The Kingdom of Ayutthaya in Thailand is different from the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Annan region, and it is even different from the Toungoo Dynasty of Myanmar.
How should I put it? Today's Ayutthaya Kingdom is truly the most powerful country in Southeast Asia!
In Southeast Asia, most of the peninsula and the surrounding island countries are not very powerful.
The Taungoo dynasty of Myanmar used to be one of the largest in Southeast Asia. It was relatively powerful but has gradually weakened in recent decades. It has gradually become unable to compete with the Ayutthaya Kingdom. More importantly, they are still bordering the Chu Empire...
Facing the border conflict with the Chu Empire, they simply couldn't fight it, so they could only compromise.
The strength of both the north and the south of Annan is not very good. For example, the Zheng family who controls the northern region is trying their best to kill the Ruan family in the south. The highest number of troops used is only about 100,000, not to mention the Mo family and others. The Wu family is still keeping them in check.
Not to mention the Ruan clan in the south, their standing troops are only about 20,000.
They were weak and wanted to gain the support of the Chu Empire. Therefore, the Chu Empire acquired Cam Ranh Bay and a comprehensive market in the Annan area without much effort. It also obtained the mining rights of Guangning coal and rented it. a port.
The Kingdom of Cambodia, in contemporary times, has always been a relatively loose alliance, and the power of its royal family is very weak. In the past, the Spaniards could sweep their so-called royal capital with a hundred people... The Dachu Empire sent more than 500 marines to land After that, they basically killed their royal guards, and then supported a new king, turning the Kingdom of Cambodia into a de facto puppet state in the fight against the Chu Empire.
In addition, there are the Kingdom of Aceh and the Kingdom of Johor on the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. Their strength is actually not that good. They have few people and money, and the scale of their wars is only a few thousand or tens of thousands.
What is more interesting is that he was the founder of the Kingdom of Aceh, which used to be a branch of the royal family of the Kingdom of Champa... When the Kingdom of Champa gradually declined and became the Annan puppet state, this branch of the royal family of the Kingdom of Champa fled. Later, the Kingdom of Aceh was established and gradually expanded to occupy western Sumatra and part of the Malay Peninsula.
In fact, these indigenous countries are not very powerful. They are very passive when facing Western colonists who use a large number of guns. Even if they can win, they can only rely on their numbers to consume the opponent's ammunition.
Therefore, you can often see hundreds of Western colonial troops fighting against thousands or even tens of thousands of local indigenous troops. Most of the time, the Western colonial troops win. Even if they fail to win, they can rely on the fortress to defend it for a while. For half a year or more, they waited until reinforcements arrived or they ran out of ammunition and food to retreat by boat.
To measure a country's strength, we can almost get a rough idea of its war capabilities.
As for the Ayutthaya Kingdom, if this country's strength is compared with the Great Chu Empire, it is naturally not worth mentioning, but in Southeast Asia, it is now a veritable big brother.
Moreover, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya has accumulated a lot of wealth in the past decades or hundreds of years of international trade. In addition, because of its early contacts with the Portuguese and Dutch, they have seen and introduced Western matchlocks and artillery.
Historically, after the Toungoo Dynasty of Myanmar was overthrown, the army of the newly born Kingdom of Myanmar used a large number of Western guns and even flintlocks. During the Qing-Burmese War, the Burmese army relied on new weapons such as flintlocks and artillery to control the country. The Qing army, which was still using matchlock guns and old-style artillery, was losing its temper... In the previous three battles, each time it ended with the Qing army retreating with heavy losses... But right!
The Qing army was backed by China, and its comprehensive national strength was far inferior to that of Myanmar. After winning three battles, Myanmar wanted to take advantage of the situation to cease the war, but the angry Qing army ignored it at all. After losing tens of thousands of troops in the front, they sent another force on the back foot. Tens of thousands of troops went up, and the fourth battle also resulted in more defeats than victory...
It is worth noting that the series of defeats of the Qing army were due to reasons such as better weapons on the opposite side, but there is another reason that cannot be ignored, that is, the Qing army was unable to adapt to the local climate!
In the fourth battle, the Qing army fought with more than 30,000 people, and only more than 10,000 people were left after the battle. But don't think that the Burmese army was so awesome that it killed more than 10,000 Qing troops... The main force of the Qing army Attrition is due to non-combat attrition caused by disease!
