When it comes to pirates, the first thing that comes to mind is the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, which has been popular in Europe in recent years, but in fact, outside the vast coastline of ancient China, there is also such a group of pirates.
But in countries with coastlines, maritime trade was inevitable, and the prosperity of maritime commerce naturally led to some illegal activities, and on October 22, 1633, a naval battle broke out between the Ming Dynasty sailors and the fleet of the Dutch East India Company in The Bay of Shiluo near Kinmen. The naval battle was seen as an important naval battle between China and the European powers in the early days of the sea.
At that time, it was the last year of the Ming Dynasty, the government was corrupt, the northern border was seriously troubled, and the southern coastal defense was abandoned for many years without rectification. In order to deal with the Dutch fleet, the Ming government co-opted Zheng Zhilong, the chief merchant leader who was entrenched in the sea, and the Dutch also adopted the same strategy, seeking cooperation with the Chinese pirates Liu Xiang and Li Guozhu who were also entrenched in the sea, hoping to overwhelm the other side and achieve final victory. This group of pirates has a pivotal role in such a war, and they have left their footprints on both the victorious and losing sides of the war.
The rise of piracy
The Ming Dynasty was an important period of vigorous development of Chinese pirates. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the threat from the sea in the southeast coastal area was the most serious, and it was also mixed with the intrusion of Fankou; the Jiajing period, which entered the period of great development of Wukou and Fujian-Guangzhou pirates; and the Chinese maritime activists in the Longqing and Wanli periods were "mostly Chaozhou and Qiongzhou in Guangdong, Tanzhou and Funing Prefecture in Fujian, and guangzhi Chaozhou and Fujian Zhangzhou in the middle"[1].
In Minguang, lin guoxian, Wu Ping, Xu Dong, Xu Chaoguang, Zeng Yiben, Lin Feng, Lin Daoqian, and other well-known great pirate leaders in the history of Chinese piracy appeared. They are active in the southeast coastal areas, and the government cannot do anything about them when they are most prostituted.
Wu Ping, Zeng Yiben, Lin Feng, Lin Daoqian, and their pirate groups even contacted the Qiongzhou pirates.
So how did piracy arise and develop to such an extent? This had a lot to do with the political and economic environment at that time.
Piracy arose with the development of the ancient navigation industry and overseas trade. In the Song Dynasty, maritime trade developed, and international trade in coastal areas was also developed, and there were merchant ships in Quanzhou, Fuzhou, And Mingzhou. The development of overseas trade has enabled the advantages of the southeast coastal region to be brought into play, and Chinese merchant ships and foreign merchant ships filled with goods often travel to and from their nearby sea lanes or anchor here, and most of these ships do not have sufficient armed forces to protect them, so they become the best targets for pirate plunder. Although the Song government had a municipal shipping department to manage overseas trade, it did not provide corresponding guarantees for the safety of merchant ships at sea. This was both lucrative and low-risk, costless activity, which further stimulated the activities of pirates.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the government strictly enforced the sea ban and did not allow the board to go to the sea. However, attracted by the huge profits of private maritime trade, there are still people who take risks and build ships and go to sea to do business. It can be seen that the economy is a powerful driving force to stimulate maritime businessmen to carry out activities. For people who have long lived in the dilemma of not being able to make ends meet, the most convenient way to change the current predicament is undoubtedly to plunder other people's belongings. So some people became mountain thieves, and some people became pirates.
Mudian argues that criminals, fishermen, bankrupts, scoundrels, and disgruntled people who are dissatisfied with reality together form a potential pirate reserve.
Although the activities they are engaged in, such as looting and looting, kidnapping and extortion, killing people and robbing goods, have caused a certain impact on the old social order and posed a certain threat to the landlords, rich merchants and the ruling class, it should be seen that the broad masses of the people are also victims, and such acts are not commendable. But it is undeniable that such behavior is a major manifestation of the survival of the fittest in nature, the choice of the people in the ocean and coastal areas, and the historical stage that the local marine rules must have experienced before they were formed.
Chinese pirates before the Battle of Luo Bay
The Battle of 1633 at the Battle of The Bay of Luo was fought between Dutch and Ming naval forces, both of which were intermingled with Chinese pirates. In the 16th century, during the period of geographical discovery, many European merchants and navigators were full of expectations for the new world, the opening of new shipping routes provided shortcuts for maritime exploration, with the continuous development of maritime trade, Portugal and Spain successively established a maritime commercial empire, while the Netherlands started late, until the early 17th century, with the support of the government, the Dutch East India Company was established, taking the lead in trade in Southeast Asia, establishing trade bases in the East Indies, and also focusing on expanding the commercial territory in East Asia.
