The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 132 Destiny is Fulfilled
Ban Sewong has a population of nearly 400,000, Chanthaburi has a population of just over 300,000, and Rayong has a population of over 100,000, totaling nearly 900,000.

By gaining this place, Zheng Xin finally achieved the strategic advantage of controlling the southeast and obtained nearly one-third of Siam's population.

The moment he raised the flag in Chanthaburi, the royal aura began to gather rapidly towards Taksin.

. . . .

Just after Taksin took Chanthaburi, captured Phraya Chanthaburi alive, and beheaded the traitors Khun Rama, Mong Song and others, the news finally came that the Burmese had captured Ayutthaya and killed King Agada.

The person who brought the news was also very strange.

The Burmese commander, General Suki, was slow to get the news. He thought Phraya Chanthaburi was fighting against Taksin, so he released a Thai mid-level officer named Nai Boon Meng.

Before Phraya Chanthaburi became rich due to the Thepphit Rebellion, he was Nai Boon Meng's direct superior and the two had a very good relationship.

So General Suki released Nai Wen Meng, who was already serving in the Thai traitor army, and asked him to take a letter of surrender written by General Suki himself to recruit Phraya Chanthaburi, hoping to attack Taksin from both the east and the west.

As a result, when Nai Bun Meng arrived in Chanthaburi, he found that the world had already belonged to Taksin, so he immediately defected, took the initiative to enter the city and kneel down to beg for forgiveness, and made the letter public.

Naturally, it was he who brought the news of the fall of Ayutthaya and the deaths of King Aghada and King Chaophattri.

Taksin could not find an excuse to deal with Phraya Chanthaburi, so he immediately forgave Naiwen Meng. Naiwen Meng also cooperated and immediately turned against Phraya Chanthaburi, saying that he had colluded with the Burmese army for a long time.

So on the fifth day of June, Taksin executed Phraya Chanthaburi's entire family on the pretext of colluding with the Burmese army.

At the same time, Taksin led the civil and military officials to wear plain white clothes according to Chinese customs, and invited monks to chant sutras, sprinkle holy water and other ceremonies according to Thai customs to commemorate King Agada and the victims of Ayutthaya.

After the memorial ceremony, the civil and military officials, guards and common people who had been prepared stopped Zheng Xin from leaving and asked him to be promoted to the title of king.

Zheng Xin firmly refused, but more and more people gathered, blocking the streets and alleys.

Seeing that more and more people were gathering, Mo Zibu was worried about a stampede, so he made a memorial in the interests of the people, asking Zheng Xin not to refuse.

But Zheng Xin seemed to be a little bit too excited, and was still shouting that he was a subject and could not establish himself.

Mo Zibu knew that he could not let Zheng Xin do as he pleased at this moment, so he immediately signaled to Tong, Zheng Mosai, Chen Lian and others.

So Chen Lian half pushed and half pulled Zheng Xin and walked towards the prepared platform.

Seeing that the atmosphere was indeed right, under the persuasion of Zheng Mosai, Tong and others, the "reluctant" Zheng Xin had to announce his acceptance, but he would not call himself the king but Zhao.

Chen Guangyao suddenly turned around and looked at Mo Zibu. Why did this procedure look so familiar?
It seems that someone came here once when he took office as the leader.

Mo Zibu quickly glared at Chen Guangyao and told him to turn around.

The word Zhao means king in Siamese, but it is not exactly the same as king. It is somewhat similar to the meaning of the word Tianwang in Chinese history, which is lower than the emperor.

From then on, Taksin began to be called Phi Chao Tat or Chao Tat Sin, and among the Chinese he was called Taksin or King Taksin.

As soon as the ceremony was completed on stage, Zheng Xin immediately began to confer titles on his ministers.

When all the ministers discussed the merits, they all voted Mo Zibu as the first.

How to say this, in the battle of Pattaya, Mo Zi Bu saved Zheng Xin and his entourage, and in the battle of Ayutthaya, Mo Zi Bu rescued nearly three thousand Teochew people.

These people still knew how to be grateful, and they all strongly supported Mo Zi Bu. Zheng Xin himself also favored Mo Zi Bu, so he became the first meritorious official.

Taksin kept his promise and conferred the title of Phraya Andai on Mok Tsongkhapa.

