Southern Ming, my destiny is too abstract

Chapter 102 Arakan and the Dutch
"Is Arakan rebelling?"

Zhu Cixuan did not join the main force in marching south from western Yunnan through Sanxuan.

Instead, he was invited by the Wa chieftain of Mengmian Mengding to participate in their grain worship ceremony.

Before this, when Zhu Cixuan passed by the Wa chieftain, he asked them to change the hunting heads used in the grain sacrifice to monkey heads or tiger heads.

The Wa chiefs specially hunted a tiger and a wild elephant, and sincerely invited Zhu Cixuan to participate in the grain sacrifice ceremony.

Wang Qilong, who came from Ava City, met Deng Kai in Yongchang. The two hurried to Mengding and reported to Zhu Cixuan about the changes that had occurred in Hongsha.

Zhu Cixuan was being invited by the chiefs to eat the first bowl of rice harvested on behalf of the gods.

After hearing it, my first reaction was Cao Cao Rice Bowl.

"No way, absolutely impossible."

"How dare Arakan launch an attack on Pegu!"

Zhu Cixuan raised his eyebrows, his eyes filled with shock, and his eyes revealed confusion and puzzlement.

Is Arakan crazy?

Zhu Cixuan knew that his ministers privately called him the Crazy Prince.

But he never expected that Arakan was even crazier than him.

Arakan is located to the west of Hongsawadi, across the Rakhine Mountains, and occupies an important trade route between the east and the west.

Zhu Cixuan and Chen Ande all called it the Western Region of Hongsawadi.

The Western Regions dare to invade the Central Plains?
During the Pagan Dynasty, Arakan was the territory of the Hongsha people.

Later, Pagan declined and split, and the Arakan Kingdom watched the struggle between the Upper and Lower Hongsha from across the Rakhine Mountains.

After the Toungoo Mang clan rose up and became the dominant power, they once wanted to conquer Arakan, but unfortunately they failed.

In the later period, the Toungoo Dynasty also focused on the north and east, and did not pay much attention to Arakan in the west.

The Arakan Kingdom also took advantage of the division of the Toungoo Dynasty and joined forces with the Portuguese to invade and occupy several counties in Xiahongsha. In the end, they were destroyed and driven out by the monarch of the Mang family.

In recent decades, it has lived in peace with Hongsavadi, and its focus has been on Chittagong in the west, while it has been invading the Mughals.

Not to mention that Zhu Cixuan destroyed the Toungoo Dynasty in March, the myth of him fighting against 200,000 alone spread throughout the Fengshang area.

Zhu Cixuan could not believe that Arakan would dare to provoke the Ming Dynasty again after dealing with the Mughals.

It's not some small tribal country in the mountains, so it shouldn't be so arrogant.

"Are the people of Rakhine tired of living?"

Zhu Cixuan held up his chopsticks, still puzzled.

After being seriously injured in the battle with Gucheng and unable to recover, Wang Qilong, who had switched from military service to a civil servant, shook his head.

"Your Highness, we in Ava City are not very clear about the specific situation there."

"I guess the Dutch are behind this."

"When King Subiya of Pegu learned of Arakan's invasion, he reported it to Ava City. The Ava court was still deliberating on countermeasures."

"The Arakanese army then fiercely attacked and captured the two counties of Sarang and Pathein, and marched straight to Pegu. Subiya fled hastily to Upper Hongsha."

"The Jinsha River transport route was cut off by Arakan, and even the Maduba Military and Civilian Affairs Commission was attacked by Dutch ships."

"Wu Dading and Pan Huang were unable to send troops from Maduba to rescue Pegu."

Zhu Cixuan's brows furrowed even more.

Dutch?
After Maduba was defeated, there has been no movement. It turned out that he was secretly colluding with the Arakan Kingdom.

It was Zheng Yanping who recaptured Yizhou and drove out the Dutch colonists.

So the Dutch Governor of Batavia wants to declare war on the Ming Dynasty?
Zhu Cixuan still found Arakan's actions somewhat unbelievable.

