prosperous age

When news of the fall of Kutaraja arrived, although only the high command of the Aceh army knew about it, it was enough to bypass the fact that they were falling apart.

Yes, without the constraints of the "king," the lower-ranking officers naturally had all sorts of ideas.

Should we continue fighting the Ming army?
How can I satisfy the thousands of mouths under my command?

Even though there are still provisions in the rear camp, it's only enough for the army for half a month.

At this point, would anyone still bring them supplies?
of course not.

They're probably all thinking about their escape route.

Nobody is considering whether they can win the war. Now that their roots have been cut off, who are they fighting for?

The Aceh commander sat quietly on top, his personal guards taking control of the area around the tent, preventing anyone else from approaching.

The goal, of course, is to block the news.

At this time, if news of the fall of the capital spreads throughout the army...

Believe it or not, a large number of soldiers will desert immediately.

What use is he as commander if he has no one under his command?

Even if they surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, they would probably be treated like dirt.

Although he had previously been determined to fight the Ming army to the death, once he learned that the Sultan had fallen into the hands of the Ming army, he knew that the situation was hopeless.

Continuing to fight the Ming army was no longer possible.

However, he hadn't yet decided whether to surrender or establish his own independent state.

Surrender is naturally the simplest and most direct solution.

But what happens after surrendering?

Can I still retain my status in Aceh?
He no longer dared to think about preserving his prestige; a general who surrenders with his troops will only see his prestige plummet in the army.

Although some people may be grateful to him for not treating them as cannon fodder.

As for independence, that depends on the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards Aceh.

If there is no intention to destroy the country, then another person will be supported to take the throne later.

Even if he is a puppet, he is still the king of this great island.

However, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to completely rule Sumatra, then independence would be a death warrant, a death warrant for the Ming army to continue attacking it.

The generals below him, who were close to the Sultan, kept urging him to immediately issue an order to lead troops back to the capital to rescue him, which made him feel inexplicably irritated.

These people were sent by the Sultan not to monitor him.

After all, it's impossible for him to be completely unprepared when military power is handed over to him.

He wasn't worried about his family, though, since they didn't live in Kutaraja, but in the next city.

As for whether the Ming army would continue to attack the surrounding cities after capturing Kutaraja, the Aceh commander felt it was unlikely.

The Ming army clearly did not intend to send a large-scale expedition to Sumatra; otherwise, these troops could have simply disembarked at Palembang and swept through the region.

The fact that the Ming Dynasty chose to launch a surprise attack on the capital city when it had sufficient military strength indicates that it did not intend to wage a large-scale military campaign there.

These days, war is really expensive.

Even if you're recruiting militiamen, you still have to take care of their basic needs like food, drink, and sanitation.

To be honest, Wei Guangde sometimes admired the rulers of those dynasties in ancient China.

They summoned the people to fight, and then had the nerve to ask them to bring their own rations, while they themselves only prepared a small amount of food.

During the Warring States period, armies of tens or hundreds of thousands could be mobilized at the drop of a hat. In the present Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xueyan, the Minister of Revenue, would probably hang himself in his office.

Even though nearly half of these armies, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, were probably just there to make up the numbers—meaning they weren't soldiers but laborers responsible for transporting provisions—it was still an astonishing achievement to gather such a large workforce.

The situation in the Ming Dynasty has changed drastically from that of previous dynasties. The policy of "conscripting men" is no longer used. Instead, professional soldiers and recruits are the main force.

Ultimately, most soldiers in the past did not receive military pay; they only received rewards for winning battles.

Soldiers nowadays receive monthly pay, whether they are garrison soldiers or battalion soldiers; the imperial court provides them with military pay.

The army is becoming more professional, and its combat effectiveness will not be weakened by the reduction in the number of troops. On the contrary, it adopts a strategy of elite troops.

This is why the Ministry of War dared to attack the Kingdom of Aceh with only five or six thousand men after Wei Guangde decided to completely occupy Sumatra Island.

In the Ministry of War's simulation, there was no "capture the king to capture the thief" strategy. Instead, they relied on the Old Port garrison and the more than two thousand men from Burma. With five thousand men, they would be enough to overwhelm the tens of thousands of troops that the Kingdom of Aceh could muster.

Despite how much importance Aceh placed on their tens of thousands of troops, in the eyes of the Ming Ministry of War, they were nothing more than peasant soldiers, a rabble.

Such troops have already been demonstrated by the Japanese, and they are simply not suited to the current tactics of the Ming Dynasty.

They were shot away by firearms from a great distance.

The idea of ​​having a large number of people is truly outdated in the age of firearms.