Andai means south or southern part in Thai, and Phraya means the lord of a place, which is equivalent to the Duke in Siam.

But Taksin's original intention was to confer the title of Chao Phraya on Mok Si Taw Yi, but this was not the Bangkok Dynasty of Rama I. In the Bangkok Dynasty, Chao Phraya was almost overused, but not now.

Although Phraya was not a hereditary title in Siam, he was a duke who could establish his own government and build a palace.

Then Chao Phraya would be a semi-independent duke or even a prince who could inherit the title and establish his own government.

But now, Taksin himself was only a Chao, so how could Mok Zi Bu dare to accept Chao Phraya's title.

After vehemently refusing, he was finally granted the title of Phraya, whose full name is Phraya Andai, meaning Lord of the South. According to European customs, he could be called the Grand Duke of the South.

As for Mo Zi Bu's subordinates, Zheng Xin said that Mo Zi Bu could report them himself, and he could confer any title below the rank of Luan as long as Mo Zi Bu agreed.

When he took over the scepter and sword symbolizing Phraya, Mo Zi Bu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Over the past six months, he had been fighting back and forth, with more than 300 soldiers killed in battle. His team had to be reorganized several times, and his own safety had been greatly threatened many times. But today, he was finally rewarded.

With Zheng Xin's support, he finally got his own territory.

Although some territories have not been completely conquered, the total area is about 100,000 square kilometers, which is roughly the size of Zhejiang Province.

The population of more than 500,000 is a bit small, but it is rich in gold and tin mines, and a lot of fertile land can be cultivated on both sides of the major rivers, so it has huge development potential.

In addition, Mozibu could also recover Tanassarin, which was occupied by the Burmese army, to the west, control the Kedah Sultanate of which Tongan native Ye Fengchang was his son-in-law, and to the south, recover the Kelantan Sultanate, which was once a vassal of Siam.

More importantly, Mo Zibu is now a wanted criminal, and Guangnan Kingdom has been looking for him, which has put a lot of pressure on the Mingxiang people in Hoi An and his relatives in Ha Tien.

Now that Mo Zi Bu has become the Phraya Andai of Siam, he can move around openly.

Hoi An and Ha Tien could also write to the Quang Nam court, saying, "Don't ask us for people now; go to Siam." Meanwhile, if the Dutch still wanted to take over Pattani, they wouldn't just be facing Mo Tz Bu itself, but Siam as well.

This was also one of the ways for the Chinese to survive in the Malay Peninsula in history. After the Qing Dynasty could no longer be relied upon, many Chinese relied on Siam to gain a foothold in the Malay Peninsula.

Similarly, Thailand’s ability to finally take away this large piece of land on the Malay Peninsula was inseparable from the support of the Chinese.

Although Siam is a little thin, it is still a big country in Southeast Asia with a population of 3 million, which is enough to provide sufficient protection for Mo Zibu, who now has only 2,000 soldiers.

Tong stood behind Zheng Xin, secretly looking at Mo Zibu with envy and jealousy.

He repeatedly suggested to Taksin that he should not confer the title of Phraya Andai on Mok Si Thong. It would be enough to confer the title of Phraya Nakhon Si Thammarat on one. He could confer more royal titles on the remaining places to strengthen control.

There is a big difference between the two. Phraya Andai is in charge of the south, including Nakhon Si Thammarat, Koh Tao, Songkhla, Pattani, Kedah, Kelantan and Tanah Seremban.

But Phraya Nakhon Si Thammarat was much smaller and could only control the area of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

This is also the reason why Phraya Andai should be called Chao Phraya Andai according to Siamese rules.

However, the plan failed. Zheng Xin's idea was very simple. These territories south of Nakhon Si Thammarat were difficult for Siam to control even in history. This had been the case since the Japanese Yamada Nagamasa killed the entire family of the original King of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The Siamese government supported the Chinese Chao Mon, promoted the Mon Phraya, and appeased the Malay Sultan, but the results were not good and rebellions continued to occur.

In this case, it would be better to let his son-in-law, a very capable Chinese, rule directly.

In this way, the Siamese court only needs to collect tribute from Mo Zi Bu, without wasting a single soldier or investing huge military expenditures, which is simply killing two birds with one stone.

Especially in the future, Chao Phraya Andai will definitely be inherited by his grandchildren, so why not do it?