The Dutch, who relied on their strong cities, were defeated and driven out by him. Why did Arakan think that it could withstand the wrath of the Ming Dynasty with the support of the Dutch?

Wang Qilong expressed the Ava court's thoughts:

"Chen Ande and Adayun discussed and concluded that His Highness and the Ming army had returned to Yunnan and taken away the elite troops from Hongshawadi."

"The Arakanese state probably thought that the Ming army and His Highness would not go south to Hongsha again, so they pulled the teeth out of the tiger's mouth."

While Zhu Cixuan was thinking, he saw the chieftains looking at him awkwardly.

I reacted immediately.

This was during the chieftains' important grain-worshiping ceremony.

Use chopsticks to push the cooked rice offering on the table back into the bowl and finish it in two mouthfuls.

Zhu Cixuan said vaguely: "Then it's not strange, that's not strange."

Seeing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had finished eating the offerings to the gods, the chiefs breathed a sigh of relief and began to announce that the ceremony was officially underway.

Chieftains and their wives placed offerings such as fish, meat, honey, and bananas on the ridges of the fields.

The wizard performed a great dance before the offerings, and the chiefs and people followed suit, cheering and dancing, calling on the valley spirits.

Zhu Cixuan was not in the mood to watch the performance.

The Arakanese Kingdom was just a minor issue, and he didn't take it too seriously.

But he did not bring too many troops south.

He only selected two thousand elite soldiers from the five armies of the Shenshu Camp and the Imperial Camp to follow him in the surprise attack on the two capitals.

Most of the troops directly under his command were stationed in Lin'an Prefecture, waiting for the main force of the Qing army to withdraw, and then they and Zhu Cixuan attacked the southeastern Guangxi and Guangdong from two sides.

After the surprise attack on the two capitals, they recovered Guangxi and Guangdong in one fell swoop.

The key is to deal with Arakan and the Dutch.

Malacca, Sumatra and Java.

If the Dutch continued to harass Xiahongsha from time to time, it would affect Li Dingguo's logistics and food supplies.

Zhu Cixuan thought for a moment and then told Deng Kai, "I will go and pacify the Arakan Kingdom."

"You should have General Wang Yaozu of the Yunnan Army lead his troops and march south with Mi Dan of the Shenji Right Camp."

"Then we will unite with the army of the Eight Military and Civilian Affairs Commission of Malacca, capture Malacca, and block the sea route together with the Aceh Kingdom in Sumatra."

The Shenjiying and the five armies of the Imperial Camp are still seriously understaffed, so they can only transfer some Yunnan troops and mercenaries to deal with the Dutch.

Wang Yaozu was a hero who, together with Zhao Yinxuan, swore not to surrender and fought in the mountains to resist the Qing Dynasty.

Although it doesn't have much ability, it is more than enough to deal with the Dutch.

Zhu Cixuan had just arranged for military action against the Netherlands.

The prefect of Mengding, Han Zhongxing, said with delight, "Your Highness, the ox is pointing upwards. This is a very auspicious omen. Heaven is blessing you to revive the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Cixuan turned around and looked at the yellow cow lying on the ground in the yard.

Stealing a cow to ask for divination is an important ritual of the Wa people. The person holding the sword hits the cow's heart with the sword, with the sword's mouth facing upwards and blood gushing out. The cow falls to the left with its head facing south, which is a good omen.

Zhu Cixuan said, "Let me borrow this good fortune to make my journey towards rejuvenation smoother."

……

Zhu Cixuan did not delay and without waiting for the court officials to relocate, he went directly south from Mengding, passed Mubang and arrived at Ava City.

In the city, he met Pan Huang and the envoys of Emperor Mengala.

Only then did I know the reason why Arakan and the Netherlands launched an invasion.

Zhu Cixuan looked hesitantly at the envoy of Emperor Bengal who was temporarily residing in Arakan. He was a high-caste who had previously borrowed troops from the Ming Dynasty in Daguang County and gave the Mughal claim to the Ming Dynasty.

