By this time, all the marines in the Ming Navy had descended to the area around the original Dutch camp. Zheng Chenggong also came down and inspected the camp. He found that Hongyi had fled in a hurry and the place was in a mess. At this, he couldn't help but smile contemptuously.
The indigenous people who came down from the boat, namely Labraka's group, witnessed all this and watched the Ming army easily handle the attack of the Kingdom's army, and even killed the Kingdom's army with corpses everywhere. Although they didn't understand it, But it seemed like a very passionate shout, and they couldn't help but get excited.
With such a powerful Ming army here, the days that the Governor of the Ming Dynasty hopes for will definitely come true, right?
While they were thinking about it, they suddenly saw Zheng Chenggong turning to look at them and saying to them: "Build another camp here. I will leave two thousand soldiers to garrison here. You all will stay here and convey the court's wishes to them." The oppressed people around us. Tell them that if they serve the Ming Dynasty and become a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, they can get as much land as they deserve based on their merit."
Yan Yingyuan, the governor of Dongwu who was also in charge of Ceylon, had already made clear the first step of the strategy in the military meeting: to drive away the Dutch colonists, occupy the coastal areas, besiege the rulers of Ceylon to the central mountainous area, and then annihilate them in one fell swoop.
The task of these indigenous people in Labraka, who were the first to become the people of the Ming Dynasty, was to propagate the Ming Dynasty's policies, unite all the poor and lower-middle peasants of Ceylon, and give the rulers of Ceylon a plan to relieve the firepower.
After hearing the words conveyed by the translator, Labraca and others couldn't help but be very excited and responded quickly, patting their chests and replying that there was no problem at all.
So, just like that, the Ming Dynasty established base areas in Ceylon on the plains in the four directions of southeast, northwest and northwest. There are about two thousand soldiers in each base area, and beacon towers are built. In case of war, beacons can be set off. When the cruising naval fleet sees it, they can go to support.
Of course, the two thousand or so Ming soldiers in each camp were actually enough to deal with the army of the Kingdom of Kandy. You must know that as for the Dutch or Portuguese colonists, they only numbered less than 2,000 in total, and the Kingdom of Kandy still could not compete for the coastal areas.
Thanks to the efforts of Labraka and other indigenous residents, and with their personal testimony, the lower-class people in the Kandy Kingdom took notice and fled to the areas controlled by the Ming Dynasty's army.
For a time, the number of people at the bottom of the Kingdom of Kandy decreased sharply, and in the end, Rajsinhe II was forced to set up roadblocks on various transportation thoroughfares to intercept the lost population.
But even so, the middle- and lower-class poor people who got the news still tried their best to escape from the territory of the Kingdom of Kandy. Even tall mountains, bottomless valleys, and dangerous rainforests could not stop them from escaping. pace.
For this reason, Rajsinghe II almost became bald overnight and went crazy with worry every day. I don’t know how many people, including palace maids and chamberlains, suffered as a result.
He couldn't understand why the Ming army adopted this approach after coming to Ceylon. Is it true that they traveled thousands of miles to reach Ceylon just to benefit the untouchables, instead of oppressing and enslaving them?
why why?
Rajsinghe II couldn't understand it, but it's actually easy to understand. Because he was only in Ceylon, his eyes only focused on a region like Ceylon. However, Emperor Chongzhen’s vision was global. It can be said that in this era, no one has the vision of Emperor Chongzhen.
Take South Asia as an example. Ceylon was just a springboard for Emperor Chongzhen to extend Ming power to the Middle East and conquer the Middle East. Therefore, the best way to stabilize this springboard is to operate it as a territory directly under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, rather than a colony that is simply plundered.
With Ceylon as a naval base for transit, the Ming Dynasty's forces could leisurely conquer the Middle East from the sea. Of course, Mumbai is also a point. However, at this time, Mumbai was actually not developed at all. Its population base and so on were not in a position to become an important city in the Ming Dynasty, and it was far inferior to Ceylon.
And it is impossible to achieve this that worries Rajsinhe II without strong national power. After all, taxes on the people of Ceylon will not be paid until five years later. Before that, it would require material support from within the country, at least from the Dongwu region.
Fortunately, after the Ming Dynasty navy took control of Ceylon, domestic merchants would soon come here to trade. At least cinnamon was very attractive to them. Collecting commercial taxes from them can also make up for part of the military expenses.
In addition, Ceylon’s gems and other minerals belonged to the imperial court. Excavating these can also be used for military expenditures of the Ceylon Navy.