But in fact, Tong's strategy was the correct choice for a monarch. Mo Zibu even couldn't help but sigh.

If he were Taksin, he would definitely just give Phraya Nakhon Si Thammarat now, which would be enough to reward him.

As for places like Gaotoulang and Songkhla, Mo Zi Bu did not actually control them, and it was not easy to force Wu Rang, Zhuang Chunde and others to surrender. Zheng Xin could wait until Mo Zi Bu made meritorious deeds in the future, and then slowly confer them on him.

Now it has been achieved in one step. It seems that Mo Zibu is extremely favored and can win people's hearts in a short time, but what about the future?
There are still so many battles to fight. If Mo Zibu makes great contributions in the future, how will you reward him?
Should we also give Bashu Prefecture to Mo Zibu? That would be like the guest taking over the throne.

Sure enough, Mo Zibu felt that Zheng Xin had a kind of beauty similar to that of King Fu, and this feeling was correct. He was not very good at handling close relationships, and emotions always outweighed rationality at critical moments.

. . . .

After conferring the title on Mok Tsut Bu, Taksin conferred the title of Phijayaraja, also known as Zheng Mincheng, as Phraya Phetchaburi, which was the title of Zheng Mincheng's father.

Tong was conferred the title of Luan Yujiaduo Luo, and Zheng Mosai was conferred the title of Luan Apaipali.

But the conferment of high-ranking titles ended there. Taksin himself was only called King, and did not become the King of Siam. Too many titles inevitably gave the impression that the titles were worthless.

Of course, some lower titles such as Kun and Wan were still conferred.

When Taksin proclaimed himself king and claimed that he would recapture Ayutthaya and avenge King Agada, the market immediately began to rise rapidly, and a large number of bystanders started to place bets.

In early June, Chen Sen, a Chinese businessman from Zhangzhou, came to seek refuge.

Chen Sen's father was Phraya, who managed the royal treasury of the Ayutthaya Dynasty and went to Beijing as a Siamese tribute envoy many times.

Chen Sen and his brothers were engaged in trade between Siam and Cambodia before the Burmese besieged Ayutthaya.

Now he 'just happened' to hear that Taksin had established himself in Chanthaburi, so he hurried over to join him.

Chen Sen had 32 merchant ships of various sizes, the largest of which was 200 tons. The total displacement tonnage of the fleet exceeded 3,000 tons, with more than 60 cannons and nearly a thousand muskets of various types.

The ship was loaded with 800 tons of rice, fish, bacon, and dried fruits, as well as 750 sailors.

Chen Sen donated all of these to Zheng Xin. The grain was used as military rations, the sailors were recruited as soldiers, and the merchant ships were converted into warships. Zheng Xin immediately reciprocated by appointing Chen Sen as the Minister of Chinese Affairs.

Soon after, Chaozhou's Nazhen and Chinese businessman Huang Gu also came to surrender, offering fifteen large ships, nine hundred pieces of silk, and fifteen cannons.

He also promised to manage the trade from Siam to Guangzhou for Taksin, and all the profits would be used as military expenses.

At the end of June, Chaozhou Chinese businessman Lin Wu sent people to seek refuge. He was a famous wealthy businessman at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River and monopolized 40% of the fishing and hunting in the area of dozens of kilometers above and below the Chao Phraya River.

His original base was in Thonburi, but after the Burmese army arrived, he moved to the river mouth.

Lin Wu promised to provide Zheng Xin with food and fodder for 10,000 soldiers and 3,000 livestock for transportation until Zheng Xin no longer needed them.

By mid-July, Chaozhou people and Chaozhou Nazhen from all over the country flocked to the city upon hearing the news.

In just one month, Zheng Xin obtained nearly a hundred large and small warships, 25,000 strong men, and thousands of tons of grain.

Those Chaozhou people who had money contributed money, those who had boats contributed boats, and those who could fight on the battlefield contributed men.

On August 15th, when Taksin held a grand banquet in Chanthaburi on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the situation had already been established.

With 150 warships, 35,000 soldiers, 60 field guns, more than 10,000 musketeers, and 100 war elephants, its strength far exceeded that of the Burmese garrison left in Siam.

At this point, even Europeans who were paying attention to the war in Siam began to call him "Zheng Zhao, the new king of Siam."

(End of this chapter)