The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c23.s4.49

v4.c23.s4.49

The main armies spent 1764–67 against Siam. Starting from Kengtung with 20,000 men, mostly Shans, Thihapate slowly fought his way down from Chiengmai through Viengchang (Linzin), while another army of the same size under Mahanawrahta fought its way south-east from Tavoy to Petchaburi. Thihapate had to storm town after town, and found the villages stockaded against him. When roused, the men fought with spirit, vying among themselves as to who should mount the wall. They died like flies from preventible disease, and suffered ghastly wounds for which they got few thanks from the king, as the loss of a limb, even in honourable service, disqualified a man from entering the palace. They kept the field all the year round, a rare thing for Burmese levies, spending the rains in the towns they had won. At Chiengmai they had to resort to mining, with movable shelters under the wall; finally they captured part of the wall with its guns and turned them all night down into the terror-stricken population, who sent their monks to surrender in the morning. The prettiest girls and choicest loot were sent to the king at Ava.