The Ace of Knife and Gun Fighting - Talk about the mysterious "Iron Man Army" in Zheng Chenggong's army
The author of this article, Wang Hao (Kuaiza Feng), will talk with you about the rare, interesting, real and unforgettable history of China and Japan
The Dutch, who had been driven from Taiwan, had always been angry about Zheng Chenggong, who had defeated them.
The last Dutch governor in Taiwan, Yu Yi, who had lost Taiwan, was sent to a court-martial for "surrender and treason" after returning to China, and was placed under house arrest in the Banda Islands for 8 years before being ransomed by his family to return to his hometown of Amsterdam. To defend himself, he wrote a memoir, "The Forgotten Formosa" (Formosa is the colonists' old name for Taiwan, derived from the Latin and Portuguese "formosa", meaning "beautiful").
Pictured: Yi surrendered to Zheng Chenggong
There is a description in the book: "Enemy soldiers use a variety of weapons. Many of the soldiers held intimidating swords in both hands and mounted them on half-human-length wooden sticks. Each soldier wears an iron armor to protect himself, like the tiles of the roof. Their arms and thighs are bare... They kept pushing forward, and even though many were killed, they didn't want to, they still rushed forward like mad dogs, and they didn't look around to see if any companions were following. ”
Pictured: Illustration of the Zheng-Ho war painted by Dutch mercenaries. The ironclad troops in Zheng's army were obvious
Is the "mad dog" unit with swords in both hands and wearing iron armor exaggerated by the defeated general to the enemy army, or is it a real thing?
He didn't lie—there really was a very powerful heavy armored infantry unit in Zheng Chenggong's army.
The biographical document "Taiwan Waiji" of the descendants of the Southern Ming generals records: "In February, (Zheng Chenggong) selected the brave men of each admiral as pro-army, and the Port of Xiamen performed the Wuting exercise. Each of them could lift up 5,000 people who traveled all over the teaching field with the power of 500 stones, and Feng Chengshi, a painter and a worker, supervised the manufacture of strong iron helmets, iron armor, and two arms, skirts, iron shoes, etc., and those who could not penetrate the arrows. He also made iron noodles, only showing his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, makeup and paintings like ghosts, and holding a large knife for cutting horses. Each of them is accompanied by two soldiers, specializing in cutting off the feet of horses, and there is no retreat in the front, known as the 'Iron Man'. ”
Pictured: Zheng Jun painted by Westerners. Watch out for Iron Man's full iron armor and sabre
The records in the Chinese historical materials, the soldiers wearing iron armor, holding large knives, and advancing or retreating are completely consistent with The record of Yi Yi. The Dutch did not recognize Chinese weapons and wrote the "big knife for cutting horses" as a battle sword mounted on a half-human long wooden stick. As for Yi Yi's remark that the soldiers' arms and thighs were "bare," I reckoned that it was caused by taiwan's wet weather and rough terrain, and wearing "iron shoes" to fight would hinder the freedom of action.
In addition, the Dutch land surveyor Philip, who had personally experienced the Battle of Taiwan at that time, was also a Dutch land surveyor. In Mei's diary, it is also recorded that Zheng Jun "beat the drum and blown the pipe when marching, some people rode horses, some people walked, helmets shone brightly, holding large knives, and countless silk flags fluttered along the road." ”
The iron man in Zheng Chenggong's army, holding a long-handled chopping horse knife, although the style can not be accurately verified, should be a continuation of the Tang Dynasty strange knife and the Song Dynasty chopping sword, the history books call this knife "people and horses are broken" Of course, there is an exaggeration, but a group of "mad dog" like iron armor heavy infantry charging with chopping knives, really powerful.
Pictured: The long-handled large knife of the Ming Dynasty should be close to the style of the chopping knife
In the Ming Dynasty Nanluo Min Ji, it is recorded: "Zheng Bing flew like a fly, and suddenly went to the horse to kill people. Very sharp, one sword wielding iron armor, military horses into two sections. When the knife is cast, a hundred blacksmiths are beaten to form this knife; therefore, it is very sharp. ”
In a series of battles to retake Taiwan, we have seen the strength of the Iron Man Army.
