Alaungpaya posthumously awarded his old friend the title of Agga Maha Thenapati (Pali: Aggamahāsenāpati), the highest honor possible for a commoner.
[6] By January 1755, at the eve of Alaungpaya's invasion of Lower Burma, he had been awarded Minhla Minkhaung Kyaw, by which he would be known thenceforth, and was the chief of the Musket Corps of the army.
Alaungpaya's armies swept the western-side of Lower Burma, capturing Prome (Pyay) and the Irrawaddy delta by the end of April.
In early May, Minhla Minkhaung Kyaw's musket corps led the capture the important town of Dagon (present-day Yangon) opposite the main seaport of Syriam (Thanlyin).
While the Konbaung forces captured the only French ship left at the port, and further tightened the noose of the starving city, their lead general was severely wounded by mortar fire.
As the boat approached the bank, the king discarded royal protocol and waded into the water to see his old friend, who had won him many battles.
The king publicly mourned the death of his chief general and honored him with a funeral under a white umbrella before the whole army.