Chapter V, part V
Chapter V, part V
King Manuel I (October/1495 - December/1521)
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Lisboa, 2nd March, 1512 A.D.. The Royal Palace.
- Araujo, I'm starting to take measures that will lead us to another war.
- Which measures, lord?
- First, let's sign a white peace with Maya, because there's no reason to attack them, since they're under spanish influence under the Treaty of Tordesillas!
- Don't know if the spanish kings would like it...
- I don't care! I am the king, I give the orders! - he shouts. - There is no reason to wage war against Maya!
- Okay, okay, okay... Calm down, please.
- Well, second, our standing army in Zimbabwe is ordered to be carried to Zanzibar. We have more than 45 thousand men on that region, and they need to have some fun...
- What is your next target?
- You'll see soon, very soon... And also, I order more transport ships to be built! Now we need to make two voyages to bring our men to Zanzibar, and this can't happen again in the future!
The mayan ambassador in Lisboa accepted the peace proposal.
November 3rd: A new colony is founded east of Malacca. The colonists call it Jakarta, the same name given by the natives. They can produce indian spice there!
Zanzibar, 19th November, 1512 A.D.. At the Military HQ.
- General Albuquerque, may the grace of God be with you.
- The same to you, Brigadier Almeida!
- We've just received from the king a supply of new pikes and arquebuses to our troops, as well as a big gunpowder supply. He also sent new strong armours to all of our soldiers and also to the horses on our army. And we also have new cannons to equip our vessels, and a big supply of cannonballs.
- What does it mean, Brigadier? War? Against whom?
- Well, let me read it to you... it's a letter from the king.
"Dear Brigadier Almeida,
I think all this new and expensive equipment may be enough to acomplish my next plan. Train your soldiers to use them well, and use them wisely. I order you and General Afonso de Albuquerque to march to India with our troops! Declare war on Vijaynagar and their vassal and ally Orissa. Take as much coastal provinces as you can. Don't mind taking inland territory on a peace proposal, but you are allowed to make pillage on them if you want.
Don't think that their armies and navies will give us much trouble, but be carefull. They might bring in more allies, and this war may create envy on many other nations. But they control rich cities and lands that produce very rich goods. And don't forget that we don't want spanish or french help on this war.
May God follow you on your way. Conquer the Indies for the glory of Portugal!
Best regards,
King Manuel I."
- Quite impressive, Almeida! - General Albuquerque is surprised.
- I also thought... and I was thinking that our target would be Malacca, not Vijaynagar!
- I am sure, all sure that the next target, after Vijaynagar, will be Malacca...
- For sure. But I have enough reasons to think why he chossed Vijaynagar first. He wants to incite venetian rage against us, because they declared war on the Pope. And because we will be controlling the most rich spice-producing lands!
- That's enough, Almeida! Let's move on!
- Excuse me! - he asks. - The plan is this... I'm landing on Goa and plan to take that province to provide us a port and a good beachhead in there. And then I head to the capital and then Orissa, and you capture the coastal provinces, one by one.
- Agreed.
The army is very big. It can't be loaded at once on the ships. Thus, Almeida goes first, with 23k men, on the 19/0/2 portuguese navy.
January 26th, 1513: Tristão da Cunha dies near the spanish island of Martinique. Heavy storms sunk his ship, and he was eaten alive by a shark.
February 1st: The fleet arrives on the coast of Goa. War is declared, and Vijaynagar's ally, Orissa, is embargoed from the portuguese centers of trade. Almeida starts to land there.
February 24th: Correos discovers goldmines in the brazilian province of Mato Grosso.
March 3rd: Vijaynagar is embargoed.
March 6th: Goa is taken by a quick assault. Almeida heads to the Vijaynagar's capital, the province of Bangalore. Having stablished the port and beachhead, the navy goes back to Zanzibar to take Afonso de Albuquerque with his troops.
May 6th: Almeida easily takes the capital after a quick assault. The enemy army seems too poorly equiped... Almeida notices that a big army, with more than 30k men, is being formed in the province of Hyderabad, north of Bangalore. He prefers to avoid direct combat, so he heads to Yanam.
After that, the portuguese army under Brigadier Almeida goes through the Vijaynagar's and Orissa's territory like hot knife in butter. They meet no resistance and easily assault all the forts. Before Albuquerque arrives, he takes Yanam and the Orissan provinces of Palakimedi and Behampur.
September 11th: Albuquerque lands with his army in Goa, equaly numbered to the former Almeida's one. He heads to Mangalore. On the same day, 14k Orissans besiege the portuguese city of Calcutta.
And then, the two armies continue fighting and conquering the provinces like german panzers going into Poland. Mangalore, Kerala, Behampur, Odisa, Kerala, one by one they were kneeling down in front of the portuguese troops.
November 10th: More than 30 thousand enemy soldiers, probably from Vijaynagar, besiege the captured city of Goa.
November 24th: The portuguese navy (19/0/2), using the new cannons, sinks a whole combined Vijaynagarian/Orissan navy of 8/0/2 ships near Calcutta, thus ending their naval blockade to the city.
And then, more child's play blitzkrieg to the portuguese. Cochin, Trivandrum, Sambalpur, Bastar, Madras, Madurai... all of them and all of the orissan territory was now under portuguese control. With no other choice, Orissa accepted the Almeida's demands: the provinces of Palakimedi and Behampur to the portuguese crown.
The blitzkrieg continues... Pondicherry, Mysore and Maharashta were taken. Only Hyderabad lasts, and Almeida will take care of it.
June 26th, 1514: The portuguese army under Almeida fights the only battle against an army during this war. He easily defeats 12k soldiers in Hyderabad. The portuguese have pikes, arquebuses and cavalry; the indians barely have swords! After that, he quickly assaults and controls the province.
July 20th: Having no other coice, Almeida accepts peace with Vijaynagar. He now controls all tbe coastal provinces of them except for Madras.
Lisboa, 23th July, 1514 A.D.. The Royal Palace.
- Unfortunatelly, the Vijanaygarian ruler refused at all cost to give us Madras, king.
- Yes, Araujo, but this is no problem. Almeida and Albuquerque both did a great job! We can take it on a next war... and we teached a good lesson to those hateful pagans...
- I am very concerned and worried about our very bad reputation over the other countries. We are getting very hated!
- It's only envy, Araujo... don't care about it. We are only doing what God gave us the right to do! And, don't forget, we didn't violate the Treaty of Tordesillas... so we are doing only our right.
- Okay... and the Malacca's ambassador is complaining too much that we are taking their place on the indian trade!
- Order him to go to hell... his nation will pay for his insolence... do not forget that Malacca is under our sphere of influence, so their lands should also be ours by right!
