Ayutthaya, the invincible city.
In the palace, King Basatong saw a group of clothed men in his palace for the first time! There were four officials from the Ming Dynasty, one civilian from the Ming Dynasty, and a Western devil with an ugly face... It seemed that he was some kind of ambassador from the Netherlands. He probably didn't prepare a golden gift for him, so he was unhappy?
When he was thinking about whether to make up for the Dutch as a gift, the naked male prince Narei, who was kneeling on the ground, had already held up the translated "Treaty of Vassals" with both hands.
"This is..." King Basatong picked up the treaty and read it carefully.
After a few glances, an angry look appeared on his face. This was putting Siam in a subordinate position to the Ming Dynasty!
Ah, no, the Kingdom of Siam was originally a subordinate of the Ming Dynasty!
Is this the case that the Celestial Kingdom is getting serious?
"Although the Celestial Empire is strong, it is too far away from Siam!" King Basatong said.
There were translators from the Ming and Siamese countries present, who could translate King Basatong's words into Chinese in time.
"Is it far?" Ji Kun said with a smile, "It's only 1,700 miles from Jin'ou Cape. Smooth sailing, we can arrive in the morning and evening! Today, the dynasty has 20,000 troops stationed in Jin'ou and Jinghai, and it can also recruit 20,000 elite troops from Annan, half way by sea. It can be as big as one month. Therefore, if the king has the protection of the heaven, he does not need to be afraid of being bullied by other countries.
Even Taungoo can no longer threaten Ayutthaya City! "
Ji Kun's words were quite harsh!
The 40,000 Ming-Annan coalition forces will be able to reach Ayutthaya City within half a month!
At this time, the Ayutthaya Dynasty has no time to mobilize peasant soldiers... If the Ayutthaya Dynasty does not want to perish, then just sign the treaty!
As long as the treaty is signed and protected by the Ming Dynasty in the future, the Ayutthaya Dynasty will be safe.
King Basatong was not convinced: "It takes a lot of ships to transport an army of 40,000 people. Does your Ming Dynasty have any?"
"Of course there are ships, but they can't gather them together at the moment," Ji Kun said with a smile, "That's why we have to station 1,000 troops on the island. This way, if there is an emergency in Ayutthaya City, they will be able to reinforce it in time. There are 1,000 troops With the help of the heavenly soldiers, the city of Ayutthaya will not fall."
"What use can a mere 1,000 people do?" King Basatong asked.
Ji Kun smiled: "Want to give it a try, Your Majesty?"
Try it? King Basatong was quite unhappy and was about to have a fit when Van Diemen, a Dutchman who came with Ji Kun, suddenly said: "Your Majesty, according to the knowledge of the East India Company, the Ming army stationed on the inner island is very powerful. Although the number is only 1,000, but they are equipped with sophisticated matchlocks, lath armor, and 4 3-pound bronze cannons. In addition, there are 2 gunboats entering the Chao Phraya River to provide them with fire support... These gunboats have gathered Some advantages of Chinese and Western-style ships are that each ship can be equipped with 24 6-pound cannons! With their support, even if there are tens of thousands of troops from the Toungoo Kingdom of Myanmar, it is impossible to capture the island!"
Of course King Basaton knows who Van Diemen is!
Before becoming the ambassador to the Ming Dynasty, he was the governor of Batavia of the East India Company and the maritime king of Southeast Asia!
The East India Company signed a trade treaty with Siam and opened a commercial store in Ayutthaya.
So King Basatong had to seriously think about it - if his people were beaten to pieces by the Ming army on the Inland Island, then some very harsh clauses would have to be added to the "Treaty of Suspensions and Vassals"!
And Van Diemen knew how dark the Ming Dynasty was now, so he reminded King Basatong not to be stupid... If Narixuan was still alive, it would be okay. But Basatong and his group of fat naked male ministers would definitely not be able to defeat the 1,000 Ming army.
Since you can’t beat me, you’d better sign the contract obediently!
After signing the treaty, I bought more arms from the East India Company and armed myself. The nobles and ministers also hurriedly went to exercise. Now, they can't even put on their armor...
Of course, Zhang Yong's 1,000 men could not defeat Ayutthaya City. Although Ayutthaya City is on a plain, it is protected by the Chao Phraya River and a wide moat, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. The name of the Invincible City is not entirely just a boast!
