Dragon Sea Empire

On September 1622th in the second year of Tianqi, that is, October 10th, 25 AD, the experience of Kota Racha 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 3000 thunderbolt burning rockets and more than 500 explosive rockets, which were launched from both sides of the sea and land. The army's messy artillery fire approached the mouth of the Aceh River, and began to shell heavily with hundreds of guns.

The Sixth Division of Zhao Xuanming in the south of Aceh City pushed all the cannons to the front line. A total of 40 field cannons, five bronze siege cannons firing 30-jin shells, and two Thunderbolt Cannons fired at the same time. The smoke from thousands of rockets rose one by one, and thunderous noises swept across the earth, heading straight for the city of Aceh. The sky was densely covered with the smoke left by the rockets, and the smoke spread out one after another. Finally, it mixed with the gunpowder smoke from the shelling of the surrounding cannons and engulfed the city of Aceh.

Sultan Iskandar of Aceh, who had just finished his morning prayer, stood up in the mosque. The sound of rockets and the sound of cannon bombardment came almost simultaneously, and the floor of the mosque began to tremble. His prime minister shouted in panic: " Your Majesty, the people of Tang have started a general attack, let the troops go to the city wall..."

Sultan Iskandar looked at the countless rocket tail smoke across the sky with no expression on his face, and said coldly: "Gather my guards to the palace and prepare for the final battle."

"What, Your Majesty, we..."

"Allah will bless us, now we can only ask for his blessing,"

The bombardment of 3500 indiscriminately covered rockets and the violent bombardment of nearly 180 cannons was too cruel for the small city of Aceh. The businessmen from Portugal, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom who followed the army looked at this with dumbfounded eyes. The scene, while the surrounding Chinese businessmen and Chinese laborers cheered excitedly.

First, bursts of black smoke rose from everywhere in the city, and as more and more incendiary rockets fell, the red light of the flames began to appear, and then there was a sudden burst of fire, enveloping flames and thick smoke, spreading around, the whole In addition to the mosque and the Sultan's Palace in Aceh, which are mainly made of earth, stone and bricks, most of the other buildings in the city are civil structures. In addition, it is the dry season now, so it is easy to be ignited.

The people of Aceh did not expect that the Chinese would launch a general offensive in this way. They originally expected to fight street battles with the Chinese who rushed into the city, and they could fight to the death in hand-to-hand combat. The soldiers just stood behind their positions and watched the scenery.

Soon, the Aceh people, who were so smoky that they couldn't stand it, opened the city gate and rushed around. Most of the battered Aceh people who rushed to the Chinese army's position on the southern line were killed by the Chinese army in front of the position. Half of those who surrendered by hand and rushed to the Aceh River and the sea in the north were killed by the artillery of the Nanyang Fleet, and the other half either drowned in the river or were killed by the Chinese militiamen on the shore after climbing to the opposite bank.

……

Yan Siqi is using dozens of elephants and nearly a thousand cattle to deliver supplies to the south bank of the Kelantan River.

Taking advantage of the strong north wind, hundreds of ships of ammunition, ammunition and food supplies were transported from Taiwan Island and Hainan Island. Now, these supplies have filled all the warehouses in the port of Malacca, and even the entire central fort is also full of munitions and supplies. Many Things had to be stacked in the open air. Fortunately, it is the dry season in Southeast Asia.

Two-thirds of the materials will be shipped to the Sixth Division's combat area, but there are no good ports in Sumatra Island, so the Chinese Army fleet is concentrated in Malacca for unloading, and then transferred to the opposite side by local Malay-type dhows, and transported through those shallow water rivers. In the hands of the logistics force of the Sixth Division, a large number of prisoners of war from Aceh, Johor, and Pattani were working as coolies at the pier, busy carrying various supplies under the guns and whips of the Chinese militiamen and Japanese labor leaders.

The other third of the goods went directly through the city of Malacca to the north, using a large number of local aborigines, Chinese immigrants from various manors, and a small number of Patani prisoners of war as labor, and carried them north to Johor with countless horse-drawn carts, ox carts, and elephants. They were almost destroyed by the fire. Half of the west of Johor city, countless Johor coolies, and Pahang coolies recruited from the north, were busy taking over the reins and harnesses under the supervision of Chinese army soldiers and Chinese militiamen, and relayed them to the 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 blessing ships on this section of the sea. When there is more than enough, they can also help them Zheng Zhilong's infantry brother.

The main force of Zheng Zhilong's Malacca garrison and its affiliated militia troops have been resting on the south bank of the Kelantan River for more than half a month. They really need to rest. The five-month siege and the retaliatory attacks in Johor, Pahang and other places in the front-end period The massacre made the army very tired, and military discipline was also a problem, so Zheng Zhilong decided to rest the troops here. On the other hand, the special battalion reconnaissance team came from the north. Therefore, it is 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 river is also very shallow in the dry season. Some places in the upper and middle reaches should be able to be crossed by infantry.

"This place is called Danmenyan, and further east is full of swamps and rivers. The water and soil are fertile, and it is the food production area of ​​our country," said Mahathir, Prime Minister of Kelantan, a capable middle-aged man in his forties. With a smile on his face of obvious Chinese descent, he was explaining the terrain to Zheng Zhilong beside him. He spoke Chinese fluently, and it was Mandarin with a distinct southern Hokkien accent. Zheng Zhilong just happened to be able to understand it effortlessly.

