Chapter 120 East's only victory in the 14th quarter

The long siege made the Dutch gradually lose their fighting spirit. On December 16, a group of Dutch guards sneaked out of the city and surrendered to Zheng Jun.They not only described the situation in the city of Zeelandia in detail, but also suggested that Zheng Chenggong first capture the round fort of Utlich on the hill beside the city, and then condescend to break through Zeelandia in one fell swoop. Zheng Chenggong readily accepted this suggestion. In January of the 16th year of Yongli in the Southern Ming Dynasty (AD 1662), he again mobilized 28 cannons, countless ammunition and thousands of soldiers. The firepower resistance, after experiencing heavy sacrifices, finally occupied this favorable commanding height on the night of the 25th.

After this battle, the Dutch were desperate.On the night of the fall of Utrecht, "the defenders inside Zeelandia fired artillery, mortars, rifles, and projectile grenades all night, and the castle seemed to be on fire."The War Council of the East India Company also met all night to discuss whether to fight desperately or continue to resist. After rational weighing, the Dutch finally decided to surrender to Zheng Chenggong. On the first day of February, the two sides started negotiations, and on February 10, they reached an agreement of 18 articles. The Dutch side agreed to hand over Zeelandia Castle to Lord Guoxing.On February 12, the Dutch withdrew from Zeelandia.

Mei, who was lucky to survive the war, left Taiwan Island by boat with other Dutch people.On the boat, he saw "Guo Xing Ye personally led several armed soldiers, rode down from the destroyed Utrecht fortress to the rear of the corner city, and entered the Zeelandia Castle." May said sadly: "In this way, Zeelandia Castle and the entire Formosa Island were lost, which caused our people to suffer a lot of humiliation in this East India region, and also caused a great loss to our boss and master. I'm also completely broke and all my stuff is gone." The moment Zheng Chenggong rode into Zeelandia Castle, his heart was full of joy, but he couldn't realize the historical significance of this moment.What he did know was that he had expelled more than a thousand Hongmaoyi people and gained the base to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. The first and only victory.

He didn't know that this marked that China's civilian maritime armed forces defeated the advanced European forces that were invincible from Africa to Southeast Asia at that time, and reversed the development track of East Asian maritime forces.He didn't know that this victory freed Taiwan of China from the fate of being brutally colonized by the West for three to four hundred years like Indonesia and the Philippines, and opened the history of Taiwan of China becoming a society dominated by Han people. In the dark and rainy late Ming Dynasty, Zheng Chenggong's victory was one of the few bright spots in the entire history of Nanming.This is a son of a pirate who has saved a little face for China, representing the last bit of masculinity left in the entire empire.