The Thonburi Dynasty was a special and important existence in Thai history. Part of the reason is that the kings of the Thonburi Dynasty had half of the Chinese bloodline. In addition, because of Myanmar, the Thonburi Dynasty and the Qing government had close contact.

Thonburi Dynasty is a special and important existence in Thai history. Part of the reason is that the kings of the Thonburi Dynasty have half of the Chinese bloodline. In addition, because of Myanmar, the Thonburi Dynasty and the Qing government still had close contact.

The reason why the relationship between the two sides is getting better and better is also based on enhancing mutual understanding, having common enemies and win-win trade.

enhance mutual understanding

1767 Ayutaya dynasty was destroyed, Thailand was generally occupied by Myanmar invaders, and "reunification of the country" became the top priority before the vast number of Siam people.

Zheng Xin, a descendant of overseas Chinese, shouldered this important task under a series of reasons for the times.

Zheng Xin's father was Zheng Da. He was originally from Chaozhou, Guangdong. Chaozhou is also a famous overseas Chinese in Chinese history. In the long-term foreign trade, countless Chaozhou people also boarded ships to Siam. Therefore, the number of Chaozhou people among Siam Chinese is the largest.

After Zheng Da came to Siam, he made his business bigger and bigger, and gradually gained the trust of the upper class of Siam, and was able to go to and from the palace. This also laid the foundation for his position in Thailand and laid a solid foundation for his son to participate in politics.

When the Myanmar army attacked the big city, Zheng Xin was ordered to defend the city. He saw that the ministers in the court were all stupid people, so he led 500 elite troops to break out, defeated the Myanmar army, and then pursued the victory.

Wherever he passed, the people were willing to follow him, and his actions also inspired the fighting spirit of the people of all classes in Siam to fight against the invaders.

1767 is a very critical year for Zheng Xin.

In February of this year, he first called on the Siam military and civilians to participate in the struggle for restoration of the country and proclaim himself king.

In October, he personally led a hundred warships to march northward and officially began the war to expel the Myanmar invading army. Since the slogan he put forward was "restoring the country", his military operations were also unanimously supported by the whole country. They drove all the Myanmar invaders out in just half a year.

In December of the same year, Zheng Xin established the Thonburi Dynasty. He himself never forgot where he came from, and he had a general understanding of the situation of Qing Dynasty .

In January 1768, Zheng Xin sent Chen Mei to Guangdong and formally requested that the Qing Dynasty be enthroned. However, the Qing government was not very familiar with the situation in Thailand. While he was still hesitating, a Hexianren who had conflicts with Zheng Xin also came to Guangdong and presented a Siam situation chart, emphasizing that the grandson of the last king of the Ayutahya dynasty had arrived.

The Qing government believed the one-sided words of He Xianren and refused to enthrone Zheng Xin.

From the perspective of the Qing government, those in power believed that Zheng Xin belonged to the "stealing the country" and was not justified.

However, Zheng Xin is a real man who can bend and stretch, and continues to wait for the opportunity to be recognized by the Qing government.

1771, Zheng Xin sent three representatives and Yang Kaichun to send the Burmese officers and soldiers captured by the Siam army to Guangdong. After the Qing government found out about this group of people, his attitude towards Zheng Xin finally improved.

The second year, Zheng Xin once again "striked while the iron was hot" and sent 35 people from Haifeng County, Guangdong who were originally from Siam who stayed in Siam back to Guangdong. The Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty also began to truly examine Zheng Xin.

After that, Zheng Xin did this in total three times to send the Qing people who stayed in Siam back to his hometown, and each time he was benevolent and righteous.

plus some ministers who knew the situation helped to speak, the Qing government's attitude towards Zheng Xin gradually changed a lot. They sent Zheng Xin a message: as long as he made a statement, the Qing government could ban him the account.

Qing Gaozong at that time estimated that Zheng Xin would send someone to Guangdong to ask for a ban in 1778 after receiving the reply. However, Zheng Xin later asked a merchant ship to bring a report and proposed "please give up the tribute period."

1781, Zheng Xin sent an envoy to China, but this time Zheng Xin did not ask for a ban, but to expand trade.

The following year, the Siamese envoy came to the capital of the Qing Dynasty to "receive tribute to the local goods" and was friendly reception from the Qing government. The Qing government never forgot the Siamese envoy.

However, this is also the last time Zheng Xin sent an envoy to China. Both sides also fully understood each other, but before the envoy could return to Siam, Zheng Xin was already killed.

At that time, the Qing government had already begun to call Zheng Xin the "Chief of the State". If Zheng Xin had made a request for enthronement this time, the Qing government would have agreed.

From this familiar process, we can also see that the relationship between the Qing government and the Thonburi dynasty was gradually rising.

The Qing Dynasty also had detailed records and regulations on the Thonburi Dynasty's tribute to China.

requires Siam to pay tribute every three years, and to set out from Siam to arrive in Guangdong first. Then the tribute must not exceed 3 ships, and each ship cannot exceed 100 people. Among these tribute personnel, only 20 can reach the capital.

Before the Siamese tribute envoy left, the Ministry of Rites and other officials needed to send one person to see him off. The gifts returned to Siamese include 34 pieces of brocade. If there is special performance, 16 pieces can be added; and in addition to spices and beauties, the gifts paid by Siamese also gave 2 elephants and 2 golden monkeys.

In addition to Siam, there are also other fenban countries that have paid tribute at the same time.

