Chapter 60 Section 5 Besiege the city and fight to aid the recovery of Taiwan

After Zheng Chenggong occupied Chixian Tower, he divided his troops to attack Taiwan City from both land and water. First, he occupied the outer urban area of ​​Taiwan City.In order to reduce losses, Zheng Chenggong sent someone to send a letter to Kuiyi, trying to get him to put down his arms automatically and offer the city to surrender.When Kui saw that the situation was not good, he conspired to play the trick of delaying troops and waiting for help.He expressed to Zheng Chenggong that he was willing to pay tribute every year, and offered 100,000 taels of silver as a reward to Zheng Chenggong, and asked Zheng Chenggong to retreat.However, this despicable trick of delusion to occupy Taiwan for a long time was categorically rejected and severely reprimanded by Zheng Chenggong.Zheng Chenggong warned the Dutch invaders: "Taiwan has always belonged to China and was operated by the Chinese a long time ago. Now I come to claim it in person. The Dutch from afar should naturally return Taiwan to the owner. If I resist, I will be punished." Forced to use the greatest strength to achieve the idea of ​​recovering Taiwan, and then the Dutch East India Company must bear the full cost of this war.” Clearly pointed out the solemn position of the Chinese people to recover the country.At the same time, Zheng Chenggong also saw very clearly that the enemy would not surrender if he did not give the aggressor a little more power.Zheng Chenggong ordered a fierce attack on Taiwan City. The shelling lasted for four hours. The parapet of Taiwan City was severely damaged and many Dutch troops were injured.However, because Taiwan City was built with bricks mixed with sugar water and ash, the thickness reached six feet, and the Dutch army's artillery was dense, it was not easy to break through for a while.In order to reduce the casualties of soldiers, Zheng Chenggong decided to adopt the policy of long-term siege, plowing and fighting, cutting off the land traffic outside Taiwan City, waiting for the food in the city to run out, and forcing the Dutch army to come out and surrender.

While besieging the city of Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong sent Yang Ying and He Tingbin to various townships and communes to search the rice millet hidden by the Dutch army in order to solve the problem of military supplies, and at the same time sent people back to Kinmen to transport grain.At the same time, it also ordered the siege troops to carry out on-site reclamation. All officers and soldiers "have the police to fight (weapons), and if there are no police, they will bear the burden (farm tools) to plow." Deeply supported by the people of Taiwan.People of the Gaoshan nationality near Taiwan City came to welcome and assist Zheng Chenggong one after another, and cooperated with Zheng Chenggong's army to attack the enemy.Once, 14 Dutch soldiers fled to Xingang, and the Gaoshan people swarmed up and wiped them all out.The people of Taiwan also informed Zheng Chenggong and led Zheng Jun to block the water source of Taiwan City to trap the enemy.Thanks to the support and support of Taiwan compatriots, the obstacles on the way of Zheng Chenggong's army were cleared away.

The Dutch colonists still tried to struggle desperately before their demise.They sent a reinforcement from Batavia, including 10 ships and 700 soldiers, led by General Cayu.Zheng Chenggong ordered his generals to lead a brigade of warships to charge forward bravely, beating the enemy to death and panic.In this battle, two enemy warships and three gunboats were captured, 480 enemy soldiers were killed, wounded and captured, and the remnants fled to the open sea in embarrassment. Under Zheng's siege, the Dutch invading army in Taiwan City suffered from bloody dysentery, scurvy, edema and other diseases due to exhaustion and hunger, and died every day. More than 1,600 people died in battle, starvation, and disease. There are only 600 soldiers left in the city who can participate in the battle.Zheng Jun took a rest, continued to build fortifications, set up giant artillery, and prepared to attack the city on a large scale.The Dutch army in the city had no hope of waiting for help, and their morale was even lower. In order to survive, they "deposited" to the Zheng army one after another. Zheng Chenggong learned about the Dutch army's fortification situation from the surrendered soldiers, and further revised the siege plan.

On the sixth day of December (January 25, 1662 AD), Zheng Chenggong ordered the final general attack.Regardless of the stubborn resistance of the Dutch colonial army, Zheng Jun finally captured the outer fort of Taiwan City after two hours of shelling, completely cutting off the external traffic of Taiwan City.When the water source was cut off, Kui Yi had no way out, so he had to hang up the white flag and beg for Zheng Chenggong's surrender.On December 13 (February 1, 1662 AD), Kui Yi signed the surrender document and handed over Taiwan City, cannons, food and other military supplies to Zheng Chenggong.A few days later, he led the defeated soldiers, officials and businessmen, and rolled out of Taiwan in despair.So far, Taiwan, which has been occupied by our country for 38 years, has returned to the embrace of the motherland.Zheng Chenggong's great struggle to expel the Dutch invaders and regain Taiwan finally won the final victory.Zheng Chenggong's heroic deeds of driving the lotus back to Taiwan will shine in the annals of history and will be commemorated by future generations forever!