Page 118 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM
ii 4
King Chakrap'at sent to beg for the return of these
two Princes. This was agreed to on two conditions ;
that the Burmese should be allowed to
firstly, army
retire unmolested, and secondly, that two very celebrated
should be delivered to the of Burma.
elephants King
The two were but were so
elephants sent, they unmanage-
able that threw the whole Burmese into
they army
confusion. They were, therefore, restored to the
Siamese, and Tabeng Shwe T'i returned to Burma with-
out even so much as a of to show as
couple elephants
a result of his
expedition.
had one taste of a Burmese
King Chakrap'at, having
set to work to his
invasion, wisely prepare Kingdom
for another. In 1550 he began to build brick walls and
fortifications round to the old mud
Ayut'ia, replace
wall of King Rama T'ibodi I. He further strengthened
the defences of the an exterior moat to
city by causing
be in addition to the moat. He
dug, already existing
then proceeded to dismantle the defences of several
frontier towns which were difficult to
thought hold,
and were more to serve as bases for the
likely enemy
than as defences to the
capital.
At this time, moreover, the system of calling
men for service was and
up military reorganised,
the fleet of river was and was
warships enlarged,
improved by the introduction of a new type of
vessel.
The towns of Nont'aburi, Nak'on Jaisri, and
T'achin were also founded at this
period, together
with other to be used as
towns, recruiting
centres.
King Chakrap'at had great faith in elephants as a
fighting arm, and he spent most of his spare time during
the next few in these animals. Between
years catching