With the defeat of the Dutch, Portugal lost a series of trading points on the east coast of India, and only retained colonial points on the west coast such as Goa.
Compared with Macau in China, the Portuguese colony in India was hundreds of times larger, with a population of more than 300,000.
In order to retain Goa, Portugal not only stationed heavy troops in Goa, but also built a naval base and encouraged marriages.
Moreover, in accordance with Portuguese rules, the Inquisition was set up to force the natives to believe in Catholicism.
As a result, the rule of the West Coast was completely stabilized and the collapse of the colony was avoided.
Governor Anthony Don Castro wore tights and flat boots, and like ordinary Portuguese, he had a full beard.
At this time, sitting in front of the long table were several nobles and a judge of the Inquisition, wearing a very conspicuous white robe.
"Gentlemen, according to intelligence, a war between the Kingdom of Ceylon and the Kingdom of Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka is imminent."
The Governor tapped the table with his fingers, attracting everyone's attention. He said in a deep voice: "I wonder what we can do for it?"
These words broke the silence.
The priest remained silent, and then he said: "If the Kingdom of Ceylon can convert, I suggest the Governor support them."
"Unlikely." The governor rubbed his eyes: "This king claims to be the royal family of the Ming Dynasty. He is unwilling to change his faith and has always been stubborn."
“The Dutch support the Kingdom of Jaffna.”
At this time, a burly man, who looked more like a soldier than a noble, spoke:
"We have lost so many trading points. If we use the Kingdom of Ceylon to deal with Jaffna, then northern Sri Lanka will become the kingdom's stronghold again."
"This is definitely a blow to the Dutch people."
"But the Dutch will not turn a blind eye."
At this time, another nobleman said: "The Dutch have the characteristics of all civilized countries, such as muskets, troops, and powerful ships. This is incomparable to the Kingdom of Ceylon."
As he spoke, he continued to add: "The Dutch transported two thousand Tamil slaves from South India last year, and the strength of Colombo's troops reached two thousand."
"It only takes a thousand or even five hundred people to penetrate the entire Kingdom of Ceylon."
"That's right." These words aroused resonance, and someone else said:
"In the past, Ceylon was only fighting with the Kingdom of Jaffna, taking into account the relationship with the Ming Dynasty, so the Dutch would still be reserved. But now that the interests of the Dutch are being affected, they will never sit idly by..."
These words were recognized by many people.
"But this is a rare and good opportunity." The burly man said excitedly: "For Goa, if the Kingdom of Ceylon is in front, Goa can avoid the covetousness of the Netherlands."
"And using Ceylon to consume the strength of the Dutch and trade some weapons and gunpowder can make the Dutch lose face. Isn't this a good deal?"
The Governor coughed at this time: "Gentlemen, the Kingdom of Zealand is the key to us leveraging the Dutch rule in Sri Lanka. Of course we cannot support it openly, but we can secretly support it."
"Without evidence, the Dutch won't say anything."
"Besides, the Kingdom of Ceylon is from the Ming Dynasty, and the Dutch have offended the Ming people. This is also good for the empire..."
With the support of the Governor, limited support was passed.
At the port, when Zhu Ci learned about the arrival of a large ship, he realized that what he said was true.
This is indeed a large ship, one or two times the size of an ordinary merchant ship.
Although many of the cannons were covered, the style of the warship could not be changed at all.
"My King, I heard that you were about to go to war, so I sent you a gift."
Captain John, an old acquaintance, smiled and opened his arms.
Zhu Ci walked over and also smiled: "It seems that you are the one who spread the news. What did you bring today?"
"A thousand matchlocks and ten thousand kilograms of gunpowder."
John whispered: "This is a rare product in Goa. It took me more than half a month to get it together."
"Interesting enough!"
Zhu Ci looked at the barrels of gunpowder, opened them, and touched them very delicately with his hands.
And those matchlock guns looked like they had been specially cleaned. Although they were second-hand, they were also the best among second-hand.
Judging from match rope weaving, it is also made of fine linen. India's linen spinning industry is very developed.
This is really different from the past.
"It seems that you have really worked hard this time, so you have been slacking off in the past?"
Zhu Ci had a smile on his face, as if he had known you for a long time.
"No way." John said hurriedly: "Isn't this easy to do recently? At other times, it is out of stock."
"It's a good product. I'll add 10% to the price."
Zhu Ci said seriously: "However, I hope to have artillery, artillery capable of attacking the city."
