Among the many Southeast Asian countries, Thailand should be the one we are more familiar with.
However, most of our knowledge of Thailand is about its natural beauty, unique culture and local cuisine, and we may not know much about the history of Thailand.
According to historical records, Thailand has experienced 4 dynasties and 50 emperors in history, and among these 50 emperors, 5 have made great contributions, won the love of the people, and were named the Great Emperor by the world.
They were Taksin the Great, Ramkhamhaeng the Great, Nalaxuan the Great, Magu the Great, and Chulalongkorn the Great.
The other 4 emperors will not be mentioned for the time being, and today I will talk about the first in the first place.
This emperor also has a title, called Emperor Zheng, is a Chinese, his real name is Zheng Xin, his ancestral home is Shantou, Guangdong, his father Zheng Yong fled with his fellow villagers to Siam (that is, now Thailand) when he was young, and then did business in the local area.
With money, Zheng Yong began to make friends with local magnates, and married a Thai woman as his wife, among many Chinese immigrants, Zheng Yong is also a rare existence, soon after his son was born, Zheng Yong was very fond of it, named Zheng Xin.
It is said that Zheng Xin was attacked by a giant python when he was born, which was considered a bad omen in Siam at that time, and coincidentally, Zheng Xin's father Zheng Yong fell ill and died just after he was born, so that the family was even more dislike Zheng Xin.
Among the powerful people Zheng Yong befriended, there was one named Pai Ye Jiexi, who was the finance minister of Siam and often visited his home, and unlike Zheng Xin's family, Jiexi was very fond of the clever and active Zheng Xin, so he adopted Zheng Xin after Zheng Yong's death.
If the Zheng family knows what kind of achievements this little boy they regard as a flood beast in the future, I don't know if they will regret not being at the beginning, no matter what the Zheng family thinks, for little Zheng Xin, it is undoubtedly very lucky to be the son of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
After this battle, Zheng Xin ascended to the sky in one step and completed his magnificent transformation from the son of a merchant to a descendant of a nobleman.
Zheng Xin's growth road is definitely smooth sailing, since he was a child, he received the best education, and his contacts are all noble children, with the influence of his adoptive father, Zheng Xin's political road can be described as a smooth road.
According to Thai custom, men are required to enter temples to practice in order to experience the life of a monk, and Zheng Xin is no exception.
After finishing his temple practice, Zheng Xin was soon reused by the Thai emperor, first serving as a palace guard, and then winning the emperor's trust because of his outstanding talent and bravery, and soon he was promoted to the military and political governor of Dafu and was knighted Phraya.
In 1762, the Burmese invaded Siam, and the Siamese army had almost no resistance, and in only four years, the Burmese army was in the Siamese royal city of Ayutthaya, and the emperor panicked and immediately issued orders to various places for help.
After Zheng Xin received the order, he did not dare to slack off at all, and immediately ordered troops and horses to rush to support.
It's a pity that although Zheng Xin arrived in Wangcheng in time, the combat effectiveness of the Burmese army was much higher than that of his subordinates, and he had the heart to save the country but had no power to return to heaven.
In desperation, Zheng Xin had to lead his elite to break through, and on the way to retreat, Zheng Xin did not gain nothing, occasionally encountered a small force of Burmese troops, he would also command his men to fight a battle, after several victories, Zheng Xin's name also spread among the Siamese people.
At that time, the people of Siam were in a time when the country was ruined and their hearts were sad, and the appearance of Zheng Xin was like a guiding light, allowing people to see the hope of recovering the country.
As a result, the Siamese people who fled abroad and the Siamese soldiers who were scattered by the Burmese army rushed to take refuge.
In February 1767, Cheng Xin moved to Rayong, southeast of Siam, and by this time his army had exceeded 10,000 men, becoming a force to be reckoned with.
In order to achieve the desire to restore the country, Zheng Xin had to set himself up as the king and called on the Siamese army and people to come and defect.
