Lords of Spice and Sea: The Sea Knows No Master
Doux Gabriel Papagos has assembled a powerful force of warships and soldiers in Colombo harbor in mid-1638, but geography makes his task more difficult than it would seem. He wants to reinforce Pahang and New Constantinople and go on the offensive against Malacca.
(The Exarch is informed of the agreement made with Sanjaya and so focuses on Malacca as the Maharaja will deal with Sunda. He approves of the treaty, although with misgivings, recognizing the danger. Reneging on the deal with no just cause, especially after Sanjaya has rendered good service, would completely undermine Roman credibility and enrage the Maharaja, possibly pushing him into the Spanish camp.) [1]
But getting to Pahang or New Constantinople is not straightforward. The direct routes going around Sumatra entail passing by either Malacca or Sunda. Some Roman ships have swung south of Sumatra, Java, and Bali before pivoting north to New Constantinople, but that is a long haul in waters not too familiar to the Romans. Papagos has thousands of men that consume literal tons of food and water a day; a long sea voyage is not an option.
A straight shot at Malacca from Taprobane eliminates those logistical issues but presents other problems. It would be making a landing on a hostile shore without making contact with the local base and means of support (Pahang) and in the face of a powerful and capable fleet. Papagos is confident in taking on Pereira in open battle, but he has crowded troop transports that are incredibly vulnerable to skillfully handled light warships that he must protect.
Papagos goes for the straight shot at Malacca, setting out with the fleet and transports. He doesn’t want to make a sweep with the fleet alone to try and take out Pereira first for several reasons. Firstly he doubts Pereira will cooperate and it will use up valuable time; Papagos does not want to attack Malacca during the monsoon. Also tropical diseases are guaranteed to start eating away at his manpower sooner rather than later. And all the men are eating through the available stockpiles at an alarming rate already.
Secondly, for purposes of Roman prestige he wants to strike a major blow at Spain before Sanjaya overruns Sunda, because any blow struck afterwards might get diminished by claims of it only being possible after said Mataramese victory. Thirdly, Papagos is well informed of events in Europe, at least up to his departure. The bombshells in Italy and North Africa go off after he leaves, but even as his galleass started beating her way out of Suez, the smell of burning fuses was in the air.
Pereira is well informed of Roman activities and intentions in Taprobane, thanks to the Spaniards in India and some information delivered discretely courtesy of Vijayanagara agents. Vijayanagar’s annoyance with Spanish arrogance has faded, somewhat, with the display of Roman power mustering off Colombo, although that is the extent of aid they provide to the Iberians. As a reminder of their own power, Ambassador Nikephoros is ‘requested’ to attend a review of 40,000 Vijayanagara soldiers outside the capital.
Pereira has been busy, launching more raids on New Constantinople and on the Mataramese coast, most of which have been brilliant successes. In the Katepanate, the raids still fail to seize any defendable holdings because of the lack of ground troops, but in Java the snarl of attacks keeps Sanjaya’s army pinned down in defensive mode rather than raiding Sundanese territory. He hopes the raids will bring Sanjaya to the peace table and he is conducting unofficial talks with the Maharaja. However the Maharaja is using the talks to frighten the Romans so they’ll keep up their end of the bargain. So long as the Romans keep their word, Sanjaya has no intention of siding with the man who nearly denied him Semarang.
The news of the Roman armada at Taprobane yanks him away from Java to defend Malacca. The latter can hold off Pahang, but not Pahang and Taprobane. Yet Pereira may be able to maul the armada before it makes landfall. And while Mataram has a huge numerical advantage over Sunda, due to an improved Spanish blockade the modern weaponry advantage still lies with Sunda, for now anyway.
The Roman and Spanish fleets make contact near the Andaman Islands. Pereira has a smaller fleet but his is purely comprised of warships, unlike the larger mixed-bag Romans. He tries to draw Papagos away from the transports, needling him with light warships that skirmish with the Roman screen. He successfully annoys Papagos, but the Doux keeps firm to his escort duties. The Romans can’t drive off the Spanish, but the Spanish can’t break through either.