At this time, Rajsinghe II missed the Portuguese extraordinarily. If God gives him another choice, he would definitely like the Portuguese to continue to stay here. At least that way, he can still play a few rounds back and forth.
However, now facing the Ming army, he had no choice at all. Not to mention going out to fight, it was a bit incapable of strictly guarding the pass. Not only are the untouchables fleeing too much, but even the lower-level soldiers in the army are also fleeing.
In this case, how to fight this battle?
We can't let those nobles fight, there are only a few of them!
Faced with this situation, Rajsinghe II was really desperate! In fact, it's not just him, but also the nobles under him. Because anyone can see this trick of the Ming army, and they will not be able to fight back at all.
Even if they change their strategy, treat those untouchables well, and give away their land and property to those untouchables, even if they are willing, how many hearts and minds can they retain?
No one is stupid. The Ming army is so powerful. Even if those untouchables are no longer lost, how can they resist the attack of the Ming army?
It's over, it's over, it's all over.
Based on despair for the future, some nobles among the Ceylon natives finally went crazy and began to enjoy themselves as they pleased, drinking and enjoying themselves while they could still enjoy themselves.
The order in the Kandy Kingdom slowly collapsed in this atmosphere. Many people can also have bad words about those they once looked up to. Including sarcastic remarks about their King, His Royal Highness Rajsinghe II, and even sarcasm in person.
Faced with all this, Rajsinghe II could no longer bear it. On this day, he summoned Awaka and gave him a decree. Let him go to the Ming army to communicate. He is willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, but his interests must be guaranteed, otherwise the fish will die!
In response, Yan Yingyuan just sneered, expelled Avakar directly, and asked him to go back and tell Rajsinhe II that if Rajsinhe II didn't want to die, there was only one way to surrender unconditionally!
Then, he did not care about the indigenous leaders in the mountains, but inspected the entire plain area near the sea in Ceylon. It can be said that the people of the Ming Dynasty had the most experience in how to open up wasteland and farm along the rivers. Make a plan, plant crops, stabilize Ceylon quickly, and he can get out of Ceylon.
Yan Yingyuan did not panic, but Rajsinhe II panicked. He knew that if he did not accept the conditions of the Ming army, there would be only one way to die; either he would be like his men and live as happily as he could before dying; Only agree to the Ming army's request and surrender unconditionally!
However, if it was an unconditional surrender, he was not a fool and knew that the Ming army would never leave him in Ceylon and would never give him power again. The best outcome might be to be taken to another place in the Ming Dynasty, where he could still get some property and live a wealthy life.
So for me, which ending is better? Rajsinghe II thought so and was very confused.
However, what he never expected was that after the reply from the Ming army that Awaka brought back spread, his men went completely crazy.
In the royal city, no one expected that someone would set fire to have fun. As a result, the fire became bigger and bigger, and there was a lack of manpower to put out the fire. Eventually, some people were burned to death, and the remaining people were left homeless with black heads and black faces! Only the palace was spared because it was built separately.
However, others were unconvinced. Why should they be exposed to wind and rain? You can still hide in the palace and enjoy yourself. I don’t know who took the lead first, but everyone rushed towards the palace.
Rajsinghe II originally wanted to use his identity and prestige to stop them and scold them to stop. As a result, his appearance only aroused the madness of his subordinates, and the entire capital became even more chaotic. Even Rajsingh II himself, unable to escape, did not know who had thrown a stone at him first, and was finally overwhelmed by the crowd.
As a result, a riot caused by a fire completely destroyed the Kingdom of Kandy!
On April 18, the twenty-fifth year of Chongzhen, the news that the Kandy Kingdom had destroyed itself reached Yan Yingyuan, thus declaring that the entire Ceylon belonged to the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, while Yan Yingyuan sent troops to the mountainous areas to search for the escaped slave owners, he wrote a memorial to report the good news to Emperor Chongzhen in the capital. By the way, he complimented the emperor on how wise and powerful the Ceylon countermeasures were, so that he did not spend much effort and only used Within half a year, Ceylon was pacified.
In the memorial, he reported to Emperor Chongzhen that his focus was to be shifted to Bombay, and before he managed Bombay, it must at least become a naval base with supplies to replenish it.
At the same time as the memorial was issued, Yan Yingyuan ordered Li Dingguo, the commander-in-chief of Bombay, to go to Bombay first to hand over to the Portuguese. He himself will inspect farm work here before heading to Bombay.
Emperor Chongzhen actually knew about the situation on his side before the memorial was issued.
In fact, Emperor Chongzhen had no worries about taking Ceylon. His focus is only on domestic construction. But it's already April, so next, there is one big thing that we still need to be concerned about.
