Payu was the joint commander of the navy (with Nanda Yawda, governor of Thamyindon) in Toungoo's November 1541 attack on Prome Kingdom.Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 203, 209 Toungoo forces took the city of Prome (Pyay) in May 1542. In response, Prome's erstwhile overlord Confederation of Shan States tried to retake Prome in December 1543. Payu was one of the three top military strategists (along with Bayinnaung and Saw Lagun Ein) advising the king. (Payu and Lagun Ein were under the command of Bayinnaung.) Faced with an impending naval and land invasion, the troika advised that Toungoo forces focus on defeating the Confederation's navy first. Their strategy, Payu noted, was modeled after the strategy used by King Razadarit against King Minkhaung I in the Forty Years' War.Hmannan Vol. 2 2003: 217–220 Tabinshwehti agreed. In December 1543, the Toungoo navy lured the Confederation navy (consisted of 30 large war boats, 30 fast war boats, and 50 cargo ships) to an area where the Toungoo armies had set up artillery on both banks of the Irrawaddy. The Confederation navy was smashed by artillery fire. Without naval support, the 16,000-strong Confederation armies could not break Toungoo lines, and retreated after a month in January 1544.Harvey 1925: 157–158
