Chapter 112 Section 6 Chinese soldiers who are not afraid of death

Hearing the news of the incoming enemy troops, Philip May, a land surveyor who was repairing the gate of the hospital, immediately put down his work. Like most Dutch people, he boarded the Promencia Castle and looked into the sea.He saw that in the northern sea, "there are so many junk ships that it is impossible to calculate the number in a hurry." And "Neglected Formosa" provides more detailed figures: "Hundreds of warships appeared on the Formosa sea that can be seen from Zeelandia City, and there were about 25,000 soldiers on board." The warring parties were outnumbered.The Dutch later said: "There were about eleven hundred men in the castle (Zelandia)" ("Neglected Formosa") and the armed men in the castle of Promincia were less than two hundred.In terms of numbers, the Zheng army is nearly twenty times that of the Dutch army.

Although there is a disparity in the number of people, the Dutch are not desperate.Because in their eyes, the Chinese have no fighting power.The Dutch have long harbored a deep disdain for the Chinese.In the fifth year of the Apocalypse (AD 1625), the Dutchman Willem Pondercourt, who once followed the Dutch fleet to participate in the robbery along the coast of China, wrote the popular "Unforgettable East India Travel", which recorded his impressions of the Chinese. He said: "The Chinese seldom heard gunshots. It is said that they were terrified when they heard gunshots." They burned, killed and looted along the coast of China, but rarely encountered effective resistance.The deck of the Dutch ship was crowded with captured Chinese. Pang Degou said: "Whenever I stepped on the deck, these Chinese immediately gave way and knelt on both sides with their hands folded, like sheep." taming."

During the more than 30 years of ruling Taiwan, the Dutch have repeatedly confirmed the tameness and cowardice of the Chinese. "Taiwan under the Dutch Occupation" (compiled by Gan Weilin) ​​contains that the Dutch collect tariffs every year from the Chinese Han people living in Taiwan who are engaged in overseas trade, and "gained a lot of benefits."Although the number is nearly 100,000 and they have lived in Taiwan for a hundred years, these Chinese people regard the later more than 1,000 Dutch as their legitimate rulers and are willing to pay this unreasonable tax. However, the Japanese who also live here refuse to pay. "The Japanese strongly objected to paying the tariffs, on the pretext that they came here six years earlier than the people of the East India Company, so the land was theirs first." Because of this dispute, a long period of mutual exchange broke out between the Japanese and the Dutch. Uncompromising confrontation.

In more than thirty years of rule, the above facts established the psychological advantage of the Dutch over the Chinese.Therefore, when Zheng Chenggong's army landed on Taiwan Island, they still had the mood to observe this strange army with a curious attitude.Mei, standing on the head of the city of Promincia, found that Zheng Jun's military appearance was very neat: "The enemy army marched from the farms at Cheludi, Newport, across the heights, with drums and pipes, in full armor and high morale, some of them on horseback. Their army had innumerable beautiful silk banners and banners. (liu), wearing a bright helmet and holding a broad knife, quickly followed the road of Inding, passed through the forest of Hagenaer, and came to the small forest by the sea, and camped behind the stream in the company's garden on the north side of Promencia, and there set up a mountain. Thousands of white tents, it's half past one in the afternoon."

After setting up camp, Zheng Jun launched the first attack on the city of Promincia.May said: "There are more than a thousand armed enemies from the stables on the north side of the castle, holding flying banners, and some of them are galloping along the coast and under the high hills, as if they are about to break into the castle. Come." The huge gap between hot and cold weapons was revealed at this moment: "But when they came to a distance of five or six rods, we fired our rifles at them, fired a round or two, and they retreated after losing a few men." "The enemy Arrows continued to be fired at us from behind the high hills by the sea, for a long time, and the arrows rained down, but did not cause any significant damage, except for two soldiers."

The huge advantage of rifles over bows and arrows effectively made up for the disadvantages in numbers.However, the Dutch still noticed the obvious difference between these Chinese and the Chinese they had seen before, that is their astonishing bravery.Mei, who has been standing on the city, recorded: "One of them lay wounded in front of the castle, and could not get out of it, though he had been shot several times in the body, and lying on the ground, he would not surrender, and shot nineteen or twenty arrows at the men on the castle. , until one of our Negro youths hit him in the hip with an arrow he had shot, and he staggered to the other side, crawling out of our sight on hands and feet."

This fearless Chinese soldier left a deep impression on all the Dutch in Promincia.