When Li Laiheng confidently pledged his chest to his Ada Li Guo, his precious son Li Jicheng, grandson of Emperor Dashun, had already brought gifts and his "sister" - a man Li Dingguo snatched back from Ayutthaya City. Yamada Anna, a Japanese-European mixed race (the Ayutthaya Dynasty began to hire wandering Japanese samurai as soldiers very early. There are more than 1,000 Japanese immigrants around the city of Ayutthaya. Anna was born in a Siamese noble family of Japanese origin. ), and together with Bruce Van Diemen, they crossed the Arakan Mountains and arrived at Mrauk U, the capital of the Kingdom of Arakan.
The Arakan Kingdom at this time was not a weak country. The fact that this country could stand between the powerful Mughal Empire and the Toungoo Dynasty already explained the problem!
The prosperity of Arakan can be attributed to the Sultans of the Tibetan Sultanate in neighboring Bangladesh and the Portuguese colonists from afar. The Sultans of Bangladesh have always regarded the Kingdom of Arakan near Chittagong as their next target of conquest. In the 15th century, they almost succeeded, forcing the Buddhist kingdom of Arakan to surrender and accept the title of Tianfang Sect. It seems that it is only a matter of time before Arakan becomes a sultanate of Tianfang religion. But just when the Sultans of Bengal were about to succeed, the Age of Discovery arrived!
Portuguese colonists entered the endangered Arakan Kingdom from the sea and brought foreign guns, cannons and foreign soldiers (Portuguese mercenaries and Japanese mercenaries) to the endangered Buddhist country. The Kingdom of Arakan, which is rich but not strong (the Kingdom of Arakan has a long coastline and has been a major trading power since ancient times), is facing the end of its country and religion, and does not care to be wary of Western colonists, so it begins to eagerly absorb power from the sea. As a result, by the beginning of the 17th century, the originally dying Arakan Kingdom had become a small overlord in the Bay of Bengal. It occupied Toungoo in the east and moved into Bangladesh in the west, driving away the Tianfang Sultan of Chittagong!
However, the Kingdom of Arakan, which has grown stronger, is not able to sit back and relax, because the country's basic base is limited, and powerful countries continue to rise in the east and west, making Arakan have to fortify itself east and west, and cannot fully expand in one direction.
And now Arakan, which is at the peak of its national power, is facing the attack of two powerful countries that it cannot defeat at all. One is the Dashun Empire that went south and annexed the weakened Toungoo Kingdom. One is the formidable Mughal Empire under the rule of Aurangzeb!
Yes, the current Mughal Empire is a formidable power!
The emperor Aurangzeb who ruled this country was different from his predecessors. He was a "Puritan" of the Tianfang religion.
He is the kind of lunatic who is reluctant to part with food and clothing, and saves all his money to fight the "War of Gods"!
Although in history, this "Puritan" emperor annoyed the talkative Indian Asan and caused the decline of the Mughal Dynasty. But now his torment has just begun... The Hindu Asans can still endure it, but the Tianfang believers are on the rise. You can only imagine how strong the country is!
In addition, they previously joined forces with the Jungar Kingdom and the Khiva Khanate to eliminate the old enemy Bukhara Khanate in one fell swoop, and also obtained the ancestral homeland of Samarkand. Now they are very excited. Can the surrounding countries not be afraid? Taking Samarkand not only gave Aurangzeb an extra piece of territory, but also gave Aurangzeb a source of troops from which he could recruit outstanding warriors!
So the hard days of the countries surrounding the Mughals have come!
For King Sengtu Damo who believed deeply in Buddhism, a Puritan emperor from the Tianfang Sect was much scarier than Emperor Dashun who also believed in Buddhism.
Therefore, when the Dutch who controlled the sea (the Dutch were also the ones that the Kingdom of Arakan could not offend) proposed to promote the Dashun-Arakan alliance, King Sangtudhamo agreed without hesitation.
However, King Sengtuo Tammo was not a fool. He also knew that the Dashun Kingdom raided the Toungu Kingdom last time... It seemed unkind and righteous! So he put forward a request for marriage - he wanted to marry the daughter or granddaughter of Emperor Dashun, so that Dashun and Araghan would become husband-in-law.
