When Li Laiheng confidently patted his Ada Li Guo on the chest to make a promise, his precious son Li Jicheng, the grandson of Emperor Dashun, had already brought a gift and his "sister", a Japanese-European mixed race Yamada Anna who Li Dingguo snatched back from Ayutthaya City (the Ayutthaya Dynasty had long hired wandering Japanese samurai as soldiers, and there were more than 1,000 Japanese immigrants around Ayutthaya City, and Anna was born in a Siamese aristocratic family of Japanese descent). Fan. Together, they crossed the Rakhine Mountains and arrived at the city of Myaoo, the capital of the Arakan Kingdom.

At this time, the Arakan Kingdom was not a weak country, and the fact that this country could stand between the powerful Mughal Empire and the Taungoo Dynasty already speaks for itself!

The strength of Arakan is due to the Celestial Sultans of neighboring Bengal and the Portuguese colonists from afar, the Celestial Sultans of Bengal have always regarded the kingdom of Arakan near Chittagong as the next target of conquest. In the 15th century, they almost succeeded in forcing the Buddhist kingdom of Arakan to submit to their knees and accept the title of Celestial Sect. It seems that it is only a matter of time before Arakan becomes a Celestial Sultanate. But just as the sultans of Bengal were about to succeed, the Age of Discovery arrived!

The Portuguese colonists entered the endangered kingdom of Arakan from the sea, bringing foreign guns and artillery (Portuguese and Japanese mercenaries) to the precarious Buddhist state. The kingdom of Arakan, which was rich but not strong (the Arakan Kingdom has a long coastline and has been a trading power since ancient times), began to absorb the power from the sea with hunger and thirst because the destruction of the country and religion was imminent, and it did not care about being wary of Western colonists. As a result, at the beginning of the 17th century, the originally moribund state of Arakan had become a small overlord in the Bay of Bengal, and it entered Bengal in the east and west, and defeated the Celestial Sect Sultans of Chittagong!

However, the strong kingdom of Arakan is not restless, because the country's basic territory is limited, and there are constantly rising powers at both ends of the east and west, so that Arakan has to fortify east and west, and cannot fully expand in one direction.

And Arakan, whose national power is now at its peak, is facing the attack of two powerful countries that it cannot defeat at all, one is the Dashun Empire, which has gone south to annex the weakened Donghu Kingdom. One was the formidable Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb!

That's right, the current Mughal Empire is a formidable power!

The emperor who ruled the country, Rangzeb, was not very different from his predecessors, who were "Puritans" of the Celestial Sect.

It's the kind of madman who is reluctant to eat, reluctant to wear, and saves all his money to fight the "war of the gods"!

Although in history, this "puritanical" emperor tossed and annoyed the well-spoken Indian Asandu, which caused the weakening of the Mughal dynasty. But now his toss has only just begun...... The Hindu Asans can still bear it, while the Celestial Christians are on the rise, and the national strength can be imagined!

In addition, he joined forces with the Jungar Kingdom and the Khiva Khanate before, eliminated the old enemy Bukhara Khanate in one fell swoop, and also got the ancestral land of Samarkand, and now he is excited, can the surrounding countries not be afraid? Taking Samarkand is not just an extra territory, but also gives Aurangzeb a source of troops that can recruit excellent soldiers!

So the hard times of those countries around the Mughals can be regarded as coming!

And for the Buddhist monk King Dutama, a Puritan emperor of the Heavenly Sect is much more terrible than the Dashun Emperor who also believes in Buddhism.

Therefore, when the Dutch, who controlled the sea (the Dutch were also the objects that the Arakan kingdom could not offend), offered to promote the Great Shun-Arakanese alliance, the Sangha Dutama King agreed without hesitation.

However, King Santa Tama is not a fool, and he also knows that the Dashun Kingdom has raided the Donghu Kingdom last time...... It doesn't look very benevolent! So he put forward a request for marriage - he wanted to marry the daughter or granddaughter of the Emperor Dashun, so that Dashun and Arakan could become sons-in-law.

