schematic diagram
weather actually played an important role in history. The storm reversed the situation of war more than once.
schematic diagram
1661 to 1668, Zheng Chenggong recaptured Taiwan and the Netherlands. It was the first war between Europe and China, and it was also the most significant armed conflict between Europe and the Chinese army. In this war, the Netherlands' advantage lies not in cannons and muskets. The same is true for this battle with weather factors.
17th century Relanzhe
Zheng Chenggong The War with the Netherlands: The First War between Europe and China
The Great Age of Navigation
In the early 17th century, it was time for the great geographical discovery, and European powers came to East Asia to trade and establish colonies. In the era of navigation, whoever can master the route will master the business opportunities. According to literature, the Chinese news of the Dutch East India Company once presented a map to promote the "fertile wilderness" and suggested taking it.
16th century Taiwan
In order to establish a stronghold that could trade with the Ming Dynasty and Japan, the Dutch seized my country's Taiwan Island in 1624. In 1625, the city of Relanzha was built in the Grand Secretary Yikun (now Anping District, Tainan) to use it as its garrison.
Restoration model of Jelan Cham City
At this time, the Far East Sea had become a competition among the three European countries: Portugal, which rented the Ming Empire, Macau, colonized Philippines, Spain, Luzon Island, occupied Java ( Indonesian ), and the Netherlands, which launched commercial and colonial competition in the Far East Sea.
The Great Age of Navigation Taiwan’s Navigation Chart Location
First, the Dutch put the development of trade first and were unable to expand. It was not until 1635 that Dutch colonial foreign trade began to stabilize and the action to conquer the indigenous people was launched.
Ancient map of Taiwan
After the Netherlands occupied southern Taiwan, the Spanish also occupied northern Taiwan. However, since 1637, the Spaniards began to reduce their military power and withdraw from Tamsui. After the then Governor Anthony Van Dimen learned the news, he sent a ship to capture the chicken cage in 1642 and drove away the Spaniards. After the Dutch conquered northern Taiwan, the goal changed to conquering the western plains to open up the road between the north and south of Taiwan. In January 1645, the Dutch army attacked the anti-Dutch tribes in the Dadu Kingdom, and in April, the entire western plains obeyed the Dutch rule.
17 Century Grand Master (near Tainan) port scene. The same period when the forces in Western Europe moved eastward, it was the time when the Ming Empire ended the "Seven Treks to the West" operation of Zheng He and gradually implemented the period of maritime ban. Since 1650, after Zheng Chenggong rose on the coast, in order to raise military spending to compete with the Qing Dynasty, he sent a large number of merchant ships to Japan and Southeast Asia for trade and compete with the Dutch.
schematic diagram
1652, Taiwanese farmers were living difficulties due to the recession of the sugarcane industry, and were dissatisfied with the various evil deeds of the Dutch East India Company, which triggered the Guo Huaiyi incident. Because of its large scale, there are rumors that Zheng Chenggong is secretly manipulating it. Although the Dutch judged it was just a rumor, he was still worried about Zheng Chenggong's threat. In order to crack down on Zheng Chenggong, the Dutch began to seize Zheng’s merchant ships at sea, while Zheng Chenggong banned trade between the two sides.
1635 Relanzha
1661, Zheng Chenggong took over Prominzha City and surrounded Relanzha City. In 1662, the Zheng army seized the commanding heights of the senior officials, and the Netherlands knew that they could no longer fight and had to withdraw. After the Dutch were defeated by Zheng Chenggong, they cooperated with the Qing Dynasty. In 1664, the Dutch sent troops to chicken cages until they completely gave up in July 1668.
Birds Aerial View of Dayuangang City
1661 to 1668 The war between Zheng Chenggong and the Netherlands was the first war between the West and China, and it was also the most important conflict between the West and China in history. This status was not replaced by the Opium War until 200 years later. Of course, Europe used powerful industrial ships in the Opium War, but the Qing Empire was defeated in a disastrous manner. The weapons used by Zheng Chenggong's war with the Netherlands were the most advanced cannons, muskets and ships at that time.
battle
In fact, this whole incident was caused by the weather.The climate change in the mid-17th century, the reduction in volcanic activities and the number of sunspots led to many droughts and floods, which not only shake the powerful Ming Dynasty, but also affect many other governments, so that the 17th century was the most frequent and turbulent century in human history.
期2
The power of nature: climate change and war in the 17th century
Schematic diagram
17th century people also realized one thing, that is, the will of heaven is the highest determinant of human affairs. No matter how technology develops, it is inevitable that the power of nature will be merciless. Both the East and the West believe that there must be a noble force in the dark to interfere in human affairs: the Dutch called it God, and the Han people called it God.
