Page 143 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SIAM
137
was hottest, and oblivious to or
fighting always danger
fatigue. It is impossible to doubt that it was the example
thus set by Prince Naresuen, and nothing else, which
inspired the Siamese to offer so stern a resistance against
what must have seemed odds. In the
overwhelming
end, the King of Burma, disheartened by the heavy
losses sustained his the
by armies, confronted by spectres
of famine and disease, and fearing worse troubles when
the season retired to Burma.
rainy started,
From this time onwards the of Siam
independence
seemed assured.
The outcome of this was unfortunate for
siege very
King Satt'a of Cambodia. Determined to avenge his
brother's real or he invaded Siam
imaginary wrongs,
in and Prachim. Prince Naresuen
early 1587, captured
retaliated, as soon as the Burmese peril had been averted,
the Cambodians from Prachim and
by driving pursuing
them into their own and Pursat
country. Battambang
were and the Siamese advanced to Lowek, at
captured,
that time the of Cambodia. to lack of
capital Owing
the Siamese were forCCd to but the
supplies, withdraw,
Black Prince from that time onward determined to be
revenged on King Satt'a. Being himself a man of his
word, the conduct of the Cambodian monarch in treating
" "
the of as a of to
Treaty 1585 scrap paper appeared
him as a of of
piece perfidy deserving condign punishment.
In July 1590 King Maha T'ammaraja died. He was
and had for
aged seventy-five, reigned twenty-one years.
In his active and he became in middle
youth patriotic, age
a traitor to his and ascended the throne when
country,
Siam had sunk into a state of for which he was
degradation
1 Siamese histories state that Nanda Bhureng besieged Ayut'ia twice, once
early in 1587 and again at the beginning of 1588, but give no details about the
Burmese The author
second siege. does not mention the second siege.
history
has concluded that only one siege took place.