Page 244 - A History of Siam

228 A HISTORT OF SIAM
a combined Cambodian and Cochin-Chinese force, and
suffered one of the disasters recorded in Siamese
greatest
The soldiers were in condition for
history. poor fighting,
as their had run short and had been
provisions they
forced to kill and eat their baggage animals. This
unaccustomed diet made many of them ill. Nevertheless
were the when
they resisting enemy bravely P'ya Kosa,
whose fleet was attacked a much smaller
being by enemy
fell into a to the loss of a few of his
fleet, panic owing
and fled with the remainder out to sea. This
ships,
threw the land army into consternation, and they turned
and fled in a number of men
disorder, losing very large
and all their
artillery.
The northern army, under P'ya Chakri, was much
more successful. The Cambodians were defeated in
several small actions, and the Siamese advanced to
Udong, at that time the capital. King Keo Fa thereupon
offered to do the usual and
homage by sending gold
silver trees as a symbol of subjection to Siam. His offer
was and he was allowed to remain on his
accepted,
throne without further interference. It must be admitted
that this was only a partial success for Siam, as the
avowed of the was to restore
object expedition King
Sri T'ammaraja, which was never done. Considering
the utter defeat of P'ya Kosa's army, the partial
success Chakri was to
gained by P'ya not, however,
be
despised.
The rest of King T'ai Sra's reign was spent
in He the
peaceful pursuits. completed Mahajai
canal, the redigging of which had been begun by
his father, and built or repaired a number of
temples*
When King T'ai Sra's sons began to grow up, he
made the same fatal mistake which had led to so much