It's just that people's hearts have always been unpredictable, and although Zheng Xin wants to restore the country wholeheartedly, his subordinates don't all think like this.
Whenever the country is in danger, there is always a handful of people who will betray their nation and country, wave their flags and shout for the invaders, and even more so, wave their butcher knives at their own compatriots.
Let's call these people "Thai traitors", and Zheng Xin's subordinates also have such an existence.
They had been frightened by the Burmese army, believing that Siam could not be a match for Burma at all, and that instead of rising up to resist and increase casualties, it was better to surrender and obediently accept Burmese rule.
Therefore, when Zheng Xin developed his strength in an attempt to restore the country, these people made all kinds of small moves behind his back, causing Zheng Xin a lot of trouble.
Originally, thinking that everyone was Siamese, Zheng Xinshi couldn't bear to kill more, as long as they didn't go too far, he would turn a blind eye.
It's just that the trees want to be quiet and the wind doesn't stop, these people don't know how to advance or retreat, but they regard Zheng Xin's tolerance as cowardice, and they act more and more unscrupulously, Zheng Xin can't bear it, so he can only carry out a bloody purge on them.
The iron-blooded suppression made Zheng Xin's majesty heavier, more and more Siamese soldiers and civilians came to defect, Zheng Xin's army gradually became the climate, and Rayong was run by him like an iron bucket, and the time was ripe for his army to go north.
Zheng Xin's first target was Chanthaburi, a coastal city near Rayong, which was extremely prosperous due to its coastal and commercial development, and if he took this place, he could get a lot of wealth, and Zheng Xin was bound to win it.
At first, Zheng Xin didn't want to meet the defenders here, after all, everyone is Siamese, so he wrote a letter to the military and political governor of Chanthaburi City, which basically means that we are all Siamese and should unite to resist the Burmese invasion, and when the Burmese are driven out, our own affairs can be discussed behind closed doors.
In Zheng Xin's mind, as a Siamese, the military and political chief here must also hate the Burmese in his bones, and it should not be difficult to invite him to jointly resist Burma, but he never expected that his proposal was rejected by the other party without hesitation, and there was no room for return.
Things have come to this point, and they can't manage so much, since they can't be allies, they can only be regarded as enemies, even if there is more helplessness in his heart, Zheng Xin still gritted his teeth and gave the order to seize Chanthaburi City by force.
Before the army attacked, in order to express his determination not to take the city, Zheng Xin ordered the troops to smash all the cooking utensils, cutting off their back road, this battle was unsuccessful and became a benevolent, I have to say that Zheng Xin's approach is quite a bit of the spirit of the overlord of Chu.
In the siege battle, Zheng Xin took the lead and led his subordinates to fight bloodily, and finally succeeded in taking Chanthaburi City.
After this war, the Siamese soldiers and civilians saw Zheng Xin's bravery and fearlessness, as if they took it as a belief in their hearts, and the coastal cities of Siam were also deeply afraid of following in the footsteps of Chanthaburi and swore allegiance to Zheng Xin.
A year later, most of the coastal cities in southern Siam had fallen under Zheng Xin's control, and after the baptism of war, his army had become the best soldiers of a hundred battles.
In addition to a strong army, Zheng Xin also trained a navy with explosive combat effectiveness, and with such a strong military strength, it was time to make a break with the Burmese.
As a result, the war in Siam resumed, and Zheng Xin personally led his elite to attack the royal city of Ayuthaya.
Originally, Zheng Xin was ready to fight to the death with the Burmese army, but surprisingly, Zheng Xin's resistance to attacking the city was not very fierce, and the process of recovering the royal city was surprisingly smooth.
Although Zheng Xin did not know the reason, in any case, the goal of driving the Burmese out of Siam had been achieved, and his oath of restoration had been fulfilled, and that was enough.
In fact, the reason why Zheng Xin was able to recover the lost territory so easily at that time should also be grateful to the Qing government.
