Ming Dynasty: pacifying the rebellion and defending the border, dominating the world

Chapter 375 Awe-inspiring Prestige in Siam, A Nationwide Battle

The news of the fall of the capital of Annam and the king's surrender, with his head held high and his body exposed, swept across the entire Indochina Peninsula like a swift hurricane.

The message contained in this news was more chilling than any weapon.

The Royal Palace of Ayutthaya, Siam.

This palace, decorated with gold leaf and glass and which always shone with a magnificent light under the tropical sun, was now shrouded in a deathly gloom.

King Phanalai of Siam leaned back on his ivory throne, which was covered with luxurious silk. This monarch, who was in his prime and was known for his bravery and decisiveness, was now ashen-faced, his face filled with panic, and even... fear.

He clutched a roll of urgent military reports from the north tightly in his hand, the edges of the parchment almost crushed by his trembling fingers.

The battle report written in cinnabar was shocking in every word and sentence.

In particular, the words "Tian Ce", "Jin Gang Jing", "Thirteen Cities", and "Annam was conquered in one battle and its country was destroyed in a day" were like red-hot irons, burning his heart.

Below the steps, the usually reserved or arrogant Siamese officials were all ashen-faced and utterly silent. The hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; only the suppressed breathing could be heard.

“Thirty thousand… Vajra Realm…” Panalai’s voice was dry and hoarse, breaking the suffocating silence. Every word seemed to be squeezed out of his throat with disbelief and despair. “In one night… he broke through thirteen cities of Annam, conquered the Thang Long Royal City, divided his troops into four routes and advanced simultaneously, and destroyed Annam in one day?”

Is Annan really gone just like that?
Such thoughts kept echoing in Panalai's mind.

As old neighbors, and also old rivals.

Phanalai was well aware of Annam's national strength and military capabilities. While there might be a gap between Annam and Siam, it was definitely not significant. Otherwise, even if Siam had been mindful of the Ming Dynasty in the Central Plains, it would have already destroyed Annam or turned it into a puppet state.

Even so, Annam was a country that even the entire nation of Siam might not be able to defeat.

In just one day, from the breaching of the borders to the fall of the Thang Long capital and the destruction of Annam, it all happened in a horrifying and despairing way.

This news caught Siam completely off guard.

"The Ava Kingdom and the Bak Kingdom were destroyed one after another, and now it's Annam..."

“Isn’t it true that we, the Siamese, reside within it?”

Panalai's heart skipped a beat. He abruptly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over the assembled officials below. His voice suddenly rose, and he roared, "Speak! Aren't you all usually so eloquent, even claiming that even if the Central Plains invade, we are not without the power to fight back?"

"Why are you mute?"

Panalai's roar echoed through the hall, but only brought a deeper silence and paler faces.

No one could answer.

Before today, as Siam became increasingly prosperous, it did indeed fuel their arrogance, making them feel that even if the Central Plains sent troops to attack, they would not be without the strength to fight back.

But the Tian Ce Mansion, with its bloody and unparalleled achievements and terrifying strength that could destroy a country in a single day, slapped them all in the face.

This is not even a power comparison of the same magnitude.

How many masters who have reached the Innate Realm can be found throughout the entire country of Siam?

One hundred? Three or five hundred?
In the past, an army composed of fifty or one hundred people at the Innate Realm was enough to be invincible on the battlefields of many countries in Siam and the Indochina Peninsula.

But in the face of the Tian Ce soldiers composed of 30,000 Vajra Realm warriors, an army that is a hundred times more terrifying than a war machine, even an army composed of hundreds of Innate Realm warriors is nothing more than a thin sheet of paper, which will be crushed into dust in an instant!
Let alone the strength to fight, they couldn't even imagine how to stop them.

"Your Majesty!" "According to urgent reports from the border cavalry at Chiang Mai and Sukhothai... Although the main force of the Ming Dynasty's Tian Ce Army is in Thang Long, Annam, its elite vanguard has already... has crossed the remnants of the Ailao Mountains and appeared along the Ban Thanh and Phitsanulok line in our northern border! Their momentum... their momentum..."

The Siamese general, reporting on the border battle, trembled as if he had thought of something terrifying. He paused for a moment before struggling to utter the following words: "Their momentum is like dark clouds pressing down on the city, their sharp edge pointing directly at the heart of our Great City!"

"What?!" Panalai suddenly stood up from his throne, the force of which knocked over the golden goblets and jade cups on the table beside him, which clattered and fell to the ground.

His body swayed, and his face instantly turned from ashen to deathly pale.

He had just guessed this possibility, but he didn't expect it to become a reality in an instant.

“Troops are stationed on the border… troops are stationed on the border…” he repeated absentmindedly, staggering down the steps of the throne and heading toward the huge map on one side of the hall that depicted the territory of Siam.

Panalai's gaze was fixed on the narrow, ochre-colored region to the north that represented the border—Banqing and Pengshiluo.

On the map, Siam is just a small part.

If the Ming Dynasty has already stationed troops on the border, with Ban Thanh and Phitsanulok eyeing it covetously, once the city falls, Siam will inevitably repeat the mistakes of Annam. Even if it is not defeated in one battle, it will be as absurd as the country being destroyed in a day.

But even if they survive to the end, how many more days can they hold out?

"Prepare for war!!" Panalai whirled around, his eyes bloodshot, and roared hoarsely at the outside of the palace, "Send orders throughout the nation! Conscript all able-bodied men!"

All the officials in the hall were horrified and their faces changed color.

"Your Majesty...you mean to conscript all able-bodied men?"

“You heard me right, all of you!” Panalai, looking like a madman with bloodshot eyes, stared at the questioning Siamese officials like a beast ready to devour its prey: “If we do not do this, Siam will surely repeat the mistakes of Annam.”

"Furthermore, convey my order to open the treasury and arm the army."

"Move all of my elite elephant corps to the northern front!!"

"Fortify the city! Dig deeper trenches! Set traps! Even if... even if it means piling up corpses! You must build a wall to stop them! You must stop them!!"

Panalai's desperate, all-or-nothing gambler-like madness terrified all the Siamese officials. They wanted to object and resist, but when they thought of Annam's fate, all the civil and military officials fell silent.

This battle was about the survival of Siam.

If we don't fight, they will perish.

"Done."

"I've gone mad, but I'm fighting for my country and for the future of Siam."

"Even if it means death, we will stop those ferocious Ming soldiers!"

The royal decree of Siam was like a boulder thrown into stagnant water, causing only brief chaos.

The bugle call to issue the order was more shrill and urgent than ever before, piercing through Siam, tearing apart the tranquility above the city and spreading wildly in all directions of the Siamese territory.

The entire city, and indeed the entire Kingdom of Siam, was instantly gripped by the immense fear of national subjugation and annihilation, plunging into an unprecedented frenzy of war mobilization.

(End of this chapter)