Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 930 Siege
"This is already very good!" Bayon sprinkled lemon juice on the fish, dipped it in shrimp paste, and stuffed it into his mouth. The familiar taste bloomed on the tip of his tongue. He let out a long breath of satisfaction and was about to eat another piece when he suddenly heard an exclamation.

"What's going on?" Bayon stood up.

"Boats, yes, Javanese boats!" the woman shouted, pointing at the water. Bayon looked at the water and saw several familiar boats on the water: towering side, distinctive crab claw sails, sails made of palm fiber, and a large number of sculptures and paintings on the bow. Compared with the Cambodian navy, which was more accustomed to inland water operations, the Javanese warships were longer, larger, stronger, and had a deeper draft. The best Javanese warships were simply built with teak, and ordinary crossbows, stone bullets, and torches had little effect on them. The Cambodians suffered a lot from the Javanese on the water.

"Get on board now!" Bayon stood up immediately. "The Javanese have big boats. We still have time to flee to the harbor!"

Under the captain's command, the sailors quickly jumped on board, raised the sails and paddled, heading for the nearby harbor at the fastest speed. Apparently, the Javanese had also discovered them and were chasing them. Bayon was lucky. Before the Javanese caught up, he entered a narrow harbor and finally got rid of the Javanese after turning three or two. When he heard the unique gong sound of the Javanese navy gradually fade away, Bayon finally breathed a sigh of relief.

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Khmer capital.

Bayon climbed the stone steps, and the king's throne was at the end of the steps. He bent his waist, not to see the road, but to avoid looking directly at the king. According to the customs of the Khmer Kingdom, the king is considered a god, and looking directly at a god is a serious crime, and the punishment is to gouge out the eyes.

"Barong, you're finally back! How's the situation? The secret of Tangren Thunder and the covenant, you finally got them back, right?"

The king's voice came from the steps, and Bayon quickly replied: "Yes, it's under your protection! I have gained something from this trip. The Tang people agreed to send troops, but they want money!"

"Money? What a greedy bunch!" The king laughed sharply twice: "What about the secret of Thunder?"

Bayon bravely raised his head and saw two brown-black legs and a golden staff. "This matter is very important, my king. I request to report to you alone!"

"Yes, that's right!" The king laughed. "Bayon, stand up. I allow you to raise your head and come closer. Yes, come to me! Now you can speak!"

Bayon walked to the throne. The Khmer king was a middle-aged man in his thirties, with a clean-shaven head and a short beard. He looked very capable. Bayon told him the news he had learned from Gujar and the price he was asking for. Finally, he said, "Please forgive me for taking the initiative and agreeing to Gujar's terms!"

"That's good, you did a great job!" The Khmer king laughed: "Silkworm feces and sulfur, if this is true, then the Tang people are really powerful! They used such a small amount of things to gain the power of the gods. How great it would be if I could master this power, I could easily defeat the Javanese! No, not just the Javanese!" At this point, he stretched out his right hand and grabbed Bayon's collar: "He wants a sedan chair of silver, right? Go back and tell the merchant that if he can figure out the secret of the Tang people, I will give him twice as much, otherwise, I will cut his neck!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Bayon quickly lowered his head.

"As for the Tang people!" The Cambodian king showed hesitation: "What do you think of the Tang people when you go to Jiaozhou?"

"Your Majesty, I have been in Jiaozhi City for almost three months, and I found that the new Tang governor has been building a lot of buildings since he took office!"

"Building a large-scale project?" the Khmer king asked curiously, "Are you building a city, a palace, or a temple?"

"It seems to be none of them!" Bayon shook his head. "There are docks, roads, and large houses. I heard they are prepared for handicraft workshops!"

"Wharfs, roads, and workshops?" The Khmer king frowned. "Did the Tang people accept your request to send troops?"

"Yes!" Bayon replied, "The governor of the Tang people introduced his brother to me and asked me to discuss the details of the military expedition with his brother!"

"So how do you feel about this governor's brother?"

