The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 147 The Popular Will

In Thonburi City, Taksin was still stockpiling supplies, and then everyone else was stunned.

Tong looked at Chen Lian in disbelief, and the burning jealousy burst out from his whole body.

"In six days, Moktse Phraya Andai recaptured Ayutthaya?"

One cannot help but be surprised. Mo Zi Bu's record is even more exaggerated than Zheng Xin's in history.

In history, when Taksin recaptured Ayutthaya, although Mongye still fled, Taksin still fought a small battle with General Suki, and General Suki surrendered.

And then he rebelled again, which took Zheng Xin a lot of effort.

But Mo Zibu had beaten General Suki so hard last time that he was a little scared.

In addition, he had more cards to play and his understanding of the Konbaung Dynasty was much stronger than Taksin's, so he was able to deal with General Suki by only reluctantly taking over two young women.

"Yes, Phraya defeated the Burmese general Monye in one battle, beheading a hundred of them. Then he led twenty cavalrymen into the Mon camp and persuaded the Mon leader Suki to turn against his enemies and surrender." Chen Lian answered loudly and excitedly.

Zheng Xin laughed heartily, completely unaware of the jealous looks from the generals around him, such as Tong.

"Great! Zibu is truly my Champion! Let's set out now to recapture the capital."

Well, even if Mo Zibu heard it, he could only smile bitterly and forgive Zheng Xin's level of Chinese studies. Guanjun Hou was indeed powerful, but he died at the age of 23!

Wu Shiying, who came with Chen Lian, was even a little angry. What kind of example was this?
If we want to give examples, shouldn't we pick from the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai and the Twenty-Four Heroes of Lingyan Pavilion? More recent examples like the King Wuning of Zhongshan and the King Zhongwu of Kaiping in the Ming Dynasty would also be acceptable.

. . . .

At the Three Bodhisattvas position, Mo Zibu gathered his troops and did not pursue the fleeing General Mengye.

Because the enemy had a lot of war horses, he couldn't catch up, and there was no need to chase them. He couldn't finish the battle by himself.

After deciding to surrender, General Suki was quite sensible. He tortured them in Ayutthaya and took out two-thirds of the treasures they had dug out.

Mo Zibu didn't even look at it, and directly asked Chen Lian and Kun Apayebudi to seal it up and wait for Zheng Xin.

General Suki sent over another bunch of colorful women for Mo Zibu to choose from.

Moreover, these were not ordinary women, but princesses and concubines of the Ayutthaya Dynasty. Thihapati left in a hurry and did not have time to take all the Siamese noble ladies with him.

Mo Zibu asked around and found out that among the four princesses, one was King Agada's sister and three were King Agada's daughters.

There are two others who are the concubines of King Agada, but they are a bit old. Only these four Siamese princesses are in their youth.

After comforting them, Mo Zibu allocated a tall military building for them to live in and found some captured Siamese women to serve them.

As for women, Mo Zibu now understood. It's not that those Siamese princesses are not beautiful and their status is decent, but there is no need for him to get involved.

Because ever since he began to be considered alone, Mo Zibu understood a truth.

A king’s role in bed is no less important than on the battlefield.

In order to unify the various ethnic groups in Southeast Asia in the future, many marriages will be needed, and many women must be taken in, such as General Suki's daughter.

Mo Zibu doesn't even know their age and appearance now, but he has to accept them, so that he can gain the Meng people's loyalty. Not to mention their goodwill, but at least their favor and willingness to follow.

At the same time, in addition to these necessary marriages, Mo Zibu always has a few types that he likes.

If it is not controlled, by the time it is actually accomplished, there will be no less than fifty or sixty people in the harem, and the effectiveness of the marriage will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, Mo Zibu declined the offer from the Siamese princess, who had almost completely lost her role except for her status. She was not as good as Chen Hui.

Although Chen Hui's experience was a bit tragic, it could be used to tie down Chen Lian.

The Chen family is the largest family in Chaoshan, and later generations accounted for more than 40% of the Chaoshan people in mainland China. At this time, it was the same in Siam, and was the largest family among the Chaoshan people in Siam.

Therefore, Mo Zibu would rather keep Chen Hui by his side as a servant than choose these Siamese princesses.

But in the eyes of others, this is the sign of a leader, at least that's what General Suki thinks.

When he saw that Mo Zibu was not greedy for gold, silver, and treasures, and was not tempted by beauty at all, he immediately raised his evaluation of him several levels.

When Zheng Xin arrived, he was very satisfied with Mo Zibu's actions.

Not to mention the treasures, no one can have too much, even these four princesses of the Ayutthaya Dynasty, Zheng Xin also likes them very much. Mo Zibu is a time traveler, and the flesh-and-blood River Immortal Mo family plays with the Annan people. He has no feelings for the Siamese princesses, but for Zheng Xin, they are very precious.

