Chapter 446 - The End of the Second Year of the Apocalypse - Part 1 of Siam
On September 20, the second year of the Apocalypse, that is, October 25, 1622 AD, the experience of Kota Ratcha City on this day was recorded by a group of Western observers, and was repeatedly mentioned in many history books of later generations.
On this morning, the Chinese army concentrated 3,000 Thunderbolt incendiary rockets and more than 500 explosive rockets, which were launched from both sea and land. At almost the same time, more than ten two-masted gunboats and two mortar bombardment ships with their masts lowered came to Aceh. The army's chaotic artillery fire approached the mouth of the Aceh River and began a fierce bombardment with hundreds of cannons.
Zhao Xuanming's Sixth Division in the south of Aceh pushed all artillery to the front line, a total of 40 field guns, five bronze siege guns that fired 30-pound shells, and two sky-shattering thunder mortar guns. The smoke of thousands of rockets rose up one by one, and bursts of thunderous noise rolled across the ground, heading straight towards the city of Aceh. The sky was densely filled with the smoke left by the flying rockets, and the smoke dispersed. Later, it mixed with the smoke from surrounding artillery bombardments and enveloped the city of Aceh.
Sultan Iskandar of Aceh, who had just finished his morning prayers, stood up in the mosque. The sound of rockets and the sound of artillery shelling came almost at the same time. The floor of the mosque began to tremble, and his prime minister shouted in panic: " Your Majesty, the Tang Dynasty has begun a general attack. Let the troops go to the city wall quickly..."
Sultan Iskandar looked expressionlessly at the countless streaks of rocket smoke streaking across the sky, and said coldly: "Gather my guards to the palace to prepare for the final battle."
"What, Your Majesty, we..."
"God will bless us, now we can only ask for his blessing,"
The 3,500 rounds of indiscriminate rocket bombardment and the fierce bombardment of nearly 180 cannons were really cruel to the small town of Aceh. The Portuguese, Dutch, British and other businessmen who followed the army looked at this in dumbfounded The scene, while the surrounding Chinese businessmen and Chinese workers were excited and cheering.
First, there were bursts of black smoke rising all over the city. As more and more incendiary rockets fell, the red light of the flames began to appear. Then there was the sudden fire, spreading the flames and thick smoke in all directions. Except for the mosque and the Sultan's Palace in Aceh City, which are mainly made of earth, stone and brick structures, most of the other buildings in the city are civil structures. In addition, it is the dry season, so it is easy to be ignited.
The Acehnese people did not expect that the Chinese would launch a general offensive in this way. They originally expected to fight in the streets with the Chinese who rushed into the city and fight to the death in hand-to-hand combat. However, they waited for a general attack like thunder and fire. The Chinese The soldiers just stood behind their positions and watched the scenery.
Soon, the Acehnese who could not bear the smoke and fire opened the city gate and rushed around. Most of the battered Acehnese who rushed towards the Chinese army's position on the southern line were beaten to death by the Chinese army in front of the position. A small number of them were killed. Half of those who surrendered and rushed north to the Aceh River and the sea were killed by the cannons of the Nanyang Fleet, while the other half either drowned in the river or climbed to the other side and were killed by the Chinese militiamen on the shore.
…
Yan Siqi is using dozens of elephants and nearly a thousand cattle on hand to transport supplies to the south bank of the Kelantan River on the front line.
Taking advantage of the strong north wind, Taiwan Island and Hainan Island transported hundreds of ships of arms, ammunition and food supplies. Now, these supplies are piled up in all the warehouses at the Malacca port. Even the entire central fortress is filled with arms and supplies. Many Things have to be piled in the open air. Fortunately, it is the dry season in Southeast Asia.
Two-thirds of the supplies will be transported to the Sixth Division's combat area, but there are no good ports on Sumatra Island, so the Chinese military fleet is concentrated in Malacca to unload the goods, and then transferred to the opposite side by local Malay-type dhows, and transported to the Sumatra Island through those shallow rivers. In the hands of the Sixth Division's logistics troops, a large number of prisoners of war from Aceh, Johor, and Pattani were working as coolies at the docks, busy carrying various supplies under the spears and whips of Chinese militiamen and Japanese foremans.
The other third of the goods went directly through the city of Malacca to the north, using a large number of local indigenous people, Chinese immigrants from various estates and a small number of Pattani prisoners of war as labor force, and using countless horse-drawn carriages, bullock carts and elephants to transport them north to Johor, where they were almost destroyed by fire. In the western half of Johor City, countless Johor coolies, as well as the conscripted coolies from Pahang in the north, were busy taking over the reins and harnesses under the supervision of Chinese army soldiers and Chinese militia, and relayed them north to the Kelantan River.
The Taiwan Fleet Task Force of the Chinese Army has set up a stronghold at the mouth of the Kelantan River. Their supplies do not need to be transported from Malacca. They directly receive supplies from large ships on this section of the sea. When there is more than enough, they can also provide relief. Zheng Zhilong's infantry brother.
The main force of Zheng Zhilong's Malacca Garrison and its affiliated militia units have been resting on the south bank of the Kelantan River for more than half a month. They really need to rest and recuperate after the five-month siege and the retaliatory attacks in Johor, Pahang and other places during the front-end period. The massacre made the army very tired and military discipline was also a problem, so Zheng Zhilong decided to rest and reorganize the troops here. On the other hand, the special battalion reconnaissance team came from the north. The Siamese army brought a large group of war elephants, suitable for Kelantan. They fought on the plains north of the river. Therefore, it was necessary to use the Kelantan River as a barrier to resist the attack of war elephants during the war.
The Kelantan River is not wide, and the water is very shallow during the dry season. There are some places in the upper and middle reaches that infantry can trek across.