"He is very young, probably in his early twenties, strong and handsome. He should be a good warrior, but he is also very greedy!" Bayon recalled for a while and replied.

"Strong, handsome, young, and greedy!" The Khmer king laughed: "Yes, it seems that it should not be difficult to bribe him!"

"Yes, I thought so too, so when he asked to visit before sending out the troops, I agreed to his request!"

"Yes, we should agree to his request!" The Khmer King nodded with satisfaction: "The more ferocious the hunting dog, the more ferocious the prey it can catch!"

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When Jumong arrived at Paratipat (the capital of Water Chenla), it was already April of the following year. It was the end of the local dry season, and the climate was dry and comfortable, which was very suitable for large-scale military operations. The Javanese fleet was besieging this important town of the Khmer people with all its strength, trying to capture it before the rainy season arrived. As a visitor, Jumong's fleet consisted of two ships, both of which were about 28 meters long. When the fleet entered the waters near Paratipat, it was immediately discovered by the Javanese patrol boats. The Javanese ships immediately rushed over, beating threatening drums and shouting loudly.

"What are they shouting?" Jumong asked curiously.

"They want us to lower the sails so they can come on board and check!" Gujar replied.

"Come on board to inspect?" Jumong laughed. "Tell them that we are the ship of the Tang envoys. How can we allow others to inspect us?"

Gujar responded, walked to the side of the ship and shouted loudly to the Javanese ship not far away. The drum sound on the Javanese ship stopped, and after a while, someone on the ship shouted twice.

"He said there is a war going on here. If you are an envoy from the Tang Dynasty, please do not continue sailing forward, lest you be affected!"

"It seems that these are Javanese ships, right?" Jumong said with a smile, "It seems that the situation is even worse than what Bayon said!"

"It should be!" Gu Jiaer said with a smile: "Then how should I answer?"

"Since we have been ordered to come here, why should we shrink back?" Jumong said, "Just tell him that we have the king's order and we will never shrink back!"

"Yes, sir!" Gu Gal responded and shouted twice to the Javanese ship not far away. Before the Javanese ship on the opposite side responded, Jumong had already ordered to fully raise the sails and sail towards the destination as fast as possible.

Like most cities in the Mekong Delta, Paratipat is located next to a lake, which gives it several advantages: the lake provides abundant fresh water and fertile farmland by the lake, while the sea provides excellent conditions for maritime trade, and the area where fresh and salt water meet has abundant fish. In addition, the city of Paratipat is located on a peninsula deep into the lake, protected by the lake on three sides, and a seven-meter-high wall and moat separate the mainland and the city. In this way, Paratipat prospered rapidly. By the late seventh century AD, it had defeated all competitors in the Mekong Delta region, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the maritime trade from the South China Sea to the Malay Peninsula, becoming the most densely populated and prosperous city in the area, and also the most important stronghold for the Khmer to control the Mekong Delta.

The success of the Khmer people in the Battle of Paratiba attracted the greed of the Javanese. The Javanese, who had already controlled most of the Nanyang islands, had a huge advantage over most of the Southeast Asian nations. That is, they were closest to the Strait of Malacca, which had been the only way to the Maritime Silk Road since ancient times. As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, merchants used the monsoon to travel through this route. They not only brought wealth from the East and the West, but more importantly, they also brought advanced navigation and military technology from the East and the West. Before the Muslim conquest, the Javanese had learned to build very complex large paddle boats from Persian, Indian, and even North African merchants and localized them. As early as the 15th century, before Western colonists arrived in Southeast Asia, Javanese warships had already spread across every sea area in Indochina, not to mention the Mekong Delta, which is rich in resources and extremely important in geographical location. (In fact, many coastal ethnic groups in Southeast Asia have close ties with the Javanese, such as the Champa people mentioned above. According to their own legends, their ancestors came from somewhere on the island of Java.)
Therefore, it is not surprising that the Javanese were always in the active position in the war between the Javanese and the Khmer for the Mekong Delta. After several one-sided battles, the Khmer navy retreated to the inland Mekong River to preserve its strength. The Javanese, taking advantage of their water power, began to besiege the Khmer strongholds.