This request was quickly agreed by Li Jicheng, and Li Jicheng also proposed to personally escort his sister to Mrauk-U City for a blind date...
Mrauk U City is famously strong! At that time, the founding monarch of Toungoo Kingdom, Mang Shwe Ti, led an army of 19,000 people across the Arakan Mountains to besiege Mrauk U City, but ended in a disastrous defeat.
That's why Li Jicheng decided to take a trip to Mrauk U in person to take a closer look at this castle, which is famous for its sturdiness.
However, Bruce Van Diemen, who came to Mrauk-U with him, did not expect that the grandson of the emperor of Dashun was interested in the Arakan Kingdom - in his view, the Arakan Kingdom was between Dashun and the Mughals. Buffer, once this country is removed, the collision between Dashun and Mughals will be inevitable!
Moreover, Bruce Van Diemen also prepared the target of invasion and expansion for the Dashun Empire - the Malacca Peninsula!
"Your Highness, although the galleys of the Arakanese cannot compare with our Dutch galleys, they are superior in number. They can dispatch 500 at a time and transport tens of thousands of troops from Salian to the Malacca Peninsula... The Malacca Peninsula is... It’s such a rich peninsula, otherwise the tyrants of the Ming Dynasty wouldn’t have launched such a large-scale invasion!”
Li Jicheng, who was sitting on the back of an elephant with Bruce Van Diemen, smiled and said: "Mr. Fan, you don't want the Ming Dynasty to enter the Malacca Peninsula, but you took the initiative to invite us in Dashun... Why?"
Bruce Van Diemen smiled and said: "Because the Ming Dynasty has the third or fourth largest navy in the world, if the Ming Dynasty occupies the Malacca Peninsula, then our Dutch free trade will be seriously affected. And you are just As a powerful country on land, after you enter Malacca, you will not pose any threat to the free navigation of the sea, and you can also resist the Ming army moving south, which is very beneficial to us."
What he said was actually the truth!
Because he has seen that this Dashun Emperor's grandson is not easy to fool.
Li Jicheng smiled and nodded, saying: "Let's go against the Ming army so that you can continue doing business with the Ming Dynasty... right?"
"Business has to be done!" Bruce Van Diemen said with a wry smile. "No matter who occupies the Malacca Peninsula, we Dutch will have to do business... This is our way of survival! If the Ming Dynasty By occupying the Malacca Peninsula, we will have to trade under the new Nanyang order led by the Ming Kingdom."
"Really? Is there still business to do?" Li Jicheng asked.
"Of course!" Bruce Van Diemen said, "The conflict between us and the Ming Dynasty is not a matter of life and death, but a matter of who earns more and who earns less... But for you, it is It’s different! If the Ming Dynasty occupied the Strait of Malacca, the Ming Dynasty emperor could issue an order to blockade Salian Port.
He could even order us to work with the Portuguese and British to provide ships to transport the Ming army to land at Shalian! Your Highness, I think you don’t want to see this happen, right? "
Li Jicheng's expression became more solemn, he nodded and said, "But can we stop the Ming army?"
"Yes!" Bruce Van Diemen said, "As long as you can provide 10,000 well-trained warriors to station in Penang, the territory of the Sultan of Kedah, and build a castle on the land of the Malacca Peninsula opposite Penang, you can stop the Ming Dynasty. The army moved south by land.
As for the sea route...the powerful Dutch navy will block any Ming fleet trying to go south! "
The Dutch chose a good place for the Dashun Army, which is very close to the Songkhla area, the narrowest part of the Malacca Peninsula. The Dashun Army only needs to go 300 miles north to cut the Malacca Peninsula in two!
Considering the irreconcilable hostile position between Dashun and Ming Dynasty, the Ming army should not dare to move south in a large scale before pulling out the Dashun army stronghold near Penang Island.
Penang Island is located on the west side of the Malacca Peninsula. As long as the Ming army fleet cannot pass through the Strait of Malacca, Penang Island will not be attacked by the Ming army. Therefore, the Dashun Army can use Penang Island as a retreat, forming a favorable situation in which they can advance and attack and retreat and defend.