"You mean the King of Arakan, Tudama, was furious because I stole his woman, so he lost his mind and launched an attack on Hongsha Pegu."

"He's crazy. When did I ever steal his woman?"

The high caste still had the same proud attitude as before: "Your Highness, the great Crown Prince of Ming Dynasty."

"Didn't you ask our Majesty, the Emperor of Bengal, Shah Shuja, to marry his daughter to form an alliance between Ming Dynasty and Mughal?" Zhu Cixuan recalled for a while after hearing this.

It seems that there is such a thing.

In order to prepare for a possible future confrontation with the powerful Aurangzeb, he asked Shah Shuja for a daughter as a special attack against his father.

The upper caste continued proudly: "Our Majesty has chosen the eldest princess, who is incomparably beautiful, from among his daughters to be your Highness's wife."

"Her status is even more noble. Not only is she the eldest princess of Bengal, but she is also the wife of the current pseudo-emperor of the Hindustan Empire, the Sultan Prince."

Not only Chen Ande and Pan Huang were stunned when they heard this, but even Zhu Cixuan was stunned for a moment.

Zhu Cixuan, who had come to his senses, raised his hand to stop the high-caste people from speaking incessantly:
"Let's not talk about your emperor for now, let's use a princess who has already been married to form a marriage alliance."

"If I remember correctly, the current Emperor of the Hindustan Empire, Aurangzeb, is the brother of your Emperor of Bengal."

"Aurangzeb's prince married his own cousin?"

The high caste was a little confused: "Your Highness, is there something wrong?"

“Even our Indian emperor Shah Jahan, who loved the queen of the Taj Mahal, once violated the Mulan faith in order to cure his daughter’s illness.”

"Besides, Prince Mulan Sultan and the eldest princess are not siblings."

After listening to the introduction of the upper caste, Zhu Cixuan couldn't help but click his forehead.

The Muran Sultan of Prince Aurangzeb came from the Gokkonda Sultanate in the Deccan.

While pursuing his uncle and father-in-law Shah Shuja, he acted recklessly, angering Aurangzeb, and was thrown into prison along with his eldest daughter who pleaded for the prince.

A real Indian Liu Ying.

The high-caste man continued, “I once heard the Siamese in Hongsavadi talk about His Highness’s preferences.”

"Our other princesses are either very young or very slender. Only the eldest princess meets the requirements of the Crown Prince."

"And the eldest princess's status is even more worthy of you, Your Highness, so our Majesty wants to send the eldest princess to marry."

"Who knew that Tudara, a turtle in a muddy puddle who wanted to touch the moon in the sky, had long coveted our eldest princess. He colluded with the Dutch and attacked the Ming Dynasty like a cotton swab stabbing a bull, so that he could monopolize all the princesses."

Zhu Cixuan was too tired to complain.

After chatting with the upper castes for a while and promising them that the Ming Dynasty would send troops to rescue the Bengal royal family trapped in Mrauk U, he sent them away.

Zhu Cixuan held his forehead in his hand and was speechless, feeling a headache.

What the hell?

It seems that King Tudhana of Arakan is the one who truly loves the most.

For the sake of a woman, he went to war with the Ming Dynasty like an ant trying to shake a tree.

Chen Ande was also speechless.

It was so absurd that even the Ming Dynasty's emperor and his ministers found it somewhat reasonable.

After a while, Chen Ande said, "Your Highness, this Indian is being evasive."

"The story of Wu Sangui losing his temper for his beloved was fabricated by scholars from Jiangnan."

"As the ruler of a country, Tudama would never start a war for a woman."

Zhu Cixuan nodded in agreement.

No matter how exaggerated San Ge is, it's not surprising.

Their myths are a hundred times more exaggerated than those of other nations, and their words and actions are even more so.

Pan Huang, who had rushed over from Maduba, hesitated and asked, "Your Highness, could it be that Emperor Menggala is using the Ming Dynasty as a pretext to deceive others?"

