The Dutch had left this place unguarded. They believed there was no need to guard it. There were two channels leading into Tai-Jiang Inner Sea. The great…
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The Dutch had left this place unguarded. They believed there was no need to guard it.
There were two channels leading into Tai-Jiang Inner Sea. The great southern channel lay within range of the fort's cannons. But this northern passage, Lu'ermen — the "Deer's Ear Gate" — was too shallow for large ships to pass. So no watch was posted there.
In the spring of 1661, the fleet of Koxinga appeared beyond that very channel — the one no ship should have been able to cross.
They waited. What they waited for was the tide.
At the start of the lunar month, around the full moon and the new moon, the difference between high and low tide grows greatest. For just a few hours, the water rises higher than usual. In those few hours, hundreds of vessels crossed the shallows and entered the inner sea. The fort's cannons remained turned toward the south, and the stronghold found itself encircled from behind.
A local legend tells that when Koxinga prayed, the tide rose to meet him. In truth, it was simply that among his fleet was someone who could read the calendar. And yet, to those who witnessed it, there may have been no telling the difference.
The sea is no longer here. What lies before you now is land, and the channel has become a slender stream running inside the embankment.
A shift in tide of only a few dozen centimeters decided four hundred years of this island's history.