Of course, they didn't expect that Old Port wouldn't fight this battle according to the normal procedure, but instead chose a way to win with minimal cost.

Inside the military tent, the Aceh commander's prolonged silence made the usually active generals uneasy.

They exchanged glances, looking for an opportunity to leave the military tent and return to their respective camps.

"General, since we still need to make plans, let us return to the camp to gather our soldiers and prepare to await your orders at any time."

An older, somewhat chubby general stood up and addressed the commander-in-chief.

After he finished speaking, he tried to walk out.

Just as the others were about to follow suit and leave, the Aceh commander finally spoke.

"No one can leave here today without my orders."

His words startled all the officers below.

Immediately, the tent curtain was lifted, and a dozen fully armed guards entered, their swords and spears drawn.

The four personal guards behind the commander also drew their swords and stood in front of him to protect him.

"Hey"

Faced with the fearful gazes of everyone, the Aceh commander sighed deeply.

"Given the current situation, with all information blocked here and no agreement reached, no one can leave."

"Rahan, what are you doing? Are you planning a rebellion?"

The officer turned around and stared at the Aceh commander, questioning him.

His words immediately drew everyone's attention to him.

At this point, he was in a difficult position and immediately challenged, "Rahan, you are the commander appointed by the Sultan, we will listen to you."

But now that the Sultan is in trouble and has fallen into the hands of the Ming, instead of thinking about immediately returning to his aid, you're just sitting here doing nothing. What exactly are you trying to do?

In fact, when he said this, he knew in his heart that after the fall of the capital, all the generals here were probably making their own plans, and no one was still thinking about contributing to the Kingdom of Aceh.

But he couldn't. He was related to the royal family; while others served the Sultan, he was enjoying the benefits that came with that relationship.

Only by protecting the Sultan can he preserve his position and power in the Kingdom of Aceh.

As for becoming independent, with so many people here, there's no way he could possibly take that step.

Even if he could truly become independent, Rahan is probably already considering it.

Nearly a third of the officers here have some connection with him.

He only had a few people by his side, and his total military strength was just over ten thousand.

"What can I possibly do? You eat so much, don't you have any brains?"
What if we retreat and the Ming army in the city launches a surprise attack?
You're just going to abandon tens of thousands of troops like this?
Furthermore, even if we return to the capital immediately, can we save the Sultan?

We don't know whether he's in the capital or has already been captured by the Ming people and taken to their ship.

The Aceh commander roared in response.

"It seems we have already lost this battle."

All that can be done now is wait and negotiate with the city authorities to see what conditions they will propose for the Sultan's release.

After a moment, the Aceh commander seemed to have calmed down and slowly said, "Until then, the news must be kept under wraps, and no one can leave here. Without these tens of thousands of people, we don't even have the right to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty."

The Aceh commander had made up his mind; it seemed the only option was to initiate negotiations with the Ming Dynasty and understand their demands during those negotiations.

If the goal is to completely conquer Aceh, then it is natural to assess the cost of continuing the fight.

If the other party is willing to offer conditions for the release of the Sultan, then he will have no choice but to accept them.

What I have done is the best way to rescue Sudan at this time.

At this point, whether to gamble everything on attacking the city or to send the entire army back to reinforce Kutaraja, both options would be absolutely wrong and would disregard the safety of the Sultan.

After he finished speaking, the Aceh commander noticed that most of the officers below had changed their expressions slightly.

It's not that no one wants to establish themselves as king, but one must have the strength and influence to do so.

And within the kingdom, who else wields such influence?

There aren't many; the few remaining are probably in Kutaraja and have already fallen into the hands of the Ming people.

At present, Rahan seems to be the only one.

In any case, he served as the commander of Aceh for many years and promoted a number of generals, who formed his core base.

Naturally, they all chose to remain silent at this point.

If you don't have the ability, don't step forward.

They did whatever Rahan told them to do, and when the Sultan returned, he did not blame them.

On the contrary, Khedira's insistence on sending troops back to rescue was a poor strategy.

Not only will it fail to save the king, but it will also cause Aceh to lose all its bargaining chips in the final negotiations with the Ming Dynasty.

At that moment, their stance was already set after the Aceh commander said those words.

Not to mention the more than 20,000 men that Rahan could directly command, the other officers had already tacitly agreed to play ostrich and never step forward.

At least no one will hold us accountable later. The commander-in-chief did consider rescuing the emperor, but the situation didn't allow it.

Rahan’s central command tent had been completely sealed off, and several temporary tents had been set up around it for the officers to rest.

The guards around them were all stationed on the perimeter, preventing them from getting close.