"They were held captive in Arakan, perhaps hoping to escape by borrowing troops from Siam, just as the Emperor was imprisoned in Ava."

"The Bengalis also used this to threaten Tudatta, or they may have been secretly planning a rebellion."

"Tudama was forced into a rebellion."

Zhu Cixuan pursed his lips in thought.

It's possible.

But it is unclear why Tudama dared to launch an attack.

At worst, the entire Bengali royal family could be secretly executed, and an excuse could be made to the Ming Dynasty that they had returned to India.

Zhu Cixuan shook his head and said, "Don't worry about what Tudama thinks."

"When I go to Miaowu City and capture him alive, I'll know why he went crazy."

"It won't delay my trip to Siam and my boat north."

Chen Ande and Pan Huang nodded repeatedly.

Not to mention that the prince is surrounded by many brave generals and elite soldiers.

Based on the prince's military achievements, it wouldn't take much effort to destroy a small southern barbarian country.

Zhu Cixuan turned to Pan Huang and asked, "Why are the Dutch instigating this?"

"They are currently engaged in a fierce battle with Zheng Yanping in Yizhou. Do they still have the energy to attack Hongshawadi?"

Pan Huang said in a deep voice, "Your Highness, the Dutch were preparing to go to war with the Prince of Yanping in Yizhou last year."

"But they left too early and waited for a long time. Prince Yanping didn't raise any troops, so most of the reinforcements returned to Batavia."

"According to news from Nanyang, they have dispatched another fleet to Yizhou Island."

"But the Dutch officer Vanderlan, who had returned earlier, discussed with the Governor of Batavia that the military expenditures from the previous expedition were too high, and planned to plunder Hongsavadi to make up for the losses of the Dutch East India Company in recent years."

Pan Huang took out some spices from his bosom and placed them in front of the prince.

"The Eastern Tartars banned sea migration and all European trade in Middle-earth was halted."

"Batavia is located in Java. In order to consolidate his control over the surrounding vassal states, the King of Mataram, Amangkurat, closed Java's ports and monopolized trade between Java and the Netherlands."

"A few years ago, the Dutch lost a war against the Banten Kingdom in Sumatra. The Banten Sultan Ageng even led his army to plunder Batavia. The Dutch also suffered heavy losses. To make up for the lost military expenses, they resorted to selling goods."

"The Dutch levied one riyal per month on the nearly 10,000 Han Chinese in Batavia."

"Han people left the country one after another, and just as the Ming Dynasty was established in Hongshawadi, they all came here by boat."

Pan Huang pointed to the spices on the table.

“Europeans came to Southeast Asia for the spice trade.”

"Pepper production was so huge that India, a major pepper producer, had to import it from Southeast Asia to save money."

"Pepper farmers need to carefully care for three years before they can harvest it."

Zhu Cixuan pondered: "The Han Chinese in Batavia are leaving on a large scale."

“So the Dutch are now in great need of farmers to grow spices.”

Pan Huang nodded and pointed to another spice.

"The key is cloves, which are the most profitable in Nanyang right now."

"The Dutch specifically cut down clove trees outside their territory to monopolize the clove trade. Now there is a shortage of cloves in Europe, and there is no market for them."

"The Dutch have planted a large number of clove trees in Batavia and the Maldives Islands over the past two years and are in desperate need of farmers to tend and harvest them."

“In addition, our country declared war on the Netherlands, and Hongsavadi’s rice and teak were no longer sold to the Dutch.”

Pan Huang concluded: "The Dutch are invading this time."

"One is to plunder Xiahongsha and steal goods to make up for the military expenses."

“The second is to rob the people and fill the gaps in the farmers who grow spices.”

"The third is that they may have thought that His Highness and the Ming army were focusing on Yunnan and Yunnan in the Central Plains."

"They intend to harass Xiahongsha in order to force His Highness to order the Prince of Yanping to withdraw his troops from Yizhou and preserve their trading cities and trade routes in the East China Sea."

(End of this chapter)