Similarly, Bangkok first extended informal control into western Cambodia, and then in 1833 the king (Rama III, Phranangklao) dispatched an army to take the territory or else ‘turn Cambodia into forest, only the land, the mountains, the rivers and the canals are to be left. You are to carry off Khmer families to be resettled in Thai territory, do not leave any behind. It would be good to treat Cambodia as we did Vientiane.’”
“Trade was redirected to Bangkok. Cardamom and other forest goods were requisitioned for export to China. People were hauled away for resettlement. Elite families were taken to Bangkok for future use as tributary rulers.
Only in the west did the Siamese armies fail. Two attempts to take Tavoy and re-establish control of the portage across the peninsula were thwarted by the Burmese.
Bangkok had emboxed a new outer ring of tributary states in the south, north and east.”