Because at the same time as attacking Siam, Burma also sent troops to attack Yunnan, as the so-called small provoked the old, although the strength of Yunnan is far inferior to Burma, but do not forget, behind Yunnan can stand the Qing Dynasty.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty was when Qianlong was in power, although the national strength had begun to decline, but the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse, and no matter how downtrodden the Qing Dynasty was, it was not something that Myanmar, a small country, could provoke casually.
When Zheng Xin moved north, it was the day when the Qing army invaded the hinterland of Burma, and in order to resist the Qing army, Burma had to withdraw most of the troops stationed in Thailand, which made Zheng Xin's battle for restoration a smooth victory.
It can be said that it was the Qing Dynasty's use of troops in Burma that inadvertently saved the fate of Siam.
After recovering the royal city, Zheng Xin guessed that the Burmese king would not give up, so he took advantage of the respite brought to Siam by the Qing-Burma War to train soldiers from all over the country to strengthen the defense of the Siamese and Burmese borders.
Sure enough, when Burma solved its own troubles, it sent troops to Siam again.
However, at this time, the combat effectiveness of the Siamese army has long been incomparable, this offensive, the Burmese army did not take the slightest advantage, not to mention the loss of troops, has not been able to break through the defense of the Siamese army, seeing that there is nothing to do, the Burmese king had to order the withdrawal of the army.
Solving the threat from the outside does not mean that everything is all right, there are still large and small local separatist forces within Siam, and the existence of these forces also poses a considerable threat to Zheng Xin's rule.
Now that the battle has come to an end, it's time to start the battle of Anne.
It took another two years for Zheng Xin to lead his subordinates to fight in the south and north, and finally eliminated all unstable factors and completed the complete unification of Siam.
However, due to the long-term war, the royal city of Siam, Ayuthaya, has long been ruined and dilapidated, so Zheng Xin ordered the royal city to be moved to Thonburi, and was proclaimed emperor here, known as the Thonburi Dynasty in history.
After mastering the power of Siam, Zheng Xin was not complacent, he worked hard to govern the government and love the people, under his governance, Siam not only recovered its vitality, and even its strength was on a higher level.
The first target he chose was Cambodia, which was chosen for a reason, as Cambodia was a vassal state of Siam before the Burmese army invaded, and it is understandable that it has now regained control of it.
Out of the consideration of salute before the soldiers, Zheng Xin first wrote a letter to the king of Cambodia, asking him to submit, the king of Cambodia naturally would not agree to this request, just kidding, it is finally possible to be the master of his own house, who is willing to find a master for himself?
Cambodia's attitude was expected by Zheng Xin, it doesn't matter if you don't accept it, just hit you until you obey, so in 1771, Siam sent troops to Cambodia and quickly occupied Phnom Penh.
At the same time, Laos, which was also a Buddhist country, did not escape the clutches of Siam, and then small countries such as Lampun, Phra, Nan, and Lanna were conquered by Zheng Xin one after another, and the Thonburi Dynasty was in the limelight for a while.
Zheng Xin is in Siam, but the Zheng family, who is far away in Guangdong, is not doing well.
Later, the Zheng family heard the news of Zheng Xin somewhere, so they sent people across the ocean to Siam to meet him.
When people talk about the recent situation in his hometown, Zheng Xin is also embarrassed, although he has lived in Siam since he was a child, he has never forgotten that he is a Chinese, his roots are in Guangdong, for the difficulties of his hometown, Zheng Xin sincerely wants to help.
So when the clansmen returned to Guangdong, Zheng Xin personally went to the port to see them off, and ordered people to carry 18 large tanks into the cabin, saying that they were some gifts for their relatives, and repeatedly told the people who came to be sure to go to the house to open them again.
In this regard, the clansmen were naturally grateful, and also said that they would definitely do what Zheng Xin had ordered.
Halfway through the boat, I couldn't resist the curiosity in my heart, so I opened one of the jars, only to be disappointed to find that the jars were filled with nothing more than ordinary pickles.
