Kale Kye-Taung Nyo
He did not succeed to the throne but became a son-in-law of the successor, his half-uncle King Minkhaung I (r. 1400–1421), who in 1406 sent him to govern Kale, a remote Shan state in the northwest.
The prince proved a loyal and able vassal, keeping the frontier region quiet while leading several campaigns in Ava's long running war against Hanthawaddy Pegu between 1408 and 1423.
Nyo and Thado rose to be the deputy commanders-in-chief in 1412, and after the death of Crown Prince Minye Kyawswa in 1415, the duo became the leading commanders of the Ava military.
After having led the successful 1422–1423 campaign against Pegu, he quietly turned against his half-cousin the king, who spent much of his time away from the palace.
[note 3] He was the first child of the couple, who were first cousins, and the eldest grandchild of the reigning king of Ava, Swa Saw Ke (r. 1367–1400).
[10] In 1406, Minkhaung, who was planning to announce his eldest son Minye Kyawswa as his heir apparent, considered Nyo for the governorship at one of the northern border Shan states, in consultation with Chief Minister Min Yaza.
When the Forty Years' War between Ava and Pegu flared up again in 1408, Nyo went to the front, first serving under King Minkhaung,[11] and then under Crown Prince Minye Kyawswa.
As recounted in the chronicles, Nyo and Thado made their name by personally leading the charge on their war elephants and driving back the enemy into the walled city of Hsenwi.
[12][13] Indeed, Nyo was by Minye Kyawswa's side in the battle of Dala against Pegu on 13 March 1415 but he could not keep up with the crown prince, who was mortally wounded deep behind the enemy lines.
[15][16] But the leadership soon passed to Minkhaung's middle son Minye Thihathu, who was about nine years younger and had far less military experience than Nyo.
In the 1417–1418 campaign, it was Nyo's army that captured the heavily stockaded Fort Hmawbi, prompting King Razadarit at Pegu (Bago) to evacuate to Martaban (Mottama).
The Ava forces captured the entire Irrawaddy delta, and forced Prince Binnya Ran, the main pretender to the Pegu throne, to propose a peace treaty with terms favorable to Ava, including a marriage alliance between Thihathu and Princess Shin Saw Pu, Ran's sister.
In August 1425, based on the time and location provided to them by Bo-Me, Le Than Bwa and his men assassinated the king at his country estate in Aung Pinle.
[23] However, despite Bo-Me's intense lobbying for Nyo, the court instead chose Thihathu's eight-year-old eldest son Min Hla as king.
Tarabya II of Pakhan, Thihathu's younger brother with a legitimate claim to the throne, Nyo also gave Queen Shin Saw Pu to further appease his half-cousin.
In February 1426,[note 6] Thado marched south with an army, and his two teen-age sons sailed down the Irrawaddy with squadrons of war boats and cargo ships.
The main army defending the capital was largely made up of units from the vassals that had pledged allegiance to him such as Myinsaing, Toungoo, Taungdwin and Pakhan.
[25][26] Despite the preparations, Thissein fell quickly after a daring surprise attack from the river side by Thado's sons.
[25][26] Thray Sithu and his deputy Sokkate, old commanders of the Forty Years' War fame, either fell in action or were captured as they are not mentioned in the chronicles afterwards.
Instead of attacking head-on, Thado successfully persuaded Le Than Bwa to leave the fight by giving the sawbwa a substantial amount of gold and silver.
As Mohnyin troops closed in, the vassal rulers of Toungoo, Taungdwin and Pakhan renounced their ties to Nyo, and withdrew to their respective regions, taking their regiments with them.
He accepted the advice of Baya Gamani, one of his few remaining loyalists, that he leave for Arakan, the disorganized former kingdom to the west where he might find support.
[28][29] Guarded only by Gamani's single battalion, Nyo and Bo-Me first ventured south by land along the Irrawaddy before sailing down to Salin.
Just a few days later, as they prepared to cross the Arakan Hills at Pe-Lun-Taung, west of present-day Shwesettaw, Nyo suddenly fell ill and died.
[30] After Nyo's death, Gamani, ignoring Bo-Me's fierce protests, stopped the journey, and waited to be arrested at Shwesettaw.
The nearer Shan states in light yellow were tributaries of Ava. Nyo's fief in Kale (Kalay) was located at the westernmost edge of the Ava-controlled Shan states while his ally Le Than Bwa was sawbwa of Onbaung, present-day Thibaw (Hsipaw) .
