Relation With Chinese Empire: 'Underlined'
When Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese in 1767, Thai and Chinese sources mentioned that Taksin, then the lord of Tak, broke the Burmese siege and led his troops to Chantaburi. During those years, Chinese Empire was into border conflicts with Konbaung Burma. The Burmese invasion into Siam became the warning for Chinese Empire. Taksin, then, sent tributaty mission to require the royal seal, claiming that the throne of Ayutthaya Kingdom came to an end. Vietnamese and Chinese sources reported that the aim of Taksin in attacking Cambodia was to uproot the remnants of Ayutthaya royal 'remnants' taking refuge in that kingdom.
Chinese Court could not help but seized the chance by asking Taksin, as a 'new vassal', to be her ally in the war against the Burmese. Eventually Chinese Court approved the royal status of Taksin, as the new king of Siam.
A considerable contribution to his success came from the Teochiu Chinese trading community of the region, on whom Taksin was able to call by virture of his paternal relations. In the short run, the Chinese trade provided the foodstuffs and goods needed for the warfare that enabled Taksin to build up his fledgling state. In the long run, it produced income that could be used "to defray the expenses of the state and for the upkeep of the individual royal, noble, and wealthy commercial families."
As one contemporary observed, François Henri Turpin (1771), under the faminee conditions of 1767-1768 :
- "Taksin showed his generous spirit. The needy were destitute no longer. The public treasury was opened for the relief. In return for cash, foreigners supplied them with the products that the soil of the country had refused. The Usurper justified his claim by his benevolence. Abuses were reformed, the safety of property and persons was restored, but the greatest severity was shown to malefactors. Legal enactments at which no one complained were substituted for the arbitrary power that sooner or later is the cause of rebellions. By the assurance of public peace he was able to consolidate his position and no one who shared in the general prosperity could lay claim to the throne."
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