On the vast plain outside Ayutthaya City, the capital of the Ayutthaya Dynasty in Siam (the Ming people habitually call it Ayutthaya, so it is also called the Ayutthaya Dynasty), 50,000 Ming troops surrounded this supposedly invincible city.
.
Liu Jin, who had just arrived from Malacca, took a telescope and carefully observed the royal capital of the Siamese Adyutth Dynasty.
The size of the capital city is still very large. Although it cannot be compared with Nanjing and Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, it is still larger than the average Ming Dynasty city. Moreover, the city walls are actually made of hard marble and are two or three feet high.
It is a very towering city wall.
In addition, when choosing the location of this royal capital, it was chosen to be on a large island where three rivers converge. It is surrounded by water on three sides and only one side is connected to the land. When defending, you only need to defend the land side.
"No wonder it dares to be called an invincible city!"
After seeing the structure of this royal capital city, Liu Jin couldn't help but nod his head.
In the Cold Weapon Age, such a city was the most difficult to attack. It was surrounded by water on three sides, which meant that you only had to concentrate on holding on to one side. Coupled with the hard and tall city walls built, it was difficult to attack it in the Cold Weapon Age.
Coming down is almost very, very difficult.
Of course, historically, this royal capital was breached by the Burmese in 1767, which also announced the demise of this great city dynasty. No matter how powerful the city wall is, it will sometimes be breached.
"They are just bragging. Once the artillery fire comes down, I don't believe they can't be fired."
Zhang Mao, who was beside Liu Jin, said nonchalantly. He led an army to fight all the way from Xianglin Province. They were invincible, invincible, and invincible. The Siamese they killed were routed and now they have shrunk.
Arriving in this royal capital.
This is not because of Zhang Mao's great military commanding ability. In fact, the most important thing is to rely on powerful artillery. If there is something that cannot be solved with one cannon, then two can be used.
Coupled with powerful muskets, excellent equipment and rigorous training, the Ming army is truly invincible here.
Zhang Mao also became more and more fond of artillery, and he felt obsessed with bombarding with artillery.
"We still need to find a way to force them to surrender and negotiate. We are not here to snatch their land. We are just here to teach them a lesson and leave a deep impression on them."
Liu Jin smiled and said.
"How is the situation over there in Malacca?"
Zhang Mao nodded slightly. Although he attacked the city along the way, Zhang Mao did not divide his troops to occupy it. Instead, he concentrated his troops to attack the big city, the core of Siam. The purpose was naturally to force King Ramathet of Siam.
Puti II signed a city alliance so that he could obtain the greatest benefits for himself.
"It went very well. The city of Malacca was captured with a burst of artillery fire? Forced them to sign an agreement? A large compensation of 15 million taels of silver will be paid to us in 100 years? A total of 150 million taels will be paid including the principal and interest.
Silver? One and a half million taels of silver per year."
"In addition, the land in the Malay Peninsula north of Malacca will be ceded to us. I am going to establish a new Zhenghe Province here? After winning the battle with Siam, let them cede some land in the north as well? Taken together, it will be
about there."
Liu Jin smiled and told the results of Malacca and his team.
"Are you still shameless? Malacca is such a small country that it can compensate 1.5 million taels of silver a year. How can they afford it?"
When Zhang Mao heard this, he couldn't help but shake his head. Speaking of shameless, Liu Jin really deserves to be the first.
During the expedition to Japan, Liu Jin also forced Japan to pay fifteen million taels of silver as compensation to the Ming Dynasty. He also ceded the Ishigami Kingdom and leased Hyogosu.
Now that you are fine, you want to ruthlessly slaughter a small country like Malacca? You are really not merciless at all.
"Ahem, Mr. Zhang? I am doing this for our Ming Dynasty."
"The Ming Dynasty can do things easily if it has money, can it afford a strong army? Only then can it build more cement roads, can it reduce taxes in more places, etc."
"My face is worthless at all. As long as it can benefit me, Daming, I don't care."
Liu Jin's old face turned slightly red? People in Ming Dynasty are too face-saving, so they often suffer for themselves and benefit others.
Just like paying tribute, why do you have to repay it multiple times? In the end, the tribute trade can no longer be sustained, and you have ordered to limit the frequency and scale of others paying tribute.
Liu Jin, who came from a later generation, was the same. After studying for nine years of compulsory education, he understood that there are only interests between countries, and there are no so-called eternal friends. Doing everything around interests is the true foreign policy.
Ming's interests are above all else.
"The facts prove that you are right."
Zhang Mao pondered for a while and nodded. He had seen a lot and naturally understood that what Liu Jin did was truly in the interests of the Ming Dynasty and conducive to the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, even though it was based on the pain of these countries outside.
