Chapter 447 - The End of the Second Year of the Apocalypse - Siam Central
According to legend, Ayutthaya was a mythical world before it was sacked by the Burmese. At its peak, Ayutthaya had a population of about 1 million. The palace in the city was magnificent, and the pagodas were like a forest. The prosperity of commerce was second to none in Southeast Asia. Because the city of Ayutthaya was built on a large island at the confluence of three rivers, water transportation is very developed. Aquatic products from the south and agricultural products from the north are gathered and traded here. Even products from as far away as China are continuously shipped from the sea. .There are Chinese areas, Portuguese areas, Japanese towns and other foreign immigrant areas in the city. They have brought prosperous trade and exotic culture to the city.
Ayutthaya became a vassal of Myanmar for fifteen years. In order to control Ayutthaya, the Burmese except for the army left to guard the city of Ayutthaya, some other cities also sent officials to guard. The calendar is the Chula Shakalat calendar (small calendar) with 638 AD as the epoch. It was introduced into Siam. It replaced the Maha Shakalat calendar (big calendar) with 78 AD as the epoch. The Manu Code was used as the calendar. The basic Burmese code of law was also introduced to Siam at this time.
After Emperor Naresuan the Great raised his army, Siam regained its independence and once again defeated the surrounding countries. It even captured Prince Soriyopo, the brother of the feuding Cambodian king, and his family and other members of the royal family back to Ayutthaya.
In 1603 AD, Ayutthaya appointed the captured Prince Soriyobo to return to Cambodia to rule as a vassal. Cambodia officially became a dependent state of Ayutthaya. From then on, all kings of Cambodia must be appointed by the King of Siam. Or obtain the consent of the King of Siam. Pattani and Perak and other princely states also surrendered to Siam in this matter.
This year is the year 984 of the Dai calendar and the year 2146 of the Buddhist calendar. The current king of Ayutthaya is King Songtan.
He came to the throne after a short civil war and usurped his brother's position. In this armed conflict in the palace, King Song Tan relied on the power of local Chinese mercenaries and Portuguese mercenaries.
After taking power, King Songtan seemed to be doing nothing under the aura of the previous emperor Naresuan. Siam implemented the "Sakdina system" of granting land according to the title level. However, the military aristocracy was very powerful. Ayutthaya The Ye Dynasty has never been able to achieve complete centralization of power. In many cases, the power of the king was restrained by these nobles. The three highest officials under the king: Wensha Muhan, Wu Shamuhan (chief ministers of Wen and Wu) and Huang Kuzhao Phraya (Royal Minister of Finance) is in charge of all cities in the country. He taxes the cities under his jurisdiction and controls the production of goods in these cities. He even directly controls the market. He has great power.
The Dutch did not come to Siam until King Naresuan. In 1601, two Dutch merchant ships arrived in Pattani. This was the beginning of the relationship between the Netherlands and the Siamese vassal state. In 1608, the Dutch arrived in Ayutthaya. A commercial center was officially established. A Dutch village appeared on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River. Soon, a British village was established nearby. British forces also entered Siam.
After the Second Nanyang War five years ago, the Dutch and British were driven away by the Chinese army from Java, Sumatra, Bali, Timor, Ambon and other places. Only business houses were left in Siam. Here the Chinese The army and the Chinese Company could not use force to drive away the Dutch and British. However, they could use the method of monopolizing sea trade to attack them commercially: the Chinese and Portuguese insisted not to sell any goods to the Dutch or British. They only traded with Siamese middlemen. The price of Dutch goods has been rising and falling, making it almost impossible for the Dutch and British to make any profit no matter what they buy or sell.
During this commercial competition that lasted for several years, the interests of the Siamese people were also harmed. The Dutch took the opportunity to encourage the royal treasury Chao Phraya to increase taxes on the Chinese and Portuguese. However, they gave up because the king Song Cai did not agree. .This time the Nanyang Rebellion broke out again. The Dutch and the British promptly and cheaply supplied a batch of firearms and ammunition to King Songtan. They also bribed the royal treasury Chao Phraya to advise the king to send troops. Under pressure at home and abroad, King Songtan sent people to encourage Instigated Pattani to send troops to Malacca.
In the later stages of the war, as merchants from various countries avoided the war and stopped coming to Ayutthaya to trade, the interests of Siamese nobles and royal merchants were greatly harmed. In order to quell the dissatisfaction of all walks of life in the country, King Songtan had to agree to the requests of his ministers. Let the royal army send troops to Pattani. Taking this opportunity, the Ayutthaya Dynasty will have the opportunity to completely control Pattani.
The commander-in-chief of this troop dispatch was Vusamuhan of the Ayutthaya dynasty. A member of the royal family, Wang Shunarei. The actual commander was Papi Luotan, the commander of the elephant team of the royal army.