"This place is called Tammenyan. To the east is a swampy river with fertile water and soil. It is our country's food production area," Kelantan Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a capable middle-aged man in his forties, led the With a smile on his face with obvious Chinese ancestry, he was explaining the terrain to Zheng Zhilong beside him. He spoke Chinese fluently, and it was Mandarin with a distinct southern Fujian accent. Zheng Zhilong could understand it easily.
"Have you inquired clearly about the area where you can cross the river on foot?" Zheng Zhilong looked at the other bank with his telescope. Since yesterday, a large number of Siamese Army flags have appeared on the other bank, but they are not close to the north bank of the Kelantan River. They are all far away from the river bank. There are activities around the banana trees and banyan trees a few miles away.
Kelantan Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad handed a roll of maps to Zheng Zhilong's personal captain and said respectfully: "We sent people to ask the farmers along the river, and all the shallower parts of the river have been marked on this map by your soldiers. On the map, it’s just that the Kelantan River floods all year round, and the silt on the river bottom is very thick, making it difficult to walk. Some places are very dangerous and can suck people down. Our farmers and fishermen generally don’t walk down the river,”
Zheng Zhilong nodded, simply expressed his gratitude, and then continued to look through the telescope: "It seems that it is impossible to cross the river on foot. I heard that the Sultan of Perak also defected to the Siamese,"
Mahathir nodded: "Yes, Perak had surrendered to Siam when Emperor Naresuan took over. Now it is expected to send troops to help the Siamese army. In the morning, the flags on the other side appeared. There is the flag of the Sultan of Perak,”
Zheng Zhilong put down the telescope, looked at Mahathir who looked very respectful on the surface, smiled and said: "Thank you, the Prime Minister, for accompanying me on the inspection. From morning to now, the questions that the Prime Minister has been wanting to ask have not been said yet, right?"
Mahathir chuckled without any embarrassment. He imitated Chinese etiquette and said, "Since the general asked, I will ask a question on behalf of my Sultan."
Zheng Zhilong liked Mahathir's frankness very much and returned the favor with a smile: "Since it is the Sultan's intention, please speak to me, Prime Minister, and I will answer truthfully."
Mahathir continued to say: "We in Kelantan have a small army and are weak. In this battle of Malacca, we were coerced by Aceh and Pattani, so we had to send people to help, and we had to provide them with all kinds of supplies. Now we have The country's strength is declining. At present, the Chinese army's military strength far exceeds that of the coalition forces of Siam and other countries. It is easy to win the battle. If this is the case, does our Kelantan state's meager military strength not need to go into battle?"
"It turns out he is afraid of being pushed to the front line and used as cannon fodder by us," Zheng Zhilong thought in his heart and said it in his mouth. On other occasions, he would not speak so straightforwardly, but now, these small Malay states , that is, they must be suppressed with force, and they must not be given a chance. Kelantan Prime Minister Mahathir almost jumped up, and quickly bowed down and said: "The general has misunderstood, misunderstood! We never meant this, it was just me Kelantan only has a few thousand troops, and the weapons are too poor. The soldiers are untrained and going into battle will cause trouble. The death of a few soldiers in Kelantan is not a big deal, but it would be bad if it delays the general's important mission."
Zheng Zhilong smiled: "In this case, your soldiers will not go into battle. However, we will lend you four war elephants, including the elephant slaves. This is no problem, right?"
Mahadiya breathed a long sigh of relief secretly, straightened up and nodded repeatedly: "That's no problem, I will send the war elephant to your military camp in the evening."
"Also, starting from tomorrow, your troops should not leave the city to prevent accidental damage."
"That's no problem. Martial law will begin in the city tonight. No one is allowed to leave the city. We will never cause chaos to your army."
In fact, Zheng Zhilong did not trust the Kelantan Sultan's Guard. He made a decision to deploy several militia units around the Royal City of Kelantan at night to monitor the movements of the Kelantanese.
"Tomorrow and tomorrow the Siamese Army Brigade will arrive on the other side of the river. The battle is about to begin. I hope you and the Kelantan Guard Captain can be there to watch the battle and see how we defeat the enemy. Of course, I will also tell you about the methods of dealing with war elephants. Please ask your Excellency, Captain of the Guard,"
Mahadiya heard clearly and understood in his heart that this was not asking for advice on combat methods. Zheng Zhilong was asking them to leave hostages in the Chinese army in disguise, and he was the hostage himself.
Kelantan Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad could only smile and nodded in agreement.
...The current Kingdom of Siam is officially called the Ayutthaya Dynasty, and its capital is Ayutthaya. The Chinese generally call it Ayutthaya. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is also called the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is led by Ramathet. Founded by King Bodhi (Ramathibodi) in 1351.
King Ramathetbodhi, whose real name was U Thong, was a descendant of Chinese merchants. The Ayutthaya Kingdom combined the military power of the Dai people, the administration of the Mon and Khmer people, and the commerce of the Chinese. When the Ayutthaya Kingdom was established, there were already Dai people in the north. The Ayutthaya Kingdom that was established in Sukhothai relied on the foundation laid by Sukhothai, but it came from behind. In the 15th century, the Ayutthaya Kingdom annexed Sukhothai and was adjacent to the Lanna Kingdom located further north in Thailand. In the mid-15th century, Chalo King (Trailok) established a more complete administrative and legal system. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya remained strong with its institutions, rice farming and trade with China. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya had good relations with China. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya was the eastern part of Myanmar from the second half of the 14th century to the beginning of the 15th century. It was annexed by the Ku Dynasty, but at the end of the 16th century, the previous emperor Naresuan the Great restored independence and defeated Burma.