with heavy losses. After the close-call, Hsinbyushin redeployed his armies from Siam to the Chinese front. The fourth and largest invasion got bogged down at the frontier. With the Qing forces completely encircled, a truce was reached between the field commanders of the two sides in December 1769. The Qing kept a heavy military line-up in the border areas of Yunnan for about one decade in an attempt to wage another war while imposing a ban on inter-border trade for two decades. When Burma and China resumed a diplomatic relationship in 1790, the Qing unilaterally viewed the act as Burmese submission, and claimed victory. The war, which claimed the lives of over 70,000 Chinese soldiers and four commanders is sometimes described as "the most disastrous frontier war that the Qing Dynasty had ever waged", and one that "assured Burmese independence and probably the independence of other states in Southeast Asia". It has also been called the "greatest" of Burmese military victories. Nonetheless, the war took a heavy toll on the Burmese war capabilities. While Burmese losses were light compared to Chinese losses, when considered in proportion to the population, they were heavy. Siam (1775–1776) In December 1774, a Siamese supported rebellion broke out at Lampang in Lan Na, and soon spread. On 15 January 1775, the rebels took Chiang Mai, and overthrew the Burmese installed government. In November 1775, two Burmese armies of 35,000 were to invade Lan Na and Siam. But because of a mutiny by a senior commander, the southern army lost a significant portion of the troops. The remaining Burmese armies fought their way in. The northern army managed to capture Chiang Mai, albeit at a great cost, and the southern army took Sukhothai and Phitsanulok in central Siam. However, the invasion forces were too small to overcome the Siamese defences, and were bogged down. The armies withdrew in June 1776 after Hsinbyushin died. Hsinbyushin's successor Singu stopped the war with Siam, and demobilised much of the army. The decision was well received by the war-torn country. The people had grown tired of constant conscriptions to fight in "ever-lasting wars" in remote regions they had never heard of. But the king had unwittingly given up Chiang Mai, which proved to be the end of two centuries of Burmese rule there. Likewise, Singu took no action in 1778 when Vientiane and Luang Prabang stopped paying tribute, and came