The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 95 Zheng Xin's View on Loyalty
Ayutthaya, the residence of Zheng Guoying.

At this moment, all of Zheng Guoying's close forces gathered around him.

Including Rama I and his younger brother in later generations.

The Nazhen (Tang-Siamese mixed race) led by Commander Phi and Luang Siwarakhan.

Many Chaozhou compatriots who were not Siameseized, led by Chen Lian, as well as Zheng Xin's Thai followers, such as the powerful general Pai Jingyin.

The reason why so many people gathered in Zheng Guoying's residence without any scruples was that the current situation was already very dangerous and there was no need to consider whether King Agada would be wary.

These Chinese people gathered here at Zheng Guoying to discuss whether they should try their best to support the sinking Ayutthaya Dynasty, or find a way to break out and plan for the future.

Just as everyone sat down, the soup that Zheng Xin had ordered to be prepared was not yet ready when Tong walked in quickly from outside and said to Zheng Guoying with some joy:
"Phrayada, Phraya Phetchaburi's servant has brought a visiting card. Phetchaburi will come to visit in half an hour."

Everyone in the room was surprised and delighted when they heard this.

Phraya Phetchaburi, like Taksin's Phraya Taksin, is a respectful title for official positions.

Phraya is a title of nobility, between the Chinese rank of Prince and Duke. It comes with fiefdoms and can appoint officials, but it is not necessarily hereditary.

Phetchaburi and Tak are both names of cities.

So Phraya Phetchaburi means Duke of Phetchaburi.

Phraya Da is the Duke of Tak City.

The reason why the people in the house were surprised and happy was that Phraya Phetchaburi and Phraya Tat Cheng Kok Ying were both Chinese Nazhen and descendants of Teochew people.

Moreover, Phraya Phetchaburi also has the surname Zheng, his Chinese name is Zheng Taixing, and his Siamese name is Tawan, which means sunshine, and is pronounced as Tai quickly, so he is also called Zheng Tai by the Chinese.

Not only was Zheng Tai a Chaozhou native like Zheng Xin, but the two were also relatives and cousins in terms of seniority.

But before that, the two were not close.

Because Zheng Guoying and Zheng Xin were promoted by King Agada.

Tawan Zhengtai was the confidant of his brother Prince Wubentong, who was forced to step down by King Agada.

After Prince Wu Bentong was forced by King Agada to become a monk, Zheng Tai also planned to send troops to support Prince Wu Bentong.

However, in the end, the plan was abandoned because King Wuben Tong was suffering from leprosy and was unwilling to be king anymore.

After that, King Agada tried to eliminate Zheng Tai several times, but because the pressure from the Burmese was too great, and Zheng Tai and others had been operating in Phetchaburi for generations and had considerable strength, he had no choice but to let them go temporarily.

But precisely because of this, Zheng Xin, who was promoted entirely by King Agada, could not get close to Zheng Taiduo.

However, now, Taksin was widely slandered because he held a lot of military power and did not satisfy the bribes demanded by his younger brother Chamun, and had long lost the favor of King Agada.

Phetchaburi, ruled by Zheng Tai, was also captured by the Burmese in the battle, and he had to retreat to Ayutthaya with more than 2,000 people.

At this time, the two finally broke free from the shackles that had originally suppressed them from interacting with each other, and met each other before the last moment came.

"Brother, it's only been three years since we last met, and yet you've aged so much."

At Zheng Xin's residence, he took the initiative to walk to the door to greet him and shook Zheng Tai's hand tightly.

Although the two are cousins, they are already five generations apart.

Zheng Tai was also much older than Zheng Xin, and was now 51 years old. Even his son Pijayaraja was a few years older than Zheng Xin.

"The country is about to perish, and the family has long been broken. I, your brother, am incompetent. Even though I have white hair, I can't save the country, nor can I save myself." Zheng Tai also held Zheng Xin's hand tightly, and his words were quite bleak.

Zheng Xin took Zheng Tai's hand and walked into the house, still trying to persuade him: "Brother, why do you say that? There are still 20,000 soldiers in the city, with sufficient food, grass and water.