Zheng Chenggong
Zheng Chenggong, officials of the Dutch East India Company and the last chief of the Dutch rule, Kuiichi, both knew this. How could they not know? The weather has hampered their plans again and again.
Kuiyi
1658, Zheng Chenggong was ready to go up the Yangtze River, and time was well controlled, because the largest army of the Qing Dynasty was far southwest. But after his fleet got anchored, a typhoon blew away his ships, causing many officers and soldiers to drown. The next year, he finally sailed into the Yangtze River, but a large Qing army had just ended the expedition in the southwest and helped defeat him on his way back. If it weren't for the storm, Zheng Chenggong might have succeeded in 1658. In this way, the battle situation between him and the Qing Dynasty might be reversed.
Relanzha
The storm reversed the situation of this battle more than once. Before the war began, a typhoon destroyed a Dutch fortress and greatly changed the sandbar where the fortress was located, so that the Dutch could not rebuild it at all, so Kiichi was unable to resist Zheng Chenggong.
1662, the Taiwanese president of the Dutch East India Company, Kuiyi, has always surrendered successfully
On the other hand, Kau's fleet was also blown away by a storm, so Kuiyi was unable to allow his troops to land and attack Zheng Chenggong. Another storm blew Hassower toward the southeastern coast of our country, so it got in touch with the Qing Dynasty and almost reversed the war. However, another storm forced Kau to go to China to consolidate relations.
1735 Taiwanese
by the French painted by the Taiwan
storm, unexpected currents, strange winds, and natural power changed the development of the battle again and again. The power of nature is one of the most important factors in this war.
1871 Old photo of Relan Chacheng.
Netherlands
Compared with the disasters in the 21st century, climate change in the 17th century is simply insignificant. Nature is obviously about to teach us a humble lesson.
Cast
So, is Zheng Chenggong defeated because he happened to be favored by the weather? Although the weather plays a certain role, it is not the key.
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The strengths and weaknesses of generals are the key to the war: Zheng Chenggong's interests rise and attack
Zheng He's battle map
1661 to 1668 What enlightenment can Zheng Chenggong and the Netherlands bring? After all, the comparison of technological strength between the East and the West today is relatively similar to that in the 17th century.
Schematic diagram
A lesson that can be learned from it is that technology alone is not enough to win a war. In the war between Zheng Chenggong and the Netherlands, the strengths and weaknesses of the generals were the key, and the leaders of the Dutch camp performed extremely poorly.
port map
The stupid Dutch did not have sufficient food, water and gunpowder, and Kuiyi repeatedly disagrees with his colleagues.
Dutch warship
In fact, Kuiyi is the problem. He is a difficult person, irritable and vindictive.
Schematic diagram
In comparison, Zheng Chenggong and his commanders had much better leadership skills, which was obvious on the first day of the war. At that time, they avoided the main waterways, sailed into the high-ranking officials from Luermen, and made good use of a wave of high tide.
Luermen
attributed the high tide to the will of heaven, but in fact, Zheng Chenggong carefully planned the time to ride the high tide into the bay, avoiding the Relanzha Castle, and sent the troops to land before Kuiyi could react.
Schematic diagram
In less than a few days, he mastered a large area and forced the Prominent to block the city and surrender. His commander Chen Ze defeated the overconfident Baguizai on land and defeated three Dutch ships at sea.
Route
Later, Kuiyi launched that stupid naval attack in Dayuan Bay, and Chen Ze lured the Dutch into a trap, defeating them. During the nine months of besieging Jelanzhe, Zheng Chenggong's troops won almost every battle, and his officers repeatedly defeated the Dutch commander.
map
Of course, there are also imperfections, and internal strife is inevitable in the camp, such as stepbrother Zheng Tai refuses to go to rice. In addition, Zheng Chenggong's first attack on the Relanzha Castle also made the problem of overconfidence.
Schematic diagram
After the failure of the siege, he sent all his troops to remote areas due to overconfidence, without leaving enough defenders. He firmly believed that the Dutch could not send people to seek help against the wind.
Anping Castle
Despite these negligences, Zheng Chenggong and his officers showed excellent leadership skills.
Taiwan ancient map
si
War is a trick: fraud is the core element in traditional Chinese and foreign war stories
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In the relevant records of Zheng Chenggong and his father Zheng Zhilong , the strategies of " Sun Tzu's Art of War " and other documents can often be seen.
Kiyi
When Zheng Zhilong was preparing to attack Putmans' fleet with fire attack ships in 1633, he told his commander: The main speed of the soldiers is . This is a famous saying in "The Art of War".
Zheng Chenggong
Same, in all his battles, Zheng Chenggong clearly adopted the tactics in the Chinese military tradition: show weakness and lure the enemy, cannot look after each other, and wait for labor with ease.