The clansmen did not give up, and opened sixteen more cylinders in succession, and the contents were no different from the first.
The clansmen were so angry in their hearts, they kept cursing Zheng Xin for being stingy, and they let themselves go back with this thing for thousands of miles, and in a fit of anger, they threw the seventeen large vats that had been opened into the sea, leaving only the unopened one to go back to the business.
When he returned home to gather the people and prepare to distribute the jar of Siamese pickles to the people, he was surprised to find that there was only a thin layer of pickles in the jar, and all kinds of gold, silver and jewels underneath.
It was only at this time that he realized what he had missed, but it had happened, and it was too late to regret it, and it is said that until now, this vat is still placed in the Zheng clan ancestral hall, and the people of the clan will come to worship every New Year's holiday.
On the Siamese side, due to Zheng Xin's continuous use of foreign troops, the domestic landlords and nobles gradually became dissatisfied with him, until 1782, Zheng Xin used troops against Cambodia again, and the domestic army was empty, and at this time, an unexpected rebellion occurred in the city of Ayutthaya.
When it comes to the cause of this rebellion, you may find it hard to believe, that is, treasure digging.
Legend has it that when the Burmese army attacked Ayutthaya, the rich people who had no time to escape buried their treasures in the ground, so treasure digging became a popular profession in Ayutthaya.
One of the merchants was very clever, and he obtained the agency of Ayutthaya to dig treasures at a certain price, and in turn, he collected heavy taxes from those who digg treasures in this place.
After a long time, the treasure diggers became unprofitable, and naturally they became dissatisfied, and as a result, a small riot broke out.
In Zheng Xin's opinion, this is not a big deal, just a group of businessmen, how much energy can they have, and then sent the Praetorian Guards to Ayutthaya to quell the rebellion.
Coincidentally, the person who led the rebellion happened to be the brother of the leader of the Praetorian Guard, but not only did the rebellion not quell, but the Janissaries joined forces with the rioters and killed them directly in Thonburi.
At this time, Zheng Xin had no available soldiers in his hands, and the main forces were fighting in Cambodia, and when they came back to help, I was afraid that the grass on his grave was three feet high.
So Zheng Xin announced his abdication and became a monk, and Thonburi fell into the hands of the Praetorian Guard.
Soon after, the news reached the ears of Chao Phraya Chokri, who was leading the battle in Cambodia, and he immediately realized that this was a golden opportunity, as long as he rushed back to Thonburi and solved Zheng Xin, he could become the king of all Siam.
Without further ado, Chao Phye Chokri immediately led the army back to Thonburi, the Praetorian Guard was naturally not worth mentioning in front of the regular army, and after occupying Thonburi, Chao Phraya Chokri immediately ordered someone to kill Zheng Xin with sandalwood, and killed all Zheng Xin's relatives.
Of course, he claimed that Zheng Xin had died at the hands of the rebels, and then he was crowned Rama I and established the Bangkok dynasty.
Although Chao Phraya Chokri succeeded in ascending to the throne, there was still a troublesome matter that had not been solved.
That is, before Zheng Xin's death, he had sent someone to contact Emperor Qianlong to ask for the recognition of the Qing Dynasty, and Emperor Qianlong also agreed to his request.
In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he simply gave himself a Chinese name called Zheng Hua, claiming to be the son of Zheng Xin, and Zheng Xin became seriously ill and died in his report to the Qing Dynasty.
Since then, successive Thai kings have had a Han surname, that is, Zheng.
A generation of British lord Zheng Xin came to an abrupt end when he reached the top, and what happened to him made people have to sigh.
Although Darshin the Great died young, his exploits have not been forgotten.
The Thai government stipulates that December 28 every year is the memorial ceremony of Zheng Xin, from the king of Thailand to the common people, on this day will arrive at the monument to Emperor Xin for memorial, which is not another form of eternal life!