There is also a palace guard of 200 people in the Siamese army with a total of more than 50,000. They are Japanese mercenaries led by Yamada Nagamasa. In the palace coup of King Songtan's accession to the throne, he changed his role extremely quickly. He changed his position and pushed Japan on the other side. He cut them all with his own hands. He was appreciated by King Songtan. He became the deputy commander of the palace guard. He was named the governor of Nihonmachi. He was in charge of the entire Nihonmachi. The Nipponcho in Ayutthaya is the only remaining Nipponcho in Southeast Asia. There are also Nipponchos in other places. They were all banned by force under Yin Feng's order.
What is interesting is that before the royal army sent troops this time, Yamada Nagamasa suggested that the king inspect the Chinese merchant houses and clear out the Miura District and Sanbogong Temple area where the Chinese lived.
The king did not agree. He also sent Chinese troops from his palace guard to the Chinese area to protect the safety of the Chinese. Similarly, Portuguese mercenaries were stationed in Portuguese villages.
…
The Siamese army advanced very slowly. Along the way, reinforcements from various places were constantly gathered. In the name of the king, the states in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula were also recruited to send troops. These states, including Pattani, were all nominally vassal states of Siam.
A month later, when they arrived at the Kelantan River, the Siamese army, including the armies of its allied vassals, had reached 75,000 people.
The vanguard of the Siamese army was cavalry. The number of these cavalry was no more than 800. They were commanded by a "10,000" general from the royal army (ancient Siam general rank). They were the first to arrive at the Kelantan River. The first thing they encountered was Although there were no casualties in the shelling of the artillery battalion of the Malacca Garrison Regiment of the Chinese Army, they were shocked: the opponent's artillery could actually hit so far. It could reach here even though it was several miles away.
The cavalry vanguard of the Royal Siam Army retreated into the jungle. At this time, the servants and allies began to arrive at the river.
When night fell, the troops of the northern states of the Malay Peninsula appeared chaotically on the north bank of the Kelantan River.
Zheng Zhilong had just seen off the Prime Minister of Kelantan when the artillery's cannons fired a warning. He hurriedly returned to the river bank and chose a higher embankment to observe the enemy's situation. By this time, the sky was already dark. The noisy figures seemed to be heading towards the river. The commander of the artillery battalion, who was setting up a position by the river, hurried over and said excitedly: "Report to General Manager Zheng. The distance is one and a half miles. It is within the firing range of all our artillery. Can you focus the fire?"
Zheng Zhilong held up the telescope and looked at it for a while. He shook his head and said: "No need. Don't scare them. This is not the Royal Siam Army. It's the miscellaneous local army. It's pointless to fight them. It's a waste of ammunition. Be careful. Don't let them. Just get close to the river. Once close, bombard it with shotgun shells.
The main strength of the Malacca garrison of the Chinese Army on the south bank of the Kelantan River is 3,000 people. There are more than 3,000 Chinese militiamen. The five sentries of the Taiwan Fleet Marine Corps left by Mai De have 600 people. They have a total of three-pound field guns and two six-pound field guns. Ten bronze siege cannons (which fire 30 kilograms of metal projectiles), three mortar cannons to blast the sky, and two heavy mortar cannons to shake the sky. As a regiment-level garrison, the firepower of such artillery is over-staffed. But this It is an establishment specially approved by Yin Feng. This is the basis for the Chinese army's future development in the Indian Ocean.
That night, the Taiwan fleet brought more than 2,000 Thunderbolt rockets of various types from the sea to Zheng Zhilong. This made Zheng Zhilong very happy. He transported the Thunderbolt rockets to the Danmenyan artillery position overnight. He personally supervised the transportation of these rockets to the artillery camp. The battalion commander said: "Before dawn tomorrow, these rockets must be put on the shelf and everything prepared. I guess if we want to deal with Siam's elephant soldiers, we will have to rely on these thunderbolts."
The artillery battalion commander wiped his sweat and said with a smile: "Although these elephants are big, they are very timid. When we were guarding the city of Malacca, we fired at these war elephants. They turned around and ran away, killing our own people behind them. Countless people were trampled to death..."
Zheng Zhilong shook his head: "Don't underestimate the enemy. Neither the Acehnese army nor the Johor state are experts in elephant warfare. They don't have many war elephants. The Siamese army specializes in using war elephants as horses. War elephants must be dispatched in every war. Our Chinese army has never fought against large-scale war elephants. Tomorrow's battle will be the first battle between our army and war elephants. We must be careful."
…
Early the next morning, the morning fog had just dispersed from the river. The guard captain woke up Zheng Zhilong, who was lying undressed in the artillery camp.
"Lord Colonel, look at the elephant on the other side."
Although he was mentally prepared for a large-scale elephant battle, Zheng Zhilong was still stunned by what he saw.
