Ayutthaya - The March of the Elephant

Chapter 3a - Boromoraja II (1424-fl1432)

A Warrior King

Boromaraja II came to the throne in a time of war. A skilled general (1), he took personal command of the army. Young nobles flocked to his banner (2), enabling him to reorganise the army as a fully mounted force. Everyone awaited the order to march.

An Outbreak of Peace

However, that order did not come. To the south and west, the flame of battle died as the various wars sputtered to indecisive conclusions. The rump of Malacca paid off the Atjans in July, the same month that Myanmar reluctantly accepted the 'protection' of Arakan. Taungu and her ally gave up the profitless struggle the following January. Boromoraja occupied himself instead with tasks of peace, giving a cousin in marriage to his ally the Sultan of Atjeh (who had recently attracted Arakan to their compact) and extending the new Office of Internal Revenue to Kwai province.

The Fall of Dai Viet

One war did produce a decisive outcome. In February of 1426, the ruler of Dai Viet, his nation wholly overrun by Chinese armies, threw himself upon the Emperor's mercy (3).
The Emperor was not feeling merciful. Tanh Noah, Lao Cai and Da Nang provinces were seized by China, along with a concession of military access and a heavy indemnity.
When, a few weeks later, the humbled ruler proclaimed the 'Empire of Dai Viet' in pathetic imitation of his new master (4), few observers knew whether to laugh or cry.

The Champa War

It is said that a false word may do more harm than a thousand swords. The truth of this old saying was brought rudely home to the king of Champa who, apparently angered by Ayutthaya's new pro-muslim policies, was heard to remark publicly that the Kingdom of the Elephant was now the Land of the Sacred Pig.
Boromoraja knew only one answer to such an insult. Gathering his whole force, and securing passage from a friendly Cambodia, he marched against Champa in April of 1426. An outbreak of rebellion in Perak delayed him only slightly, the army of Champa delayed him not at all. Da Lat fell in June of 1427, Saigon in February of 1428, and Boromoraja returned home with an apology, a treaty of vassalage and the Champan treasury.
He celebrated by extending the duties of the Office of Internal Revenue to Phuket province.
Curiously, the Sultan of Malacca also declared war on Champa during this time. It is unclear what, if anything, he intended, but no military operations ever occurred, and if the Sultan hoped to attract the young King's favour, he did not succeed.

The Drums Beat Again

The brief outbreak of regional peace had already faded. Bengal and Orissa fought an indecisive war from 1427-1429; Makassar skirmished with Mataram over tha same period.
Perhaps attracted by the prospect of glory overseas, Boromoraja ordered the foundation of the Ayutthayan navy in 1429 (5), though no suitable ships could be found.
By 1430, however, the war drums were beating on the borders. Cambodia, supported by the rump of Dai Viet, assaulted a weakened Champa in January, eventually securing Da Lat province after two years of war. Late in the year, Pegu again attacked Myanmar, to no great effect. And by the start of 1431, the elephant was ready to move.

The Second Malaccan War

Citing alleged Malaccan support for a recent revolt in Johor (6), Boromoraja cancelled his treaty of military access in January of 1431 and declared war in April. Atjeh and Arakan offered their support, but it was hardly needed. The forces of Malacca were crushed, Malacca itself was invested and the city fell in July of 1432. Shortly thereafter, the Sultanate was annexed to the Kingdom. Malacca's great port and its rich trade revenues were now Ayutthaya's.
There were other prizes too. By a quirk of history, the first ships received by the Ayutthayan navy were captured Malaccan vessels (7).

The Two Moons' War (8)

No sooner had the Malaccan War been concluded, than conflict broke out in the north. War erupted between Arakan and Pegu, and both sides called upon thier allies. Ayutthaya and Atjeh rallied to the side of Arakan, while Pegu was supported by their fellow Buddhists of Cambodia and Dai Viet.
Even as Boromoraja rushed his army north, the Cambodians seized the opportunity to launch a major invasion of Bangkok province. Boromoraja reached his capital to find it under seige.
Outnumbered, but maneuvering brilliantly, the Ayutthayan Army routed the invaders and pursued them into Cambodia, only for Arakan to make a shameful peace shortly theafter, paying a humiliating indemnity to Pegu.
Boromoraja returned reluctantly to his capital and the neglected affairs of state. 'To better regulate the market of Malacca', he concluded Trade Agreements with Atjeh and Brunei (but not Arakan). This measure caused great unhappiness among the Ayutthayan merchants, who were dismayed at this grant of privileges to foreigners (9).