This request was quickly agreed to by Li Jicheng, and Li Jicheng also offered to personally escort his sister to Miaowu City for a blind date......

Myoo Castle is notoriously strong! At that time, the founding monarch of the Taungoo Kingdom, Mang Ruiti, once led an army of 19,000 over the Rakhine Mountains to besiege Myaowu City, but finally ended in a crushing defeat.

So Li Jicheng decided to take a trip to Miaowu himself and take a closer look at this castle, which is famous for its fortification.

But come with him to the blues of Myau. Fan. Dimen did not think that the imperial grandson of Dashun was fighting the idea of the Arakan Kingdom - in his opinion, the Arakan Kingdom was a buffer between Dashun and the Mughals, and once the country was taken away, a collision between the Dashun and the Mughals was inevitable!

And, Bruce. Fan. Dimen also prepared the object of aggression and expansion for the Dashun Empire - the Malacca Peninsula!

"Your Highness, although the galleons of the Arakanese are not comparable to our Dutch galleons, they are superior in number, and they can dispatch 500 ships at a time, and can transport tens of thousands of troops from Salem to the Malacca Peninsula...... The Malacca Peninsula is a rich peninsula, otherwise the tyrants of the Ming Dynasty would not have launched such a large-scale invasion! ”

and Bruce. Fan. Li Jicheng, who was sitting on the back of an elephant with Dimen, smiled and said, "Mr. Fan, you don't want the Ming Kingdom to enter the Malacca Peninsula, but you take the initiative to invite us to Dashun to enter...... Why is that? ”

Bruce. Fan. Dimon smiled: "Because the Ming Kingdom has the third or fourth largest navy in the world, if the Ming Kingdom is allowed to occupy the Malacca Peninsula, then the free trade of our Netherlands will be seriously affected." And you are only a land power, and after you enter Malacca, you will not pose any threat to the free navigation of the sea, and you can also resist the Ming army going south, which is very beneficial to us. ”

He was telling the truth!

Because he has already seen that this grandson of the Great Shun Emperor is not easy to fool.

Li Jicheng nodded with a smile and said, "Let's go to the Ming army, so you can continue to do business with the Ming Kingdom...... Is it? ”

"Business is always to be done!" Bruce. Fan. Dimon smiled bitterly, "Whoever occupies the Malacca Peninsula, we Dutch people have to do business...... That's how we live! If the Ming occupy the Malacca Peninsula, we will have to trade under the new Nanyang order dominated by the Ming State. ”

"Really? What is still the business to do? Li Jicheng asked.

"Of course!" Bruce. Fan. Di Men said, "The conflict between us and the Ming Kingdom is not a matter of life and death, but a question of who earns more and who earns less...... But it's different for you! If the Ming took possession of the Strait of Malacca, the Ming Emperor would be able to issue an order to blockade the port of Salem.

He could even order us, along with the Portuguese and British, to provide ships to transport the Ming army to the landing in Salem! Your Highness, I don't think you want to see that happen, do you? ”

Li Jicheng's face became a little solemn, nodded and said, "But can we stop the Ming army?" ”

"Yes!" Bruce. Fan. "As long as you can provide 10,000 well-trained warriors to garrison Penang, the territory of the Sultan of Kedah, and build a castle on the land of the Malacca Peninsula opposite Penang, you will be able to stop the Ming army from moving south by land."

As for the sea route...... The mighty Dutch navy will stop any Ming fleet that tries to go south! ”

The Dutch chose a good place for the Dashun army, which was close to the narrowest part of the Malacca Peninsula, the Songkhla region, and the Dashun army only needed to go 300 miles north to divide the Malacca Peninsula into two!

Considering the irreconcilable hostile positions of Dashun and Daming, the Ming army should not dare to move south in a big way until it pulls out the Dashun army stronghold near Penang.

Penang is on the west side of the Malacca Peninsula, and as long as the Ming fleet cannot pass through the Strait of Malacca, then Penang will not be attacked by the Ming army. Therefore, the Dashun army was able to use Penang as a retreat route, forming a favorable situation in which the advance could be attacked and the retreat could be defended.