Just let them see their general so they know they are safe.

In just one night, all the Aceh camps were filled with a strange and inexplicable atmosphere.

In fact, the changes at the central command tent were likely felt by the surrounding military camps.

In particular, all the battalion commanders were summoned there, and none of them returned.

The following day, the Aceh commander, accompanied by a group of officers and escorted by hundreds of personal guards, headed toward the old port city.

"Boom!"

Two loud bangs were heard in succession from the old port dock.

This was the sound of Ming army cannons firing, which startled all the Acehnese generals.

They had already sent a message to the Ming army in the city, indicating their willingness to talk, but did not receive a reply from the city immediately.

Yu Shoubei was unsure of the battle results of Li Chonggui's forces, so he chose to delay until definite news arrived.

Just then, two cannon shots from the direction of the dock alerted Yu Shoubei and his men in the city.

The sound of the cannon was different from the signal they had agreed upon.

According to the agreed signal, after the successful surprise attack on Kutaraja, warships will return to report the news and fire five cannon shots in succession in the port.

However, there were only two cannon shots just now, which clearly weren't from a returning messenger, but rather...
It appears that the port forts are preventing warships from docking.

The Aceh generals had already left their camps and sent men to the docks to gather information.

Who fired the cannon, and why?

After all, their location made it impossible for them to determine whether the cannon fire came from the Ming army or from their own position.

Meanwhile, in the naval port, more than twenty warships lowered their sails and remained several miles from the dock.

The South China Sea Navy's artillery fire signaled that the cannon fire was meant to prevent them from reaching the shore.

Only one shot was fired, which may have been due to a soldier's mistake.

Two consecutive shots would naturally prevent such a blunder from happening.

After all, gunners on the gun emplacement also need to undergo training regularly.

If things happen by chance, it could lead to some hilarious situations.

On the deck of the Fujian-style ship, several Ming Dynasty officers used binoculars to observe the forts on both sides and the dock in front, and indeed saw many damaged buildings.

"Sir, the fort is still in our hands. It has the sun and moon flag on it. They are firing to prevent us from reaching the shore."

"I didn't see any Aceh troops at the dock, so they probably didn't go there."

Soon, the men reported what they had observed to the commander.

"Would you like to log in?"

At this moment, naval officer Wang Desheng looked at Zhao Sheng, who was frowning beside him, and asked, "If we choose to land, I will send a message to Fu Zun, instructing him to line up the gunboats to provide cover for the marine battalion to land."

They were, of course, the South China Sea naval reinforcements who had come from Turtle City.

Now that Luzon has freed up its resources, it's natural that they'll come to Old Port to provide support as soon as possible.

This place is ultimately an important source of revenue for the South China Sea Navy, and the navy's annual expenses require the support of customs revenue from the old port city.

Zhao Sheng licked his lips and said, "First, send someone to the sampan and contact the artillery fort to see what the situation is."

"Alright."

Wang Desheng nodded and immediately ordered his men to lower two wooden boats and send several sailors to contact the garrison at the fort.

Meanwhile, he used flag signals to tell Fu Zun to aim his cannons at the dock.

If an Acehnese ambush is discovered, attack immediately.

It's clear that fighting has really broken out in Old Port.

Unbeknownst to them, the battle was actually initiated by Old Port itself, as it was, after all, on imperial orders.

Upon receiving the flag signal and seeing sampans rowing towards the two gun emplacements, Fu Zun ordered ten gunboats to line up in a row a mile from the dock and lowered their anchors to position themselves.

Ten double-decker gunboats moved slowly from west to east, dragging their anchors, and began to lower their sails after one side of the gunboats pointed towards the dock.

The gunboat swayed gently on the sea, but remained steadily positioned directly in front of the dock.

However, sufficient distance was left between the gunboats to allow the Fujian ships to enter and exit.

Fu Zun stood on the deck of the ship, holding up his binoculars, observing whether there were any Aceh troops lying in ambush in the direction of the dock.

"Sir, there shouldn't be anyone at the dock, otherwise the fort would have fired at them long ago."

Even if there are any, they're probably just spies observing the port.

The officer beside him whispered a reminder.

"Yes, you have a point."

Upon hearing this, Fu Zun nodded and put down the telescope.

"Then all our efforts were for nothing."

I didn't forget to mutter a complaint to myself.

As long as the fortifications remain intact, any Aceh army that dares to enter the dock area will be easy targets for the artillery.

"Pass the message over and see if Zhao Sheng wants to send someone to land directly."

Fu Zun spoke to his personal guards. (End of Chapter)