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Chapter 925 The Answer is in Myanmar 3
Who is Philip? His name is Philip de Brito, an expedition captain from Portugal. He is good at sailing, but not so good at business, and he didn't make much money after several attempts.

Seeing that he could no longer make it in the East, he simply changed his career and became a mercenary. He would work for whoever paid the most. He was hired by the King of Arakan and participated in many civil wars between ethnic groups in Myanmar.

After becoming the Governor of Thanlyin, Philip was a little dissatisfied with being a mercenary leader. He planned to go a step further and occupy an area in southern Myanmar with the help of advanced European weapons and try to become a king.

So he began to contact the nobles of the newly annexed Pegu Kingdom in private, and increasingly used the power of the Pegu people to attack other ethnic groups in Thanlyin, including the Arakanese.

In the tenth year of Emperor Yang's reign (1613), Philip finally showed his true colors and completely angered King Anabilon of the Toungoo Dynasty. He had to face the attack of tens of thousands of Burmese troops, while his former employer, the Arakan Kingdom, also ignored him.

After two months of fierce fighting, the port of Thanlyin was finally breached. Philip was impaled on a wooden pole and slowly died. The remaining more than 2 Portuguese mercenaries were all taken prisoner and sent to the mountains of Upper Burma as slaves. It is estimated that only a few of them survived.

"Your Majesty, the intelligence that the big-headed monster brought back is not false and plays a vital role in this battle. However, I think the part about the Burmese army fighting the Portuguese is a bit exaggerated.

200 Portuguese mercenaries plus 4000 Pegu people, lacking heavy firepower and ammunition, faced with 12000 Burmese troops and 400 warships, even the land warfare commander would be in great danger.

In the end, only 50 Portuguese mercenaries and more than 1000 Pegu people were killed or injured, while the Burmese army suffered heavy casualties, with more than soldiers and civilians. This story must have been told to him by the Portuguese, perhaps because he was drunk! "

Zhu Haiou knew who had obtained the two intelligence reports after reading them. Although they were both transcribed, it was impossible to tell them apart from the handwriting. But there was only one person who could come and go freely in Southeast Asia and was familiar with the Portuguese, Wang Datou!

This guy is always elusive, and every time he suddenly appears, he either wants benefits or uses connections to get favors. For the sake of the emperor, the navy usually satisfies him, but they didn't expect that their kindness would lead to an ungrateful person. After getting the intelligence related to the navy, he didn't respond at all, but directly presented it to the emperor. Isn't this a sabotage?

Even with the emperor's protection, Zhu Haiou had to find a way to vent the anger of the navy and give Wang Datou a small shot. And from now on, as long as it is not official business, don't think about getting benefits from the navy for nothing. If you want it, you can exchange it for intelligence!
"It's right to be cautious. Intelligence is not a battle plan. It's just a reference. It's your job to decide how to deploy the troops. But from these two pieces of intelligence, besides the parameters required for the battle, have you noticed any other useful information?"

Hong Tao doesn't care whether the intelligence is 100% accurate or not. In his mind, any news he sees or hears can only be used as a supplement. How much to believe depends on logical reasoning, not finding faults in it. What really needs to be picked is the essence. Sometimes a sentence or a plot may contain a lot of information.

"...The King of Toungoo led the army in person, with only 400 soldiers, which shows the strength of the country. However, warships are indeed a lot, even if they are all small and medium-sized galleys, they should be given enough attention.

In inland rivers, smaller paddle boats are more maneuverable than large sailing warships. If they can be equipped with cannons, their lethality will be considerable.

The intelligence mentioned swivel guns and matchlock guns many times, which shows that both sides were equipped with small Portuguese cannons used on the decks of armed merchant ships and muzzle-loading matchlock guns used by the Spanish army. Although there is no exact number, it should also be considered as an important parameter when formulating combat plans to avoid casualties in our army. "

Zhu Haiou found it easier to answer this question. Analyzing intelligence and formulating combat plans based on useful information is the basic skill of a staff officer and is part of his job. "Well, your analysis is very good, but your vision is still narrow. You only focus on the details related to the battle and ignore more important information. Come, take a closer look at this passage, think hard, and then tell me if you have found anything."

As a military adviser, Hong Tao believed that Zhu Haiou was fully qualified, but as a military commander, he seemed to be lacking something, such as strategic vision, which is also the difference between a general and a commander.

The former only knows how to fight, while the latter can take a panoramic view of the overall situation and comprehensively consider issues from many aspects such as military, politics, society, culture, and belief, and then come up with a more perfect answer.

What if a general's talent cannot be transformed into a commander's talent? The answer is yes, as long as you have experienced enough battles and can be inspired, you will gradually get used to considering more.

Zhu Haiou is still young and has the time and opportunity to try to transform. As his teacher, he should not be bothered and should resolutely guide him when he has the opportunity. So Hong Tao picked up the pen, turned to a certain page, and highlighted a few sentences.

"Toungoo, Pegu, Arakan... Your Majesty means that there are conflicts between them and they can be divided and ruled?"

Zhu Haiou read it several times and compared it with the context, and finally got some understanding. But he was not sure, mainly because he knew too little about the situation in Myanmar and could not make any associations.

"Well, that's about the same idea. If the navy wants to gain a foothold in Shalian Port for a long time, it can certainly do it by force alone, but there will be no profit. Without money to earn, how can we repay the loan from Sun Moon Bank? If we want to gain profit, we have to integrate with the locals, at least to exchange what we have with them.

According to common sense, the Ming Navy is an invader and an enemy, and the locals will definitely avoid it and will not actively approach it in the short term. But Philip, as an invader, not only relied on force to gain a foothold in Shalian Port, but also operated for several years. What did he rely on? Can you find it out for me? "

This answer was only partially relevant, but Hong Tao still gave it full affirmation, and continued to expand on the idea, guiding Zhu Haiou to think.

At the same time, she did not give up on Wang Sheng. In fact, there was not much difference between the two of them in terms of IQ. It was just that they had received different knowledge systems since childhood and had different ways of thinking.

"…I think that the Toungoo Kingdom destroyed the Pegu Kingdom, but it did not convince the Pegu people. As written in the article, there were 4000 Pegu people fighting side by side with the Portuguese in Tharyan Port. After the defeat, the Pegu people were sold as slaves by the Toungoo King just like the Portuguese.

This situation is just like the Jurchens of the previous dynasty, who nominally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, but in their hearts they never submitted. Once they had the chance, they would immediately rise up in rebellion and try to escape from the control of the Ming Dynasty. "

Wang Sheng did not disappoint the emperor's expectations, or as the saying goes, a bystander sees more clearly, and he immediately found clues from the two pieces of intelligence. They were not just blind guesses, but real examples.

(End of this chapter)