Battle of Religions - Order of Angkor

[Emperor Ike]

Battle of Religions - Order of Angkor

This is an continuation AAR mega campaign. Started from CK and hopefully to go all the way to the end of HoI3. The CK phase was played as Baghdad and the link to that AAR you can find beneath. This EU3 shall be played in deep in the jungles of Asia, as you can see from the trailer in the end of the conclusion video beneath. So now all you can do is to guess what the nation is going to be as I am not revealing it before the very first chapter of this new AAR.

Previously on Battle of Religions Rise of Islam AAR

Index

[Saulta]

GREAT VIDEO

[Aliasing]

Excellent, it continues!

[Emperor Ike]

Chapter 1: Return of Angkor

Ruins of an old Empire

After defeating the Armies of Ayutthaya Kingdom in the Battle of Nakhon Pathom, King Ponthea Yat Khmer, now age 63 tried to move south along the peninsula to reclaim the lost lands but his armies were soon stopped by the Armies of Ache. They informed the King that the southern peninsula was now in the control of the Sultanate of Ache and if King Ponthea would cross the border it would mean war with Ache. So the king decided to return home to celebrate the victory over Ayutthaya and mourn the loss of the Empire.


The king was growing old and tired but he had to make sure that after he was gone there would be free state for the Khmer people. His son Narayana was eager to rule and lead but he had much to learn as the world was an hostile place. To strengthen the status of Kingdom of Khmer the king swore to free the Buddhist people of the south from the evil Muslims.


Of course that would require an huge army but there was cure for that too. And so King Ponthea declared that Central Thai, and Northern Thai as well as Khmer would be the state cultures of Kingdom of Khmer. This greatly unified the people.


In the star skies of August in the year 1406 an comet was sighted. The Scholars of the Kings court were sure that this was an good omen and that if the King would attack Ache next year they would surely win.


So the king did as the scholars told him. He started to rebuild the army. He wanted to be sure that they would win be having a bigger army than the opponent but for his bad luck Pegu had attacked Ache first.


The King was furious about this. How could his allies move in to territory that was rightfully his?

[Derahan]

Awesome! I am so caught to this!

[Emperor Ike]

Old allies become enemies

Because of the action of the Pegu Kingdom in the southern peninsula the King Khmer dissolved the long alliance the two kingdoms had uphold since the beginning of the old Khmer Empire. This was not something reckless but a planned action taken by the king.



His advisers had told him about the weak Hindu kingdom of Champa in the east. By vassalizing it and forcing religious unity would greatly strengthen the kingdom and allow an war with the treacherous Pegu.


In the west in the Kingdom of Taungoo an heir from the blood line of the Khmer kings had born. This event brought these two nations closer and would help the subjugation of west in the future.



The King ordered an huge mobilization of his armies. He knew that with the current armies they could defeat Champa but they couldn't fight against Pegu, so without caring about the costs the King ordered an army so strong to be raised that none had seen since the ancient times. Once the build up was ready the King declared war on Champa in the name of subjugation and religious unity in the region.


As expected by Khmer Pegu joined into defend their Hindi allies. But little did they know that they were going to face much larger armies they had anticipated. Soon Pegu would learn what happens when you meet an stranger in the Alps.

[Emperor Ike]

Country without a king

But then when the war had just begun King Ponthea passed away leaving his son Narayana to rule. King Narayana soon proved to be an excellent leader just like his father had been before him.


When Pegu tried to offer a white peace with an ultimatum which was in the lines of "If you don't accept we will destroy you". But Narayana was not afraid as his late father had raised an army unmatchable and with that army behind him he declined.


The Armies of Khmer marched on in the east against Champa and in the west against Pegu. Champese armies were no match to the might of Khmer due to their small numbers and they were quickly overran. Peguse armies on the other hand were more numerous but still no match for the Khmer armies.


But then suddenly the young king Narayana died at the age of 27. Nobody knew why did he die as he seemed to be healthy. Some claimed that the old gods had become angry at the people of Khmer and it's leaders and thus had killed the king. Others claimed that Peguse assassins had killed him. United behind this believe that assassins killed the king the Regency council appointed to rule behalf of the young heir continued the fight against Pegu.


