Page 259 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM
243
In 1763 Chiengmai, which was regarded by the
Burmese merely as a rebel province, was attacked.
The Chief of Lamp'un fled to P'ijai, and he and the
new Prince of Chiengmai, who had succeeded his brother
Chao Ong K'am the year before, appealed to King
Ekat'at for aid. An army was sent north under P'ya
P'itsanulok, but before anything could be done Chieng-
mai had fallen (July 1763), and a Burmese General,
Ap'ai K'amini, had been placed there as Governor.
Later in the same year the Burmese captured Luang
P'rabang.
With Burmese influence thus extending over the
whole of the Lao States, King Ekat'at would have done
well to adopt a conciliatory attitude. Instead of this,
he received an embassy from Huit'ongcha, the rebel
ruler of and from him emblems of
Tavoy, accepted
thus under this
vassalage, formally taking protection
a revolted Burmese on the that in
province, ground
former times Tavoy had belonged to Siam.
Tavoy did not long enjoy the nominal protection of
Siam. In November 1763 King Manglok of Burma
after a of three His
died, reign only years. younger
brother and successor, Mangra, 1 at once prepared to
subdue Tavoy, and it was captured by his General,
Maha Nohrata, 1 without much difficulty. The rebel
Governor fled to Mergui, The Siamese refused to
surrender him, so Siam was once more invaded, and
Mergui and Tenasserim occupied. The Burmese then
proceeded to occupy all the Siamese Peninsular States,
meeting with very little opposition until they reached
P'etchaburi. There for the time held
they were, being,
up by an army under a Chinese General, P'ya Tak
1 Hsinbushin in Harvey's History.
Called King Sri Suthammaraja Dhiphati.
This was a new Maha Nohrata. The original General of that name had
rebelled and was killed early in 1763.