However, such attrition operations made Myanmar lose its temper. In the end, even though the Myanmar army still maintained its advantage, it had to take the initiative to seek peace and pay tribute.
There is no way, even if the fourth battle is won, it won't take long for the Qing army to recruit tens of thousands or even more troops to kill them. If they don't bow their heads and admit defeat, this war will be endless...
The outcome of this war actually had nothing to do with the rulers of the East. In the end, it was able to force Myanmar, which had already dominated Southeast Asia, to surrender and pay tribute, and ensured hundreds of years of peace for future generations... The reason for this was China's vast territory and abundant resources. Affordable!
I say this just to say that the indigenous people in Southeast Asia during this period were not as barbaric and uncivilized as the people of the Celestial Kingdom imagined. In fact, they came into contact with Western colonists earlier and were more accepting of new guns and guns. .
In the original time and space, in another two hundred years or so, the level of civilization in the Nanyang region would far exceed that of the Chinese region.
The fictional protagonists in the late Qing Dynasty could proudly lie that they came back from Nanyang...
I have to say it is extremely ironic.
Ayutthaya Kingdom is no exception!
Their main army also uses matchlocks and artillery. This is not an army that only uses cold weapons.
Otherwise, the Western colonists would have beaten the shit out of us and cut off the land to pay compensation.
In the original time and space, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, or Thailand, was the only country in Southeast Asia that was not colonized!
From this point, you can see that Ayutthaya Kingdom is different.
As for the tough problems among the indigenous people, the Dachu Empire also pays attention to methods and will not act foolishly.
After the fleet approached, they did not rush to send the Marines to land, but looked like they were coming for diplomatic negotiations.
Deterrence, this is the main mission of the fleet this time. As for the other party who refuses to accept and really wants to fight, it is impossible to rely only on such a small fleet. At least a large fleet must be sent, and thousands of soldiers can be carried ashore to fight.
After diplomatic negotiations, although the Dacheng Kingdom was entangled, they were not stupid, and the national sovereignty could not be compromised. Therefore, although the tone was very low and all kinds of apologies, they were determined not to let go and would not agree to Dachu until death. The empire proposed the conditions for a comprehensive opening of the market and a coastal port in the concession.
The Chu army also expected the response from the Dacheng Kingdom.
Damn it if the other party agrees casually!
Especially when the Chu Empire has not shown them the real strength that makes them afraid.
Just relying on some hearsay, plus a fleet of a dozen warships and armed merchant ships, it is too ridiculous to make the Ayutthaya Kingdom directly surrender and cede territory.
After the failure of the first negotiation, the fleet did not fight directly, but began to evacuate overseas Chinese... Many trading companies have business offices in the trading ports of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, and some personnel are stationed there. Although these people also have He has a certain ability to protect himself, but he can still easily become cannon fodder in a war.
After picking up all the citizens on the ship and leaving, the fleet escorted the merchant ship back to Cam Ranh Bay.
At the same time, the corresponding situation report was also sent to Jinling City along with the navy's latest A-6 class communication ship!
The design concept of the A-6 class communication ships in the Navy imitates the postal ships in the Post Office. They are specially used for rapid transportation at sea. The cargo they carry is limited to letters and small and medium-sized express cargo!
Because the weight of the cargo carried can be ignored, and in order to pursue speed, the design of the ship is very extreme. The entire ship is built for speed!
Not only does it have an exaggerated length-to-width ratio and a hull design that is as lightweight as possible, but it also uses the latest research clipper bow from the Shipbuilding Department of the Naval Ship Administration Department!
The arrow-shaped bow and the eight-to-one aspect ratio give this communication ship an exaggerated speed!
An aspect ratio of eight to one...a very high ratio for a ship in the age of sail.
The length-to-width ratio of conventional battleships is generally only four to one, and even cruisers and other ships that pursue speed rarely exceed five to one.
But the communication ship is different!
The Dachu Empire's requirements for communication ships are the same as the five-hundred-mile rush to the ground. Everything is born for speed. There is no need to consider the cargo capacity or even the cost. You only need to consider how to travel in the shortest time. In time, the news from far away was sent back to the mainland across the sea and delivered to the high-ranking officials of the empire in Jinling City!