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Notes
(1) 3/2/4/1 Leader
(2) Enthusiasm for the Army - 5,000 free cavalry
(3) Watching China steamroller Dai Viet cured me of my ambitions in that direction. I lost count of Chinese troops at 50,000.
(4) Sometime scripted events fire at the sillest times...
(5) +1 Naval, now Land 4. I wanted to colonise Jakarta before someone else did.
(6) I had no CB, but it didn't look like Atjeh was going to DOW for me. I wanted that CoT!
(7) 3 warships, 4 transports. And worth their weight in gold.
(8) So named because it lasted two months.
(9) And I lost all my trade research. Gnash.

Chapter 3b - Boromoraja II (fl1432-1448)

The Northern War

Boromoraja's time at home was brief. In November, the Kingdom of Vientiane, supported by Taungu and emboldened by the apparent weakness shown by Ayutthaya in the Two Moons' War, declared war on the Kingdom.
Boromoraja marched at once, defeating the Taungese invaders in Kwai province and pursuing them into Taungu, where he laid siege to Lampang and Bago.
Elsewhere, however, the war did not go so well. The Muslims of Johor and Perak took the chance to revolt, while Vientiane invaded Bangkok province with a vast army, estimated at 40,000 men (1), and laid siege to the capital itself.

Boromoraja, however, refused to panic or abandon his sieges. He took Bago in July of 1433, and a new army, raised in Phuket and Kwai, had put down the rebellions by November.
In the new year, Ayutthayan cavalry raids into Sarakham and Laos induced the army of Vientiane to lift the siege of Ayutthaya city (2).
Lampang fell to Boromoraja in April, and Taungu submitted, surrendering Lampang province and offering fealty.
Now it was the turn of Vientiane. Boromoraja massed his forces in Sarakham and marched to seige Laos (3).
Laos fell in December and Boromoraja moved on to Sarakham.

The war (and the heavy taxes needed to support it), was however less than popular at home. Massive revolts erupted in Perak in late 1434, and in April 1435 a move by a clique of Palace officials to declare a Regency (Boromoraja had hardly been seen in the capital for four years), lead to a full-blown political crisis. Declaring 'the Court surrounds my saddle', Boromoraja refused to leave the front, and Sarakham eventually fell in November.
By the spring of 1436, despite another revolt in Perak, Boromoraja was ready to move against Mekong province, where the main army of Vientiane had taken refuge (4).

The Mekong compaign is without doubt the high point of Boromoraja's military career. Outnumbered more than two to one (5) and despite the mountainous terrain, he routed the the Vientianese from Mekong province, pursued them to Laos, routed them again and chased the survivors (still greatly outnumbering him) back to the Mekong hills, where he shattered them utterly.
The capital of Vientiane was besieged, to fall in November.
Boromoraja marched straight west, to deal with Taungese rebels who had risen in Lampang (6).

In March 1437, the king of Vientiane finally made peace, surrendering Laos, Sarakham and his treasury.
The new territory was still far from secure, but the rebellions in Perak, Lampang, Laos, Malacca and Sarakham were all under control by the end of 1438.

Peace and Foreign Expansion

In 1431, while the Malaccan War still raged, a small but significant development had taken place in the south. A small group of colonists had set sail to raise the flag of Ayutthaya over the unclaimed territory of Jakarta, on the island of Java. Colonists continued to be dispatched at intervals, when money and circumstances permitted.
This process accelerated after 1439, when Boromoraja relaxed the royal controls on foreign trade, and the economy of the Kingdom also benefitted (7).

Also in this year, in a move of great diplomatic significance, Boromoraja espoused a daughter of the Emperor of China. The Empire had recently conquered substantial territories from an unknown land called Manchu, and also received the fealty of Korea, so the marriage was greatly welcomed in Ayutthaya as a sign of good intentions (8).

