the king's order to persevere, would not accept anything less than an unconditional surrender. Shortly after, Maha Nawrahta died of illness, and by royal decree was buried with extraordinary honors. Ne Myo Thihapate now assumed the role of sole commander-in-chief. Fall of Ayutthaya (April 1767) By late March, the Burmese had dug tunnels to the walls, and mined them. At 4 pm on 7 April, several sections of the wall were brought down by the mines underneath, and the Burmese troops supported by artillery fire stormed the walls. (Harvey reports the date as 28 March but the Konbaung Hset Chronicle gives Tuesday, 5th waxing of Tabaung 1125 ME, which is 7 April.) The attackers finally breached the walls by sunset, and entered the city. The Siamese fought on inside the city but were eventually overwhelmed. Indiscriminate slaughter followed. Everything in sight was put to the torch. Even images of the Buddha were hacked for the gold with which they were coated. 30,000 Ayutthayan captives were forcibly relocated to the Burmese capital in Ava. The Burmese brought Uthumphon and hundreds of Siamese nobles and members of the royal family to be resettled in Burma. Virtually nothing was left of the 14th-century Grand Palace, home to 33 kings of five dynasties, or the glittering Sanphet Prasat, used to welcome foreign envoys and state visitors. The Siamese king was found dead, identified by his brother Uthumphon. The city of Ayutthaya, with a population said to rival contemporary London or Paris, was reduced to ashes by the "seemingly unstoppable Burmese military machine." The centuries-old Ayutthaya Kingdom had come to an end. Siam was forcibly plunged into anarchy and civil war with the disappearance of a central authority. Epilogue Third Chinese invasion and Burmese withdrawal For Hsinbyushin, his obsession to defeat Siam had come true. He now controlled a fragile empire that stretched from Manipur to Laos and Siam, which approximated Bayinnaung's 16th century empire. However, he now faced a far more difficult task of holding it together, all the while waging a war against China. He had planned to leave behind a substantial garrison at Ayutthaya, either placing a protected Siamese prince on the throne or appointing senior Burmese officials to rule the country directly. But because he had to allow Shan, Laotian and Siamese levies, some of whom had been away from home for nearly two years, to return home, Hsinbyushin had a