The East India Company, with the consent of the Japanese shogunate, established a trading post in Hirado, but encountered trouble in the development of trade with the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's policy of sea prohibition became the biggest obstacle, the Dutch caravan after many inquiries, learned that as long as gifts were given to local officials, they could get the opportunity to trade, but when the Dutch fleet arrived at the southeast coast, it found that this method did not work, it could not be allowed to trade, and subsequently, the East India Company turned to Penghu and Macau, and failed to obtain trade opportunities.
Although the Netherlands has repeatedly encountered a wall, they have always believed that China is a very promising market. Before successfully opening the door to Chinese trade, the Dutch were well aware of the value of Chinese pirates and maritime merchants, not only as intermediaries to communicate with local officials of the Ming Dynasty and to assist in the acquisition of Chinese goods, but also to plunder Chinese sailing ships that sailed to Trade outside Dutch strongholds such as Batavia, forcing Chinese merchants to change trade routes and no longer go to Spanish and Portuguese strongholds, but only to dutch-controlled areas.
Li Dan, Xu Xinsu, Zheng Zhilong, and other Chinese pirates and maritime merchants who were active in the coastal areas of Fujian based in Xiamen became the object of cooperation between the Dutch. At first, the Dutch cooperated with Li Dan, Xu Xinsu and others, and the cooperation model followed the Portuguese and Spanish methods, first paying the deposit and then taking the goods, but these pirates did not deliver on time, often delayed, which greatly affected the silk trade between the Netherlands and Japan, Chinese pirates sometimes embezzled gifts from the Dutch to Chinese local officials, and even robbed chinese sailing ships to trade without distinction.
Although the Dutch knew that these Chinese pirates and merchants were not credible people, they were afraid that if they were lost, even the only trade channels and contacts with the Ming government would be completely lost, so they were forced to swallow their anger. Subsequently, the Dutch East India Company discovered another pirate, Zheng Zhilong.
Zheng worked as a translator for the Dutch East India Company, and left the Dutch East India Company in 1625 to enter the sea. Soon, his power grew stronger, dominating the southeast coast, plundering merchant ships and attacking coastal towns.
Zheng Zhilong's rapid rise not only threatened China's coastal towns, but also cut off shipping routes between Zhangzhou and Dayuan. In January 1628, the Dutch East India Company expelled Zheng Zhilong by force at the suggestion of Ming officials, but was defeated by Zheng Zhilong in the bay near Xiamen. In the same year, Zheng Zhilong beheaded Xu Xinsu and replaced him. For the Dutch East India Company, the defeat of Xu Xinsu was a big loss, and in order to maintain trade relations with China, they intended to co-opt Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong also extended a hand of friendship to the Dutch, in addition to returning prisoners, ships and goods, but also assisted the Dutch in purchasing a large amount of silk. The following year, the Dutch East India Company assisted Zheng Zhilong in defeating another burgeoning pirate in the region, Li Kuiqi.
Although Zheng Zhilong promised to introduce Chinese merchants to trade with the Dutch, the number was very small, and the goods they transported were only a quarter of the amount of money in the hands of the Dutch. In other words, the Dutch suffered losses because they had accumulated too much idle money to use. The Dutch also asked Zheng Zhilong to directly transport Chinese goods to the big staff for trading, but often sent low-quality goods. Initially, the Dutch hoped to improve the situation by negotiating with Zheng Zhilong, and Zheng Zhilong responded, but the situation between the two sides did not improve for a year, so the Dutch East India Company considered the use of force in 1631 to force the Ming government to promise free trade.
In the two years that followed, the Dutch East India Company's voices grew louder calling for the use of force to open up Trade with China. On 22 April 1633, Putmans, commander of the Dutch East India Company, reported to Batavia that Zheng Zhilong, fearing possible retaliation for failing to fulfill his promise to the Dutch, moved closer to the Ming government, which also noted that the Ming government had announced that it had banned all foreign trade activities on the Zhangzhou River and would not allow Chinese merchants to trade with Dutch merchant ships.
The Battle of Lo Bay was fought against this background.
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The role and influence of Chinese pirates in the Battle of The Bay of Pelao
In contrast, in the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong had already accepted the ming government's conscription and official position as early as 1628, focusing on the political and economic interests that came with it. The Ming Dynasty was militarily unable to compete with the Dutch, and when Zheng suppressed other pirates, he received assistance from the Dutch East India Company for warships and Hongyi cannons, which greatly increased their combat effectiveness.
For the Ming government, seeking cooperation with Zheng Zhilong helped to narrow the gap in naval warfare strength with the Dutch, and was beneficial to consolidating the defense of the southeast coast. However, after accepting the official position, Zheng Zhilong used the convenience of his position to gain benefits for his fleet, so when the Dutch army sought a second partner, Zheng Zhilong naturally became the best candidate, but this situation did not last long, in 1633, the Dutch raid on Xiamen completely made Zheng Zhilong defect to the Ming Dynasty, in order to protect his caravan and interests, Zheng Zhilong began to serve the Ming Dynasty.
