Page 281 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM 265
The of the Burmese armies was
larger besieged by
King Taksin in a camp which they established near
Ratburi. In after losses and much suffer-
April, heavy
ing, they were forced to surrender, and their General,
with 1,328 starving men, was taken as a prisoner to
The smaller Burmese to make
Bangkok. army managed
good its escape, but only after suffering severe losses.
The of such a number of Burmese
sight large prisoners
must have had a very good effect on the morale of the
people of Bangkok. Hitherto they had become too
much accustomed to their own friends and
seeing
relations carried off to Burma.
Chiengsen was still in the hands of the Burmese,
and, in October 1775, Supla came down once more
to recapture Chiengmai. That city was very short
both of men and and could not have held out
supplies,
for But the news that Chao Chakri and
long. P'ya
Chao Surasih were on their to relieve
P'ya way Chiengmai
caused Bo to retire to
Supla again Chiengsen.
Chao P'ya Chakri and Chao P'ya Surasih had not
been in the north when had to back to
long they hurry
assist in with the most serious Burmese invasion
dealing
during King Taksin's reign. This invasion had as its
the reduction of the northern of Siam.
object provinces
The Burmese army was commanded by a celebrated
General called Maha Sihasura, who had been very suc-
cessful in the Chinese wars. The frontier was crossed
at Melamao, Raheng was captured, and in January 1776
a considerable Siamese army under Chao P'ya Surasih
was defeated near Suk'ot'ai and driven back to P'itsanulok.
After this, Suk'ot'ai fell, and the Burmese started to
besiege P'itsanulok. King Taksin himself led another
army to the relief of the northern capital, and a good deal
of hard took but in the end Chao
fighting place, P'ya