Zhu Chenggong received a batch of new artillery transferred from the emperor, and even obtained the siege tactics personally drawn up by the emperor. He first built complete fortifications and trenches around a hundred meters outside the Utrecht Fort.
, the fort, and then thirty heavy artillery came into operation. They started firing fiercely in the morning and continued for eight hours, firing more than 2,500 rounds of artillery shells.
Due to the restricted shooting angle, the city of Relanja could not provide much support, and watched as the outer fortress was crumbled by the bombardment.
In the end, the Dutch had no choice but to take the initiative to detonate the gunpowder in the castle before the Ming army invaded, and then abandoned the castle and fled.
After losing the only support point on the periphery, the Relanja Castle was unable to support itself. At this time, news came that the Jilong Fort in the north had also been captured by another Ming army after a long siege.
The desperate Dutch did not wait for reinforcements.
Van der Lang, who was hiding in Japan, waited for the governor's reply.
The governor could not bring him any more reinforcements, nor could he afford such a heavy loss.
Therefore, the governor asked him to go to Shandong, meet with the Ming Emperor, and request negotiations, hoping that Taiwan could be restored through negotiations. He even told him that the emperor of Ming Dynasty was different from the previous emperors of Ming Dynasty in that he had a very open attitude towards open trade.
So maybe there is no need to use force to force the Ming Dynasty to trade, and you can trade with them directly.
As long as the Ming Dynasty is willing to open its ports to direct trade with the Dutch, then the Dutch East India Company can abandon Taiwan. Of course, the premise is that the Ming Dynasty must ensure that it does not intercept the trade route from the Netherlands to Nagasaki.
Before Van der Laang came, he felt that if the Netherlands was willing to take the initiative to make some concessions this time, then Ming Dynasty would happily agree.
After all, they can cooperate with the Portuguese in Macau and the Spanish in Manila, so there is no reason to reject the more powerful Dutch.
As for a Taiwan, give it to them. As long as they can get direct trade rights with China, there is nothing worth fighting for if a Taiwan is destroyed.
At that time, it was also because the Ming Dynasty refused to trade and even refused to provide Penghu, so it went to occupy Taiwan, which was far away from the shipping routes. After many years of development, nothing developed.
If Daming is willing to rent out any islands to them in Fujian, Guangdong or even Zhejiang, such as Wenzhou Shuangyu, Ningbo Shuangyu, etc., it doesn’t need to be big, as long as there is a port to facilitate the entry and exit of merchant ships, it doesn’t matter if it is smaller, absolutely
A thousand times stronger than Taiwan.
They are even willing to pay more rent.
However, after arriving in Dengzhou, Fan Delang realized that this was not the Ming Dynasty he remembered.
completely different.
He had preliminary conversations with several Ming Dynasty officials and found that they not only knew the outside world very well, but also knew the details of the Dutch East India Company. They even clearly told them that Ming Dynasty had enough strength to blockade the East China Sea.
The Dutch were not only unable to gain a foothold in Taiwan, but were even unable to pass along the coast of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty made it impossible for them to maintain the route to Japan.
Not a single boat would let them pass.
It can also be done by not allowing the Dutch East India Company to buy a piece of raw silk, a piece of porcelain, or a bag of tea, not even through the Zheng family.
After fighting in Taiwan for half a year, four battleships were lost, two were sunk and two were captured, and nearly a thousand people were killed. This was an unbearable loss for the Governor of Batavia.
If Taiwan is lost and trade with Japan is lost, the loss will be too great for the Dutch.
Suddenly, the initiative was completely in Ming's hands.
Yesterday, a great scholar from the Ming Dynasty summoned him and told him directly about the conditions of the Ming Dynasty.
The Dutch in Taiwan surrendered unconditionally, and Ming Dynasty allowed them to return to Batavia, but except for their belongings, nothing on the island of Taiwan could be taken away.
The four battleships that were entrusted to Van der Laang cannot be taken away, but Ming Dynasty is willing to buy them and use silk, porcelain, tea, etc. to buy their ships and cannons.
The Ming Dynasty could sign a trade treaty with the Dutch, but it had to be signed according to the rules set by the Ming Dynasty. From ports to customs duties, everything had to be done according to the Ming Dynasty's rules.
Even for friendly trade, there must be additional conditions. For example, when Dutch merchant ships come to China, each ship must carry at least a certain amount of grain and silver each time. Even if they commit crimes in China, they must accept the laws and punishments of the Ming Dynasty.
In short, the Ming Dynasty was willing to trade with the Dutch, but there were conditions. Not only did the tariffs have to be subject to the Ming Dynasty, but even the goods traded had to have requirements. When the Ming Dynasty needed food, they had to bring some food with them, and they needed guns and cannons.
When it comes to ships, they also have to sell them.
In short, my rules are rules. If you are willing, then cooperate. If you are not willing, don’t think about appearing along the coast of Daming Dynasty again. If you come, we will sink you!
If the Dutch were sensible, they would know that although the terms were a bit harsh, the East India Company was still profitable, even hugely profitable, and even more profitable than their previous trade contract with the Zheng family.
All additional conditions are incidental and not difficult to accept.
For example, the first item now is that Van der Lang's four battleships must be sold to the Ming Dynasty. This is a prerequisite for negotiation.
When he heard these conditions yesterday, he refused without thinking.
But after attending the court meeting today and then attending the palace banquet, his mind inevitably changed.
He felt that the Ming Dynasty was not as powerful as the natives in Batavia, Taiwan, Malacca and other places. The Ming army today was completely different from the Ming army he came into contact with twenty years ago.
From the emperor to the officials below, everyone seems to have completely changed.
They are more pragmatic.
He doesn't talk to you about anything or beat around the bush, he is very direct and clear, and he doesn't even accept his private gifts.
He looked back on the entire Taiwan War. The Dutch were completely beaten, and their proud warships did not get any favors from the Ming army.
Their fortresses were also unable to withstand the siege of the Ming army.
They suffered heavy losses, but the Ming army was still able to besiege the city while directly building castles and villages across Taiwan. He saw that the bastions built by the Ming army in Taiwan were actually more complete than the Castle of Relanja.
Even the warships of the Ming Navy, both in size and artillery, have been greatly improved. Facing their warships, they are no longer at a disadvantage, and even have a completely crushing numerical advantage.
Do we really want to accept Ming's conditions in humiliation and then make a fortune in silence?
On the one hand, it was about saving face, but on the other hand, it was the huge benefits of direct trade with China. Van Der Lang hesitated.
He wanted to refuse, but he knew that if these conditions were reported to Batavia, the Governor of Batavia who was focused on interests would definitely agree, and the East India Company's Supreme Council of Seventeen would not
They don't care about shame. All they want is how much income they can get in a year. As long as the income is big enough, let alone this little face, they will be willing to send troops to fight the barbarians in the north for the Ming Emperor.
Thinking of this, looking at the delicious food in front of me, I suddenly lost my appetite.
The people in Relanjia City in Taiwan who have been besieged for more than half a year are probably still suffering from hunger and cannot hold on much longer, right?
