Page 147 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SUM 141

the year 1592 he was making ready to invade Cambodia,
in order to inflict what he regarded as necessary punish-
ment the treacherous Satt'a. He
upon King had,
a number of men under arms, and had
therefore, large
no cause for when he heard that two Burmese
great dismay
armies were on the of his dominions. He
point invading
determined to attack whichever
immediately army
arrived first.
The Crown Prince of Burma, as it was the
happened,
first to arrive. He advanced to the of
village Trap'angkru,
north-east of
Sup'an. King Naresuen, accompanied by
his brother, took up a position at Nong Sa Rai, about
miles to the east of the Burmese The
thirty army.
Siamese forces were inferior to the Burmese
greatly
in numbers, and the King therefore decided to await
an attack at Nong Sa Rai, where he held a strong
position.
When the Burmans were to be
reported advancing,
one Sri Sai was sent forward with a small
P'ya Narong
force to reconnoitre, with orders not to allow himself
to be engaged in action. The next morning, when the
King and Prince were arming themselves for the expected
conflict, shots were heard, and it was found that P'ya
Sri Sai had attacked the
Narong, contrary to orders,
Burmese. The King sent a message to the P'ya to the
effect that he need no reinforcements, but must
expect
back as best he could. On this
get receiving message,
Sri Sai and his whole force turned and
P'ya Narong
fled helter-skelter. The Burmese
pursued them, prob-
that the whole Siamese was about to
ably thinking army
flee. It thus came about that the tactics adopted by
to draw on
King Naresuen on a former occasion, namely
the a were on this occasion
enemy by feigned retreat,
followed but In a short time the
again, unintentionally.