"Have you inquired clearly about the area where you can cross the river on foot?" Zheng Zhilong looked at the opposite bank with a binoculars. Since yesterday, a large number of Siamese army flags have appeared on the opposite bank, but they are not close to the north bank of the Kelantan River. They are all far away from the river bank Activities by the banana trees and banyan forests a few miles away.

Kelantan Prime Minister Mahathir handed a roll of maps to Zheng Zhilong's relative captain, and said respectfully: "We sent people to ask farmers along the river, and your soldiers have marked all the shallow places on this map. It’s on the map, but the Kelantan River is flooded all the year round, the bottom of the river is very muddy, it’s not easy to walk, and some places are very dangerous and will suck people down, our farmers and fishermen generally don’t go down the river to walk.”

Zheng Zhilong nodded, simply expressed his gratitude, and then continued to look through the binoculars: "It seems that it is impossible to cross the river on foot. I heard that the Sultan of Perak also took refuge in the Siamese."

Mahathir nodded: "Yes, Perak had already surrendered to Siamese when it was replaced by Narisan the Great in Siam. Now it is expected to send troops to help the Siamese army. It appeared in the flag on the other side in the morning. There is the flag of the Sultan of Perak,"

Zheng Zhilong put down the binoculars, looked at the seemingly respectful Mahathir, smiled and said, "Thank you, the Prime Minister, for accompanying me to inspect. From this morning to now, the question that the Prime Minister has been wanting to ask, I haven't said it yet."

Mahathir laughed without any embarrassment, imitating Chinese etiquette and cupping his hands: "Since the general asked, I will ask a question on behalf of my Sultan."

Zheng Zhilong liked Mahathir's frankness very much. He smiled and bowed his hands in return: "Since it is what the sultan meant, please tell me, Mr. Prime Minister, and I will answer truthfully."

Mahathir continued to clasp his hands and said, "Our soldiers in Kelantan are weak. In the battle of Malacca, we were coerced by Aceh and Pattani, so we had to send help and provide them with various supplies. The national power is declining. At present, the Chinese army is far more powerful than the coalition forces of Siam and other countries. It is no problem to win the battle. If this is the case, I don’t need to go to battle with my weak force in Kelantan.”

"It turns out that I was afraid that we would push us to the front line as cannon fodder," Zheng Zhilong thought and said in his mouth. On other occasions, he would not speak so bluntly, but now, these small Malays , that is, they must be suppressed by force, and they must not be given a chance. Kelantan Prime Minister Mahathir almost jumped up, and quickly bowed and said: "The general misunderstood, misunderstood! We have no such intention, it is just me Kelantan has only a few thousand troops, the weapons are too poor, and the soldiers are untrained, so it will be a waste of time to go into battle. The death of a few soldiers in Kelantan is not a big deal, but it is not good to delay the general's major event."

Zheng Zhilong smiled: "Since this is the case, you don't need to go into battle with your soldiers. However, let us borrow all four of your war elephants, including the slaves. That's okay, right?"

Mahathir secretly breathed a long sigh of relief, straightened his waist and nodded repeatedly: "That's no problem, I will send the war elephant to your barracks in the evening,"

"Also, from tomorrow onwards, your troops should not go out of the city to prevent accidental injuries,"

"That's no problem. Martial law will start in the city from tonight. No one is allowed to go out of the city. You will never add chaos to your army,"

In fact, Zheng Zhilong was not worried about the Kelantan Sultan Guard. He made up his mind to deploy several militia troops around the Kelantan King City at night to monitor the movements of Kelantan people.

"Tomorrow and day after tomorrow, the Siamese Army Brigade will reach the other side of the river. The big battle is coming. I hope you and the captain of the Kelantan Guard will be present to watch the battle and see how we defeat the enemy. Ask Your Excellency the Captain of the Guard, "

Mahathir heard it very clearly, and he also understood in his heart that this is not asking for advice on combat methods. Zheng Zhilong is asking them to keep hostages in the Chinese army in a disguised form, and he is the hostage himself.

Kelantan Prime Minister Mahathir could only smile wryly and nod in agreement.

...The current Siam Kingdom is officially called the Ayutthaya Dynasty, and the capital is Ayutthaya. The Chinese generally call it Ayutthaya. Founded by King Ramathibodi in 1351.

The real name of Rama Tiephudhi King is U Thong. He is a descendant of Chinese merchants. The Ayutthaya Kingdom combines the military power of the Dai people, the administration of the Mon and Khmer people, and the business of the Chinese. When the Ayutthaya Kingdom was established, the Dai people already existed in the north. Sukhothai was established, and the Ayutthaya Kingdom relied on the foundation laid by Sukhothai, but came from behind. In the 15th century, the Ayutthaya Kingdom annexed Sukhothai and was adjacent to the Lanna Kingdom in the north of Thailand. In the middle of the 15th century, Chacha King Luo (Trailok) established a more complete administrative and legal system. The Ayutthaya Kingdom maintained a strong and prosperous system, rice farming, and trade with China. The Ayutthaya Kingdom had a good relationship with China. It was annexed by the Donggu Dynasty, but at the end of the 14th century, the previous emperor Narisuan restored independence and defeated Myanmar.