Zheng Zhilong, the father of Zheng Chenggong, actually inherited the position of Li Dan, a giant businessman from Quanzhou, who monopolized the commerce and trade in East Asia, and followed Li Dan's example. He not only respected the royal family of the Ming Dynasty and joined the Fujian government, but also established extensive trade ties with the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate and Dutch colonists who occupied Southeast Asia and Taiwan Province, China. Zheng Zhilong was recruited by the Ming Dynasty and rose from the coastal defense to the governor of Fuzhou. Dutch colonists signed commercial and military cooperation agreements with Zheng Zhilong to please them. After the Qing army entered Shanhaiguan and swept the Central Plains, Zheng Zhilong surrendered. His son Zheng Chenggong refused to surrender, but raised the anti-Qing banner. At the same time, he also integrated his father's forces, hoping to continue to control the maritime trade in East Asia and Southeast Asia. At that time, Zheng Chenggong's forces should be defined as the forces of maritime military business groups with armed separatist regimes. At first, there was no substantive objection to the Dutch occupation of Taiwan Province.
However, when the Central Committee of the Qing Dynasty completed the unification of the Central Plains, the territory controlled by Zheng Chenggong's forces was gradually eroded, and the Dutch colonists planned to abandon the Zheng family to seek more reliable trading partners. This is of course intolerable to Zheng Chenggong, and the cooperative relationship between the two sides began to crack and gradually staged a direct conflict. Facing up to these historical facts will not affect the historical fact that Taiwan Province belonged to China since ancient times and the historical position of Zheng Chenggong's national hero, and it will also help to refute the fallacy that some western economists and historians say that maritime trade and commercial civilization are European patents.
The book The Misunderstood History of Taiwan Province: The Historical Facts from 1553 to 186 may not be the facts, written by Luo Fenmei, a master and doctor from the Department of History of Fu Jen Catholic University and the Institute of History of Chinese Culture University, and a full-time associate professor from the General Education Center of Ming Chuan University, was recently introduced to the mainland for publication. This book excavates and quotes a large number of direct historical records, and restores many real details of the history of Taiwan Province area in China from 1553 to 186. These historical truths were covered up by simplified historical narratives and conclusions in the history textbooks of the mainland and Taiwan Province, or were seriously misread, but little known for a long time.
Taking the conflict between Zheng Chenggong's forces and Dutch colonialists quoted at the beginning of this article as an example, pointing out the nature of Zheng's forces may make those who are used to reading history with the label of typical loyal ministers and good generals feel quite disappointed, but it is more in line with historical logic: if Zheng's forces from Zheng Zhilong to Zheng Chenggong and later Zheng Jing were not a maritime military business group, it would be impossible to raise funds and resources for the long-term confrontation with the Qing Central Committee, and it would be impossible to own them.
It may also surprise friends who are used to the textbook version. Zheng Chenggong's success depends not on military strength (although his military strength is really enough to overwhelm the Dutch colonists), but on economic blockade. Luo Fenmei pointed out in the book "Misunderstood History of Taiwan Province: Historical Facts from 1553 to 186 May Not Be Facts" that Dutch colonists * * * aimed at taking the initiative in the trade of East Asia and Southeast Asia at that time. After Zheng Chenggong was determined to expel the Dutch colonists who lived in Taiwan, he adopted an embargo strategy, which directly broke the trade chain of the latter, and a large number of Fujian residents who went to Taiwan Province for agriculture and business returned to the mainland. At one time, the Dutch sent a naval fleet to meet Zheng Chenggong's army. After waiting for no results, they withdrew to Batavia (Jakarta today, the central stronghold of Dutch colonists in Asia). After that, Zheng Chenggong launched a fatal blow to the colonists who had fallen into unprecedented exhaustion.
The Misunderstood History of Taiwan Province: Historical Facts from 1553 to 186 are not necessarily facts, and other facts that are difficult to appear in textbooks are also introduced, which is very helpful for mainland readers to deepen their understanding of Taiwan's history. During their 3 years of occupation of Taiwan, Dutch colonists actively developed Taiwan Province, especially vigorously introduced Han residents from coastal provinces such as Fujian to Taiwan to farm and engage in trade, and created an autonomous leader system among Taiwan Province's aboriginal tribes. After Zheng Chenggong's death, during the confrontation with the Central Committee of the Qing Dynasty, the Zheng Jing forces in Taiwan Province caused trade and financial difficulties because of the Qing court's implementation of the sea ban, and attracted British businessmen to attract investment. The British people's actual understanding of China began here, and decades later they launched the opium trade to break through the trade restrictions of the Qing court and reverse the trade deficit. After Zheng Chenggong came to Taiwan Province, Taiwanese people once trusted the mysterious God (Zhenwu Emperor, the sea god conferred by the Ming Dynasty and the highest god in the north). After Shi Lang forced Zheng Ke to surrender, the Qing court turned to praise another sea god, Mazu, and tried its best to create God through official power.