The Burmese have come from afar and are inherently brutal; how can they last? By next year's rainy season, they will be forced to withdraw."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Tai sighed deeply and said nothing more. However, his son Pijaya Raja could not help but said angrily:
"Yesterday, Agada went to Wat Mahathat again and asked King Wubentong to come out and lead the troops. However, King Wubentong has been tortured by leprosy and cannot walk, so how can he lead the army to fight?

So the two treacherous ministers, Phraya Korat and Chamon, slandered King Wu Bentong, saying that he must have done so intentionally in order to demand full military power.

Upon hearing this, Agada was furious and had already boasted to King Wubentong that he could repel the Burmese even without King Wubentong, and was already planning to leave the city for a decisive battle.

"Leaving the city for a decisive battle?"

As soon as Pijaya Raja finished speaking, everyone in the room felt as if they had been struck by lightning. The hot-tempered Pai Jingyin roared in disbelief:
"The Burmese army is overwhelming us. The White Elephant King is as cunning as the devil of Avici Hell, and his soldiers are as elite as giant elephants and tigers. We are not even able to hold our ground. How can we leave the city to fight? Isn't that just courting death?"

Everyone was speechless, but no one suspected that Vijayaraja was talking nonsense.

Because King Agada is so stupid, let alone the idea of going out of the city for a decisive battle, he can even give more outrageous orders.

For example, last month, due to corruption in the Siamese army, some of the cannons imitated European ones were of poor quality and exploded repeatedly.

As a result, some Siamese soldiers were afraid to fill their cannons with gunpowder when firing later.

But this made the artillery less powerful, and the shells often fell into the moat, which caused ridicule from the Burmese. They even compiled this into a song and sang it everywhere.

As a result, this incident caused great anger to King Agada, because he felt that this made him, the King of Siam, look bad.

In response to this matter, King Agada set up a special supervision team, requiring each gunner to check whether the gunpowder was sufficiently loaded before firing.

But..., you can send someone to supervise, but the quality of the artillery will not improve because of supervision!

This led to a serious consequence. The commanders and soldiers were afraid of being killed by the exploding cannons. If they did not follow the order and the shells continued to fall into the water, they would be punished by King Agada or even beheaded.

So, for the sake of their own lives, the war commander quickly reached a tacit understanding with the gunners: since firing the cannon would be fatal, why not just not fire? That would be safer. So, ever since King Agada issued the order that the cannon firing must be supervised by the war commander and the results must be reported, the Siamese gunners simply stopped firing.

So much so that in such a large city like Ayutthaya, the only gunner still fighting was a British missionary in the southwest of the city who was moved by the Chinese resistance spirit.

Together with the Chinese, they continued to bombard the Burmese with high-quality naval guns removed from the ship.

After all, without so many cannons, the firepower was insufficient, and the Burmese army took the opportunity to attack and captured the Siamese army position at the Three Bodhi Trees outside the city.

The Three Bodhi Trees are the highest point outside Ayutthaya and the best place to bombard the city. Now we just have to wait for the Burmese army to set up the cannons so that we can directly bombard the inner city or even the royal palace.

Of course, King Agada did more than just this, there are many other outrageous things he did.

So much so that no one was surprised at any stupid thing the king did again.

It's outrageous, but the saying that when a country is about to perish, there will be evildoers is not a joke, but a summary of blood and tears.

Without King Agada, Ayutthaya might not have been able to hold on.

Various delicacies were constantly brought up, but the Burmese had been besieging the city for more than ten months, even in Zheng Xin's mansion.

The so-called delicacy is nothing more than a few small cat fish, stewed in fish soup with some lime, mint leaves, chili, lemongrass, etc., and a little rice noodles.

No one spoke, because King Agada's stupid move was like a mountain pressing down on everyone's heart, making it difficult for them to breathe.

Zheng Xin followed everyone else and ate the fresh fish rice noodles, then stood up, cleared his throat and said:
"We Chinese have an old saying: If the ruler wants his subjects to die, the subjects must die.

China, my father, has given us flesh and blood, and a soul and spirit, making me a Chinese citizen of the heavenly kingdom since the day I was born.

