In 1581, the Netherlands broke away from Spanish rule and won national independence. Although they were not recognized by Spain at the time, they had already begun to exercise the power of a state.
After independence, the Netherlands was also eager to develop its own overseas trade like Portugal and Spain, and due to trade frictions such as resource snatching, the Netherlands and Spain were at odds with Spain, and all Spanish ports were closed to the Dutch. The Dutch, who had no choice but to find a new route to Asia on their own.
Trade routes in the East were also uneven, as it monopolized trade here after two defeats of the Portuguese fleet in Java and the Straits of Malacca.
When the business became larger, there had to be a special management department, so on March 20, 1602, the Dutch East India Company (Dutch EastIndia Company) was established, referred to as VOC.
This company is not an ordinary trading company, although it is formally a joint stock limited company, but it has its own mercenaries and can issue currency,
Formal treaties may also be concluded with other countries and shall have the power to colonize and rule the territory.
In order to find a long-term stronghold in East Asia where ships could supply, they began to search hard, and finally found the Penghu area.
Penghu's geographical location is very important:
"Penghu Lake is the gateway of Zhang, Quan, and Beigang (Taiwan) is the lips and teeth of Penghu Lake, and if you lose Beigang, your lips are dead and your teeth are cold, and you can't worry about Penghu Lake, but Zhang, Quan can also worry about it." ("Minutes of Reading the History of Public Opinion" Qing Gu Zuyu)
As a transit base, the location is ideal. After looking at this place, they summed it up themselves, and the matter was finalized.
On August 7, 1604 ( the 32nd year of the Wanli calendar ) , the dutch East India Company fleet commander Wybrandvan Warwijck , at the behest of the fleet , the fleet encroached on Penghu.
At this time, it was the Ming Dynasty, and although the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was not in tune and ignored the government for more than 20 years, his ministers were still dutiful.
When Xu Xueju, the inspector of Fujian, saw that outsiders had come from his jurisdiction, he did not even say hello, so he turned against the guests, so he ordered and assigned Dusi Shen Yourong to negotiate.
After Shen Yourong received the order, he organized 50 warships and more than 2,000 people to arrive in today's Magong City on November 18 of the same year.
Shen Yourong met with the Dutch fleet commander Wei Malang at Niangma Palace (present-day Tianhou Palace in Penghu) and asked them to withdraw from Penghu.
Mr. Wei spoke of his request for maritime trade, but was flatly rejected. Wei Malang looked at the soft one and wanted to come hard, but his own strength was also very different, and this battle could not be fought. So on December 5, he left Penghu and transferred to Taiwan to find a new stronghold.
After the incident, the Ming Dynasty government erected the "Shen Yourong Edict retiring the Red Mao Yi Malang Monument" to commemorate it, which is now in Magong Town, Penghu.
They retreated, but they were unwilling.
As the saying goes, if you are not afraid of thieves, you are afraid of thieves, and if you don't succeed this time, you will make a comeback next time.
Sure enough, as the East India Company's business in East Asia grew bigger, the company became stronger, and they remembered this place again.
So, after 18 years apart, it made a comeback.
On April 10, 1622 (the second year of the Apocalypse), under the order of Gu En of the Dutch East India Company, the commander of the fleet, Ralson, led a well-prepared Dutch fleet and set off in such a mighty way.
This fleet consisted of a total of 15 large and small warships and more than 1,000 elite soldiers.
In fact, strictly speaking, it should be regarded as a combined fleet, because in this fleet, it also included two British warships that had just emerged at that time and were bent on currying favor with the Netherlands.
Such a large position is still rare in the history of European colonization.
Because in Java or in Malacca, as soon as such a large fleet arrives, the locals will obediently surrender, and there is no need to resist?
They estimated it a little well, and at the beginning of the war, they really beat the Ming army that had heard the news.
At the same time, the Dutch sent a fleet to the sea of Zhangzhou to block the gateway to Zhangzhou in an attempt to threaten China's trade with the Netherlands by force.
The Dutch captain Wilburentku's "Voyages of the East Indies" depicts the situation at that time.
On October 18, the Dutch "burned up to sixty or seventy Chinese sailing ships" in Zhangzhou and landed and looted;
On February 10, the Dutch "set fire to two villages? Zhuang";
On May 1, a Chinese merchant ship was intercepted, "carrying as many as two hundred and fifty people." For the Chinese prisoners, the Dutch first concentrated them on Penghu Island and forced Chinese to build a city, and it is recorded that more than 1150 prisoners were taken, 571 were killed, and the remaining 579 were sent to Batavia, and then sold to other regions as slaves...
At the same time, the construction of defensive facilities was stepped up, bunkers were built, and the fleet was expanded, reaching 18 warships.
