Chapter 119 Section 13 Technology gap

After the surrender of Promincia, Zheng Chenggong was very excited and concentrated his entire army to surround Zeelandia, hoping to take down the last fortress occupied by the Dutch in one fell swoop. However, the city of Zeelandia is not comparable to the city of Promencia.There are about 1,000 defenders in the city of Zeelandia, five times that of Promincia. Most of the Dutch's military supplies are stored here. The city has high walls and well-defended defenses.The four corners of the city protrude outward, and there are twenty cannons; ten giant cannons are placed in the north and south.The Dutch army's artillery is dense and has a long range, blocking every road around it, so no matter which side you approach from, you will be bombarded by the artillery fire on the fort.

On May 26th, Zheng Chenggong decided to risk his life to attack. He mobilized all 28 cannons he could collect, and in the early morning, by surprise, he bombarded the city of Taiwan, destroying most of the parapet of the city in an instant. The defensive Dutch army was mostly wounded. However, Zheng Jun's twenty-eight cannons only brought panic to the Dutch for a moment.Kuiichi recalled in "Neglected Formosa" that the Dutch still had full confidence in artillery warfare. "Our soldiers immediately ran to the parapet of the castle, intending to answer the morning salute of the Chinese with true Dutch style."

The Dutch commander "sees at once with an experienced eye the weakness of the enemy's artillery, which is unmasked and vulnerable; , many ran to and fro outside the fortifications, rashly exposing their targets." Thus, the Dutch commander ordered all artillery fire to be ready. "When the time came, he ordered to fire at the uncovered Chinese soldiers from all directions at the same time. Sure enough, the first attack left the enemy dead and wounded." According to the saying, the enemy killed a thousand people and injured countless people." The numbers the Dutch have are accurate.Mei also said in her diary: "From early morning to the whole morning today, we heard strong artillery fire in Daliu. Soon, we also saw the results of the artillery battle. Many wounded Chinese were brought to Chicai (now Tainan City area), all the houses and corners were crowded with people, our five doctors bandaged them all day long, and hardly had time to stop for a bite to eat... I heard that the death toll exceeded a thousand, and the wounded as many as Seven or eight hundred."

Because of underestimating the enemy, Zheng Chenggong paid the biggest price since he came on stage.It seems that the Dutch's "Red Cannon" is not in vain.The vast gap in weapons technology gap cannot be filled by mere courage. After suffering from this pitfall, Zheng Chenggong learned from the painful experience and decided to change to the policy of long-term siege, long-term siege, and plowing and fighting.Zheng Jun built defense fences on all the streets leading to the castle, and dug a wide trench to surround the Dutch army. The eight-month-long siege began.