However, the Javanese didn't have much time left. Unlike Northeast Asia, which has four distinct seasons and little rainfall, Southeast Asia, located in the tropics and subtropics, usually divides the year into two seasons: the rainy season and the dry season. In the rainy season, the roads are flooded and muddy everywhere, making almost all military operations and large-scale construction difficult. If the Javanese cannot capture Bharatiba before the heavy rain, they will have to board the ship and return to their hometown, and start all over again when the dry season arrives next year. In this land, everything revolves around the rain from the sky, and even the gods cannot escape from it.

The rumbling of drums woke Bayon from his sleep. He opened his eyes and the servant shook his shoulders vigorously: "The Javanese are coming, with many elephants, and they are attacking the city wall!"

Bayon rubbed his eyes, stood up and tightened his belt. The servant handed him the longbow and quiver. Bayon took them and walked out of the house. The guards outside were also packing up. Everyone's face was full of fatigue. No one spoke. The siege had lasted for a month. The Javanese launched attacks every day without stopping.

"I dreamed that it was raining!" the servant whispered, "It was a heavy rain that flooded everything. The Javanese abandoned their camp and fled on their boats!"

"It would be great if it were true!" Bayon grinned, trying to make himself laugh. This servant boy came from his wife's family. He was diligent and brave. Bayon took the cloak, put it on himself, grabbed the spear, and walked towards the city wall.

A gust of wind blew his hair up. He could see the Javanese camps with countless bonfires, with pillars of smoke rising like fingers towards the pale sky. They were having breakfast. They had set up various tents along the lake, and even built a simple bamboo temple to worship their gods. To the west were war elephants, and people were everywhere, some sharpening swords, some gluing feathers on arrows. Bayon didn't know how many enemies were outside the city, ten thousand, twenty thousand, or fifty thousand?
The Javanese attacked the northwest corner of the city wall, and the trench had been filled up by the attackers two days ago. The war elephants could easily rush to the bottom of the city wall, and the archers on the war elephants could easily attack the guards on the city wall, covering the infantry behind them to climb up to the top of the city wall.

When Bayon and his men arrived at the northwest corner of the city wall, five elephants had already reached the wall. The archers on top were so strong that the guards dared not even stick their heads out of the wall. The war elephants, beaten by the elephant slaves with goads, rammed the city gates with their bodies and trunks wrapped in bronze. Bayon could even hear the desperate cries of the soldiers at the city gates below. If nothing was done, it would not be long before the Javanese would rush into the city.

"Use rockets, use rockets to attack the elephants!" someone shouted.

"It's useless!" A soldier shouted in despair. "The Javanese laid thick felt on the war elephants and poured water on them. The rockets went out when they were shot at!"

"Is there no other way? If we continue like this, we're doomed!"

Bayon looked around and found a few wooden barrels. He opened the barrels and saw that they were filled with fish oil. Bayon pushed the barrels and rolled them to the wall, trying to lift them up, but they were too heavy for one person to carry.

"Someone come and help me get two sticks!" Bayon shouted.

The soldiers looked on in panic, but finally a few of them found some wooden sticks. Bayon asked the soldiers to put stone slabs under the wooden barrel, then insert the wooden sticks under the barrel and press down the other end of the sticks. Finally, the barrel was pried up and slid down from the gap in the parapet. Bayon heard the howl of an elephant outside the city wall.

"Hope it hits the target!" Bayon picked up the longbow, lit the rocket, took a deep breath, drew the bow to its full length, and suddenly stretched out his head to shoot at the nearest elephant, then quickly retracted his head. Almost at the same time, an arrow flew over Bayon's head and hit the eaves of the city tower behind him.

"It was a close call, I was almost shot!" Bayon sat down on the ground, feeling a numbness on his forehead. Death had just kissed that place, but luckily he avoided it. Almost the next second, the desperate howl of the elephant came from outside, followed by the second and third howls.