Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 371 How to Capture the Enemy Chief
The news of the invasion of 50,000 Mon troops really shocked Rajabuddha and his ministers.
This ethnic group is very brave and good at fighting. As a minority with a population base of less than one twentieth of that of the Burmese, they have destroyed the regimes established by the Burmese several times in history. Although the total population of the Mon people at that time was only 300,000 to 500,000 at most, these 50,000 people basically included all the young and strong men of the Mon people, so most of them can only be regarded as militia. But such a brave nation is really not easy to mess with.
Moreover, the Burmese, Mon and Lao peoples attacked Siam from three directions almost at the same time. There is no doubt that the Ming Dynasty was behind this.
The power of the suzerain state is so terrifying.
For a moment, all the ministers in the meeting hall of the palace were silent and the atmosphere became extremely stagnant.
"Hahahaha~" Just when everyone felt they were in despair, a burst of laughter suddenly rang out above the empty hall.
"Why is your Majesty laughing?"
“Hahaha, I laugh at the Ming emperor. He is still incompetent. His main force is still trapped in Saigon, but he is so impatient to let these barbarians attack? Haha, if his main force has already taken Phnom Penh and let these barbarians attack at the same time while marching towards Bangkok, it will take some effort for me to deal with it, but now…”
Luo Zhifutu raised his head again with a ferocious look in his eyes. "Regarding the treatment of Burma and Nanzhang, continue to follow the previous agreement. As for the Meng people? Humph, since they dare to sacrifice all the young and strong men for the Ming Kingdom, then this nation will no longer exist! Send an order, prepare 50,000 troops, I will personally conquer the Meng people!"
"As you command, my Lord."
"Subachai."
"Your Majesty?"
"During the time I was away at war, you were in charge of state affairs in Bangkok. All gun factories must step up production, and the shipyards must not stop producing those flame ships either."
"Yes, I will obey your command. Your Majesty will go to war and return victoriously soon."
"Lan Ya?"
"Your Majesty?"
"The remaining 30,000 troops are all under your command. Gather them in Bangkok and continue their training as soon as possible."
"As you command, my Lord."
"Well, I will end this war within half a year. By then, Myanmar and Nanzhang will probably be defeated. By then, even if the Ming army comes, they will face Siam, which will have no worries and is fully prepared!"
"Your Majesty is wise and wise. We, the subjects, will follow you and fight against the invasion of Ming."
…
After hasty preparations, on June 20, Raja Buddha led an army of 50,000 westward.
On June 23, in the central and southern part of the Malay Peninsula, roughly equivalent to the area of Pattani Province in Thailand in the 21st century.
At that time, this place was not part of Siam, but belonged to the Sultanate of Johor.
Of course, now, it is the garrison of the new army of the Five Towns of the Ming Dynasty!
Zhao Lujiao received the fourth and seventh regiments heading south in Taiwan, and after a short rest, he set out to sea with the transportation of more than 3,000 civilian ships of various types. Before that, Yan Siqi and Li Guozhu had already dispatched all the second-level warships to provide them with intelligence shielding and weather forecasts along the way. Therefore, although this huge fleet encountered some moderate storms along the way, it finally arrived in Pattani on June 19.
"Reporting to General Zhao, Captain Xu sent a message from Bangkok that the plan has changed. On June 20th, the King of Siam will lead 50,000 troops to personally attack the Mon people in the west."
"Ah?! This?"
Zhao Lujiao originally wanted to complain about how the King of Siam, as a king, liked to lead the army in person. But he immediately remembered that his own emperor was about to go south. He had no choice but to hold back his complaints.
But it was still uncomfortable to endure this kind of forced endurance. So he quickly turned around and looked at the pale-faced Man Gui and Huang Degong: "Haha, General Man, General Huang, how are your boys now? Can they get on board again?"
From Liaodong to Taiwan, and then from Taiwan to Pattani, the two northerners, Man Gui and Huang Degong, and more than 30,000 people from the two towns under their command, vomited all the way. When they arrived here, they could no longer vomit anything.
Seeing Zhao Lujiao asking the question, and Ma Shilong and Du Hongyu casting playful looks at him, the two men who used to be at odds with each other looked at each other, then gritted their teeth and said, "As long as the commander gives the order, we can still serve the emperor."