The huge Wang Shouren remained silent. In fact, he had been thinking about this issue.
In fact, he didn't understand that everything Liu Jin did was completely contrary to the ideological and spiritual values advocated by Confucianism. When speaking to the outside world, he only talked about interests, not feelings, and didn't care about face.
Everything is similar to the behavior of bandits, burning, killing, looting, and forcing people to sign alliances under the city. This is ceding land and paying compensation. What is the difference between banditry and banditry?
It is really far, far away from the gentleman's way advocated by Confucianism.
But he has seen the changes in Ming Dynasty over the years.
From a situation of internal and external troubles, the Ming Dynasty gradually became stronger and more prosperous. It was prosperous internally and fought externally for many years, but it became stronger and richer the more it fought.
This made him confused, and his whole ideological concept was greatly impacted. He is a very good thinker, and he has been studying things to gain knowledge and explore the truth of this time.
But now, he was stumped by everything in front of him.
Who is right?
Wang Shouren couldn't figure it out, but he knew that Ming Dynasty had indeed entered a new era and was standing on the cusp of a new era.
"Dong~dong~"
Here in the great city, accompanied by bursts of drums, the huge city gate slowly opened, and a large number of Siamese troops rushed out. Among them were elephant soldiers composed of huge elephants.
Elephants are huge and powerful. They are also covered in hard armor and can run rampant in battle. They have always been the most powerful force on the Southeast Peninsula.
In this era, the Dacheng Dynasty of Siam was at its peak, with strong national power and an elephant army consisting of 200 elephants.
If it were the cold weapon period, relying on the charge of these two hundred elephants, even the most powerful army would be crushed to pieces. This is also the reason why Siam is so powerful in the southeastern peninsula.
At this moment, the rulers of Siam's Ayutthaya Dynasty obviously did not intend to wait for the Ming army to take the initiative to attack the city, but were preparing to compete with the Ming army in the wilderness.
I saw elephants draped in red and colorful, with several people riding on the backs of the elephants, some holding bows and arrows, and some holding spears. The elephants were lined up in a line, four or five feet apart from each other.
Behind him was a mighty army.
"Like soldiers?"
Seeing this scene, Liu Jin couldn't help but become interested. He picked up the telescope and looked carefully.
"It seems that they are not going to be obedient anymore. As expected, they still need to be taught a severe lesson before they will be obedient."
"This King of Siam, who claims to be the largest country in the Southeast Asian region, dares to contact various Southeast Asian countries to attack our Ming Dynasty. He not only imposes heavy taxes on our Ming Dynasty merchants, but also dares to rob our Ming Dynasty merchant ships."
"This time, if I don't teach them a lesson, they won't know how powerful it is."
Zhang Mao looked at the huge lineup of the Siamese army. The King of Siam had almost mobilized troops from all over the country to this big city to prepare for a decisive battle with the Ming army.
At this time, the number of Siamese troops gathered in the entire city was more than 100,000, and almost all the elites of Siam were gathered here. Naturally, they would not be willing to wait for the Ming army to attack the city.
They all knew that the Ming army's artillery was sharp. If the Ming army really attacked the city, even though the city was very tall and hard, it might not be able to defend it.
Moreover, even if it is defended, the royal capital may be turned into ruins by then, so only by taking the initiative and fighting the Ming army in the wilderness can there be any hope of victory.
"What Mr. Zhang said is true. Only when the beating hurts them will they know how to be afraid and respect me, the Ming Dynasty."
Liu Jin nodded solemnly.
While the two were talking, on the wall of the great city, King Ramatipti II of Siam also looked seriously at the Ming army outside the city.
The Ming army was in a tight formation, neatly arranged like squares, with flying banners and uniforms. The Ming army came towards them with such momentum that one could not help but be deeply shocked.
"Send someone to talk to the Ming people. As long as they withdraw their troops now, we in Siam will never levy taxes on the Ming merchant ships from now on, and we will also pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty every year."
Ramatipti knew very well that although his military strength was more than twice that of the Ming army, his chances of winning were slim. The Ming army was so powerful that they could fight all the way.
Annan was destroyed one after another, allowing Champa to voluntarily surrender. Cambodia and Chenlana even took the initiative to surrender to the Ming Dynasty. Even when the Ming army used the road to attack Siam, these two countries took the initiative to lead the way for the Ming army.
The army transports supplies and provides logistical services, and all it takes is sending troops to follow along.
Fighting all the way from the border, Siam was defeated. Facing the Ming army's extremely powerful artillery attack, even the powerful elephant soldiers were no different than cubes of tofu.
He didn't want to fight this battle with the Ming army.
