Arakan, Mrauk U.
Outside the palace gate, King Sanda Dudhama of Arakan fell in love again. The king, who is in his forties, is short, plump, dark-skinned, and has a shaved head. He is a famous amorous person. He has beauties from all over the world in his harem. There are white-skinned slave girls and black-skinned slave girls sold by Ottoman traders, Indian beauties brought from Chittagong, beauties from the snowy plateau, women from Myanmar and Siam, and local Japanese ancestry in Mrauk U. Women (there were also many Japanese mercenaries in the Kingdom of Arakan in this era), but there were no beauties from the Northern Celestial Dynasty... Therefore, King Sangtu Dummo has always been a little regretful. He is such a rich and handsome man. (He is recognized as a handsome guy in Arakan), and a very brave and wise king, why can't he have a Chinese princess?
For this matter, he also asked the almighty Buddha... Unexpectedly, it really worked!
There really was an incredibly beautiful Chinese princess who came to the palace in Mrauk U... Hey, who was that hideous-looking bearded man who came with the princess?
"Your Majesty the King, this is Princess Li Anna from China..." Bruce introduced Anna Yamada, who had changed her name to Li Anna, in Portuguese (there are many Portuguese people in Arakan, and the king can also speak Portuguese). He looked at the king who was almost drooling, and then glanced at Li Jicheng, who was as strong as a bull and as fierce as a tiger - these don't look like brothers and sisters! The emperor's grandson looks too tough, right? This princess is too petite... If these are brothers and sisters, then the crown prince of Dashun Kingdom must be a cuckold!
Bruce said bravely: "This is the elder brother of Her Royal Highness the Princess, Her Royal Highness the Grandson of the Emperor Dashun!"
"Brother..." King Sangtu Damo looked at Li Jicheng, who looked almost like a Dharma Protector, and felt a little unbelievable.
With his appearance, he is almost a biological brother to Aurangzeb. How could he be the little beauty's brother?
"Your Majesty the King," the little beauty spoke, also speaking of Portugal (her mother is Portuguese), her voice was sweet and particularly convincing, "Brother Taisun and I were not born to the same mother, but we are both. The sons and daughters of Prince Dashun are biological brothers and sisters, but we actually look very similar."
It's a bit like...
After the little beauty said this, King Sangtuo Damo took a closer look at Li Jicheng and found that he looked a bit like Anna.
Their skin is very white, their eyes are big, their noses are straight, and their hair is black. They must be brothers and sisters!
"It's so similar, so similar!" The king finally believed that Li Jicheng and Li Anna were biological brothers and sisters, so he quickly invited Li Jicheng, Li Anna, Bruce and others into the magnificent palace, where they had singing, dancing, drinking and banquets.
After three drinks and five dishes, the host and guest had a good time, and the polite words were almost exchanged. Bruce, who was the matchmaker between Araghan and Li Jicheng, brought the conversation to the main topic - this matter needs to be done urgently, reinforcements. It's like putting out a fire!
"Your Majesty the King, the situation in Malacca is very critical now. The Ming army in the north may move south in large numbers at any time. Although Johor, Perak, Aceh, Pattani and other countries have formed a coalition, and the Sultan of Kedah is also interested in joining. But even if a five-sultan coalition is formed, , it is difficult to fight against the Ming Dynasty. And the only one that can fight against the strong Ming Dynasty is the Dashun Empire. But the Dashun Empire is not bordering the Malacca Peninsula, and our Dutch fleet has to be concentrated on the east of the Malacca Strait.... ..So we can only ask for help from Arakan’s fleet to transport Salian’s Dashun army to the Malacca Peninsula.”
Bruce Van Diemen did not tell the complete truth - the Dutch profiteers were of course cunning. How could they honestly place their fleet east of the Malacca Peninsula to resist the Ming Dynasty fleet?
Besides, that's not how the navy is used.
In the endless sea, can ships be used to build a defense line?
Moreover, the ancestor of the Dutch Navy's maritime surprise attack, during the second Anglo-Dutch War in history, the Dutch also rushed into the Thames River and attacked London!