In the year 1410 Champa surrendered. They ceded their lands, became Buddhist and they pledged themselves to the Khmer.


In 1411 Pegu surrendered too. The Council didn't want to be too greedy and they only claimed the Southern Peninsula and the Sukhotai region from Pegu. Khmer had reclaimed their position as a power in the region and now they could finally develop their nation.

[Saulta]

Cool =)

[Emperor Ike]

Spreading the influence

After victory from Pegu the Regency Council continued the Agenda set by King Ponthea and started to spread the influence of the Khmer Empire. One of these goals was to vassalize Shan in the north and bring the Northern provinces to the Empire.


In 1412 Ang Chei I rose to the throne at the age of 18. All ready having a heir of his own he named his son after his grandfather Ponthea Yat.


Not everybody liked the way how the Khmers were planning the return of The Empire of Angkor and some of them tried to provoke the new and young king to do something hasty and walk in to a trap. But King Ang Chei I was clever and instead of demanding compensation from those who insulted him and his people he tried to ease tension in the region.


Later the same year King Ang Chei I arranged a marriage between his brother and a princess from Shan. In the hopes that one day an Khmer pure blood would rule the throne of Shan and bring it to the Empire.

[Emperor Ike]

Plagues

When everything was fine in the kingdom and peace had settled over the lands, a crisis struck the royal family. The beloved heir Panthea Yat died suddenly to high fever. After that similar deaths occurred in the northern parts near the Pegu border.


In east the monks were able to convert the people living in Panduragan to abandon their infidel ways of Hindi religion and to convert to Buddhism.


In the Pattani region formerly held by the Sultanate of Aceh changes could be seen. The Pattani people had risen against Aceh and had seized control of Pattani and Perak.


Then a plague hit the border regions and people started to die. The king sent anything he could to help his peop


Three years from the death of the heir Panthea new heir was born, he was named Barom Reachea.

[Kurt_Steiner]

How odd is to move from Arabia-Europe to the other corner of the world...

[Emperor Ike]

How odd is to move from Arabia-Europe to the other corner of the world...

Odd maybe but I didn't want to do an AAR with the Catholics trying to reclaim some lost lands and I wanted to fight against possible Europeans coming to India =D.

[Emperor Ike]

They are distracted, now is our chance

Envoys from Tibet, the beloved Buddhist nations and good friend of the people of Khmer informed King Ang Chei I about a war for the freedom of the Deva Bengalese people. Assam had long tried to suppress the Bengal people in the Deva Bengal regions and eventually had angered it's neighbours. The Tibetan envoys asked King Ang Chei I whatever he wanted to join in but when he heard that Assam was allready losing he declined the offer.



But King Ang Chei I had other plans in mind. The only thing that had kept him attacking Shan had been Assam and now that Assam was busy taking over Shan would be easy. So King Ang Chei I prepared his armies and declared war on Shan. For every ones surprise Lan Xang decided to join Shan against Khmer. Assam joined too but their armies were never seen.


Lan Xang who hadn't paid attention to the allies of Khmer foolishly advanced over the border to the Central Thai territories. Even though the main army was occupying Shan territorry in the north the King Ang Chei I himself led another army guarding the home territories. Defeated by King Ang Chei I's armies Lan Xang armies retreated to their lands followed by the Khmers but the Lan Xang leaders soon found out that Dai Viet was all ready occupying their lands together with several units from Champa.

Soon the Lan Xang armies were defeated and the cities and towns conquered. The Kings of Lan Xang had no choice but to accept the subjugation by the Khmer.


So did the Shan.


So the Khmer Empire of the Old was slowly returning after the return of Shan territory and Lan Xang lands, even though not directly controlled the Khmers the shape of the Old Empire was forming. To secure peace in the region Ang Chei I allied the Burmese Kings.


A year later Ming decided to offer alliance to Khmer. Ang Chei I happily accepted it knowing that no one would mess with an ally of China.


Soon it became clear that Lan Xang as well as the other vassals needed to be fully incorporated in to the Empire. So Ang Chei I started to work his secret schemes with those loyal to Angkor.

