How large an army did the Nguyen lords require to fend off the Trinh invasions?
Au point de vue de l'importance des troupes réunies pour une expédition, on voit par les Historiographies (liv. IV, p. 4,5) qu'en 1653 une grande revue fut passée près de Hué par Hién Vuong qui allait attaquer le Champa; avec l'infanterie de la garde (3 280 hommes) et la marine de la garde (6 410), les troupes passées en revue formaient un total de 22 740 hommes.
Finally found Cambridge's source, a 1920 book titled Histoire Moderne du Pays d'Annam. About the army size, here is what it says:
So this puts more context into it, it's a large army that was going to attack Champa. I tried to find out what this was in the article "The Nguyen and Champa during 17th and 18th century." Apparently the new king of Champa, Po Nraup, attempted to reconquer Phu Yen and was annihilated.
And btw I'm really enjoying this discussion.
No looming threat of the Chinese-backed Mac did help as well but that's already a lot. I mean, the defensive advantage is not like a war in Europe: the front line in Vietnam is TINY. Seriously, the fortification system was like 20km wide!Coming back to this.
What tangible (ie no "better generals") advantages did the Nguyen have over the Trinh? So far I have:
Anything else?
- Fortification system
- Artillery
- More elephants
- Being on defensive