Chapter 23 Chapter 23 Qi Jiguang’s Anti-Japanese War and Zheng Chenggong’s Recovery of Taiwan

In the Ming Dynasty, there were not only sandship-shaped "treasure ships" that could sail in the ocean for friendly overseas trade, but also warships.Fuchuan and Guangzhou Ships also developed into famous warships in the Ming Dynasty.Qi Jiguang showed great prowess in the battle against the Japanese and Zheng Chenggong's recovery of Taiwan. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the feudal lords of Japan's Kyushu area gathered hundreds of frustrated warriors, businessmen, pirates, etc., to harass our coast, kill and rob, and they were called "Japanese pirates".During the Jiajing period of Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty (AD 1522-1566), Japanese pirates were rampant.In the thirty-second year of Jiajing (1553 A.D.), the pirate Wang Zhi and others colluded with Japanese pirates and invaded on a large scale. There were more than a hundred ships in the company, from Taiwan (now Linhai, Zhejiang), Ning (now Ningbo, Zhejiang), Song (now Songjiang, Shanghai), Thousands of miles away in Huaibei and Binhai were alerted at the same time.Wherever the Japanese pirates went, they plundered property, massacred residents and took people captive.People along the coast rose up to fight against the Japanese, the most famous being Qi Jiguang (1528-1587 A.D.) against the Japanese.He is from Penglai, Shandong Province. He was born in a general family. He has little ambition and loves to read.On the title page of the book, he wrote the poem "I don't want to be a Marquis, but I hope Haibo will be peaceful", expressing his ambition to fight against the Japanese. At the age of 17, he prepared the Japanese in Shandong, and was later sent by the Ming government to fight against the Japanese in eastern Zhejiang.Because the Japanese pirates were entrenched on the coastal islands, they fled to the small island by sea boat as soon as they saw the Qi family army.Qi Jiguang is determined to train a navy.Because "the lucky boat is resistant to wind and waves, and can resist fire", he personally supervised the construction of three kinds of lucky boats suitable for combat, namely the big lucky boat, the sea cang and the boat (Zhou Qiao).

The big blessing boat "can accommodate hundreds of people, with a wide top and a wide bottom, a high head and tail, three towers, two sails and masts, a board for protection, a female wall and a gun bed on the top. There are four floors in the middle, the bottom is solid earth and rocks, and the second is the dormitory. There are six doors on the left and right, a water tank in the middle, and a sailing and cooking vessel [cuan channeling]. The top is like a terrace, with a ladder to climb up, and a wing board next to it, which can be used for fighting. Arrows, stones and firearms are all bowed, so you can go with the wind." ("Ming History Zhi Sixth Eighth Bing Four").The bottom layer of the Dafu ship is loaded with soil and stones, which is called "ballast".The method of ballasting existed in the Northern Song Dynasty, and it was used to keep the balance of the ship.The second layer is the soldiers' activity place.The third floor is a place for setting sails, anchors and other tools on board and cooking places, and the fourth floor is a terrace where cannons can be installed and bows and arrows can be released.Soldiers can condescend to see the enemy's formation and fight.The Daifu boat is propelled by the wind, and it can exert its power even more when the wind is smooth and the water is smooth.Qi Jiguang praised and said: "The blessing boat rides down the wind, like a cart crushing a praying mantis." The Haicang boat is slightly smaller than the Dafu boat, and the boat (Zhouqiao) boat is smaller than the Haicang boat.Qi Jiguang said: "The Japanese boat is very small. Once it enters the Caspian Sea, Dafu and Haicang cannot enter. They must be chased by Cang boats, which is convenient for rushing to the enemy. People in Wen (zhou) call it Cangshan Iron." Against the wind and the current, sailing in shallow water, when encountering resistance, use small warships to fight, such as sand boats and eagle boats. "The sand boat can fight, but it has no wings to cover. The two ends of the eagle boat are sharp, and it advances and retreats like flying. It is nailed with a big bamboo. The window between the bamboo can shoot arrows. The people inside and outside the window can be used to row. First, drive this into the bandit team. , the sand boats followed, and the soldiers fought hand in hand, and they were invincible." (Ibid.)