This is the era of sailing battleships, not the era of flying airplanes to drop bombs. With the width of the Thames River, they can come and go freely. No one else can do this.
Masters who are good at sneak attacks are usually also masters at preventing sneak attacks, so it is impossible for the Dutch to place their fleet among the difficult-to-defend bays and islands east of the Strait of Malacca.
Therefore, Rear Admiral Tropp led his fleet to leave Batavia long ago (Batavia's harbor entrance is very wide and the interior is too shallow to be defended), and then quietly entered the Indian Ocean through Sunda, from the south After bypassing Sumatra Island, we arrived at the mouth of the Klang River on the west coast of the Malacca Peninsula. There are several large sandbars outside the mouth of the Klang River, which protect the mouth of the river layer by layer. It would be difficult for Major General Tropp's fleet to hide there. discovered.
In addition, because the fleet led by Tropp deliberately avoided the routes commonly used by merchant ships during the voyage, and also avoided the east entrance of the Malacca Strait where the Ming Dynasty's spy ships traveled intensively, the Ming Dynasty still does not know the identity of Tropp's fleet. Where to go.
Of course, the Dutch also didn't know the whereabouts of the Ming Dynasty's main fleet. Although the Ming Dynasty chose the Makassar Strait for the decisive battle, no one knew whether the Ming Dynasty navy would fulfill its contract... So Governor Matsolko and Major General Tropp formulated a plan to They seem to have a particularly reliable plan for land and sea amphibious operations.
According to this plan, 10,000 to 20,000 Dashun officers and soldiers will be transported to Penang, and then they will build a castle on the land of the Malacca Peninsula opposite Penang - for the Ming army on the Malacca Peninsula, Dashun's castle is undoubtedly It is a thorn in the side. If it is not removed, how can the Ming army dare to go south with confidence?
Therefore, the Dashun Army appearing near Penang Island will definitely attract the main force of the Ming Army!
At the same time, once the Dutch spy ship in the Makassar Strait discovers the Ming Dynasty's main fleet, the Dutch fleet at the mouth of the Klang River will immediately head to Johor City, where a fleet of Johor, Aceh, Perak, The Pattani allied forces were loaded onto the ship, and then sent to Pattani to land and raid the Ming army's flank and rear...
The plan should be a good one, but whether it can be realized depends on whether Dashun's elite troops can reach the Malacca Peninsula in time.
"Mr. Dimen," King Arakan glanced at the fresh and delicious "Princess Anna", took a breath, and finally made up his mind, "If it is just to transport Dashun's army, our Arakan fleet can help. It's just that I don’t know how many ships you need? How many people are you planning to transport?”
The Arakan Kingdom was actually founded on the navy. If there were no navy to cut off the logistics line of the Toungoo army, the Arakan Kingdom would have ceased to exist long ago...
The king's question was translated into Chinese by Bruce. After hearing this, Li Jicheng smiled and said: "I, Dashun, have 50,000 troops in Salian. If we want to transport them all to the Malacca Peninsula, we will need at least 500 large ships. Do you have that many ships?" "
"So many ships are needed..." King Arakan seemed hesitant.
"Your Majesty," Bruce assured him at this time, "I don't think you need to worry about any threats from the sea, because the Indian Ocean is now completely under the control of our Dutch East India Company navy... The west side The Mughal Empire simply did not have a navy that could compete with ours, so an invasion was impossible."
This is correct. The Mughal navy is not worth mentioning. Although the British and Portuguese naval forces are stronger than the Mughal, they have a very good relationship with Arakan and they should not take advantage of Arakan. The attack was launched when the navy left.
Besides, the armies of these two countries in the Indian Ocean are very limited and cannot attack Mrauk U at all.
King Arakan nodded, "Okay... I can lend the fleet, but I don't have 500 warships, only 300 ships, and I still need a mortgage!"
As he spoke, the king glanced at Princess Anna and said with a smile: "I hope Her Royal Highness can stay in Mrauk-U City as a guest!"