For example, the Ryukyu Kingdom, which pays tribute every two years, pays 12,600 jin of sulfur, red copper 3,000 jin and 1,000 jin of white tin.

has a common enemy

Zheng Xin gradually accumulated prestige in the war with Myanmar, and the Qing government also fought with Myanmar.

Since the establishment of the Myanmar Gongbang Dynasty, they have begun to launch foreign wars. They not only launched a general attack on the Ayutaya Dynasty, but also continuously invaded the southwest border of Central and South .

For China, border trade activities were very frequent during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

1763, the Myanmar army invaded Xishuangbanna , and later the chieftains on the Yunnan border requested the Qing Dynasty to protect it.

Therefore, Qianlong first ordered the "scholar" Liu Zao to fight against the Burmese army, but the latter really did not understand military affairs, so he committed suicide after losing the battle.

1766, the newly appointed governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Yang Yunju took office and organized a large counterattack from the Qing army.

This time, the Qing Dynasty dispatched a total of 20,000 troops, spending 3 million taels of silver. However, since the Myanmar army had already expected this step, they gathered their strength to defeat the Qing army again, and Yang Yunju was also given suicide by Emperor Qianlong.

When the war was fought until 1769, the Myanmar army suffered a crushing defeat. At this time, Myanmar also realized that the gap between their strength and the Qing Dynasty was too big, and it was not realistic to fight a protracted war, so he decided to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty.

In November of that year, representatives of the two sides agreed to conceal after negotiations in Laoguantun. The 4-year-long large-scale Qing-Myanmar War finally came to an end.

This year, the Thonburi Dynasty had just been established, and they also fought with Myanmar for a long time.

It was not so easy for the Qing Dynasty to defeat Myanmar. It also sent many troops to finally get results, so it simply chose to do things hastily. Emperor Qianlong naturally knew that Myanmar had ambitions and had to be wary of it. Then there were many "common topics" with the Thonburi Dynasty.

Moreover, in 1771, the Thonburi Dynasty did send 39 prisoners of war to the Qing Dynasty. For this reason, Zheng Xin also wrote a report to the Qing government, indicating the specific origins of these prisoners of war. The Qing government took two months to finally find out the specific identities of these prisoners of war and determined that there were Burmese officers inside, and then began to truly believe in Zheng Xin.

This history can also show that the Qing government was still wary of Myanmar, and the threat faced by the southern part of the Qing territory was the same as that faced by the Thonburi Dynasty.

Then, it is reasonable for both parties to have more communication.

win-win trade

During the reunification of the Qing Dynasty, due to the reunification of the country, it also promoted rapid economic development and the population also achieved large-scale growth.

708, the total population of the country was 21621324. By 1722, this number became 253,09178. In 14 years, the population had increased by nearly 4,000,000. Such a growth rate can already illustrate the social environment at that time. When the population is showing an upward trend, it will also be accompanied by some problems. Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang and other regions have a "short land and dense people" situation. The crop yield cannot meet the actual needs of the people. In the case of "supply shortage", rice prices have also risen year by year.

To solve such a problem, the best way is to carry out foreign trade.

Kangxi also learned from the Siam messenger that the rice production in Siam is very high and the price is also cheap. You can buy rice with one stone of rice for two or three cents.

Therefore, since 1724, Emperor Yongzheng allowed Siam to sell rice to China, and the rice and goods transported could be all exempted from tax. Since then, the various measures of the Qing government not only alleviated the current situation of rice shortage in the southeast coast, but also made many Siam merchants make a fortune. This is a typical "win-win".

Therefore, both sides want to continue this situation.

During the Thonburi Dynasty, Zheng Xin also hoped to maintain relevant trade with the Qing government. Because the population of the country had dropped sharply when he first established the dynasty, coupled with the emergence of food shortages and rampant bandits, the social order was once very chaotic, with a large number of people hiding in the mountains and forests, still watching the situation outside.

Therefore, they also need ready-made materials to overcome the difficulties. If they can be recognized by the Qing Dynasty diplomatic service, their business will grow bigger and bigger. This is also a major reason why Zheng Xin made a request for enthronement to the Qing government almost immediately.

1775, Zheng Xin proposed to the Qing government to purchase 50 dan of sulfur in Guangdong and transport 500 iron pots back to Siam for use. The Qing government also hoped to do business, so it quickly agreed to Zheng Xin to purchase sulfur and iron pots. Some trade between the two sides was also operating normally during this period.

1781, Zheng Xin's envoy came because of trade. They expressed their hope that Siam could allow him to purchase copper plates, copper furnaces, etc. in Guangdong and transport them back to China.

Of course, Zheng Xin’s considerations are far more than that. He also hopes to continuously expand his trade volume and region with China and break through the coastal areas of Guangdong.

In addition, he also considered that China has advanced navigation technology and can use China's capabilities and manpower to develop long-distance voyage trade to Japan after the time is ripe, and continue to promote the economic prosperity of Siam.

It is precisely because of the continuous trade and other reasons that the Qing government also participated in the peace talks between Myanmar and Siam.

When the relationship between Siam and Myanmar was tense, Emperor Qianlong immediately expressed his attitude and adjusted the contradiction between Myanmar and Siam.

The later history further illustrates that the trade between the Qing government and Siam has always been in a "win-win" state, and it is beneficial to the two sides. Unfortunately, the period of the Thonburi Dynasty was too short, and many things were not yet taken, Zheng Xin had passed away.

Reference

Diplomatic relations between the Qing Dynasty and Siam Qing Dynasty draft