The Dutch, accordingly sent a force, consisting of four hundred Europeans and six hundred islanders, under the orders of one Tak, an officer who had incurred the suspicion of having purloined the centre diamond from the Majapáhit crown, and on whom, according to the impression which pervades the Dutch accounts, the Susúnan had determined to be revenged.
On the approach of the Dutch troops, the Susúnan, alarmed lest they should succeed in arresting Surapáti, determined to afford him every assistance, and for that purpose directed, that when they arrived, the Ráden Adipáti (prime minister), who had given his daughter in marriage to Surapáti, should openly espouse his cause, and proceed, in the first instance, to attack the lines of the Adipátis of Madúra and Surabáya, who after a skirmish should retreat to the alun alun in confusion, exhibiting all the appearance of a defeat, while the united party of the Ráden Adipáti, and Sarapáti should appear to threaten the kráton. The Pangéran Púgar being strongly attached to Surapáti, received orders, that if, in the affair with the Dutch, the party of Surapáti and the minister should be worsted, he should render them assistance, by sending his people to them clothed in white, the distinction adopted by Surapáti.
When the Dutch arrived, to cover appearances, a new prime minister was appointed. The commander requested assistance from the Susúnan, who pointed out to him the apparent state of affairs, and induced him to believe that he was himself in danger from the attack of Surapáti. Under this impression, Tak made his arrangements; and the Dutch troops appeared on the front alun alun at eight o'clock in the morning, when they were immediately attacked by Surapáti. After four hours of hard fighting, Surapáti was repulsed; but reinforcements being sent by Pangéran Púgar, and by the whole population of the city, the Dutch were completely destroyed. Tak, at his last extremity, ordered out from the fort two hundred soldiers remaining there; but as they could not join their companions, they were immediately surrounded and cut up. Of the two thousand men, eleven hundred and eighty-three lost their lives; and among them Tak, who was mortally wounded in the neck by the celebrated pusáka spear of Pangéran Púgar. The weapon was found blunted at the point by the chain jacket which Tak is said to have worn on the occasion.
The Susúnan now directed the Ráden Adipáti and Surapáti to take refuge in the province of Pasúruan, and assume the habit of devotees; while to the Adipátis of Madúra and Surabáya orders were given to follow them at a certain distance, burning the villages and laying waste the country, as if in pursuit of an enemy. When Surapáti reached Pasúruan, he took the name of Adipáti Wíra Nagára.
The few Dutch who had survived made their escape to the fort of Japára, which was then more extensive than that at Semárang.
After this the Susúnan wrote to the commanding officer at Japára, informing him that Tak, with all the party, had been killed by the Ráden Adipáti and Surapáti, who had also attacked him, but that they had at last driven them to the eastward, by the force he had collected under the Adipátis of Madúra and Surabáya. He also informed him that he had elected a new prime minister, in lieu of the one who had espoused the cause of Surapáti. The Susúnan, fearing lest this story might not be believed, and that he might be suspected of having assisted Surapáti, sent with this letter five píkuls of birds' nests, forty oxen, and other articles of value, which he entrusted to the care of a priái gándok (a messenger of distinction) named Jága Rága, with instructions to mark well the thoughts of the commander or officer who was the chief of Japára, and if he shewed the least suspicion of the part the Susúnan had taken, mainly to deny it, and firmly to insist that the Susúnan was true-hearted to the Hollanders. He moreover promised to his ambassador, that if he succeeded in averting the anger of the Dutch, he would reward him on his return.
This messenger accordingly proceeded to Japára, when the chief officer, after reading the letter, said he had heard the Susúnan was of one heart with Surapáti; to which Jága Rága replied, that what he had heard was false, and that perhaps the story might have originated in the part taken by the Ráden Adipáti, whose attachment to Surapáti was well known. He then referred to the circumstance of the country's being laid waste by Surapáti on his flight to the eastward, in proof of his enmity. The commander heard this explanation with patience, and after receiving the presents, with which he was much pleased, returned for answer to the Susúnan, that he had first heard that he was favourable to Surapáti, but was now convinced, from the explanation afforded, that these reports were unfounded, and that he was satisfied of the lasting attachment of his highness to the Dutch. He then thanked him for his present, and in return sent one thousand ducatoons, with an assortment of velvets and cloth. The messenger having thus succeeded, was raised to the rank and station of Tumúng'gung of Japára, by the name and title of Kiái Tumúng'gung Márta Púra.
The next indignity offered to the Dutch was by this man, who laid hold of a half cast Dutch soldier at Japára, and insisted upon his sitting on the ground on his hams and dancing the tandák, after the fashion of the Javans, for his amusement. The Dutch, highly incensed, demanded the immediate release of the man; but the Tumúng'gung refusing, an application was sent to the Susúnan, requesting that Márta Púra might be put to death. The Susúnan immediately sent for Pangéran Púgar and his minister, and desired them to communicate with Márta Púra, and if they found he had the courage to oppose the Dutch to give him assistance under hand, or to promote his success by some stratagem, in the same manner as he had done to Surapáti; but if not, to let him be sacrificed, as a punishment for his cowardice. He then replied to the commodore, saying, that he had sent his own people to arrest Márta Púra, and to deliver him to the commander, who might act with his person as he thought proper. When the minister arrived at Japára it was agreed that Márta Púra should be invited into the Dutch fort, and there apprehended early next morning; but in the meantime the agents of the Susúnan had a secret interview with the chief, who declared himself ready to oppose the Dutch, and it was determined that their pretending to seize him should be a signal for all to join and amók the Hollanders: but in the morning the heart of Márta Púra failed him. He twice refused to quit his retreat, and when at last he came into the presence of the party, he appeared trembling and pale, and his knees tottered under him, so that he was scarcely able to stand. They then gave him a chair to sit down upon, and plied him with wine. An officer having taken his kris from behind him, he rose from his chair and attempted to escape, but was bayoneted by a soldier on his way. The agents of the Susúnan, enraged to see him so thoroughly frightened, gave him no assistance, but ordered the dogs to devour his carcase. When the Susúnan heard of the cowardly conduct of Márta Púra he ordered that it should be publicly prohibited, on pain of his severest punishment, to harbour or afford assistance to his relations or children.
Afterwards the former Tumúng'gung of Japára, Sécha Nagára, was replaced, and a communication was, through him, made to the Dutch, intimating the willingness of the Susúnan to co-operate against the Surapáti, in consequence of which orders were given for the Dutch troops to proceed from Batavia. When the Susúnan had thus drawn the Dutch into a second attack upon this chieftain, he is represented "as being most delighted at the prospect which it afforded, that on the present occasion more of the Dutch troops might be sacrificed, in the same manner as in the recent affair at Kérta Súra."
The Adipáti of Surabáya and Madúra were immediately dispatched to Pasúruan to meet the Dutch, but having waited some time in vain for the arrival, a mock battle took place with Surapáti, when it was arranged that the Kérta Súra troops should take to flight, burning and laying waste the country as they retreated. A regular communication appears to have been kept up during the whole time between Surapáti and the Susúnan, who allowed him quietly to possess himself of the adjoining districts of Málang and Mádion. The Ráden Adipáti Aúrang Kasúma died about this time.