Smim Payu Smim Payu ( , ; died 1544 ) was a general and admiral of the Royal Burmese Armed Forces , and a senior minister at the court of King Tabinshwehti of Toungoo Dynasty from 1536 to 1544 . The ethnic Mon commander was originally a minister at the court of King Takayutpi of Hanthawaddy but joined Tabinshwehti ' s service in 1536 and rose to be one of the top advisers to the Toungoo king . He is most well known for planning and commanding the 1541 naval attack on Martaban ( Mottama ) that finally breached the defenses of the last Hanthawaddy holdout , and ended the Toungoo – Hanthawaddy War ( 1534 – 41 ) . Military career . Switching to Tabinshwehti ' s side . Smim Payu was a minister at the court of King Takayutpi and a general in the Hanthawaddy Army . He battled Toungoo forces early in the Toungoo – Hanthawaddy War ( 1534 – 41 ) . In November 1536 , he commanded a cavalry battalion in the Hanthawaddy regiments sent to the front to meet the invading Toungoo forces on their way to Pegu , the capital of Hanthawaddy . The opposing armies met near Kawliya ( modern Thongwa , Bago Region ) , and the Hanthawaddy army was defeated . Payu himself was captured . After the capture , Payu decided to switch sides . He was made a senior commander in the Toungoo army and an adviser to King Tabinshwehti . In the 1538 – 1539 campaign that finally captured Pegu , Payu commanded one of the seven flotillas that chased the retreating Hanthawaddy forces . Battle of Martaban ( 1540 – 1541 ) . He made his name at the battle of Martaban . The city of Martaban ( Mottama ) on the upper Tenasserim coast was the last Hanthawaddy holdout . In November 1541 , Toungoo forces laid siege to the port city . He led an army at first but was later reassigned to take command of the Toungoo navy with the rank of admiral ( ; lit . " Minister of War Boats " ) . For months , Toungoo forces tried but could not break through the wealthy port ' s heavily fortified defenses that included Portuguese mercenaries , firearms and warships . Toungoo armies could not even get near the high walls of the city defended by Portuguese muskets and cannon . Payu ' s " navy " , which consisted of small war boats , too was unable to take on seven Portuguese warships guarding the harbor . Payu then proposed a plan to the Toungoo command that the main attack needed go through the harbor . The king , who was personally leading the siege , accepted the plan , and appointed him to carry it out . The admiral went up the Salween river with thousands of men , and built two types of rafts . One type contained bamboo towers higher than the walls of the port . The others were fire - rafts . In May 1541 , seven months into the siege and only weeks away from the rainy season , several fire - rafts " with flames higher than a toddy tree " came floating down the river toward the Portuguese ships guarding the harbor . Three of the seven Portuguese ships fled to the sea . The remaining four ships were either burned or captured . Then the rafts with mounted bamboo towers , crammed with troops and musketeers , slipped past the wreckage , and made it to the wall by the harbor . The Toungoo troops , who were exchanging musket fire with the defenders on the wall , then jumped over and soon won a foothold . The city fell , and the upper Tenasserim coast came under Toungoo rule . Payu was showered with awards by the grateful king . He was given Myaungmya in fief and assigned his own cavalry and elephant regiments . He was also given the responsibility to administer the newly enlarged kingdom with Bayinnaung , the king ' s deputy . Battle of Prome ( 1541 – 1542 , 1543 – 1544 ) . Payu was the joint commander of the navy ( with Nanda Yawda , governor of Thamyindon ) in Toungoo ' s November 1541 attack on Prome Kingdom . Toungoo forces took the city of Prome ( Pyay ) in May 1542 . In response , Prome ' s erstwhile overlord Confederation of Shan States tried to retake Prome in December 1543 . Payu was one of the three top military strategists ( along with Bayinnaung and Saw Lagun Ein ) advising the king . ( Payu and Lagun Ein were under the command of Bayinnaung . ) Faced with an impending naval and land invasion , the troika advised that Toungoo forces focus on defeating the Confederation ' s navy first . Their strategy , Payu noted , was modeled after the strategy used by King Razadarit against King Minkhaung I in the Forty Years ' War . Tabinshwehti agreed . In December 1543 , the Toungoo navy lured the Confederation navy ( consisted of 30 large war boats , 30 fast war boats , and 50 cargo ships ) to an area where the Toungoo armies had set up artillery on both banks of the Irrawaddy . The Confederation navy was smashed by artillery fire . Without naval support , the 16 , 000 - strong Confederation armies could not break Toungoo lines , and retreated after a month in January 1544 . Death . Smim Payu died in late 1544 . He was deeply respected by the ethnic Mon lords of Lower Burma . Chronicles report that all of the Mon lords shaved their heads in mourning . His governorship at Myaungmya was succeeded by Satu Gamani .