When Zhang Xie led the main force of the First Detachment to fight fiercely with Putmans in the waters off the mouth of the Min River, Zheng Zhilong, who had received information from the Dutch fleet from the north of Nanao Island, finally led the main force of the Taiwan Strait Inspection Department back to Xiamen Island.

Seeing that most of the ships he left on Xiamen Island were destroyed, Zheng Zhilong was also extremely indignant. However, he did not blame his cronies who stayed in Xiamen for blessing, but actively organized his forces and prepared to encircle and annihilate the Dutch fleet that ravaged Xiamen together with the Combined Fleet.

However, before Zheng Zhilong set off, he received news from Fuzhou that the combined fleet had won the first battle with the Dutch fleet at the mouth of the Minjiang River, and asked it to hold on to Xiamen and prepare to intercept the Dutch fleet fleeing south.

Although he didn't understand why the combined fleet, which was supposed to depart from Jeju Island, appeared off the coast of Fuzhou so quickly, the news that his own fleet had thwarted the Dutch fleet immediately aroused the desire of Zheng Zhilong's subordinates to fight.

Zheng Zhilong also took advantage of the situation to use this news to urge his subordinates to prepare for war, and released a large number of fishing boats as his eyes and ears. On the afternoon of 14 May, Zheng Zhilong's sentry finally discovered the whereabouts of the Dutch fleet heading south.

Zheng Zhilong, who was familiar with the geography of Xiamen's waters, quickly concluded that according to the speed of the Dutch fleet, the other side would inevitably anchor near Kinmen Island for the night. So he set up a few fishing boats near the Golden Gate to determine where the Dutch fleet would anchor, and his own side began to rearm for war.

At dusk that day, Zheng Zhilong's sentry saw the Dutch fleet anchored at Liaoluo Bay south of Kinmen Island, and quickly sailed back to Xiamen to report their findings to Zheng Zhilong.

After discussing with his subordinates for more than an hour, Zheng Zhilong finally decided to surprise the Dutch anchorage in the early hours of tomorrow morning. At about 3 a.m. on the second day, Zheng Jun got up to board the ship for dinner, and at nearly 5 a.m., the ship began to sail out of Xiamen Harbor.

From the port of Xiamen to Liaoluo Bay in the south of Kinmen Island, but 35 kilometers down, the Zheng fleet spent two hours to reach the west of Liaoluo Bay, and then immediately lined up here before rushing to the anchorage of the Dutch fleet 3 kilometers away.

The defeat off the coast of Fuzhou greatly weakened the Dutchmans, not because of the strength of the Ming fleet, but because they had a numerical advantage, but were frustrated by the Ming fleet's calm play, which made the members of the Dutch fleet begin to doubt the ability of the fleet commander Putmans.

When Putmans ordered the fleet to withdraw south, this order actually aroused the doubts of many Dutch captains. Because the defeat in the first engagement did not change the advantage of the Dutch fleet over the Ming fleet, they could still engage the Ming fleet again.

But if they retreat like this, they will undoubtedly abandon their previous goal of going to war, and let this war spread endlessly, which is extremely unfavorable for Batavia.

But Putmans was also helpless about it, the lack of supplies in the fleet was one thing, and on the other hand, most of the captains had the idea of retreating after the defeat. The Dutch East India Company was a commercial company after all, and most of the ships gathered in Batavia were armed merchant ships, whose owners had come to the East in search of wealth, not to fight for the company.

When the company's strength far exceeds that of the company's enemies, the owners of these merchant ships will naturally happily follow the company to fight and get a piece of the pie. But now, when the other side has a power that is not weaker than the company, the shipowners need to consider whether it is in their own interests to continue fighting.

It was precisely because he knew the nature of these shipowners that Putmans wanted to retreat for the time being, choosing a more favorable place to engage the Ming army. Backed by Nanao Island, at least the Dutch still have some confidence, fighting with the Ming people off the coast of Fuzhou, once the battle situation is unfavorable, those merchant ships who see the wind and rudder may not choose to flee the battlefield, after all, once the ship is damaged, they can not swim back to Batavia.

It's just that Putmans complied with the wishes of most of the shipowners and retreated south, but greatly demoralized the main ships of the fleet. This also caused the discipline of the Dutch fleet to deteriorate rapidly, and of course the discipline of the Dutch merchant ships was not very good.

However, in the rapidly changing battlefield, the loss of discipline of the fleet is obviously punished. Because the Dutch had almost wiped out the ships in Xiamen before, they lost their vigilance when they arrived at Kinmen Island this time, believing that Xiamen Island would not be able to send a fleet to attack them, and the ships that had been stationed on the periphery of the fleet did not patrol according to the regulations, so that when the Zheng fleet appeared a kilometer away, someone found and warned them.

Zheng Zhilong also adopted the same tactics as Putmans raided the port of Xiamen at this time, he ordered more than 100 small arson ships to rush directly into the Dutch fleet to set fire, while he led 55 large ships to intercept on the periphery.

In the smoke, the Dutch fleet lost its command completely, and all the ships fled with their own sails on their own, with no intention of helping their comrades resist the approaching arsonists.

