On 26 April, the Messenger of Success commanded him to write:
How can the deacons lead hundreds of people and besiege the city enough to resist our army? And Yu is particularly to blame the deacon's unwiseness.
The people of the world are not happy to die, and the remaining number is told to the deacons, and the life of the people of your country is covered, and they cannot bear to fall into the sores. Now he sent the messenger to the greeting, and may the deacons ponder it.
If the deacon knows that he is invincible and sacrifices the city, then Yu should treat him with sincerity. Otherwise, if our army attacks the city and the deacons begin to unveil the white flag, Yu will also stop the battle and wait for the future. When our army entered the city, Yu Yan rao' generals, Qiu did not commit any crime, and heard about the departure of the people of your country. If there are those who wish to stay, Yu also defends them, with the Chinese.
The husband is defeated and reconciled, and the ancients have a clear discipline; the situation is continuous, and the wise are ridiculed. The people of your country have crossed the ocean and run the island of Taiwan, and they have no choice but to seek the way of self-defense. However, Taiwan, the land of China, has long been occupied by your country. Now that Yu yu has come to ask for it, then the land will return to me, and zhen yao is not in a hurry, and listen to it. If the deacon does not listen, he can unveil the red flag and ask for battle, and Yu will immediately watch, without wandering or deciding.
The right to life and death, in the palm of the hand, see the opportunity to do, not all day. Only the deacons want to do it.
—— "General History of Taiwan, Pioneering Chronicle"
This "Book with the Dutch General" included in the "General History of Taiwan" is very famous, but because Mr. Lian Yatang did not specifically indicate the source of the citation, it is considered suspicious or even a fabrication by some scholars today. Try to discern.
1. Deng Kongzhao believes that the date of "April 26" is wrong.
Tradition holds that Zheng Chenggong was persuaded to surrender on the fourth day of the first month of the fifteenth year of the Yong calendar (May 1, 1661), this is because of the limitations of the historical materials used at that time, Zheng Chenggong was not only persuaded to surrender this time, the Dutch historical material "Zeelanda City Log" May 24, 1661, included a letter "Daming summoned the surname of the great general to send this letter to the chief officer of the general", the final date of payment was "April 26, the fifteenth year of the Yong calendar", which corresponded to the date of the letter in the "General History of Taiwan" and should be the same letter.
Second, Wu Micha believes that the "Book of the Guards with the Netherlands" was fabricated by Lian Heng, because there was no Ming and Qing dynasty literature before, and it was also different from the letters collected in the Netherlands.
After investigation, it has been verified that the four main historical documents of Zheng Chenggong, namely the Records of conscription, the Minutes of Minhai, the Records of Maritime Observations, and the Records of TaiwanWai, do not include this letter.
However, the letter "General History of Taiwan" is roughly the same as the letter contained in the "Journal of Zeelanda City" of May 24, 1661, from the first sentence :"The deacons led hundreds of people and trapped in the city, how can it be enough to resist our army?" And Yu is particularly to blame the deacon's unwiseness. "How can you Dutch, of your few hundred, fight with so many of our troops?" You must have lost your mind like you were dazed. Until the last sentence, "The right to life and death, in the palm of the hand, is done when it is seen, not all the time." Only the deacons want to do it. "It's time whether we can save your lives or not, so you have to decide very carefully, and if you ignore it, you just want to die." The meanings can basically correspond, the difference is only that Mr. Lian Yatang's translation was more elegant, and Mr. Jiang Shusheng's current translation is more straightforward. Moreover, the letter "The Log of Zeelandia City" was translated into English by Pastor Gan Weilin in 1889 in "The Success of TaiwanEse Mission", and it was not surprising that Mr. Lian Yatang could see it. The only thing that cannot be corresponded to is that "taiwan, the land of China, has long been occupied by your country." Now that Yu yu has come to ask for it, then the land will return to me, and zhen yao is not in a hurry, and listen to it. This famous sentence.
Chen Zhaoying believes that "if Taiwan is taiwan, the land of China has long been occupied by your country." Now that Yu yu has come to ask for it, then the land will return to me, and zhen yao is not in a hurry, and listen to it. It is a rewrite of Jiang Risheng's "Taiwan Foreign Record", "This place is not owned by Er, but is the place where the former Taishi trained troops." The present lord of the clan came to restore his homeland. ”
Taiwan is the "place where Taishi (Zheng Zhilong) trained his troops", which is certainly more appetizing to some Taiwan historians today than "the land of China". However, according to the dutch historical C.E.S", "The Misspelled Taiwan" national surname Ye replied, Zheng Chenggong said to the Dutch emissary at that time: "This island has always belonged to China, but the Dutch were temporarily allowed to live when the Chinese did not need it, and now he (the national surname) himself wants to use it, and the Dutch, a foreigner from afar, of course, must give it up to the master for his own use... And in order to prove that he has no intention of forcibly occupying the Dutch company for the sake of self-enrichment, he is willing to let them remove all their belongings...", if this sentence is translated in a more elegant way, it is not exactly "But the land of Taiwan, the land of China, has long been occupied by your country." Now that Yu yu has come to ask for it, then the land will return to me, and zhen yao is not in a hurry, and listen to it. "This sentence? Moreover, in 1903, Pastor Gan Weilin translated "The Missed Taiwan" into English, as the third part of his masterpiece "Sherlock Holmesha under the Lotus", and it is not surprising that even Mr. Yatang can see it.
In fact, during negotiations with the Netherlands, Zheng Chenggong stressed more than once that Taiwan was The land of China, such as the first letter of persuasion recorded in the "Journal of Zeelandia City" of May 1, 1661, "The Penghu Islands are not far from the Zhangzhou Islands, so they belong to Zhangzhou; similarly, Taiwan should also be under the rule of the Chinese government because of its proximity to the Penghu Islands; therefore, it should also be understood that the residents of these two coastal lands are Chinese, and they are the people who have owned and cultivated here since ancient times." ”
In summary, this "Book with the Dutch Guard" was not a fabrication by Mr. Lian Yatang, but a copy of the Dutch historical materials translated into English.