At this moment, the Dutch were sure that Zheng Zhilong was no longer a loyal trading partner, so they began to seek cooperation with new Chinese maritime merchants and pirates. The Dutch set their sights on Liu Xiang, who had recently risen in the southern waters of China, estimating that the latter had at least 60 to 70 warships, enough to rival Zheng Zhilong. Liu Xiang initially followed Zheng Zhilong, but later defected with Li Kuiqi and escaped in a naval battle between Zheng and Li. From 1632 onwards, Liu Xiang gathered the remnants of Li Kuiqi and grew in power, becoming another powerful Chinese pirate in the region.
In order to induce Liu Xiang to cooperate, the Dutch promised to buy all of Liu Xiang's cargo and allow his ships to trade freely in Dayuan, Batavia, and other dutch-controlled strongholds. It is worth noting that the Dutch also offered the same conditions to the pirate merchant Li Guozhu. This shows that the Dutch are very worried that even if they form a military alliance with Liu Xiang, it will not be enough to challenge Zheng Zhilong's position as a maritime hegemon; it also shows that the Dutch have learned their lessons and diversified their investments, no longer betting on individual Chinese maritime merchants and pirates. But Liu and Li's doubts lie in the close relationship between Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch East India Company in the past.
In order to win the trust of the two, the Dutch returned the accidentally captured liu xiang and Li Guozhu's ship, taking the opportunity to express goodwill to the two men. Later, Liu Xiang and Li Guozhu agreed to the Dutch invitation to form an alliance.
In August 1633, Liu Xiang and Li Guozhu sent warships to assist the Dutch in intercepting the ships of the Southern Navigation In the sea near Zhangzhou Bay, and sent 50 warships to join the fleet of the Dutch East India Company.
According to historical records, on October 20, 1633, the warships of the Dutch navy and its pirate allies sailed north to The Bay of Luoluo, but unexpectedly they were in a downwind position, which gave the Fleet of the Ming Dynasty and Zheng Zhilong an opportunity to counterattack, Zheng Jun's sailors were well-trained, Xiao Yong was good at war, and combined with the battlefield report of the Fujian overseer Zou Weilian and the records of the Dutch, Zheng Zhilong effectively implemented Zou Weilian's tactical deployment and finally won the naval battle.
This war came and went quickly, and although Ming and Zheng won the victory, they also paid a painful price. The reason why the Netherlands was able to lose in this naval battle was that there was a great connection with the allies he was looking for, Liu Xiang, Li Guozhu and other Chinese pirate warships followed the Dutch warships to the Bay of Zhiluo, the number of 50 to 60, but did not have the heart to fight, seeing that the Zheng's water army was in the upper hand, they abandoned the Dutch, fled the battlefield on their own, and went to the sea near South Australia to intercept ships.
The half-way escape of Liu Xiang and other "allies" was unexpected by the Dutch, which caused the Dutch to fall into a bitter battle on the battlefield, facing the pinch of Zheng and the Ming Dynasty water army alone, and finally lost.
epilogue
The purpose of the Dutch to maintain contact with Chinese pirates is to open the door of trade between China and China, but the retreat of Liu Xiang and others is because they and the Dutch do not have common strategic goals, nor clear interest support, so the foundation of cooperation is not strong, the Dutch do not care how strong Zheng Zhilong is, but Liu Xiang and others are well aware of the disadvantages of this strength, so they are willing to send troops to help the Netherlands, just to have a strong backing, when the Dutch show that they will not destroy Zheng Zhilong as a war goal, Although Liu Xiang and Li Guozhu still sent warships to participate in the battle, they did not go all out.
For the Ming government, expelling the Dutch to ensure the security of the sea frontier is the primary task, but without Zheng Zhilong's cooperation and participation, this strategic goal cannot be achieved; for Zheng Zhilong, because it has turned against the Dutch, and to maintain its dominant position in various pirate and maritime forces, and to continue its trade kingdom in the coastal areas of Fujian, it is necessary to win the naval battle.
Because the Ming dynasty government and Zheng Zhilong had common strategic goals and needs, they hit it off. It can be seen that the role played by Chinese pirates in the Battle of Yuluo Bay has a great influence on the victory or defeat of the war, and we cannot predict what history would look like without the participation of Chinese pirates, but because of the existence of Chinese pirates, this war was written in our victory after all.
References: [1] Zhang Zengxin, "Maritime Activities in Southeast China in the Ming Dynasty", Taiwan Student Bookstore, p. 116[2] Mu Dian: Pirates of South China, Social Science Press, p. 259[3] "Draft of li inscription of Governor Li of Liangguang in the Military Department", in The Economic Research Office of the Bank of Taiwan, ed., "Preliminary Compilation of Historical Materials of the Zheng Dynasty", p. 1