Then a storm brews up. As tempests go it isn’t bad, but it briefly scatters the battling flotillas. The Spanish, smaller in number and with ships with similar sailing characteristics, are able to recombine more quickly than the Romans. They snatch up a pair of Roman troop transports before they can take cover behind their escorts.
The skirmishing continues much as before the storm, and then another brews up, again scattering the fleets. Before they recombine, the Spanish snap up another pair of troop transports plus an armed merchantmen (the slower merchantmen are more vulnerable in these scattering moments), although the Romans get some revenge by mauling a Spanish fifth-rater that got separated too far from the main body. The ship is captured, but battered as it is with the Spanish fleet nearby, it is scuttled to keep it from being recaptured.
A third light storm brews up as they near the Malay coast, again allowing the Spanish to snap up another pair of Roman stragglers, at the cost of one of their sixth-raters. By now Papagos is really getting frustrated; while he is used to long blockades off the Lombard coast, there he was the one needling the enemy with raids. Being on the receiving end is much less fun. Plus he has lost 30% of his ground troops in those captured transports.
On August 10, the Roman fleet makes landfall at Kuala Sepatang, a small fishing village on the west coast of Malaya. It isn’t much to look at, but there is an island that is a barrier between it and the sea proper. With the island fortified with artillery, it seemingly makes for a safe anchorage for the troop transports. Meanwhile the army unloads onto the mainland with all its equipment and supplies.
The plan now is for the army to march along the coast covered by the fleet. On land it will be able to defend itself in case yet another storm brews up, while Papagos hopes that now he can force a battle since he isn’t tied down by covering the transports. If he can take down Pereira, then the troops can re-board the transports. On the other hand, if Papagos can’t, it is a march of over 400 kilometers, meaning the approach will be much slower than a seaborne assault and there are only so many supplies. Riders are sent to Pahang overland to ask for supplies and reinforcements.
Mavrokordatos has been steadily rebuilding his strength since the debacle at Malacca in 1636, probing the border with small raids, the Spanish responding in kind. There are a few hot scraps, but much of the movement on both sides is noise to keep the Malay chiefs loyal to their overlord. Because of the tropical diseases that scythe through western troops, most of the soldiers on both sides are ethnic Malays and the support of the chiefs is crucial to control territory and guarantee access to manpower pools.
He gets some substantial reinforcements in early 1638. Although achieving initial success, the Vietnamese invasion of the Cham Kingdom was eventually destroyed through a series of great ambushes and battles. The defeat is so total that ‘the trees are speaking Cham’ enters the Vietnamese lexicon as a sign for when things are about to end really badly for the participants. But the northern reaches of Champa were also devastated in the fighting, so both participants are willing to go back to the status quo ante bellum.
With the end of the Cham-Viet war, Mavrokordatos gets the troops he sent to aid the Cham back, as well as those that came from Pyrgos originally, dispatched as reinforcements from Deblitzenos.
The Roman troops themselves, because of their small numbers, did not make much of a difference, but the modern weaponry provided in larger quantities to the Cham did make more of an impact. (Nevertheless, it was Cham bravery and skill that was the decisive factor.) Unlike Sanjaya, the Romans consistently provided the Cham with the newest muskets and cannons. Their alliance, negotiated by Andreas Angelos the Salty Prince himself, is much older than that with Mataram and the Cham are not perceived as a threat. Furthermore they are useful counterweights to less friendly powers like Ayutthaya and particularly China, in which case they really need the best weaponry. [2]
Yet the gesture mattered and the Cham are grateful. The Romans supported them in their hour of need, and now it is time for the Cham to repay the debt. In addition to the Roman troops coming into Pekan are 4000 Cham troops, all now skilled veterans in jungle fighting, perfect for the combat to come. And while Papagos is getting frustrated at Pereira snapping up his straggling transports, while Pereira does so west of Malaya he is unable to do anything about these reinforcements coming into Pahang from the northeast, first the soldiers from Champa and later the ships returning from Korea.
[1] There is, at one point, some unspecified logistical issues in providing the items required by Sanjaya. He understands, as he too faces unspecified logistical issues in providing the foodstuffs required by New Constantinople. Curiously, these similar but geographically distant issues disappear shortly and simultaneously afterwards.
[2] It is fortunate for the Romans that Sanjaya is unaware of this double standard.