In 1760 CE, two thousand Chinese volunteers under Luang Aphai Phiphat intended to stop the attacking Burmese by trying to put up a stockade in the Pho Sam Ton area across Khlong Chang (3). Mün Thip Sena reinforced the Chinese in the rear by encamping one thousand troops at Wat Borommawong (Monastery of the Sea of Grass), soon to be flushed out by the Burmese.
“Thereupon Luang Aphai Phiphat organized two thousand Chinese masters of the kai and advanced forth to erect a stockade. Burmese crossed the Mother of Waters [at] the Three Fig Trees and came to attack the brigades of the Chinese army who were accordingly routed into the river. The Burmese, seeing they had gained the advantage, chased right after them and slashed and killed them all the way to the ecclesiastical gaol of the Monastery of the Sea of Grass. The brigade of Mün Thip Sena was encamped in that place and he and his men watched and accordingly allowed themselves to be routed on in across the river as well. People were lost in great numbers. The Burmese accordingly advanced the brigades of their army in pursuit and established stockades at the Elephant Corrals and the Monastery of the Holy Red Funeral Monument.” [2]
The Burmese, in the second half of 1764 CE, decided to turn upon Ayutthaya. When the Ayutthaya forces were defeated in Ratcha Buri, Phet Buri and Kanchana Buri, King Ekathat (reign 1758-1767 CE) ordered the redoubling of the defence efforts in and around the main city. Forces from Phitsanulok came down to encamp near Wat Phukhao Thong, while troops from Korat encamped near Wat Chedi Daeng before going down to defend Thonburi.
“The King thereupon had an army conscripted in the provincial municipalities of the Southern Estuaries to go to encamp and engage the enemy at the Hamlet of Bamru. A boat army was encamped at the Hamlet of the Shrimp. Then the King had an army conscripted from the Municipality of Phitsanulok to come and encamp at the Monastery of the Gold Mountain. After an army from the Municipality of Nakhòn Ratcha Sima had encamped at the Monastery of the Holy Red Funeral Monument, the King had Phraya Thamma take command of the brigades of the army of Nakhòn Ratcha Sima and come down to defend the Municipality of Thonburi.” [3]
The Burmese, in their final attack on Ayutthaya in April 1767 CE, had established near Wat Chedi Daeng one of their many enclosures, from which the Siamese capital was invested. Burmese soldiers from this enclosure, together with those of Wat Sam Wihan and Wat Monthop, constructed a bridge with bamboo slats at Hua Ro and finally, by way of a tunnel, succeeded in blasting the walls at Ayutthaya’s northeastern point and entering the city.
“Meanwhile, Nemiao, the general of the armies in the stockade at the Three Fig Trees, thereupon had the Burmese troops advance to set fire to and burn down that palace at the Elephant Corrals. Then he had them set up stockades at the Elephant Corrals, at the Monastery of the Holy Red Funeral Monument, at the Monastery of the Three Preaching Halls, at the Monastery of the Spired Building, at the Monastery of the Tent, at the Monastery of the Lady Nun, at the Monastery of the Jubilant Lady and at the Monastery of the Glorious Fig, and he had them erect bastions in each and every stockade, take large and small guns up into them, and fire them off into the Capital.” [4]
Footnotes:
(1) Khlong Hua Ro is situated off the city island in the northern area north of Hua Ro Sub-district. The canal is the western border of the Suan Phrik Sub-district and the eastern border of the Lum Phli and Khlong Sra Bua sub-districts. The old Lopburi River bed ran from Wat Khao Din (Wat Wora Nayok Rangsan) in Bang Pahan District towards the city of Ayutthaya and is now divided in four stretches Khlong Ban Muang from Wat Muang until Wat Dao Khanong in Bang Pahan District Khlong Bang Khuat (a short-cut canal in the Lopburi River loop) from Wat Dao Khanong to (south of) Wat Klang Raman in Ayutthaya City District Khlong Hua Ro from (north of) Wat Pom Raman to Hua Ro in Ayutthaya City District.
(2) Khlong Daeng, likely abbreviated from Wat Chedi Daeng, connects Khlong Hua Ro with the new Lopburi River.
(3) Monasteries bearing the same name and used as a troop concentration area before going into battle were found northwest of Ayutthaya (Wat Tum area), southeast (Suan Phlu area) and south (Pak Kran area).
(4) Khlong Chang, or the Canal of the Elephants, is an old canal situated north of Ayutthaya on the edge of the Ayutthaya and Bang Pahan districts. The waterway was the northern stretch of the U-loop in the old Lopburi River in Thung Lumphli, situated between Wat Kuti Lai and Wat Dao Khanong (Wat Pak Khlong). The canal continued along the southern side of Wat Dao Khanong through Thung Pho Sam Ton towards Wat Ton Satu (Wat Tha Khwai) and joined here the new Lopburi River. Opposite the mouth was Ban Nam Won, or the Whirlpool Village, probably named after the whirlpools formed by the confluence.