Siam is my mother, and China is my father. She has too many sons, and sometimes she cannot take care of us, the illegitimate sons raised by maids.

So if we were to ask who is the best to us Najjens, it would have to be our mother Siam.

My mother is old now and her mind is not clear anymore, but that doesn’t mean we, her sons, can stay away from her.

As a son, how can you not protect your mother?

It has been ten months. The Burmese have blocked us in the city. We have been eating the food provided by the people for ten months, but we have never fought a battle. This is a shame for us soldiers!

Our mother has raised us for decades or even generations, and now is the time to repay her.

Everyone, cheer up and practice diligently. When that day comes, I, Zheng Guoying, will join you all in repaying Mother's support with our flesh and blood!"

"Brother Guoying is right. If it weren't for Siam, my ancestors would have been nothing more than shrimp and crab fishermen on Nan'ao Island.

Without even a fishing boat of my own, how could I have achieved my present wealth? I wish to follow my brother and fight the Burmese with blood."

Hearing Zheng Xin's heartfelt speech, Commander Pi also stood up and spoke loudly.

During the last Burmese invasion in 1759, the commander-in-chief, who was still Luang at the time, led 2000 soldiers in a desperate fight against the Burmese.

Their family has been in Siam for six generations and has basically become Siamese, considering Siam as their motherland.

Or we can say that Commander Phit chose to follow Taksin not because they were all Najins, as there were many Najins in Siam.

But it was because he felt that Taksin was the only one who could save Siam.

With Commander Pi's statement and encouragement, even Chen Lian, a Chaozhou native who had only arrived in Siam at the age of eight, stood up excitedly and vowed to defend Siam to the death.

At this time, Phraya Phetchaburi stood up, walked to Taksin and said loudly:
“I’ve heard many Thais say that we Chinese are just customers and will fly away like migratory birds when disaster strikes.

But they don't know that we Chinese have understood loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness for thousands of years, which is beyond the comprehension of these barbarians. Only shameless bastards would be so greedy for life and afraid of death.

I wanted to die for my country in Phetchaburi, but I was afraid that my death would be as light as a feather and no one would know about it.

Seeing the loyalty and righteousness of so many of my fellow countrymen today, I can rest in peace even if I die.

But we can't all die in Ayutthaya.

There must be those who died to demonstrate the loyalty and integrity of the Chinese people. There must also be those who walk to plan for our future.

Ah Xin, you are our Siamese Chinese, the lion among us Teochew people, and the future depends on you.

If King Agada really wants to force us out of the city for a decisive battle, I, your brother, will be at the front.

If things seem impossible, you must lead the young people to break out and leave us with hope."

Zheng Xin's eyes gradually turned red when he heard this, but he did not nod. "Brother, Xin, I really don't know if I can bear your expectations. Once Ayutthaya falls, the roots of our people will be gone."

At this time, Taksin had no intention of establishing himself as king. Even his fellow countrymen in Chaozhou did not have the extravagant hope that Taksin would become the King of Siam.

They strongly supported Taksin only to occupy the high position in the Ayutthaya Dynasty and form an interest group, which made King Agada dare not suppress the Najins at will.

Their feelings towards Siam are absolutely sincere.

Because since King Naresuan the Great, the restoration monarch of the Ayutthaya Dynasty, the Chinese have been entangled with the Ayutthaya Dynasty of Siam.

For three hundred years, the two sides were intertwined with each other, and at the last moment when the Ayutthaya Dynasty was about to fall, the Chinese seemed to have no good choice but to fight for it.

"Phaya, my uncle from Khong Nai Street sent someone to report that the Chenghai Wei family is escorting a secret envoy from Ha Tien and wants to see Phaya. They brought a secret letter from the fifth prince of Ha Tien."

Zheng Xin suddenly remembered that this Mr. Mo Wu was not a man who kept to himself. He had just gone to Nakhon Si Thammarat to make trouble during the frontline period, and it was he who cleaned up the mess.

I wonder why he sent people to risk entering the city at this time?
(End of this chapter)