Smin Byat Za (, ; also spelled in Burmese, သမိန်ဖြတ်စ, ; d. 1413) was co-chief minister of Hanthawaddy and the commander-in-chief of the Hanthawaddy armed forces from 1388 to 1413 during the reign of King Razadarit. He also held key governorship posts at Myaungmya (1390–1413) and Donwun (1388–1390). Along with his colleague Dein Mani-Yut and his key officer Lagun Ein, Byat Za was instrumental in Razadarit's reunification campaigns of the Mon-speaking kingdom in the late 1380s, as well as the Forty Years' War against the Burmese-speaking Ava Kingdom until his death. Early career The first mention of him in the chronicle Razadarit Ayedawbon is as one of the court officials who pledged allegiance to the new king Razadarit in 1384. His name was Ma Thauk (မသောက်), and he was given the title Than-Lan (သံလံ) by the new king. The Pak Lat Chronicles say that he was already a senior minister and commander with the title Smin Than-Byat (သမိန်သံဗြတ်) in 1387 when he was posted at Tari. At any rate, neither mentions him as a senior commander or minister during the first two invasions of Hanthawaddy (1385–1387) by the northern Ava Kingdom. Indeed, he commanded just 500 troops in 1387. Rise to prominence Nevertheless, the regimental commander quickly rose to be the top commander and strategist of the young king after his success in the Martaban campaign of 1387–1388. The campaign was Razadarit's attempt to consolidate his kingdom during a lull in the war against Ava. Than-Lan and one of his deputies Than-Lon made their name early in the campaign in the battles in the northern part of the province that led to the capture of Donwun, a key town about north of Martaban. Impressed, the king quickly brought Than-Lan into his inner circle, and ultimately accepted Than-Lan's battle plan on Martaban (Mottama), the provincial capital. The king also appointed Than-Lan commander of a thousand-strong rearguard regiment in the 7000-strong invasion army. The battle plan almost did not work. It turned out that the Martaban command had expected the route of the attack. Martaban forces led by the rebel governor Byattaba himself ambushed Pegu's five vanguard regiments as they came out of the forest at the outskirts of Martaban, and thoroughly routed them. However, the Martaban command did not know that two other enemy regiments remained in the forest. When Dein, commander of the other rearguard unit asked Than-Lan if they