In the twenty-ninth year of the Ming Dynasty (1601), Dutch merchant ships first appeared in the coastal areas of China. The following year, the Dutch established the "East India Company" to carry out overseas trade and colonization activities, establishing trading positions in Siam, Sumatra, and occupying Jakarta. Later, Dutch colonists occupied Taiwan and attempted to open the door of the Ming Dynasty. In the sixth year of Chongzhen (1633), a naval battle broke out in The Bay of Shiluo near Kinmen.
1. Trade between the Dutch and maritime merchants
The Dutch East India Company had always wanted to open the door to China, but due to the Ming Dynasty's policy of banning the sea, it repeatedly ran into a wall. Since normal trade could not be achieved, the Dutch could only "smuggle". At that time, there were many maritime merchants in the coastal areas of China, who were also merchants and thieves, had a strong military force, and their warships were even more powerful than the ming sailors. Therefore, the Dutch cooperated with these maritime merchants to obtain ming dynasty goods, such as silk, tea, porcelain, etc. through maritime merchants.
Among these maritime merchants, the more famous ones are Xu Xinsu, Zheng Zhilong, Liu Xiang, etc., and there are also contradictions between these people, and they all want to monopolize trade with the Dutch. In 1628, Zheng Zhilong beheaded Xu Xinsu, defeated Li Kuiqi, and became the "overlord of the sea". At the same time, Zheng Zhilong's relations with the Dutch also began to deteriorate, and he also accepted the Ming Dynasty's offer and became an official of the Ming Dynasty. In this case, the Dutch began to "cooperate" with Liu Xiang again and prepared to start a war.
Second, before the engagement, the strength of the two sides is compared
In the late Ming Dynasty, the strength in the southeast coastal area was very weak, and at that time there were only more than 3,000 sailors in Fujian, but they were responsible for guarding more than 2,000 miles of coastline. Although the Dutch colonists were small in number, they had the advantage in warships and weapons. At that time, the largest warships of the Ming Dynasty naval division had only 10 heavy artillery pieces, while the ships of the Dutch colonists were equipped with 30 heavy guns. Even Shen Defu of the Ming Dynasty admitted that the Dutch artillery was very powerful.
In 1633, the Dutch East India Company sent nine warships to the coastal areas of Fujian to meet Liu Xiang and Li Guozhi at Weitou Bay, and the two led fifty or sixty warships. At this time, although the strength of the Ming Dynasty sailors was limited, they still had Zheng Zhilong! At that time, The strength of Zheng Zhilong's troops far exceeded that of the Ming Dynasty's marine divisions, and his large warships were equipped with about 16-20 cannons. Ming officials and Zheng Zhilong's troops sent about 150 warships to participate in the war, of which about 50 were large warships.
3. Battle of Luo Bay
On October 22, Zheng Zhilong led the marine division, divided into two roads, and went to The Bay of Luo. Zheng Zhilong was proficient in water warfare and knew that the Dutch warships had the advantage of firepower, so he divided the marine division into two roads, taking advantage of the downwind and the superiority of troops to encircle the Dutch warships. Zheng Zhilong then sent a clipper ship, sailed at high speed towards the Dutch warship, and hooked its tail with an iron hook. At the same time, Zheng Zhilong released a fire ship and took advantage of the tailwind to ignite the Dutch warship.
After that, Zheng Zhilong's soldiers went to the vicinity of the Dutch warship, boarded the deck, and engaged in white-knife warfare. Zheng Zhilong's water army was well-trained and fought bravely, and the Dutch were immediately plunged into chaos. In the end, the Ming Dynasty won the victory, "capturing one hundred and eighteen people, twenty of the Yi class, five giant ships of the Burning Yi Clip Version, one Giant Ship of the Yi Clamp Version, and more than fifty of the Yi Thief Boats." After that, Zheng Zhilong shook the sea frontier and was known as the "King of minhai" by Westerners, and his fleet monopolized trade along the southeast coast.
References: 1. "Daguanlou Collection"; 2. "Diary of Batavia City"