In addition to Jakarta, other unclaimed territories were surveyed wih a view to trade or possible colonisation, but the merchants of Ayutthaya were disheartened by stories of the fierce and numerous natives of these lands. Boromoraja himself was angered by this check on his ambitions, and in 1441 set sail with his army to pacify the natives of Sunda. The expedition was a success, and a trading post was established the following year.

Trouble at Home

Despite its military and colonial successes, the kingdom found itself wracked by dissent througout the years that followed. The departure of the king overseas in 1441 caused great unhappiness among the peasants, who rose against his ministers in Phuket province. In 1443, it was the turn of the artisans to protest; Boromoraja chose to pacify them, achieving domestic peace at the price of further pressure on the royal finances (9). The price of the colonial and trade ventures was becoming apparent - military expenditure had to be cut back, the army declined in numbers and readiness, and the king's enemies took advantage. Lampang rose in 1445 and even Boromoraja in person cold not pacify it until 1447 (10). The soldiers slain in the rising had to be replaced, the treasury dwindled further, and even the income from new trading companies (11) and the extension of 'favoured nation status' to Mataram and Makassar (12) did not arrest the decline of the public finances.

A New Direction?

In his final years, Boromoraja fell increasingly under the influence of his chosen heir, Boromo Trailokanat (13). Under Chancellor Trailokanat's direction, the old pro-Muslim orientatation of Ayutthaya was abandoned, the military alliance allowed to dissolve (Arakan, undeterred, promptly attacked Assam) and Buddhist temples endowed in the Muslim province of Perak (14). Daughters of the King married off impartially to scions of Delhi, Orissa (the rising power of the Hindu world, who had inflicted a devastating defeat on Bengal in 1441-1446), the rump of Bengal and even defeated Vientiane. 'No eternal allies, only eternal interests' was the Chancellor's watchword.

Boromoraja II 'the War Elephant' passed to heaven at the end of 1447, mourned by all (15), and Boromo Trailokanat was acclaimed King of Ayutthaya. The new monarch was very different from the old, a man of the counting-house, not the battlefield (16). How would he fare?

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Notes
(1) The chronicler exaggerates slightly. It peaked at 33,000, but was reinforced several times.
(2) This has to be the most ineffectual seige I have ever seen. They camped outside Ayutthaya for over a year and didn't reduce the fort one point. Not that I was complaining, of course.
(3) All right, he was driven out of Sarakham by recruits. No need to rub it in.
(4) Don't you just love it when the enemy army hides up a mountain and won't come out to play?
(5) 11,000 cav vs 26,000 inf, attacking into mountains. I was surprised it worked.
(6) Who beat him soundly, as it happens.
(7) +1 Free Trade (Mercantilism 8)- for the colonists. Trade 2 reached around the same time.
(8) It made me feel a lot safer, anyway.
(9) Saved my infrastructure investment (infra 2 reached 1445) at the price of a loan. Serfdom now 6.
(10) Boromoraja in person was defeated three times by the rebels. Don't let's mention it, mm'kay?
(11) Monopoly companies are always nice.
(12) My traders were being competed out of Malacca faster than I could afford to replace them. Curiously, despite owning it, Malacca isn't the cheapest CoT to send traders to - it's more expensive than places like Muscate and Isfahan that I don't even know.
(13) Excellent minister event.
(14) Probably not smart, given the financial situation, but I couldn't bring myself to pass up the excellent minister bonus.
(15) Well, everyone he hadn't beaten up at some point (I don't think there were ever any rebellions in Bangkok, so there was probably a good crowd).
Ayutthaya is now 9 provinces, 1 colony & 1 trade post, tech is 1/1/2/2 and monthly income up to 21 (inflation 1%, one loan).
(16) Dip Average, Mil Average, Adm Excellent.

Chapter 4a - Boromo Trailokanat (1448-fl1456)

The Inheritance of Boromo Trailokanat, 1448

Note the conquest of Malacca, Boromoraja II's expansion to the north, and the new settlements in western Java


A Policy of Peace

Boromo Trailokanat's home was the court as much as his predecessor's had been the army. In his entire reign, he never stepped on a battlefield, nor travelled outside the three 'home provinces' of Ayutthaya. Indeed, he rarely left the capital, except to move to his summer palace for the dry season. Peace, order and a full treasury mattered more to him than foreign adventure or martial glory (One disgruntled noble commented that Int'araja had been a father, Boromoraja a commander and Trailokanat was a shopkeeper).

