Hardly had Nicote set sail for Goa, when Xilimixa became sensible of his error in confiding in him, and sent a fleet of war boats down the river Siriam with 6000 men under Bannadala to expell the Portuguese from their fort. Salvador Ribeyra met this great armament with only three small vessels and thirty men, and, without the loss of one man, took forty vessels of the enemy and put the rest to flight. Then calling in the aid of the king of Pram, Xilimixa beset the fort with 1200 vessels by water, while 40,000 men surrounded it by land; but as Ribeyra learnt that the enemy observed no order or discipline, he boldly fell upon them with his handful of men, and having slain their general put that army to flight. Bannadala rallied 8000 of the fugitives, with which be again besieged the fort, lodging his men in good order, and having battered the place for some days, he ventured to make a fierce assault in the dead of night; but he was bravely repelled by the Portuguese, and above 1000 of his men were found dead next morning in the ditch. The enemy continued the siege however for eight months, and though some of the garrison deserted, Ribeyra defended the place with great resolution; and to take away all hopes of escape from his men, burnt all the vessels that were in the port. Hearing of these proceedings, Ayres de Saldanna the viceroy, sent a considerable reinforcement, along with which came so many volunteers, ambitions either of honour or profit, that Ribeyra found himself at the head of 800 men. With these he attacked the enemy, whom he drove from their works with great slaughter, and Bannadala had the mortification to see the works which he had been constructing for almost a year destroyed in a day. After this success, the Portuguese volunteers withdrew, only 200 that had been sent by the viceroy remaining in the fort with Ribeyra.
The enemy returned a fourth time against the fort, which they now assailed with many moving castles and various kinds of fire works, and soon reduced the fort to great extremity; but were so terrified by a fiery meteor, that they fled leaving their castles behind, which were soon reduced to ashes by the garrison. Soon afterwards the Portuguese obtained a great victory over king Massinga in the province of Camelan; after which the natives flocked to their standard to the number of above 20,000 men, and proclaimed Nicote king of Pegu, calling him Changa, which signifies good man. Nicote was at this time absent, but Ribeyra accepted the proffered crown in his name, on which account it was reported in Spain that Ribeyra had been proclaimed king. Nicote afterwards, as a loyal subject, received the kingdom in the name of his sovereign, and was the first of the Portuguese that rose to such high fortune in Asia. Rodrigo Alvarez de Sequeyra succeeded Ribeyra in command of the fort of Siriam, and defended it bravely till it took fire by accident, only the bare walls being left standing.
In the mean time Nicote solicited succours at Goa, where the viceroy married him to a niece he had born in Goa of a woman of Java; after which he gave him powerful succours, and sent him to Siriam with six ships, with the title of Commander of Siriam, and General for the conquest of Pegu. On his arrival at Siriam, Nicote repaired the fort, built a church, and sent a splendid present to the king of Aracan who had sent a complimentary message on his arrival. At Siriam Nicote regulated the custom-house pursuant to the instructions of the viceroy, obliging all vessels that traded on the coast of Pegu to make entry at Siriam, and pay certain duties. As some of the Coromandel traders refused obedience to these orders, Nicote sent Francisco de Moura against them with six vessels, who took two ships of Acheen on the coast of Tanacerim richly laden. As the king of Aracan was desirous of recovering possession of the fort and custom-house of Siriam, he sent an ambassador to the king of Tangu with twenty jalias or small ships, to prevail upon him to join in that enterprize. But Nicote sent Bartholomew Ferreyra, who command the small craft, who put them to flight, and they were forced to take refuge in the dominions of the king of Jangona. Upon this, the enemy collected 700 small vessels and 40,000 men, under the command of the son of the king of Aracan, accompanied by Ximicalia and Marquetam, sons to the reigning emperor of Pegu. Paul del Rego went against them with seven ships and a number of war boats, and defeated the prince with great loss, taking all his vessels, and obliging him to make his escape by land. After this Paul took the fort of Chinim with a great number of prisoners, among whom was the wife of Bannadala.
At this time Nicote was abroad with fourteen small vessels, in which were 60 Portuguese, and 200 Peguers; and learning that the prince was on shore with 4000 men, 900 of whom were armed with firelocks, he landed and attacked him, gaining a complete victory, and even taking the prince. When the Peguers saw their prince carried off, they were all eager to have accompanied him into captivity, and entreated to be received into the Portuguese vessels, such as were refused bewailing that they could not follow, as prisoners, him whom they had served faithfully while at liberty. On this occasion Nicote gave a notable example how brave men ought to use their victories. Remembering that he had formerly been slave to the prince who was now his prisoner, he served him with as much respect as he had done formerly; watching him while asleep, and holding his baskins in his hands with his arms across, as is done by the meanest servants of princes in that country, and continually attended him on all occasions.
While these transactions were going on in Pegu, Don Martin Alfonzo de Castro came to Goa as viceroy, to replace Ayres de Saldanna, in 1604. Ximilixa, king of Aracan, sent to treat with Nicote for the ransom of the prince, his son, and accordingly paid 50,000 crowns on that account, although Nicote was ordered by the viceroy to set the prince free without any ransom. Ximilixa afterwards besieged Siriam in conjunction with the king of Tangu, who brought a great army against the town by land, while Ximilixa shut it up by sea with 800 sail, in which he had 10,000 men. Paul del Rego went against him with 80 small vessels; and failing of his former success, set fire to the powder and blew up his ship, rather than fall into the hands of the enemy. The siege continued so long, that the garrison was reduced to extremity, and on the point of surrendering, when the king of Tangu retired one night with his army upon some sudden suspicion, on which Ximilixa was likewise obliged to draw off with his fleet. Several of the neighbouring princes were now so much alarmed by the success of Nicote, that they solicited his friendship, and to be admitted into alliance with the king of Portugal. The first of these was the king of Tangu, and afterwards the king of Martavan, who gave one of his daughters as a wife to Simon the son of Nicote. Soon after, the king of Tangu being overcome in battle by the king of Ova, and rendered tributary, Nicote united with the king of Martavan, and invaded the dominions of Tangu, though in alliance with that prince, took him prisoner and plundered him of above a million in gold, although he protested that he was a faithful vassal to the king of Portugal.
About this time another low adventurer, Sebastian Gonzalez Tibao, raised himself by similar arts to great power in Aracan. In the year 1605, Gonzalez embarked from Portugal for India, and going to Bengal, listed as a soldier. By dealing in salt, which is an important article of trade in that country, he soon gained a sufficient sum to purchase a Jalia, or small vessel, in which he went with salt to Dianga, a great port in Aracan. At this period, Nicote, who had possessed himself of Siriam, as before related, wishing to acquire Dianga likewise, sent his son with several small vessels thither on an embassy to the king of Aracan, to endeavour to procure a grant of that port. Some Portuguese who then resided at the court of Aracan, persuaded the king that the object of Nicote in this demand; was to enable him to usurp the kingdom; upon which insinuation the son of Nicote; and all his attendants were slain, after which the same was done with the crews of his vessels, and all the Portuguese inhabitants at Dianga, to the number of about 600 were put to death, except a few who escaped on board nine or ten small vessels and put out to sea. Among these was the vessel belonging to Sebastian Gonzalez, who assumed the command; and as the fugitives were reduced to great distress, they subsisted by plunder on the coasts of Aracan, carrying their booty to the ports of the king of Bacala, who was in friendship with the Portuguese.