[Emperor Ike]

Spreading the Khmer bloodline

Shortly after the subjugation of Shan and Lan Xang by Khmer Assam was divided between Taungu, Orissa and Deva Bengal.


Taungu now controlling the lands of Pegu, Burma and Assam had grown to think that they could insult those around them and those who they are allied with. They thought that they could get away with insulting the Khmers but they were wrong as the Khmer king swore that he wont forget this insult.


The rest of the Thai people in the south slowly started to assimilate with the Khmers and first place to fully adopt the Khmer customs was Rayong.


In February King Ang Chei I decided that it was time to reconquer the Mon lands from Taungu. So a war was declared on Taungu and the Khmer armies crossed the border to conquer what was rightfully theirs.


The Burmese armies had been sent to fight the remaining Assam rebels in the north and most of the south was left undefended. The Khmer armies quickly took over the border lands and marched to the old capital of Pegu. Even though the Burmese armies turned around from the north it was too late for them to win as the Khmer armies were allready at the gates of the Burmese capital. The King of Taungu soon accepted the terms and ceded the Mon lands to Khmer.



Years passed and soon new heirs popped up in Lan Xang and Shan, both from the royal dynasty of Khmer. It would be only matter of time before the lands would be unified under a single nation ruled by the Khmer dynasty.

[Kurt_Steiner]

We want Tangu! We want Tagu! We want Tangu!

Happy New Year, by the way

[Emperor Ike]

Happy New Year!

Banishing infidels from the Peninsula

Of course not all of the Mon people were happy about the change in their ownership. Some of them rebelled when they heard that the Khmers had been spreading their culture to other cultures. But the rebels had no match. For their sticks were no match to the better sticks of Khmers.


The Settlement policies that King Ang Chei I had started to issue were brining a fruit and first settlement to fully success was in Tenasserim.


This though was not enough as the Muslim presence in the Peninsula was still strong. King Ang Chei I took it has his mission to eradicate these infidels and bring Buddhism to all people.


The Pattani armies were no match for the power of Khmers and they were soon on the run.


But King Ang Chei I was not the only one that wanted to establish a foot hold in the peninsula. The Brunei Sultan had decided to occupy the Peninsula forcing Ang Chei I to attack them too.


Pattani was soon annexed and Buddhist monks were sent to the provinces to spread the Buddhist faith.


By the end of the year 1441 all of the peninsula except the Trade port of Malacca was in Khmer hands and Buddhist monks were converting the population.

[Kurt_Steiner]

Not a bad move, not at all.

At this pace I see you conquering Japan...

[Emperor Ike]

Not a bad move, not at all.

At this pace I see you conquering Japan...

That's simply crazy =D

[Emperor Ike]

All to Khmer

From the southern provinces Johor was the first one to convert to the Buddhist faith.


In the year 1443 Dai Viet decided to join the Greater Khmer Kingdom and gave up all it's lands.


In the south the Malayans decided to try and revolt but the King dispatched his armies to defeat them.


Soon it was diagnosed that the King was insane and the military was called to help.


In 1452 King Ang Chei I died and his son Barom Reachea I Khmer took the throne.


The same year found out about some lakes and oceans.

[Emperor Ike]

Curse of Angkor

After Barom Reachea I inherited the throne his son Ang Ton was announced to be the heir to the Kingdom. The whole kingdom rejoiced about this and hoped that Ang Ton would have a heatlhy life.


But in December 1452 strange fever took the life of Ang Ton and the country mourned. Some claimed that the muslims had put a curse on the royal family but Barom Reachea I didn't buy that.


And in April 1453 a new heir was born. Once again the country was filled with joy and any talk about curses were forgotten.


In Pahang Zikri Heretics rose in to a rebellion and King Barom was forced to leave with his armies to suppress them.


The Zikri rebels were soon defeated and the King was able to return home only to hear news about his sons death. It truly seemed that the royal family of Khmer was cursed.


The diplomacy and royal marriages soon paid off as Shan was integrated with the Khmer Kingdom.


More joy came to the Kingdom when Dharmara Jhadiraja was born and declared as the new heir.