On assuming the throne, he turned at once to restoring the public finances. Bormoraja's debts were quickly paid off, the financial situation stabilised and trade missions dispatched to distant Kansai (1).

Solvency assured, Boromo set about securing his borders through diplomacy. Disdaining war-torn Burma (Pegu and Myanmar were fighting Taungu in the latest round of that endless conflict) and the Muslim pirates of the south (Atjeh, opportunistically, was raiding the coasts of Champa), he chose to align Ayutthaya with the peaceful Buddhist axis of Dai Viet, Cambodia and Vientiane. To further support the kingdom's new position, royal marriages were quickly arranged with Dai Viet and with the Sultanate of Brunei, which was apparently seen as a counterbalance to the warlike Atjans. Not to show bias, a marriage was arranged with Atjeh itself the next year.

In the early 1449, Boromo declared as a matter of public policy that naval service and overseas trade should be regarded as suitable occupations for men of rank (2). Young aristocrats, who would previously have joined the army as a matter of course, were lured to sea by stories of the success of Boromoraja's colonial ventures and the promise of riches beyond the horizon. 'Lands without lords for lords without lands' as the king put it.

Shortly thereafter, as a sign of his commitment to foreign peace, Boromo insisted that a boundary dispute with Myanmar was settled peacefully, despite the clamour of his generals.
Boromo's pacific policies, however, did not spare him the revolts that had plagued Boromoraja, both Perak and Malacca rising in this year.

A War Avoided

In late 1449, Boromo's policy received it's first major setback, when the King of Vientiane impetuously declared war upon the Emperor of China. True to his priciples, and in stark contrast to the ardour with which Vientiane, Cambodia and Dai Viet embraced war, Boromo sadly withdrew Ayutthaya from the alliance (3). He turned away the Vientianese ambassador with the words 'A man who lights a fire knows not where the ashes will lie'.

Initially, the war went well for Vientiane and her allies. Yunnan, Tanh Noah and Da Nang were besieged, and in November of 1449 the Chinese emperor himself was captured (4). The next year, as his armies pushed deeper into Chinese territory, the King of Cambodia sent Ayutthaya a gift of captured Chinese banners (5). Despite the provocation, Boromo remained serene.

The King had problems of his own. The Muslims of Perak rose in revolt that summer, burning the new Buddhist temples Boromo had endowed. Not to be outdone, the Buddhists of Laos rose twice, in 1450 and 1451, and were suppressed only with difficulty.

Burmese Entanglements

In early 1451, as the latest Burmese war petered out, Boromo took the opportunity to ally with Taungu, thus securing at least one border. Pegu and Myanmar responded to Ayutthayan support of Taungu with an immediate declaration of war - on each other. Or so it is recorded in Ayutthaya, but since the records are bare of any reference to military activities in this region in the seasons that followed, it is possible that the chroniclers exaggerated events for a domestic audience (6).

To further confuse the situation, in the next year Boromo found himself harbouring an exiled prince of Myanmar, who offerred to swing his country's allegiance from Arakan to Ayutthaya. The prince found allies in the Ayutthayan court and, against his better judgement, Boromo was tempted in into pledging support. The intrigues came to nothing, but the expense incurred burdened the Privy Purse for some years (7).

Developments at Home

Despite the excellence of Boromo's administration (8), revolts continued to be a problem. Johor revolted in 1452, Lampang in 1453 and Laos twice, in '53 and '55. Boromo cited the trouble in the non-Thai provinces as a warning against further conquests, claiming 'A king cannot truly rule a land until his own people live there'.

News from Beyond the Borders

Boromo's abandonment of his alliance had lowered Ayutthaya's international standing, and the ruler of Champa took advantage of this to renounce his vassalship in 1453. Boromo, once again, refused to be drawn. 'A sour fruit is not worth the picking', was all he would say.

Throughout this difficult time, colonial expansion had slowly but steadily continued. A new colony was founded in Sunda in 1452, and Jakarta (now with over 1,500 inhabitants) was recognised as a provincial capital in its own right in 1455.