Even Putmans himself fled from this sea of smoke and fire in the first place, without trying to stay and save his fleet. Although Putmans defended himself afterwards by saying: "... The soldiers of those countries were extremely brave, they were not afraid of artillery, rifles, and flames...

Their entire fleet was equipped with fireships, and they weren't meant to fight. On the contrary, it is to hook our ship and set it on fire... It's unbelievable that the flames were so surprisingly high in an instant..."

Despite his sworn commitment to the company's questioning, Putmans was imprisoned by the company until his family paid him 25,000 guilders, and he was released by the company.

However, Putmans, who was on the battlefield, did not know his fate at this time, and he rushed out of the smoke and flames, and encountered the Ming warships that were chasing and intercepting him, which made Putmans not even dare to turn back to rescue, and fled directly south from the battlefield.

The escape of Putmans directly triggered the collapse of the Dutch fleet. In fact, Zheng's attack ships only set fire to three Dutch ships and inflicted heavy damage on two Dutch ships, but the smoke cut off the Dutch from each other, making them think they were all surrounded.

This psychological panic caused the total collapse of the Dutch fleet, and by the way, Zheng Zhilong captured six Dutch ships and achieved a miracle victory. Such a result, even Zheng Zhilong, who knew the strength of the Dutch, was unexpected.

But for the Dutch, the consequence of the Battle of Liuluo Bay was not only that they were defeated by Zheng's army, but that this naval battle directly led to the division of the Dutch fleet.

Of the 15 Dutch ships that escaped from the battlefield at Liaoluo Bay, except for 8 that went south to join Pupmans on Nan'ao Island, the remaining six Dutch ships chose to return directly to Batavia.

Putmans did not know that the Dutch ships had fled back to Batavia, and he waited on the island of Nanao for the return of the remaining ships to join them; On the other hand, he sent people to the Pearl River Estuary, so that the fleet blocking the shipping of the Pearl River Estuary came to Nanao Island to join him.

But the first thing Putmans waited for was the First Detachment of the Combined Fleet and Zheng Zhilong's fleet. At this time, the Ming fleet that arrived on Nanao Island had outnumbered the Dutch ships, and Putmans saw that the situation was not good, and wanted to lead the remaining fleet to escape from Nanao Island, but the first fleet, which had the advantage of speed, held back the Dutch.

After being sunk and wounded three ships by the Ming army in succession, Putmans had to retreat back to the port of Nanao, where he was blocked by the Ming fleet.

On 23 May, the Second Squadron and some ships of the First Squadron of the Combined Fleet finally arrived in the waters off Nan'ao Island, and the total number of ships of the Combined Fleet, including Zheng Zhilong's fleet and nearby naval vessels, exceeded 76.

Putmans and his men, who stood at the head of the city of South Australia and observed, looked at the ships dotted on the sea, and finally let go of all illusions. While Putmans was still debating with his cronies how to seek a decent surrender, things changed.

On 24 May, the Dutch detachment blockading the mouth of the Pearl River arrived on Nan'ao Island. This fleet of more than ten ships was quickly discovered, and the combined fleet, which had absolute superiority, immediately divided into left and right flanks to encircle and destroy this fleet. With the exception of three or four Dutch ships, which had not yet turned around and fled, the other ships were either sunk or captured by the Combined Fleet.

When the Combined Fleet brought the captured Dutch ships to the port of Nanao to show off their might, the Dutch sailors in the port of Nanao finally couldn't bear it anymore, and they gathered and elected a representative to petition Putmans to surrender to the Combined Fleet immediately to save the lives of the fleet members.

Looking at these menacing sailors and soldiers, Putmans also realized that if he did not seek surrender, he would probably not have to fight with the outside Combined Fleet, and he would have to face the danger of a fleet rebellion first.

On the evening of May 24, Putmans sent John. As his own emissary, Finberon sailed out of port in a small boat with a white flag in an attempt to sue for peace with the Combined Fleet.

Zhang Xie, commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, met with John on the ship "Dongting Lake". Finberon, after hearing the Dutchman's appeal, stood beside him the representative of the British fleet, Robert Fernandes. Blake immediately objected, "No, John. Mr. Finberon, your only way out now is to surrender unconditionally to the Combined Fleet, surrender all your ships and weapons, and await the judgment of the Combined Fleet for your crimes, rather than talk about peace. ”

John. Finberg was not deterred by this, and fixed his eyes firmly on Zhang Xie, waiting for his words, believing that the power to decide the fate of the Dutch was not in the hands of the British.

Zhang Xie was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "Mr. Black is right, except for unconditional surrender, our side will not accept any conditional peace talks. By the way, go back and tell Mr. Putmans that if your army still refuses to surrender before noon on the 27th, then our army will no longer accept your surrender..."

John. Frustrated, Fen Boon left the Dongting Lake and brought the bad news back to Nanao Port. Putmans convened a fleet council attended by the captains of the ships, and after two days and two nights of difficult discussions, Putmans and seven or eight Dutch captains sailed out of port and surrendered at nine o'clock in the morning of the 27th.

At this point, the powerful fleet sent by Batavia, except for seven or eight that escaped, the rest of the ships were wiped out by the combined fleet. The strength of the Dutch East India Company in the seas of East and Southeast Asia fell to its lowest level ever.

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