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<strong>Aug. 1 to Aug. 7</strong> Admiral Cornelius Reijersen stubbornly held out at Penghu’s Makung harbor (馬公) for nearly two years, refusing the Ming Dynasty’s repeated requests for his fleet to depart for Taiwan. Instead, the Dutch fleet plundered Chinese merchant ships, captured sailors and terrorized the coast of Fujian for months, hoping to force the Ming to open up trade with them. To the Ming, Penghu was too close to home; they knew of the Dutch’s military strength and they were also worried that the archipelago would become a pirate haven with ships smuggling ....