In the seventeenth century, the Dutch side saw that the Ming Dynasty at that time was deeply trapped in the peasant war and the siege of the Qing army, and it was too busy to take care of itself. Seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they came by boat, occupied our treasure island, Taiwan, and began their colonial rule and commodity trade in a vain attempt to develop their own power.
In 1661, Zheng Chenggong, who was seven or eight years old at the time of Chinese New Year's Eve, led more than 20,000 soldiers to take a warship, taking Kinmen as the starting point, and rode all the way to southwestern Taiwan, the main stronghold of the Dutch army. It took less than a year for Zheng's army to completely drive out this group of invaders who took advantage of the fire and robbery.
However, we also know that the Dutch army is not a vegetarian, and the foreign guns and cannons of others are very powerful, and they have been stationed in Taiwan for a long time, and they have also established military strongholds, and it is not an easy task to capture them. So, how did Zheng Chenggong recover Taiwan? What is the significance of his actions?
Step by step, be prepared for everything
At that time, Zheng Chenggong was leading a group of soldiers to resist the Qing army in the Kinmen generation, although the strength was weak, but it was really a difficult bone to gnaw. However, although the Qing army could not defeat Zheng Chenggong, it did consume Zheng Chenggong's forces. In order to be able to resist the Qing army, defend his own sphere of influence, and save the tortured people of Taiwan from the sea of suffering, Zheng Chenggong decided to recover Taiwan as a stronghold against the Qing Dynasty.
This idea was good, but the difficulties faced at that time were not small.
First, zheng jun or China at that time lacked experience in sea warfare, and it was indeed necessary to consider attacking an island. Second, Zheng Chenggong was not familiar with Taiwan's topography, and even how to cross the sea to Taiwan, the military layout and strength of the Dutch army were unknown. Third, at that time, the Zheng army was still facing the attack of the Qing army, and if it was rushed to attack Taiwan, the Dutch army in Taiwan would collude with the Qing army and hit them unprepared, which was even more difficult to deal with.
In view of this, Zheng Chenggong did not say that the wind is rain, but said that he wanted to attack Taiwan. On the contrary, he clearly understood that if he wanted to take Taiwan in one fell swoop and please the current predicament, he had to plan slowly and make full preparations, not only to know himself and know the other, but also to find a suitable time, step by step, in order to achieve success.
It just so happened that there was a Hakka family named He Bin who fled from Taiwan to the mainland to find Zheng Chenggong. He used to work for the Dutch army in Taiwan, and he was very familiar with Taiwan's terrain and terrain, and he was also very clear about the dutch military deployment. However, he had a dispute with the Dutch, and could not continue to mix in the local area, so he had to find Zheng Chenggong to find a way out. This is a dozing pillow for Zheng Chenggong - just in time.
Not only that, in order to create a good opportunity for the recovery of Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong seized the opportunity of the death of the Shunzhi Emperor and the Qing army's lack of time to conquest, and pretended to negotiate peace with the Qing army to make his rear stable. Lest Taiwan not be attacked by then, but ask the Qing army to take advantage of the void and empty the water in its bamboo basket.
In addition, in order to relax the vigilance of the Dutch side, when the Dutch side sent people to inquire whether he intended to conquer Taiwan, he deliberately said that he hoped to maintain a state of peace with the Dutch side, and attacking them was even more "nonsense". He sent a false signal that he had no intention of recovering Taiwan, which made the Dutch think that they had thought too much, and while letting down their vigilance, they also withdrew the reinforcements they had sent, so that their strength was inferior to their own. At that time, even if they want to ask for help again, it will be too late.
In this way, Zheng Chenggong can be said to have made full preparations, with sufficient grain and grass, strong soldiers and horses, the enemy army was in an unknowing situation, and the rear area was also safe and sound. Thus, the campaign to recover Taiwan was quietly launched.
Crossing the sea to start a war is like a bamboo
On April 21, 1661, Zheng Chenggong led more than 20,000 soldiers, more than 100 warships, and crossed the sea to southwest Taiwan, the main location of the Dutch army. Zheng Chenggong's plan was to first cross the Taiwan Strait, then smoothly land on the coast, stationed on land, and strengthen his own strength while carrying out naval and land battles with the Dutch army.
According to careful understanding in advance, Zheng Chenggong knew that the main military strongholds of the Dutch army were The city of Zeelandia (Taiwan City) and Chichi City, both of which had turrets, and the two places echoed each other, forming a joint trend, and destroying the battleships with long-range artillery fire before the enemy had landed. The two places are united, both offensive and defensive. Wanting to break through this dilemma, Zheng Chenggong thought of two strategies.
The first is the landing site. Since the artillery fire in these two cities is so strong, it is natural that they must not be each other, otherwise the ship will be destroyed and people will die. Therefore, Zheng Chenggong planned to land from the channel of Luermen to avoid the range of the Dutch artillery fire, so that he could land smoothly and kill them unprepared.
The second strategy was to break the alliance between The city of Zeelandia and the city of Chikan and break it one by one. Although both Zeelandia City and Chichi Castle had artillery towers and soldiers stationed there, the military strength of Chikan City was much weaker in comparison. Therefore, Zheng Chenggong planned to capture chichi city first, and then The city of Zeelandia would be alone in the enemy, and no matter how many people and horses it had, it would not be able to turn over any storms.
In this way, under the meticulous arrangement and arrangement of Zheng Chenggong, Zheng Jun caught the Dutch army by surprise, and also took advantage of the situation to capture Chichi City. Zheng Chenggong then began to besiege the city of Zeelandia. However, Zheng Chenggong was not in a hurry, he planned to stabilize and steadily expand his own power while besieging the remaining Dutch troops, even if they did not send troops to attack, they could only rely on consumption to exhaust their ammunition and obediently surrender.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the Dutch army, which was short of water and food and could not wait for reinforcements, voluntarily surrendered. In this battle, Zheng successfully won.
The significance of recovering Taiwan
Zheng successfully recovered Taiwan, successfully recaptured Chinese territory from the Dutch colonists, defended the country's land and dignity, and rescued the Taiwanese people who were tortured at the hands of the colonizers. Not only that, Zheng Chenggong's behavior solemnly declared to the world that history has proved that Taiwan has been China's territory since ancient times and an inalienable part of China.
In addition, after Zheng successfully recovered Taiwan, he took root and developed here, brought the mainland's culture into Taiwan, made China's cultural genes deeply imprinted in the blood of the Taiwan people, enhanced the Taiwan people's sense of national identity, and made great contributions to the consolidation and development of the reunified multi-ethnic country.
Mr. Qiu Fengjia commented that Zheng Chenggong "presided over half of the old rivers and mountains, and gave birth to the color of the world's readers", and said that he "drove foreign people out of the country and opened up a new cause in a thousand autumns". Indeed, Zheng's successful recovery of Taiwan should be remembered and studied by the people of the world.
Partial reference: Ji Yunfei. Zheng Chenggong's Military Strategy and Recovery of Taiwan[J].Journal of Nanjing University of Political Science,2002,18(1):47-49. DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1001-9774.2002.01.015.
ZHANG Murong. Analysis on the Implementation Process of Zheng Chenggong's Campaign to Recover Taiwan[J].Military History,2002,(6):42-45. DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1002-4883.2002.06.009