That's why there are these extreme designs, and finally there is a Class A-6 communication ship!
It is worth noting that in order to reduce the weight while ensuring the strength of the hull, this A-6 class communication ship is also the first ship in the Dachu Empire to use a large amount of steel as part of the main structure of the hull!
Steel is not cheap these days, it is very expensive!
A communication ship of just over 100 tons is more expensive than a frigate of 300 to 400 tons...
However, being expensive also has its advantages. No, the report from the Cam Ranh Bay fleet passed through the communication ship and sailed north at an average speed of more than fourteen knots. It didn't take long for the report to be sent to the Songjiang Naval Base.
Immediately afterwards, the letter was rushed to Jinling City through the land station system for five hundred miles.
If you sail against the current of an inland river, even a specially built communication ship will not be as fast as the continuous relay transmission of the station system.
If the postal department wants to use inland rivers to sail against the current and send overseas letters collected in Wusong Base to Jinling City urgently, they will probably have to wait until steamships appear... But trains will probably be available by then, and using trains is still faster than inland river ships!
Now, the Chu Empire's urgent letters, especially the transmission of military information, are composed of a post system on land and communication ships on the sea, cooperating with each other.
At the same time, because the Chu Empire had a vast territory and many places had rivers and docks, urgent documents from many places were sent to Wusong Naval Base by sea.
For example, urgent documents from Guangdong, Liaodong, Korea Peninsula, Northern Liaoning Province and other places are often delivered by sea, which is faster than by land.
This has resulted in the Wusong Naval Base's postal service being very busy. As a transfer station, it must constantly deliver letters from various places to Jinling City, and at the same time, it must ship letters from Jinling City to various places.
The post station route from Wusong to Jinling City is also the busiest and densest inn route in the Chu Empire.
Not only are various official documents and urgent military information from other places delivered, but many local official documents from Jiangnan Province are also transmitted through this route.
In an ordinary place, there may be only a dozen people in a post station and only a few horses.
But here, an ordinary inn will have dozens of people, some even hundreds of people.
These inns are staffed by those who are directly responsible for the operation of the inns, excluding the various service personnel who rely on the inn system to provide catering and accommodation for passing business and traveling officials.
Because of tradition and practical needs, the post stations in the Dachu Empire were built on various official roads, with one station set up at a certain distance, and they were all set up according to the distance, regardless of how desolate the surrounding area was... after all, urgent letters were delivered At that time, it was relay delivery, and there had to be a post station at a certain distance. Otherwise, the horses would not be replaced for a long time, and they would be exhausted and the speed of letter delivery would be affected.
Under such circumstances, many inns are located in the middle of nowhere, and are still located on official roads for business and travel.
This kind of inn also plays another role, which is to provide food and accommodation for passing business travelers.
I don’t know how the old dynasties managed it, but in the Great Chu Empire, the food and accommodation business within the post station system was a side business run by the post office itself, and the income was used to subsidize the huge expenses of the post station system.
Maintaining the traditional oriental station system is very expensive.
The staff and horses of the post station need to be maintained all year round... This one post station is nothing, but a hundred of them? A thousand seats? What about ten thousand seats?
The huge number of post stations consumes a lot of funds from the Postal Service every day. Even with financial support, each department still needs to pay for sending and receiving official documents, but it still cannot make ends meet.
In order to subsidize the huge deficit of the Postal Service, the Postal Service also started to develop the side business of food and accommodation at the post station.
Therefore, the Postal Department of the Dachu Empire these days is actually a very special organization!
In the words of later generations, this is a comprehensive group with three major business versions: postal delivery, catering, hotels, and shipping, covering all parts of the country.
It is still a loss-making one, because the Post Office continues to build post stations in sparsely populated places, and at the same time, it also continues to build various types of postal fast communication ships.
In order to further reverse the deficit of the Postal Service, the Postal Service has petitioned to open new businesses.
And we applied for two major categories of business at once. One is to open letter delivery and small cargo transportation services to the private sector. This is relatively normal. The post station was originally used to deliver letters. It used to deliver letters to the official, but now it is open to delivering letters to the public. It is also a rational use of resources.
However, there is another piece of business that seems unusual and has attracted the attention of the Finance Department and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Because the Post Office plans to open a remittance service to facilitate people to send money over long distances!