Zheng Chenggong stronghold
Many of these mottos involve deceiving the enemy. In fact, the first specific motto in "The Art of War" is "War is a devil."
All military traditions have records of generals deceiving the enemy, and they have a long history. For example, Zhuge Liang The straw boat borrowed arrows and empty city plans in the Battle of Red Cliff. It can be said that fraud is the core element in the traditional Chinese war stories.
Spanish coin with the "Guoxianye" logo
Of course, the difference must not be overemphasized. Both sides have quite complex traditions, with multiple levels, and many exceptions. The most famous war legend in the West involves extremely well-known means of deceiving the enemy: Trojan horse .
Attack
In fact, Zheng Chenggong's image reflects integrity and importance in many aspects. However, he himself made this point because of the understanding that war is a trick. In 1660, a Dutch envoy asked him if he was interested in attacking, and he replied, "I usually attack the east and the west." This is the most well-known strategy among the thirty-six strategies. Showing weakness and luring the enemy is a trick that has been tried and done.
schematic diagram
Zheng Chenggong also incorporated fraud into the army's exercise. In the Battle of Zhenjiang in 1659, his camp attacked head-on with the Qing army, but suddenly raised a white flag and immediately began to retreat.
"A general in Zheng formation raised a white flag and waved it, and the soldiers immediately opened, as if they were retreating; if someone could not walk in time, they immediately lie on the ground. When the soldiers saw it, they said that their generals could escape and could take advantage of the momentum to attack, so they rushed forward; unexpectedly, a cannon was suddenly fired in Zheng formation, killing more than a thousand, and the rest of the army was shocked. Zheng soldiers rushed forward and intercepted the five cavalry teams in front of them and killed them."
This was a decisive victory.
War diagram
In fact, the only time the Dutch won on land was the result of fraud. In 1666, the commander of the Jicang garrison pretended to retreat and lured the enemy into the range of the cannon.
Therefore, wise leadership and rich military traditions assisted Zheng Chenggong in winning the war between Zheng Chenggong and the Netherlands.
camp diagram
wu
adapts to each other: Zheng Chenggong's flexible adaptability , the process of modernization, Asia has never missed
However, another factor is equally important: Zheng Chenggong's flexibly adaptability .
1871 North Gate of Relanzha City, engraved: Relanzha City, built in 1630
The first attack on the castle was unsuccessful, so the blockade strategy was immediately adopted. The arrival of the Dutch aid fleet prompted him to change his strategy again. He first built a new fort to try to capture the bunker at the top of the dune behind the castle of Jelanzha. The Dutch built a new fortification to counter the counter, so he withdrew his troops and built a fortress on the sandbank on the tail of the northern line, which was able to cut off the Dutch's route of transportation and repair. The Dutch planned to build another fortress, and he also adapted to the situation again and built powerful European siege fortifications. He used these fortifications to build a bunker at the top of the dune, forcing Kuiyi to surrender.
Indigenous
Relatively speaking, Kuiyi did not listen to other people's opinions, but instead launched a stupid attack. Zheng Chenggong's troops suffered from starvation and urgently needed rice and food. Afterwards, someone repeatedly advised him to launch a blockade, but he repeatedly ignored it.
Zheng Chenggong
Of course, the blockade operation has its own difficulties because of strong winds and heavy waves, shallow water in the nearshore area, and the Tang ship has the advantage of sailing downwind, but this is his only best option left.
map
Zheng Chenggong's ability to adapt to it reflects his multicultural growth background. His mother is Japanese, while his father is a Portuguese-speaking Han Chinese who believes in Catholicism. His family wealth comes from trade, and the ships transporting goods are Tang ships that combine European design elements. In addition, Zheng Chenggong's famous Iron Man troops were wearing armor and the tactics used were also influenced by Japan. Therefore, it is not surprising that he will defeat the Dutch in the end.
schematic diagram
Modernization itself is a process of mutual adaptation. The phenomenon of mutual borrowing of experience in wars between the East and the West has existed for thousands of years, but it reached its climax again in the 17th century. The Chinese used European guns, but the Dutch wore Chinese silk.
Zheng Chenggong's Japanese clothing
During the war between Zheng Chenggong and the Netherlands, the Dutch's scientific and technological capabilities were obviously better than China. European targeting technology was based on ballistics' mathematical and physical knowledge, which was a key advantage of European force.
Dutch Castle
For a long time, Asia has been regarded as stagnant and backward, while Europe is full of development momentum. However, the various processes that promote European modernization, including commercialization, foreign trade, medical progress, population expansion, agricultural productivity and military modernization, are not absent in Asia.
Schematic diagram
The history of modernization is actually not the history of European domination, but the process of spreading the phenomenon getting faster and faster. The true feature of modernization is the unprecedented movement of people, goods and concepts.
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