At that time, Mang Yinglong's father, Mang Ruiti, sent out hundreds of thousands of troops to surround Ayutthaya City and stormed it, but failed to win. In the end, he had to retreat with regret. Later, Mang Yinglong did not attack Ayutthaya by force, but captured the city of Ayutthaya by surprise.
Therefore, Van Diemen estimated that once the talks between the two sides collapsed, the Ming army might rely on its maritime advantages and the terrain of the mainland island to block the Chao Phraya River for a long time to force Siam to make concessions.
Siam, on the other hand, can be self-sufficient for a long time even if foreign trade is interrupted, so once the war at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River begins, it may last for several years.
This would do the East India Company no good!
Ji Kun didn't want to make a big fuss - he, the "Imperial Envoy and Plenipotentiary Ambassador", was just a diplomatic official affiliated with the Ministry of Rites. So I followed Van Diemen's words and said: "The inner island is already under the control of the Chinese soldiers, so His Majesty the King does not have to worry about enemies coming in from the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. Ayutthaya is a fortified city, and there is no need to think about it. People will attack.
But what about places like Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani, Tenasalin and Moji? Once the mouth of the Chao Phraya River is blocked and sea roads become difficult to navigate, will these places be occupied by others? Will it become the second Malacca Sultanate? The Sultanate of Malacca was also a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, but it had been unwilling to allow the Celestial Empire to station troops. It was not until Malacca was besieged that it asked the Celestial Empire for help. However, the Celestial Empire was thousands of miles away from Malacca. How could the Celestial Empire provide assistance in such a hurry?
Your Majesty the King, this official is actually an official envoy to Europe, and he came to Siam just on his way... If Siam signed the "Treaty of Suzerains and Vassals", it would naturally be a foreign vassal of the Ming Dynasty, just like Annam. The lower officials can also negotiate with the Europeans to protect Siam's territory.
Otherwise, if a European asks about Siam, how should your subordinates respond? "
King Basatong was completely lost in thought.
The Sultanate of Malacca mentioned by Ji Kun was originally a vassal of the Ming Dynasty. Like Siam, it was more nominal than real. It always only knew how to take advantage of tribute and did not know how to safeguard the interests of the suzerain country. As a result, the Portuguese were dumbfounded when they arrived. The Celestial Empire did not save them, and Malacca itself could not defeat the Portuguese. After struggling for a while, it perished...
"Your Majesty," Ji Kun continued to lie, "their Europeans have a so-called world empire, which is similar to our vassal tribute. But it not only has a false name, but also has substance. The king, the king, and the ministers are clearly defined, and they are all stipulated by treaties. The so-called rights and obligations. Therefore, the interests of the suzerain and the vassals were consistent and they could jointly deal with the outside world, so a world empire was formed.
If our Ming monarchs, ministers and vassals want to unite and strengthen themselves, we must also learn from the Europeans and form a world empire. We must use the "vassal treaty" and garrison to strengthen the connection between the upper and lower levels and make it invulnerable to outsiders.
If the king signs the contract, if something happens in the future, not only Ming Dynasty will send troops, but Annan will also send troops. Siam has the aid of the Ming and Annan coalition forces, so what else does it have to worry about? "
The so-called Ming world empire was also a concept promoted by Zhu Cixiang - he wanted to transform the Ming vassal system into a colonial empire system. Convert Siam, Annam, Chenla, Nanzhang and other countries into colonies or semi-colonies of the Ming Dynasty.
Destruction in one fell swoop looks great, but it is very difficult to implement - these countries are very "broken", with a lot of feudal lords under the king, so defeating their central power is just the beginning of a long war. To be completely destroyed, a long and protracted war must be fought.
The cost is too high, and the risk is too great - once the cost of colonization gets out of control, failure will be a matter of time!
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty also needed to import grain and timber from Siam and Annan, and also needed Siam's land to absorb the domestic surplus population, and Siam also had the need to absorb the Chinese population. If the Ming Dynasty could maintain its de facto status as suzerain in Siam, establish the Governor's Palace on Inland Island (later Bangkok) and a commercial port, and protect Ming expatriates through the Governor's Palace, commercial ports and Confucian academies to prevent them from being brainwashed by Theravada Buddhism, then Gradual annexation is completely feasible...
