On November 20, on the Thai-Burmese border between Sukhothai and Chiang Mai, thick black smoke rises from a Burmese village near the Chao Phraya River. A group of soldiers dressed as Thai people slaughtered the villagers and set fire to the houses in the village.

After making sure that there was no more life in the village, the leader of a Thai sergeant turned around and ran to a small hill a mile southeast of the village, and reported to the chief who was waiting there.

After hearing this, the nobleman of the Thai people did not give any instructions, but turned directly and walked towards a carriage parked twenty or thirty meters away. He stopped in the carriage and whispered a few words into it.

Only then did a Chinese sitting in the carriage open the window and asked him lazily: "Mengchai, how many villages have we destroyed in the past few days?" ”

Meng Chai, who wore a "tripping tail mantle" sarong around his waist and an extra short-sleeved collarless shirt than the soldiers, bowed his head to the people in the carriage with his hands folded and said: "Go back to my lordship, plus this village, a total of five villages have been destroyed in the past three days." No matter how sluggish the Burmese in Chiang Mai are, they should be aware of it. But my lord, after we do this, will His Royal Highness really be able to return to Sukhothai? ”

The Chinese in the carriage replied nonchalantly: "Of course, even if His Royal Highness the King does not let the fourth prince come back, Lord Su Yue can ensure his safety in the royal capital." You only need to obey the orders issued by His Royal Highness the Prince, and there is no need to think about other things.

Alright, our mission is done, you go and gather the soldiers back, and then go to the river ferry and take a boat back to Sukhothai. When I get back, let the soldiers stay in the camp for a few days and not go out, and I will have them bring the wine, meat, and reward to the camp. As for your performance in the past few days, I will also tell Lord Su Yue truthfully, let's not go through it for now. ”

Seeing that the Chinese in the carriage wanted to close the window and leave, Monchai finally mustered up the courage to ask: "But my lord, don't we need to call the police to Sukhothai?" If the Burmese army crosses the border to retaliate, the ignorant people will suffer. ”

Half of his face appeared in the carriage and he looked at him coldly and said: "The Burmese army has invaded, and it is possible for His Royal Highness the King to let the fourth prince return to Sukhothai to organize resistance, you now go and inform the officials stationed in Sukhothai that the Burmese are about to invade, how are you going to explain the source of the news to him?" Are you going to confess that you and your men caused the beginning of this invasion? ”

Under the gaze of the people in the car, Meng Chai subconsciously lowered his head and took a small step back. The other party was satisfied with this, closed the window, knocked on the wall of the carriage and ordered the coachman to turn around and go to the ferry. Meng Chai watched the other party's carriage disappear into the road between the forest and the rice fields, then slowly straightened his chest, turned around and walked back to the middle of his subordinates, gritted his teeth at his subordinates and said, "Call all the brothers back, and prepare to retreat to the river..."

More than 300 kilometers away from Sukhothai City, Ayutthaya on the lower reaches of the Chao Phraya River is actually a city built on a large island in the confluence of three rivers. Three rivers brought the produce of the north, south, east and west to trade, and the large plains surrounding the city produced a large amount of rice for trading, so the city was first developed as a commercial city.

With the Burmese invasion of the Sukhothai Dynasty, the Tai had to move their capital to Ayutthaya for security after driving out the Burmese invaders. As a royal capital, the Thai people built a large number of temples and Buddha statues on the island, in addition to the royal palace and castle.

The towering stupas stand out from the flat plains around it, but after looking at them for a long time, they look extremely beautiful against the background of the surrounding area. In a Ming mansion five or six miles away from the royal palace on the island, a group of nobles of the Ayutthaya Dynasty were accompanying Su Yue to a banquet on the high platform in the garden of the mansion.

Strictly speaking, this high platform is a bit overstepping, and standing on the platform you can not only see the palace wall, but also the scene on the southwest city wall. However, because this is the residence of the Chinese ambassador Su Yue, even King Basethong can only turn a blind eye.

It should be said that since King Baseton took over the throne, he has been very friendly to Daming. But as the Ming grew in power in the Malay Peninsula, especially after the Chinese seized the Luang Shan Passage and built a railway, the relationship between the two sides became somewhat estranged.

Before the big ships of the Europeans appeared in Asia, the Strait of Malacca was not a major communication route between the East and the West. Indian merchants preferred the east-west plain belt between the Kra Isthmus south and the Tahan Mountains, with Luang Mountain as the center as a passage for transporting goods. Merchants from the Indian Ocean followed the rivers near the Kra Isthmus deep inland and landed near the watershed to transport their goods overland to the South China Sea to save their ships from Malacca.

After Su Yue's investigation, it was clear that this passage was more suitable for the construction of a railway than the tropical rainforest in the south, so the railway construction plan was revised. However, this change undoubtedly divided the southern part of Siam into two halves, and the railway jointly funded by the Ming Dynasty and the British East India Company was naturally not handed over to the Siamese for management, and they also forcibly bought the land along the railway.