To make an inappropriate analogy, it's like the pleasure of a retainer turning the tables one day and taking over the mistress and her daughters.

Of course, it is not appropriate for Zheng Xin to marry these princesses directly at the moment. He still knows to consider the impact.

Moreover, Taksin had another important thing to do, which was to bury King Agada who was hastily buried by the Burmese army.

At the end of December, Taksin ordered the captured Burmese troops to search everywhere and finally found the burial place of King Agada. However, after six months of decay, it was unrecognizable.

Fortunately, King Agada suffered from severe diabetes during his lifetime and had several toes amputated during treatment by Portuguese missionaries. His bones were still very distinctive, and combined with several small items he carried with him, it was finally confirmed that it was King Agada himself.

In the 1768rd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty ( AD), on the third day of the first lunar month, Taksin transported King Agada's body to Ayutthaya.

At this time, after more than a year of fighting and destruction, Ayutthaya had become a complete ruin.

Especially after the city was captured, the Burmese army looted and then set fire to it, and the palaces and houses were almost reduced to ashes. Not only could the collapsed houses not be repaired, but cleaning them up became a huge problem.

At the same time, the Burmese army did not bury the bodies in Ayutthaya, so even after six or seven months, there was still a foul smell everywhere in the city, and all the canals were polluted and could not be drunk.

Taksin could only build a ceremonial platform in the square in front of the ruins of the palace, and tried his best to make a coffin for King Agada that was suitable for his king's status.

Subsequently, a grand funeral was held for King Agada in the presence of the surviving royal family of the Ayutthaya dynasty.

Before setting up the ceremonial platform, Taksin sent envoys and officials everywhere to persuade the Siamese people who had hidden in the swamps and forests to come out.

When they arrived, Taksin couldn't help but burst into tears. The plain where Ayutthaya was originally located was the most essential part of Siam. More than 700,000 people lived on a territory only the size of Chanthaburi.

But now, after more than a month of searching, only more than 100,000 people have been found.

Looking around the entire Ayutthaya city, countless people were killed by hunger, disease, and war, and their corpses were scattered all over the ground and piled up into mountains.

Those who were still alive were pale and thin, looking like hungry ghosts. Women, children, the elderly and the weak were rare, and it was obvious that many had already died.

After the funeral, the surviving royal family members of Ayutthaya and the original Siamese nobles collectively came forward to elect Taksin as the King of Siam.

The uncle of the King of Agada said directly: "King Agada was incompetent and could not protect his subjects, so his throne was crushed by the Burmese.

Taksin, you drove out the Burmese, restored the capital, and showed compassion to the people. You should be the new king."

The other royal nobles also said, "If you, Daxin, cannot be king, then don't we have to recognize Tiepibi as king?"

At this time, the direct royal family of Siam still had Thephiphit, the younger brother of King Agada.

He was supported by Phraya Korat and controlled Korat, Buriram, Ubon Ratchathani and other places, and also called himself Chao.

However, these royal families were unwilling to support Thephiphit because before the Burmese invasion, Thephiphit had caused rebellion in Chanthaburi, which was Taksin's current base.

This civil war caused heavy losses to Siam, especially the main imperial guards of the Ayutthaya Dynasty, which led to the invasion of the Burmese. The dynasty had to rely mainly on the local Phraya vassal troops.

Therefore, these Ayutthaya royals believed that it was Theppibai's provocation and King Agada's stupidity that caused this battle that should not have happened, which led to the destruction of the Ayutthaya dynasty.

Another thing is that these people had tried their best to help King Agada defeat Thephipatti, and they were also afraid that Thephipatti would become the Queen of Siam and come after them to settle the score.

Therefore, it would be better to support Zheng Xin, who is powerful and can treat them well.

So, three days after King Agada's funeral, Taksin officially proclaimed himself king in Ayutthaya.

If the title of King in Chanthaburi was mostly supported by Siamese Chinese and Najin, now it is mostly supported by Siamese people.

As long as Taksin eliminates all separatist forces and completely drives the Burmese army out of Siam, he can be officially crowned as the King of Siam.

After Zheng Xin was supported in Ayutthaya, his reputation spread even further, and a large number of Siamese people came from all directions, bringing their elderly and children with them, to join him.

At this time, Siam had been in constant war and had not carried out much spring plowing and autumn harvest for two consecutive years. Siam, which was originally a major rice exporter, began to suffer from famine.

Taksin had little food and was afraid that the Burmese would attack and kill so many people, so he had no choice but to abandon Ayutthaya and retreat to Thonburi.

At the same time, Taksin ordered Tong and General Pai Jingyin to start sweeping around Ayutthaya and eliminate the small Burmese troops nearby. Tong then quickly and peacefully recovered Hua Hin, Sing Buri and other cities.

But these places were meaningless, with few civilians and little food. They could only leave a small number of troops to garrison there and then retreat.

(End of this chapter)