After gaining a firm foothold here, the courage to speak was also enough, and when General Manager Chen Shiying came to negotiate, the Dutch side put forward three requirements:
First, the Dutch were allowed to trade with each other along the coast of China;
Second, penghu was ceded to the Dutch;
Third, it prohibits China from trading with Portugal and Spain.
After proposing the above three conditions, he threatened by force: "If the city is not allowed (referring to trade), it will be done."
Since the conditions demanded by the other side cannot be met, there is only one way to speak by force. Therefore, on the fifth day of the first month of September of that year, Emperor Mingxi issued a decree: "Hongyi is cunning and cunning, and the trouble is deep." The inspector took the lead of the general, carefully defended, and quickly expelled. ”
At this point, the Battle of Penghu has been on the string.
In February 1624 (the first month of the fourth year of the Apocalypse), The Inspector of Fujian, Nan Juyi, personally took a boat to Kinmen and ordered the Ming fleet to cross the sea to retake Penghu by force, this time with 200 warships and more than 10 million people.
The Fujian general Yu Zhigao and the garrison Wang Mengxiong led the warships to Penghu, landed on Baisha Island, and first engaged the Dutch army, but the Dutch army relied on strong fortifications and warships to resist, and Penghu could not be attacked for a long time.
"(The fort of Mahogany Chengcheng) was as strong as iron, the patrol of Nangong Yi, the dispatch of troops to attack it, the thief Gao Wenlu refused to defend it, the officers and soldiers bombarded it with medicine, and the building fell into the sea." (Penghu Hall Chronicle)
Naval battles were even worse. Although the Ming Dynasty sailors dispatched all their family bases this time, they were all poor small and medium-sized warships, and compared with the huge warships of the Netherlands, they were simply small witches.
The patrol supervised the battle in the back, and the front line did not dare to relax, and if it could not be fought at once, then it would be slowly nibbled, so it attacked almost every day.
Later, the tactics were changed, and since the bunker was so strong, it was not a strong attack. Under the fire of the Dutch, the Ming army used its ingenuity to resist the fire of the Dutch with chariots piled with sand and gravel, and completed the encirclement of the Dutch step by step.
At the same time as the land was completed, the sea route was blocked and the Dutch foreign aid was cut off.
When the battle was fought in July, Nanju Yi saw that it was not a thing to be so consumed, so he sent a fire reinforcement force to support the conquest army.
The Ming Dynasty's fire bolts were heat weapons; as soon as they came up, their combat effectiveness was quite amazing, and they kept beating the Dutch to the end and shrinking in the stronghold to refuse to defend the city.
Once again, a stalemate was formed!
In August, Nanju Yi couldn't bear it anymore and issued a death order to the front-line generals: If you can't fight Penghu anymore, raise your head to see you!
On the third day of the first month of July, the Ming army attacked in three ways, and on July 11, the Dutch surrendered. On the thirteenth day, "(The Dutch) demolished the city and transported the rice" (Records of the Ming Dynasty, vol. 47).
After seven months of fierce fighting between the two sides and spending more than 177,000 yuan in military resources, the Ming army captured the Dutch defender Gao Wenlu (Kobenloet) and twelve others, and the rest of the Dutch remnants fled to southern Taiwan.
At this point, the Ming army finally fulfilled its mission, won the Battle of Penghu, and defended national sovereignty.
Subsequently, the Fujian governor Nan Juyi was captured in Beijing, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse ordered that they all be beheaded and passed on the nine sides to make an example!
Effects of the Battle of Penghu:
After this battle, the imperial court realized the importance of Penghu's geographical location.
The following remedies were taken:
First, the Penghu garrison was increased, and the military department "set up a special guerrilla officer to garrison Penghu, thinking that it had been solidified for a long time." At the same time, the number of troops was increased on the basis of the original soldiers, and the number of troops stationed in the Penghu area was eventually increased to 2104.
2. Strengthen the ties between the Fujian Coastal Area Health Center and the Penghu Area.
3. Raise the rank of the Penghu garrison. The Penghu area was originally "South Road Temperance", so the military decision-making power was low, and now it has been changed to "Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yamen and Auxiliary Guard", which greatly improved the military decision-making power of the Penghu garrison.
Fourth, increase the salary of soldiers. In the Penghu area, whenever the flood season comes, the garrison personnel will withdraw, but now the pay for the troops is increased, so that the garrison is stuck all year round and is not allowed to retreat.
5. Tuntian Penghu and the development of fisheries.
In addition, there have been military gains.
It was through this battle that the Ming Dynasty realized the great power of the new artillery, and after recovering Penghu, began to imitate the Dutch artillery for equipping its own army.
After repeated improvements, the Hongyi cannon was finally produced that later frightened the Manchurians.
Resources:
Records of the Ming Dynasty
History of the Ming Dynasty, Qing Zhang Tingyu
Lao Guan Kan Chunqiu solemn statement: original works, prohibit illegal reprinting!