In the battle on the northern front, dutch captain Thomas pedel (Chinese known as "plucking ghosts"), who looked down on Chinese, encouraged the soldiers to say that "Chinese timid, the Dutch can be a hundred", and said that "Chinese afraid of the sound of gunfire and the smell of gunpowder, will collapse without a fight." He swung more than two hundred men into two teams on the left and right, and lined up to engage in battle. The result? After the artillery fire, a large group of "invincible" iron men pounced on them and bravely advanced, and the Dutchmen who were "in a hundred" were defeated by the "timid" Chinese, and the ghost boy and most of his subordinates were killed.
Pictured: The Dutch army in Taiwan painted by Westerners
After talking about iron man for half a day, don't think that Zheng Chenggong only relied on this cold weapon trump card. At that time, Zheng Chenggong's army was as powerful as a small country, and the strength of the naval force need not be said more, the army fought, and the Zheng army also had long-range hot weapons such as red-clad cannons, Flang machines, tiger squat cannons, and arquebus guns.
Not only that, but among Zheng Chenggong's men were a number of multinational troops: a "boo-chan brigade" of Japanese arquebusiers; a musket company of white Christians; a "black ghost" escort team bought from Macau; and a dark and thin Malay native with a scarf-tipped Indian pawn.
When Zheng Chenggong's army was about to fight, cannons, arquebusiers, and archers shot first, and finally the hand-to-hand soldiers won the battle. The hand-to-hand combat class is the Iron Man and the Shield Hand. In teams of four, shield men in teams of ten, two hand-to-hand armies marched forward, regardless of life or death, and in Dutch parlance " it was as if there was another body at home to replace" in Dutch terms. The officers rode their horses and drew their swords to supervise the battle in the team, and if anyone retreated, they immediately slashed the knife.
Pictured: Zheng successfully recovered Taiwan
In the face of such an iron army, the Dutch were defeated without any wrongdoing.
In everyone's old impression, the European colonists were all red-haired, bearded, armed with muskets, driving huge ships, and cannons were fired, and the backward local peoples would collapse without a fight and hope for the wind to surrender. This is actually a misunderstanding, the European powers of the seventeenth century did not have this strength at all. In the case of the Netherlands, the maritime power that first monopolized Asian trade, their colonization in Asia was not easy at all, and it took them more than a decade to defeat the many small sultanates in Malacca and a century to pacify the East Indies, while the islands of Aceh, Bali and Borneo took much longer.
Dealing with the natives, who only had poisonous arrows and spears, was still so troublesome, how could the Dutch take advantage of a well-equipped, well-trained, and well-numbered regular army?
The best example is that the Dutch were "arbitrarily taken" by Zheng Chenggong to occupy the occupied land, but they never dared to send troops to retaliate, but only made two negotiations and protests when the Qing Dynasty declined later, hoping to recover Taiwan and recover losses, and there was no other movement.
Interestingly, in the 13th volume of the Dutch History of The Faith of the Netherlands, published in 1663, the Dutch described this history as an evil, cruel, and ungodly eastern pagan tyrant (Zheng Chenggong) who occupied our castle (the city of Zeelandia). "The Forgotten Formosa" written by Yu Yi depicts Zheng Chenggong in the illustration of the fierce and evil Ottoman Grand Duke.
These dissatisfactions, indignations and slanders against China certainly aroused curiosity and indignation throughout Europe, but the events occurred in the far East, and at most they only added a topic to the Europeans after tea and dinner, and were soon forgotten by the public.
Except for the Yu family.
Pictured: Statues of Zheng Chenggong and Yiyi at the Taiwan Exhibition Center
More than three hundred years later, in June 2006, the three members of Michael Coyet's 14th grandson, Michael Coyet, came to Taiwan on a special trip, and they did not come to seek revenge, Michel said, which was a last wish of Yi Yi before his death, hoping that future generations would set foot in Taiwan again. Accompanied by the mayor of Tainan, they visited the Chiqianlou and Anping Castles of Zeelandia City, and finally went to the Yanping County King's Ancestral Hall to pay their respects, thanking Zheng Chenggong for his kindness and allowing the bloodline of the Yi family to continue.
The happiest ending.