Qi Jiguang also built many kinds of warships, such as boats (that is, ship boats, shaped like birds, commonly known as bird boats), Kailang boats (fast boats) and so on. Qi Jiguang also attached great importance to the role of Guangzhou Ships in fighting against the Japanese, especially the "Wucao" in Dongguan, Guangdong and the "Hengjiang" in Xinhui, Guangdong.These two Guangzhou ships are the main battleships of the Qi family army.According to Yu Dayou, another famous anti-Japanese general, these two kinds of boats were originally built by rich people, and the boatmen who drove them were called Housheng.They trafficked everywhere, carrying goods such as white vines and betel nuts to Qiongzhou in the south, and salt to Bozhou in the east, and made ten times the profit.Qi Jiguang requisitioned it and transformed it into a high-quality warship to fight against the Japanese. The bottom of the "Wucao" boat is painted black, and the shape of the boat is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. "Guangdong ships are made of iron chestnut (power) wood, and Fuchuan is especially huge and strong. The second person who uses it can launch the Flang machine (Portuguese cannon) and throw fireballs." (Ibid.) Enemy ships burn when encountering fireballs Sunk; the enemy ship approached, and the Guangzhou ship hit it with its huge hull, and the enemy ship was smashed. The "Hengjiang" ship has 6-16 sculls and two large masts. There are large and small watchtowers on the masts, and three or four people can enter to watch and monitor the enemy's situation.Wangdou uses rattan as a net, and the net is covered with rhinoceros leather and cotton quilts, which can defend against enemy arrows. On both sides of the ship's side, there are Frangji cannons, pili cannons, magic cannons, fire bricks, ash pots, smoke balls, etc. This kind of weapon has guns all over the body. It can rotate four rings and use it end to end. It is extremely fast and brave.

Qi Jiguang used Fuchuan, Guangzhouchuan, and Sandchuan to make outstanding achievements in the Anti-Japanese War.In the 40th year of Jiajing (AD 1561), the Japanese pirates in Zhejiang were wiped out, and in the 44th year of Jiajing (AD 1565), the Japanese pirates in the southeast coast were all wiped out.Qi Jiguang deserves to be a national hero of our country. When Qi Jiguang was fighting against the Japanese, since the 1640s, Taiwan and other coastal islands in my country have been continuously occupied by a group of powerful armed groups. They have hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of troops, and excellent firearms.Called "pirates" in history books.They have a complex composition, including bankrupt merchants, boat owners, farmers, and coastal tycoons, who either smuggled and trafficked, or robbed business travelers. Li Dan and Zheng Chenggong's father Zheng Zhilong were all their leaders.Zheng Zhilong is a native of Shijing Village, Anping Town, Quanzhou, Fujian Province. He followed his uncle Huang Cheng to Xiangshan Macao (today’s Macao) to learn Portuguese, worked as a translator (translator) for the Netherlands, and later joined the great merchant Li Dan.Li Dan is also from Quanzhou, and later lived in Japan.For Zheng Zhilong to marry the daughter of the Tagawa family of the Nagasaki royal family in Japan.In the fourth year of Tianqi (1624 A.D.), the eldest son Zheng Sen (later given the surname Zhu and success by Emperor Longwu of the Southern Ming Dynasty).In order to monopolize overseas trade, Zheng Zhilong was recruited by the Ming Dynasty in the first year of Chongzhen (1628 A.D.) to annex other maritime merchant groups with the help of official power.In July of the sixth year of Chongzhen (AD 1633), Bartraum, the Dutchman who invaded Taiwan, led nine warships to attack Xiamen, but was repelled by the Fujian Navy led by Zheng Zhilong (five ships were sunk, one was captured, and thousands of enemies were wiped out. 119 people were captured alive).This is the biggest victory for the Chinese against Western invaders in decades.With his military exploits, Zheng Zhilong was promoted to chief soldier.In the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635 A.D.), Zheng Zhilong completely controlled the sea power along the southeast coast.All merchant ships operating in the South China Sea "are not allowed to use Zheng's order flag, and cannot travel."When each ship asks for the command flag, it has to pay three thousand gold.This income alone is about tens of millions per year.Since then, the Zheng Group has monopolized the South China Sea, making it as rich as an enemy country.After Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, in 1645, Zhu Yujian, the former Tang king of the Ming Dynasty, was proclaimed emperor by Huang Daozhou, Zheng Zhilong and others, with the reign name Longwu.All the soldiers, horses, money and food in Fujian were led by Brother Zheng Zhilong.In the third year of Shunzhi (1646 A.D.), the Qing army invaded Fujian, and Emperor Longwu fled to Tingzhou and was captured and killed.Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty because of his greed for wealth and wealth in the land.Zheng Chenggong was 23 years old at the time. He refused to accept the bitter advice, so he broke with his father. On the first day of December, he held a meeting of civil and military officials in Lieyu, made an alliance to restore the Ming Dynasty, and raised troops to fight against the Qing Dynasty.