Pegu and Myanmar finally grew tired of their phony war in the summer of 1454. Myanmar celebrated peace by renouncing its allegiance to Arakan. Perhaps influenced by Boromo's example, the Sultan of Arakan chose to let the Burmese state go.

More ominous news came at the start of 1456. China, having overrun Hanoi, annexed the rump of Dai Viet. Vientiane and Cambodia fought on, but the tide had long since turned.

In the spring of 1456, Taungu declared war on Myanmar, and called on Boromo to honour his commitments...

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(1) Which, for some reason known only to God and Johan, is the cheapest centre for me to trade in...
(2) +1 Naval, now Land 3. Trade and colonists are good.
(3) I suppose I could have gone after China. With less than 10,000 men, manpower 6 and an empty treasury. Riiight....
(4) Sometime scripted events make sense, even accidentally.
(5) Diplomatic insult
(6) They declared war, than sat on their capitals for three years without raising (let alone moving) a single soldier.
(7) Helpful hint - before deciding to support foreign dissidents to avoid a stability hit, check you have enough cash on hand to avoid an auto-loan. Duh...
(8) Good Government Policies in 1454

Chapter 4b - Boromo Trailokanat (fl1456-fl1465)

The First Burmese War

Peace might be his policy, but Boromo Trailokanat was well aware that he could not retain the loyalty of his nobles if he once again declined to support an ally - especially against such an insignificant threat as Myanmar. So, to general approval, the army of Ayutthaya crossed the border for the first time in almost twenty years. 'The people will desire the music of the drums - for a little while', Boromo commented sagely.

The initial omens were hardly propitious. In June 1456, the first advance into Mandalay was defeated by the forces of Myanmar and forced to retire to Taungu. The armies of Ayutthaya nevertheless returned in greater force, and by September the province was occupied and Mandalay itself under siege. However, as the king had forseen, the war - and the heavy taxes levied to support it - rapidly became highly unpopular, particularly in the unassimilated border provinces. Major revolts erupted in both Laos and Malacca in the winter of 1456, and the army had to be withdrawn from Myanmar to deal with the deteriorating situation at home (1).

Unrest continued to plague the nation into the summer of 1457, and the army of Ayutthaya did not return to the Burmese front until late in the year. By this time, the prolonged absence of his allies had moved the King of Taungu to question if this was truly the nation of Boromoraja II, and an unknown member of his court had composed the still-popular ditty 'The Grand Old Lord of Thai' (2).

A Road Not Taken

Boromo was not interested in the opinions of Taungu. Inded, he evinced little interest in the progress of the war, reserving his attention for matters closer to his heart. At the end of 1457, shortly after the siege of Mandalay had ben resumed in earnest, he published his great work 'On the Perfection of Government'.

Here he laid out, in exquisite detail and wonderful language, his vision of a reformed kingdom ruled by an enlightened monarch in close harmony with his subjects. In practical terms, this would have brought the Court closer to the day-to-day administration of the provinces, and strengthened both the Crown and the nobility at the expense of the peasants (3). However, given the ongoing war, the continued domestic disharmony and paucity of available resources, the plan found little support and even Boromo himself was reluctantly forced to concede that it was impractical.

Wars Old and New

Beyond the borders, another war had come to its close. Emperor Zhengtong, finally released from captivity, resumed his rule of China. Under his direction, overwhelming Chinese forces overran Indo-China, recapturing the Vietmanese provinces and crushing the last armies of Vientiane in their home mountains of Mekong province. Vientiane was reduced to vassalage in mid-1457 and the surviving forces of Cambodia slunk home, doubtless thankful that Zhengtong regarded their nation as too distant and insignificant to subdue.

If there was a lesson to this, the rulers of Cambodia and Vientiane showed no sign of learning it. Within a year they had taken up the sword again, this time against Champa.

The First Burmese War spluttered on, the siege of Mandalay progressing slowly. Eventually, late in 1458, Boromo accepted a sizable indemnity from Myanmar and withdrew his troops, leaving Taungu to wring what profit it could from Myanmar's blood-stained fields. 'They offer what we will enjoy to relinquish that which we do not,' as Boromo put it.