"Okay." Nodding, Zhao Lujiao turned around and said, "Grandmaster Sun, the situation has changed now. I have some humble opinions. Please correct me."
That’s right, Sun Chuanting also came along.
After all, the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty had formed an advantage over the military generals for a long time, and it was a convention that the military generals had to have a civil official as the commander or supervisor when they went to war. Zhu Youdong had not yet had time to rebuild institutions such as the Grand Commandery to truly establish a reform of equality between civil and military officials. Therefore, after taking command of the five towns, Zhao Lujiao strongly requested Sun Chuanting to go to war with him. And even though he was the commander of a corps with 75,000 elite troops, he still called himself a junior general in front of Sun Chuanting.
Once something becomes a habit, it always takes a lot of effort and time to completely change it.
However, Sun Chuanting himself came from a military family, so he did not show any arrogance in front of the many generals.
This time he followed Zhao Lujiao out because he really liked military affairs and wanted to see the big scene. In addition, Xu Xianchun also conveyed Zhu Youdong's will: If Sun Taishou wanted to go, then go.
"General Zhao, you are too polite. The Emperor has always advocated equality between civil and military officials. So as a general of the second rank, please do not call yourself a junior general in front of a fifth rank prefect. Well, let's get down to business. General Zhao, what do you think? Since all the generals are here, shall we discuss it together?"
"Yes." Still politely bowed to Sun Chuanting , then Zhao Lushi asked someone to put up the map of Siam.
"Please look, this is the map of Siam sent by Xu Qianhu of the Jinyiwei. According to the original plan, Johor will continue to show loyalty to Siam and not participate in the siege of Siam by the three tribes. Our army will be stationed in Johor in advance. When the main force of the Siamese people went out to deal with the invasion of the Mon people, our army will land in Prachuap Khiri Khan with the force of thunder, and then quickly advance northward by land, heading straight for Bangkok. At that time, the Prime Minister of Siam, Supachai, will open the gates of Bangkok for us, and Naraja Buddha will either surrender or commit suicide. This is the tactic of digging out the heart of the black tiger and capturing the thief and the king.
But now, the King of Siam himself led an army of 50,000 to go to war. Therefore, it was meaningless to use a large force to attack Bangkok. After all, the emperor had issued a strict order for this expedition, that Naraja Buddha must be found alive or dead. Bangkok must be ranked after the bandit chief.
So, General, um, what I mean is that the original plan is scrapped. The new plan is that our army will split into two routes. One route will go straight to Chachoengsao Province on the east side of Bangkok, and directly attack Bangkok after a successful landing. The other route will go north to Samut Songkhram Province on the west side of Bangkok, and immediately head north after a successful landing to cut off the bandit chief’s retreat route.”
"Hmm..." After thinking about the map for a while, Sun Chuanting looked up and asked, "What do you think, Marshals?"
"General Zhao, uh, Commander. I have some questions."
"Hmm? Huang Shuai, please go ahead."
"Commander, everyone, even though our dynasty has successfully persuaded the Prime Minister of Siam to revolt, we still planned to land in Prachuap Khiri Khan, 60 kilometers away from Bangkok. The reason is that we already know that the Siamese have prepared thousands of fire ships, which can cover the entire Gulf of Siam at any time. In order to avoid heavy losses to our army, we landed in Prachuap Khiri Khan, which is so far away from Bangkok. But what Commander Zhao meant just now was that we should land close to Bangkok. What if these fire ships attack us?"
After saying this, Huang Degong slapped his head fiercely and said, "Could it be that Captain Xu has also instigated the Siamese admiral to rebel?"
Slowly shaking his head, Zhao Lujiao said, "No, it is said that the person in charge of Siam's maritime defense is called Zhan La, an orphan adopted by the King of Siam since childhood, and is extremely loyal. Captain Xu sent someone to test it last time, but the lobbyist was killed, and he was almost found in Siam."
"So, Commander, are you still here?"
"Yes." After taking a deep breath, Zhao Lujiao said, "As a general, the first principle is to complete the king's orders. Since the emperor has said that the importance of Rājastha is higher than Bangkok and even Siam. Then we, as ministers, must do our best to capture or kill this man for the emperor. In order to achieve this goal, taking some risks and making some sacrifices are nothing. Moreover..." At this point, Zhao Lujiao smiled and said, "Maybe we don't have to pay many lives?"
