King Farang is the greatest king in lao history. Born in 1316, King Fa Ang was the son of King Khun Phet Phetah, an older kingdom in northern Laos, who fled to neighboring country Kik Tsang at an early age and returned to Laos when he grew up, establishing the Lancang Kingdom in 1353 at the age of 37. He ruled for 18 years and died in 1373.
Those legends about King Fa'ang
Regarding the birth of King Phoon, people have given him a mysterious and extraordinary legendary color. Farang was originally the son of the old king of northern Laos, Khun Phee Phet, a country that may have been the kingdom of Muang So.
According to the Lancang Chronicle, Farang was born with 33 teeth, which was considered to be an ominous omen, so he was put on a raft and drifted down the Mekong River.
Following the Farang River was his father, nursing mother, servant, etc., and it is said that the raft drifted for a whole year before stopping at a place in the Jili Empire.
But this should just be a beautiful legend. The real reason for the exile of Prince Faon and his father was a struggle for the throne, and they had to flee to the Jili Empire after their defeat.
Why did the Khmer Kingdom take in the fugitive prince?
So why did the Kingdom of Ji Li take in the father and son of King Fa'ang at that time?
Because the power of the Ji Li Empire was greatly backward at that time, and the Fa'ang father and son were the legitimate kings and heirs to the throne of their northern neighbors. It is important to maintain friendly relations with its northern neighbours in situations where the situation in the East and the West is not very favourable.
In addition, the Laofeng area has long belonged to the sphere of influence of the Ji Li people, and the relationship in the past was also quite close, so it was also a natural thing for the Ji Li Empire to take in the Fa Ang father and son.
The process by which King Fa'ang established the Lancang Kingdom
When Farang reached the age of 16, King Gion married his daughter Princess Chiconia to him and began helping him organize an army in preparation for his return to Laos.
Around 1343, Farang's father died, and the throne was inherited not by Farang but by his uncle, thus beginning the struggle for Farang to unify Laos and establish the Lancang Kingdom.
In 1349, Farang bid farewell to the court of Ji Li with his wife and led an army to the north. He first conquered some of the southern parts of Laos, and then went all the way north to Chuandi, where the leader of The Chuanyuan surrendered.
Farang turned to lead an army eastward, capturing the Vietnamese towns of Tirat, Ang Thanh, and Jienan in Vietnam in 1351. Fearing that this situation would continue, the Vietnamese hurriedly brought valuable gifts to see King Fa Ang and proposed a boundary between the two countries.
In the north, the Vietnamese rulers agreed to use the Blackwater River as the border between the two countries, and Munteng (in present-day Dien Bien Phu) was divided into Laos. As a result, Farang then occupied a series of towns that belonged to Laos at the time, such as Muang Teng and Muang Lai (present-day LaiZhou), as well as some places in present-day Funchali.
After that, Farang led an army close to Luang Prabang), and his uncle led his troops to resist three times, but was defeated by Farang and finally committed suicide by poisoning.
In 1353, Farang ascended the throne in Luang Prabang, and the lancang kingdom began. Subsequently, King Farang began his conquest to unify Laos.
The process of King Farang's unification of Laos
After the eastern and northern frontiers were largely determined, the king of Farang began to conquer the west. It is said that before the war, Farang sent emissaries to the jingguo kingdom in present-day Xishuangbanna and asked its king whether he wanted war or surrender.
King Jingxun advocated peace on the grounds that the two sides were the same, ceded the towns of Bangtai and Jiqi to Farang, gave Farang many valuable gifts, and said that his daughter would marry him when she grew up, thus avoiding the war between the two.
Farang conquered many towns on the way to the west, and established the "Four Cities on the Water" and the "Four Cities on land", in the face of Farang's fierce attack, the king of Lanna first sent troops to meet them, and after the defeat, he had to change his position, abandon resistance, and offer many gifts to make peace with Farang.
The two kings agreed to demarcate the border and assign the area south of Pha -Dai to the Lancang Kingdom.
After the surrounding problems were basically resolved, King Faang attacked Vientiane in 1356. The local chiefs put up stubborn resistance, but they could not stop the strong offensive of farang's army. After the local leader was killed, his son led the remnants to Retreat to Wankan, where King Farang occupied Vientiane.
King Farang then crossed the Mekong River with his army and occupied the Nakhon Thai region that belonged to present-day Phetchabun Province, Thailand. After arranging for the rule of the western region, Farang returned to the east and took Wankan.
Territory of the First Kingdom of Laos
At this time, the territory of the Lancang Kingdom was roughly determined:
The southern part is bounded by the Kingdom of Jiyi, and its dividing line basically follows the dividing line between Lu Chenla (i.e., Wen Dan Guo) and Shui Chenla in the Tang Dynasty, but some areas in today's northern Cambodia are included in the territory of the Lancang Kingdom at that time.
It is bordered by China to the north and the dividing line between Bennu and Benzai.
To the east is Vietnam, bounded by the Cheung Son Mountains.
To the west are Lanna and Ayutthaya, with the Korat Plateau as the dividing line.