Zheng Chenggong took Jinmen and Xiamen Island as his base, and adopted the policy of "enriching the country with commerce and raising troops with commerce", maintaining the expenditure of thousands of warships and 180,000 troops and continuously strengthening his own strength.Since operating shipping in 1652 and raising wages and equipment, its strength has developed rapidly.In the eleventh year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1654), Zheng Chenggong sent Zhang Mingzhen to lead hundreds of naval warships into the Yangtze River to approach Nanjing, and then went down the river, divided into 60 warships, and attacked the Denglai states in Shandong in the north, and returned to Korea.On May 13th in the fifteenth year of Shunzhi (AD 1658), Zheng Chenggong marched northward to Nanjing for the second time. At that time, there were "170,000 armored soldiers, 8,000 iron men, 8,000 warships, sailing forward, and the number is 800,000." (Charlene's "Haiji Collection").On August 10, the boat arrived at Yangshan, and the wind caused serious losses, so they "ordered to flow into the ports of Wentai and Taiwan, seize the boat to get food, and then try to make progress."After eight months of rest, on April 19th in the 16th year of Shunzhi (AD 1659), they attacked Nanjing again on a large scale. In July, they conquered Zhenjiang and besieged Nanjing.However, Lang Tingzuo, governor of the Qing Dynasty, tricked him into delaying his troops. Two months later, he was suddenly attacked by the Qing army and defeated.Returned to Xiamen on September 7.Later, he felt that staying in Jinmen and Xiamen was not a long-term solution, and it was difficult to fight against the Qing, so he decided to regain Taiwan.

Taiwan has been China's territory since ancient times. In 1624, the Dutch colonialists invaded and occupied the Anping Bay area on the southwestern coast of Taiwan, and built Chixian City and Taiwan City (the two cities are not far apart, both in Anping, Tainan). In 1626, the Spanish colonialists also occupied the chicken cages (now Keelung, Taiwan) and fresh water in the northern part of Taiwan. After 15 years of contention, the Dutch defeated the Spaniards and monopolized Taiwan in 1641.The Dutch forced the Taiwanese to pay heavy taxes and sold the Taiwanese to Java as slaves. In 1661, Zheng Chenggong ordered his son Zheng Jing to stay in Kinmen and Xiamen.On March 23, he personally led more than 350 warships and more than 2,500 soldiers to cross the strait from Xiamen and Jinmen.On the first day of April, it landed outside Luermen near Chixian City, Taiwan.Zheng Chenggong had mastered the law of the tidal current at dawn on the first day of April, and the calculation of the entire voyage time from Penghu was very accurate.When a large number of warships arrived at Luermen, it was at high tide, and they immediately took advantage of the tide to enter the port smoothly and landed in about an hour.The people of Taiwan warmly welcomed the arrival of Zheng Chenggong's army and gave them enthusiastic support.Zheng Chenggong's army entered Chixian Street (now Tainan Chixian Building).The Dutch army in Chixian City had only 300 people and had to be trapped.The Dutch guard Mao Nanshiding wrote a letter and sent someone to Taiwan City (the Dutch name is Zeelandia) to ask for help.After Kui Yi, the governor of the Netherlands, got the letter, he sent a war general to call Gui Zai and hundreds of spearmen to help him, but was defeated by Zheng Chenggong's general Chen Ze.One Dutch ship was sunk, and the other three were seriously injured and fled overseas in embarrassment.Zheng Chenggong's navy controlled the waters of Taiwan and cut off the communication between the two cities and the outside world.At the beginning of April, Chixian City surrendered.Zheng Chenggong sent Maonan Shiding to Taiwan City to recruit Kuiyi.Kuiyi wrote to Zheng Chenggong, willing to send 100,000 taels of silver, and asked Zheng Jun to withdraw from Taiwan.Zheng Chenggong reaffirmed his righteous words and pointed out that "Taiwan is the land of China. It has been occupied by your country for a long time, and if you come to claim it for the rest of the year, the land should belong to me" ("Taiwan General History·Kai Kai Ji").In April, the city of Taiwan was besieged. In early August, the Dutch army from Java came to aid with 10 warships.Chen Ze led his navy to meet him and defeated him.During the eight-month siege in late December, more than 1,600 Dutch troops died, only 600 remained in the city, and only 300 were able to fight.In the desperate situation of food shortage and no hope of breaking out, the Dutch invaders had to surrender to Zheng Chenggong on February 1, 1662 (December 13, the eighteenth year of Shunzhi).The Governor of the Netherlands Kui Yi and his remnants will be expelled from Taiwan.Taiwan, which had been occupied by the Dutch colonialists for 38 years, returned to the embrace of the motherland. On June 23, 1662, Zheng Chenggong died of illness at the age of 39.Emperor Kangxi once wrote an elegiac couplet, speaking highly of this famous general who recovered Taiwan.

The elegiac couplet is: Zheng Chenggong is a national hero in the history of our country and has made outstanding contributions to safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.However, without the support of a strong navy and the people, it would be impossible for Zheng Chenggong to regain Taiwan.This also shows that my country's ship performance and navigation technology were advanced and developed in the 17th century.