The Chinese army had a battle with the Madalan elephant army on Java Island. It only dealt with a dozen war elephants. But now on the north bank of the Kelantan River, in a field one and a half miles away from the river bank, 300 of them are like ancient wilderness. The monster-like war elephants were arranged in three rows. The entire mile-long battle line was full of war elephants. The tall elephants carried war towers on their backs. The war flags of the Siamese royal army of all kinds were fluttering like a moving city wall. superior.
The elephant army has poor mobility, so the Siamese army walked on the road for a month before reaching the Kelantan River. However, hundreds of war elephants lined up in an array and moved forward slowly. This sight is still very shocking. The power of war elephants lies in their strong attack power and protective power. They are very suitable for frontal advancement. And now, the elephant army of the Royal Siam Army is slowly advancing with unstoppable momentum, like a moving wall. .The earth trembled.
Seeing their tall bodies and long trunks, the officers, soldiers and militiamen of the Chinese Army all understood one thing: the shallow water of the Kelantan River was completely unable to stop these elephants.
Zheng Zhilong took a telescope and looked hard across the river. Behind him, Zhang Wei, who had just arrived from Malacca City, the artillery battalion commander, the cavalry sentry commander, and the new militia commander-the new Nanyang director of the Military Intelligence Department, Mai Jia, and others Everyone stood on tiptoe to watch the situation on the other side.
Zheng Zhilong was still bitter about the attitude of the Mai family that day. Of course, he would not show it on his face. He handed the binoculars to the Mai family: "Take a look at the situation on the other side. Tell me what you know about the situation."
The Mai family took the telescope, took a brief look, and returned the telescope to Zheng Zhilong. He said seriously: "The vanguard elephant formation is divided into three rows. It should be led by Papi Luotan, the commander of the King of Siam's elephant team. I saw his general The flag is up. The main force of the Siamese army's infantry is on the left side of the elephant formation. The commander of the entire army should be here. I see the Siamese King's flag. The right-wing infantry should be composed of the federal armies of the various kingdoms and the Royal Siamese army. I can't see it. Cavalry. About after the elephant formation."
Zheng Zhilong smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that the Siamese army is indeed experienced in fighting with objects. There is no infantry deployed behind the elephant formation. The two wing infantry are also far away from the elephant formation. Even if the elephants are frightened and run wildly, they will not step on their own people. "
The Mai family nodded and said: "The intelligence from the special battalion said that when the Siamese Royal Army set out from Ayutthaya, more than 400 war elephants were dispatched. It seems that they did not dispatch all of them."
Zheng Zhilong said: "No matter how many are dispatched, it is always a big trouble. Have you seen it? Siamese war elephants all have eye patches. The war towers on their backs carry firearms such as the Folangji..."
The artillery battalion commander frowned and continued: "This means that these war elephants have been trained for a long time and are not afraid of the sound of firearms. In times of emergency, the elephant slaves can also be asked to put down their blindfolds so that the elephants are less likely to be frightened."
Zheng Zhilong patted him on the shoulder: "You have to move all your food guys out. I don't believe it. This big beast is a beast after all. If the thunder and fire come together, you can't deal with them. Brother Zhang, you go to the infantry." Position, tell the brothers to prepare grenades and have all the grenadiers stand in the front row. Director Mai, after the elephant formation is defeated, you command the militia to cross the river first."
The Mai family did not hesitate. They raised their hands and saluted and left. After Zhang Wei saluted, he hesitated for a moment and watched the Mai family walk away. Then he asked hesitantly: "Is it appropriate to let the militiamen take the lead? The Mai family are just members of the Military Intelligence Department. They are temporary. He also serves as a militia commander. Will he fight?"
Zheng Zhilong sneered: "I have read his case file. He is a student in the sixth batch of the military academy. He is from the infantry department. I don't know how he became a military judge. Since he studied in the infantry department, he should be able to fight. Those militiamen rush The first wave is to let the people on the other side continue to fight."
Zhang Wei didn't understand. But looking at Zheng Zhilong's expression, it was obvious that he didn't want to say anything more. He had no choice but to salute, turn around and leave.
"There is still one mile. The elephant formation is close to one mile." The lookout on the watchtower of the artillery position shouted. The war elephant has entered the range of all the artillery of the Chinese army.
Zheng Zhilong nodded to the artillery battalion commander. After the battalion commander saluted, he immediately ordered: "Adjust the rocket holder. Light the rocket fuse. Fire ten rounds in a row."
The shaking of the earth became more obvious. The huge movable city wall on the other side of the river was clearly displayed in front of the Chinese army officers and soldiers.
The war elephants are mainly black and gray. Each one swings its trunk and makes an earth-shattering roar. It seems to be demonstrating to the Chinese.
All the Chinese on the other side of the river, whether regular Chinese army soldiers or militiamen, held their breath, waiting for the first earth-shattering cannon shot.