Su Yue could still bear the estrangement shown by King Baseton to him. However, in order to resist the pressure of the Ming Dynasty, King Baseton began to approach the Dutch, and tried to take back the timber and grain business that had been handed over to the Four Seas Trading Company to the Dutch East India Company, which made it unbearable for him.

Su Yue did not intend to wait for King Baseton to issue an ultimatum to himself after arranging it, he decided to strike first and teach this Siamese some lessons. Let King Baseton understand who has the final say in Asia. What's more, there are many brothers and uncles of this King of Siam, and Su Yue doesn't feel that he can't find someone who can replace him.

After three rounds of drinking, Su Yue took the wine glass and said to the twenty or thirty Siamese nobles sitting in front of him: "I invite you to come over today, in fact, there are some things I want to discuss with you.

Originally, I did not want to interfere in the internal affairs of Siam, but as His Majesty's envoy to the vassal states, it was necessary for me to urge the policies issued by the King of Siam not to go against the grain. Since King Basetun ascended the throne, he not only confiscated the property of the nobles and raised various taxes on the common people, but also tried to monopolize foreign trade...

To be honest, I've never seen a monarch so fond of wealth. And what was the use of the wealth he confiscated? It was used on the women who built the palace, temples and harems, and this behavior is really difficult to agree with.

Therefore, I have invited you here in the hope that you will unite and give advice to Your Highness. Da Ming hopes to make His Royal Highness King Basethong understand that Siam is the Siamese of the Siamese people, not his private property. King Baseton should dissolve the tax institutions he had established, abolish all the tax policies he had issued since his accession to the throne, and leave the government of the country to the nobles, without the power of taxation or the issuance of new laws without the permission of the Council of Nobles. What do you think? ”

These Siamese nobles listened to Su Yue's words, and timidly knocked over the wine glasses in front of them, and the bold ones were also confused, not knowing how to react. However, one of them suddenly stood up and said to Su Yue: "Although the Ming Dynasty is the suzerain of our country, he has not surpassed my king's power to interfere in national affairs, I dare not agree with the words of the angel, and today I have not been here..."

Before the nobleman could finish speaking, a nobleman sitting next to him suddenly got up, wiped his neck directly with a knife, and kicked him out of the platform. This nobleman moved with dexterity and agility, and killed a person without letting much blood flow on the high platform.

After he sat down again, he threw the knife on the table, and then washed his hands in a silver plate with water on the side, before nodding to Su Yue and saying, "I accidentally soiled your place, please don't blame the angel." ”

Su Yue raised his glass to him and said, "The fourth prince is polite, who else is against my opinion now, can you continue to stand up?" ”

After these nobles saw clearly that it was the fourth prince who did it, they immediately fell silent. The fourth prince, who was originally in Sukhothai, was second only to King Bassethong in power because of his direct relationship with Chiang Mai, which was occupied by the Burmese. After King Baseton quelled the rebellion of the princes who were vying for the throne with him when he succeeded to the throne, although the fourth prince came to express his support to King Baseton early in the morning, King Baseton still did not trust his brother very much, and left him and other powerful leaders in other places in the royal capital.

The Ayutthaya Dynasty was in an era of coexistence of centralized power and tribal system, and although the king had the largest power in the country, the power of the royal family and aristocracy was not small. Because there were no freemen in the Ayutthaya Dynasty, every citizen had to be enthroned by a member of the royal family or a nobleman from birth, otherwise they would become slaves without a protector.

The nobles present are basically local powerhouses, and they are extremely dissatisfied with being confined to the royal capital, but everyone feels that their strength is difficult to compete with King Baseton, so they are very tame.

Now that the fourth prince has stepped forward to take the lead, and the disobedient people have been executed so blatantly, the remaining nobles have naturally expressed their willingness to follow Su Yue to persuade King Baseton.

However, some people still asked worriedly: "Most of the power in our hands is in the local area, and there are tens of thousands of people in the royal capital alone, can such a force really persuade His Highness?" ”

Su Yue replied with a smile: "Just as we were having a banquet, an urgent document from the governor of Sukhothai had been sent to the palace, and the content of the document was that the Burmese army had invaded the border of Sukhothai and asked the royal capital to send troops to support.

Those who were able to lead troops to support Sukhothai were King Basethong himself; the second is the fourth prince of Sukhothai; The third is the most trusted general of King Baseton, Thanara.

Regardless of who King Basethorn chooses to lead his troops to support Sukhothai, the royal capital will be empty. The company has already transferred 3,000 new troops trained in Bangkok to villages and towns 15 miles outside the eastern city, and as soon as the news from the palace comes out, we can get into action. ”

While Su Yue was talking, the servant who had been observing the main gate of the palace with a telescope suddenly shouted nervously: "There are guards in the palace coming out... He turned to the mansion that led to his Narat general's mansion..."

Su Yue then raised his glass to everyone and said: "This is really the best choice, as long as he leaves with the army, that night is the time for us to do it." Before I do it, I can only grieve you to continue to stay here..."