"This?" John looked troubled: "Artillery is military supplies, and the gun factory in Goa is a restricted interest..."
After Macau was recovered by the Ming Dynasty, although some people went to Taiwan to settle, most of the capitalists and their artillery factories moved to Goa.
After all, they are still the masters here in Goa.
"John, stop hiding it, Goa sent you!"
"Hahaha, I really can't hide it from you." John laughed, not feeling embarrassed at all:
"They knew you were going to fight the Dutch. They were so excited that they couldn't sleep in the middle of the night, and they were afraid of offending the Dutch, so they asked me to sell you some arms."
Zhu Ci suddenly realized, and then his face became tense: "The Dutch are coming?"
"As far as I know, the Dutch are already mobilizing, with at least three ships and five hundred sailors."
John suggested:
"You'd better take down the Kingdom of Jaffna immediately."
"The Dutch are all mercenaries, and their martial arts at sea are very powerful. But after landing on land, once the death rate is too high, the army will be tempted to retreat."
"So the Governor of Goa said that as long as you can capture the Kingdom of Jaffna as soon as possible and hold its city for a few days, the Dutch will definitely retreat..."
After hearing this suggestion, Zhu Ci quickly thanked him.
Immediately, he held a court meeting.
The Kingdom of Ceylon currently has no cabinet and only six ministers.
Among them, Zhu Ding, the second oldest, was in charge of the military department and commanded Ceylon's 5,000-strong army.
In the past few years, they have been fighting in the north and south, and although they have only fought small tribal nobles, they have finally built an army.
The officers were basically domestic slaves and were of Han origin, while the soldiers were from the indigenous tribes that had surrendered from the beginning.
That is, the large and small tribes centered on the Mannar Peninsula.
They can do business, serve as officials, and join the army.
Outside, the newly conquered tribes last year and this year can only farm and pay taxes, becoming the lowest oppressed.
The indigenous people were artificially divided into two parts.
If people are taken by force, the army can be expanded to 10,000 people at any time.
The third youngest, Zhu Yong, controls the household department and is responsible for civil affairs and taxation.
Sun Bai, who popularized knowledge, and the only child, served as the Ministry of Rites.
The domestic slaves Zhu Cheng and Zhu Gong were in charge of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Personnel respectively.
As for the final punishment department, it is held by an indigenous person.
His previous name was changed to Zhu Meng.
After all, this kind of internal contradiction is most suitable for the indigenous people to judge.
In order to consolidate the foundation of his rule and at the same time expand trust, Zhu Ci often adopted the mode of giving surnames, giving those Tamil businessmen the surname Zhu, indicating that they were a family.
So as soon as this meeting started, it immediately became an internal meeting of the Zhu family.
"It can be said that what is tolerable is unbearable, and there is a saying that on the side of the couch, how can one allow others to sleep soundly? Jaffna does not lose his benevolence and justice, and he governs with harshness."
"This is Ceylon given to me by God."
Zhu Ci raised his head and said: "Starting from today, I will use a large army to conquer Jaffna and completely lay the foundation of Ceylon for all ages..."
From the moment it landed on the main island, Ceylon has planned Jaffna. After several years of wars in the north and south, it was finally time to resolve the issue.
At this time, everyone is in high spirits and words will win.
No wonder they are so happy.
If we compare the Indian peninsula with the island of Ceylon, then Ceylon is a rural area.
If we compare the Mannar Peninsula and the Jaffna Peninsula in the Kingdom of Ceylon, Ceylon is a rural area.
Before the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka, the Kingdom of Jaffna spread to the Arabian Peninsula and Africa, including Bangladesh.
In order to expedition to Jaffna, the Portuguese directly mobilized 10,000 troops, which broke his spine.
As a result, it was picked up by the Dutch.
Cereals, tobacco, coconuts, and mangoes are distributed here, and ivory and gemstones are its main goods.
The Kingdom of Jaffna has hundreds of thousands of people, and its capital can be said to be an extremely prosperous place.
In this case, the Kingdom of Ceylon at this time was like a small state in the late Shang Dynasty, and Jaffna was a large-scale merchant.
But what makes Ceylon stronger is its centralization of power.
Although the Kingdom of Jaffna is large and occupies the entire northern part of Sri Lanka, it cannot withstand a large number of nobles dividing the territory.
And Ceylon, which is small, can break out tens of thousands of troops in a short period of time.
Three days later, Zhu Ci, who could not wait for the cannons, led an army of 8,000 people and set out for an expedition to the Kingdom of Jaffna, which was 300 miles away.