The First Expedition to the East

The King had another use for his army. He had long regarded the unclaimed islands of the eastern seas as a more promising sphere for expansion than the lands of the neighbouring kingdoms. However, attempts by Ayutthayan merchants to expand their trade beyond western Java had been repeatedly frustrated by hostile native populations.

In 1459, a major military expedition was dispatched to secure the safety of Ayutthayan traders in western Indonesia. Between 1459 and 1460, the natives of Bandjarmasin, Selatan and Palembang were duly pacified. The merchants soon followed, and trading posts were established in all three provinces by early 1461. A different form of royal authority was carried overseas in the next year, when the responsibilities of the Office of Internal Revenue were extended to Jakarta.

Developments at Home

The court was not idle during this time. In one of his rare ventures into military affairs, Boromo took advantage of the eastern expedition to reorganise the army in 1459 (4). However, even then, it appears that his interests were more engaged by the works of some of the many artists that enjoyed his patronage during this period (5) 'Glory', he claimed 'is at best ephemeral, but true art is eternal'.

Foreign and domestic problems had not gone away either, a diplomatic conflict with Arakan in 1461(6) coinciding with another revolt in Sarakham. The simmering nationalism in the northern provinces came to a head in 1463, with a major uprising in Lampang and Sarakham which repeatedly defeated royal troops and culminated in a breakthrough into Kwai province. Boromo's forces eventually got the upper hand, but Lampang was not pacified until mid-1465.

Leaving military affairs to his generals, Boromo concentrated effectively on what he considered his most important tasks - improving the economy and maintaining good relations with China (7). By 1465, he was ready to return his attention to expansion overseas.

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Notes
(1) Being Serene and Enlightened, I at no time wanted to kill everyone in Laos. Much.
(2) You would think the AI had a 'do not insult your major ally in the middle of a war' check. Apparently not.
(3) I could have had +1 Centralisation, +1 Aristocracy & +1 Serfdom (none of which I much wanted) at the price of a stability hit and another loan. Instead I went with -2 Innovative (now Innovative 1) and -200 Infra. Some choice...
(4) +1 Offensive (now Offensive 7).
(5) Court Painter (now Innovative 2)
(6) Another Diplomatic Insult
(7) Good Government Policies in 1464 and renewed the royal marriage with China

Hotdog Fish - what is it with all the Cambodians round here? Cambodia's having a bad patch at the moment, but they do come back later.
Eustonian - Boromo's still got some mileage left. After him, things go downhill.

Chapter 4c - Boromo Trailokanat (fl1465-fl1477)

The Band Plays On

The world beyond Ayutthaya's borders remained unstable. In the spring of 1465, the King of Cambodia was reduced to paying off the Champans, ending an unsuccessful war that at one point had seen Hindu armies in control of much of his country. Around the same time, across the eastern sea that was becoming so important to Ayutthaya, Mataram attacked Makassar, reducing her rival to vassalage after a year of conflict. Cambodia, meanwhile, sought more friends, adding Pegu to her alliance in the summer of 1466.

To defuse any hostility from the neighbouring alliance, Boromo roused himself to organise the marriage of one of his daughters to a son of the Cambodian king. For the most part, however, he preferred the sophisticated entertainments of the court (1) to the crude drama unfolding beyond his borders.

This was about to become more interesting. For years, China had pursued wars with the distant nations of Manchu and Chagatai, ignoring the simmering resentment in the Vietnamese provinces. Rebellions became frequent and severe, and in 1468 a particularly successful local walord, who had driven out the governor of Tanh Noah province, declared himself the ruler of a reborn Dai Viet. Almost his first act on claiming the throne was to proclaim major reforms of government, presumably to eradicate Chinese influence (2). How this aided him against the Chinese armies assailing his infant nation was not entirely clear.

The Chinese, at least, seemed to be impressed. Although they secured Tanh Noah in little more than a year, they took only a token indemnity and free passage for their armies (3).

Domestic Developments

The Cambodian marriage was not the only one to take place in these years. At the request of the Sultan of Arakan, a daughter of the court was dispatched west in late 1468 and yet another went to the upstart 'Emperor' of Dai Viet. There was considerable sympathy for the Vietnamese in Ayutthaya, and there were calls for the King to offer more tangible assistance. Possibly to distract his generals, Boromo commanded a further reform of the army in 1469 (4).

