loyal to the late king refused to acknowledge the new boy king. Razadarit for his part considered the entire "32 districts" of the Martaban province in revolt. One silver lining was that not all the rebels were united. For example, Gov. Smim Than-Hlyit of Donwun, who fought against Byattaba in the 1360s, declared that he was not allied anyone. Byattaba and Laukpya too were not in sync as to how to respond to Razadarit. Laukpya believed that they needed external support to keep Pegu at bay. Laukpya's preferred external power was the northern Ava Kingdom, which by the mid-1380s, had emerged as the main power in the Irrawaddy valley, and was intent on restoring the erstwhile Pagan Empire. Byattaba, whose territory bordered the Tai states to the east, was much more circumspect about an alliance with Ava, and ultimately decided to stay neutral. Unlike Laukpya, he did not attack Pegu during the first two invasions of Pegu by Ava in 1385–1387. The fighting took place almost entirely in the delta. War (1387–1388) Byattaba's decision would come back and haunt him. In 1387, after two failed invasions, Ava had to pause its war in the south as it was pulled into a renewed conflict with the northern Shan state of Maw. Razadarit immediately seized the opportunity, and sent a sizeable army to Martaban in the dry season of 1387–1388. Much of the fighting took place in the northern parts of the province. It took several months before the Pegu army could breach the defenses of Donwun. Than-Hlyit and his 300 troops tried to flee to Martaban but the governor-general was killed en route by the Pegu troops. The way to Martaban was now open. Unlike before, Laukpya had not opened the western front. But Byattaba did not panic. He still had the support of his other brothers, E Bya Bon and U-Lo, who were commanders in his army, and had collected enough men and arms. When the Martaban command heard that a Pegu army was taking a circuitous route through the woods to encircle the city from the east, the brothers planned a surprise attack outside the city. In the wee hours, the Martaban army, led by the three brothers themselves, ambushed and destroyed the five vanguard regiments of the Pegu army. But the Martaban command did not know that two Pegu rearguard regiments, led by generals Smim Than-Byat and Dein,