As soon as Ceylon moved, Colombo, who was always paying attention to its movements, also knew about it immediately.
After two hours of discussion, the Dutch decided to send 500 sailors to help Jaffna defend the city.
The best thing is to capture the King of Ceylon and make him a puppet, thereby completely controlling the northern region of Sri Lanka.
As soon as Zhu Ci's army moved, the nobles, big and small, could not resist at all and had no choice but to surrender.
Of course, most people fled to the Jaffna Peninsula, which is the essence of the Jaffna Kingdom.
After marching thirty miles in one day, the army arrived at the border of the Jaffna Peninsula five days later.
Thousands of Jaffna soldiers guard the border.
At sea, two Dutch warships were loitering.
"The Dutch came too quickly."
Zhu Ci frowned.
He looked up and saw that these Jaffna soldiers were not wearing armor.
This is really fortunate.
After all, in the hot Sri Lanka, wearing armor can make people suffocate.
But Ceylon was different. The number of soldiers with simple leather armor reached 3,000.
On the battlefield, no matter how thin the leather armor is, it is still armor.
As for muskets, they are even rarer, with only one or two hundred guns.
Ceylon, however, has eight hundred poles, which can be described as an overwhelming advantage.
In such a narrow place, no strategies can be used, and we can only fight hard.
"Attack——"
Military music was playing, and the musketeers stepped forward, using the Portuguese-style marching method.
Crackling——
The Jaffna people couldn't help it and immediately opened fire with muskets.
After several shots, the distance reached a hundred paces. Zhu Ci was afraid that the morale of the army would collapse, so he immediately ordered to fire.
By this time, the Jaffna people's muskets had long been discharged of gunpowder, and they had no choice but to be beaten.
As the distance got closer, the casualties also continued to increase.
At fifty paces, the musketeers' gunpowder was running low, and the Jaffna people abandoned about three hundred corpses and fled in panic.
Morale collapsed——
The entire army immediately dispersed into wild boars and fled.
"Well, I still overestimated it."
"Army attack--"
Thousands of people lost their formation at this time and couldn't wait to start the chase.
Many native soldiers ran for a while and then took a breath. They had no intention of moving forward. They just took a prisoner and sat down without leaving.
Only the elite soldiers who had been practicing regularly continued the pursuit.
The Jaffna people were even more exaggerated. They fled extremely fast, leaving no trace at all. Tens of thousands of people fled in a rush.
"Really!"
Zhu Ci wiped his sweat, this victory was too sudden.
He turned his head and glanced at the sea again. Why didn't those Dutch people participate?
Otherwise, victory is still uncertain.
The next moments can be described as joyful to hear and see.
The army had a smooth journey and marched hundreds of miles straight to the city of Jaffna.
At this time, Zhu Cicai saw the figure of the Dutchman.
The city of Jaffna is built on the sea, with Dutch ships cruising on the sea and rows of cannons that are daunting.
At the same time, the same was true on the top of the city. Twenty artillery pieces that he could not reach were already placed.
Some Dutch people were also waiting at the top of the city.
How to fight this?
Looking at the melee a few days ago, Zhu Ci already lost confidence in his own side.
Once the artillery and elite Dutch mercenaries started fighting, the speed of defeat was even more alarming.
He glanced at the nobles around him. They were all respectful and humble, but if the siege failed, he would be defeated no matter how quickly he advanced.
"No fighting, no gambling."
Zhu Ci began to think deeply.
"As the saying goes, the first step is to attack strategy, the second is to attack friends, the second is to attack troops, and the next is to attack the city. Attacking the city is the next choice."
Immediately, Zhu Ci ordered the nobles to write a letter and send a message to the city, asking them to open the city gate and make a promise to retain the land.
And the threat is that once the city is defeated, not a single blade of grass will be left.
After that, he recruited strong men, asked them to surround Jaffna, and built an artificial moat for them.
As a result, Jaffna became an isolated city.
With tens of thousands of people in the city, food was immediately in short supply.
After all, no one expected that this battle would be lost so quickly.
The kingdom that was able to compete with Portugal in the past has fallen into this situation.
The Dutch initially provided food supplies and sent troops to defeat the Ceylonese on land.
But Zhu Ci had no confidence and could only avoid fighting, purely wanting to consume the food in the city.
Seeing this, the Dutch sent another five hundred people.
Unfortunately, Zhu Ci still avoided the battle. When he saw the Dutch taking out their artillery, he guarded the camp and retreated at any time.