Chapter 107 Section 1 The Dutch in Taiwan City

On April 30, Saturday, the 15th year of Yongli in Nanming (AD 1661), the life of the Dutch who had occupied Taiwan for 37 years was as peaceful as ever: the Dutch merchants in the shops on Chixian Street were carefully examining each item. They just bought the deerskin from the Gaoshan tribe hunters to see if there were any moth-eaten marks on it. Several Dutch priests went deep into the Han Chinese community to baptize the newly recruited Han Chinese; two Dutch military officers hunted in the woods next to Chikan City (known as Promincia City in the Netherlands, today’s Tainan City) as a pastime for the boring daily life .And Dutch land surveyor Philippe May, who has lived in Taiwan for 19 years, "is instructing several Chinese cement workers to build the gate at the Chinese hospital outside the red inlaid Promencia town".

The sky was blue as usual, and the sea was level as a mirror.This Saturday looked as calm and dull as countless weekends in the past thirty-seven years. At nine o'clock in the morning, Jakob Bananshiding, Acting Commander of the Dutch East India Company in Taiwan, took a leisurely walk in Taiwan City (known as Zeelandia in the Netherlands, today's Xi'anping Township, Tainan City), inadvertently, Spotted a black spot on the skyline over the northern sea. As a rule, no ships should appear in this sea today.Banan Shiding picked up the binoculars suspiciously, and what appeared in the lens shocked him so much that he almost fell on the city wall: a huge fleet appeared on the sea, and the long queue could not be seen at a glance.On the bow of a warship in front, there is a huge silk sun umbrella. Under the umbrella, a general in a white battle robe is holding a binoculars and looking in the direction of Bai Nanshiding.

The Dutch later learned that this white-robed general was Zheng Chenggong, the "National Lord". Bananshiding ordered the soldiers to raise the alarm flag.Then, he leaned against the head of the city, recovered his temporarily paralyzed body, hurried down to the city, and organized the Dutch to prepare to meet the enemy.