A couple of years later, he returned to his preferred method of diplomacy, arranging marriage alliances with the Muslim states of India, Delhi and Bengal. Around the same time, the ever-confident lord of Dai Viet saw fit to assert his independance by interefering in Ayutthayan trade. Boromo, as was his wont, refused to be drawn.

Throughout this period, colonial expansion continued. The trade post at Palembang was increased to a full colony in 1467, the traders went into Manado the following year, and in 1471 an intrepid band of colonists sailed for distant Flores, where they raised the flag of Ayutthaya at the edge of the known world.

The Second Expedition to the East

Indeed, it was this apparent footnote in the history of the times that again brought the soldiers of Ayutthaya to battle. Early in 1472, news came to the capital that the infant colony had been overrun by hostile natives. Boromo's aversion to conflict did not extend to unenlightened barbarians, and the army of Ayutthaya sailed east before summer.

In a campaign lasting more than a year, they pacified the natives not just in Flores, but also in Sumbawa, Salabanka and Sulawesi. Whether this was always part of Boromo's strategy or whether the expedition's commander exceeded his orders remains unclear (5). In either case, the merchants again followed the army, expanding their operations to all three provinces by mid-1474.

Casualties on the expedition were heavy, due as much to the untamed lands they fought over as the spears of their opponents. Less than half the men who sailed returned to Ayutthaya in the autumn of 1473. By then, however, the kingdom faced other problems.

Turbulent Years

The Flores rising and the military expedition led inevitably to increased scrutiny of the colonial program, which rapidly disclosed rampant corruption among the officials in the new Ministry of Colonial Trade. Boromo himself oversaw the punishment of the criminals (6), but the general administration of the country naturally suffered (7).

1474 saw a bountiful harvest and a return to general prosperity (8), but the celebrations were marred by disturbing news from abroad, where the Emperor of China had dissolved the vassal kingdom of Korea and incorporated it into his own lands. Under pressure of Dragon's ambition, the neighbouring alliance dissolved and Boromo was able to draw Cambodia into his own compact with Taungu. This, however, could not protect him from trouble at home.

The Court and the merchant class has profitted greatly from the colonial program, but little of this wealth reached the peasantry of the provinces, who were taxed heavily to support it. Disturbances built across the south, destabilising the whole kingdom and culminating in open revolt in Phuket province (9). No sooner had the revolt been put down than the Chinese Ambassador presented Boromo with a request for free passage for the Emperor's armies, a 'request' the King did not feel able to refuse (10).

Trouble persisted in 1476, with a theological dispute concerning the sound of one hand clapping spilling from the temples into the streets (11). The domestic situation was stabilised in the next year, as years of investment in improving the domestic economy finally began to pay off (12). However, the King's personal serenity was further ruffled by a - doubtless innocent - reference to 'barbarian vassals' by the Chinese ambassador (13).

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Notes
(1) Another Court Painter (now Innovative 3)
(2) The timing of Dai Viet's events has not noticably improved.
(3) Inconsistancy, thy name is AI.
(4) +1 Offensive (Now Offensive 8)
(5) I didn't want to commit genocide in Flores (nominally a low aggression province), but my troops did just a bit too well. As for the others, trying to incorporate High/Very High Aggression natives at low tech with no conquistadors is just hopeless (Even TP success rates were <40%). Better to start with a blank slate.
(6) Corruption eradicated in 1472
(7) Poor Government Policies in 1473
(8) Exceptional Year
(9) Unhappiness among the peasantry (-2 Stab and a free revolt)
(10) As if I wanted to! Mil Access = No DOW
(11) Regional heresy, which I had to ignore to avoid another loan. Every spare ducat was going into colonies.
(12) Infrastructure Tech Level 3. Also Land 2 and Naval 2 the year before. I hope you like the tech levels, they're not going to change for a loong time....
(13) And a diplomatic insult to finish things off.

Anibal - Colonial? You ain't seen nothing yet!
Snow King - Good to see you! Tempting suggestion, but I knew Ayutthaya was as open-minded as a house-brick when I chose to play it. I actually kept the Innovativeness slider on 3 for ages, hoping for conquistadors and/or free conversions.