the lower Tenasserim coast. It is likely that even the retention of Tenasserim was possible only because the Siamese were immersed in their civil war. A more united Siam would have likely retaken at least the lower Tenasserim coast, if not the upper coast since almost all Burmese troops were deployed on the Chinese front throughout 1768 and 1769. (Recall that Ekkathat, widely considered to be an ineffective ruler, was able to retake the lower coast in 1761 while Naungdawgyi had his hands full with multiple rebellions. A much more able leader like Taksin would certainly have retaken Tenasserim if it were not for the civil war.) But the Sino-Burmese war ended in December 1769, about six months before Taksin finished reunifying mainland Siam. Taksin chose not yet to renew the war with the Burmese over Tenasserim, instead chose to focus on consolidating his gains in mainland Siam, including conquering Lan Na to prevent a Burmese invasion into the Siamese heartland from the mountainous North (The Siamese would not launch an offensive invasion of Tenasserim until 1787). Geopolitical situation to the next war (1768–1776) Aside from acquiring the lower Tenasserim coast, the Burmese did not achieve their larger objectives of taming Siam and securing their peripheral regions. The actual outcome was the opposite. The new energetic Siamese leadership was now better able to support rebellions in Lan Na and Lower Burma. On the other hand, the Burmese offensive military capability was greatly diminished after two long wars with Siam and China. In the following years, Hsinbyushin was totally preoccupied with yet another Chinese invasion. At any rate, the Burmese could blame the Siamese for fomenting the rebellions of the 1770s. It was mainly the warlord behavior of Burmese commanders who "were drunk with victory" that incited the rebellions. The Siamese were only helping the ready situation on the ground. In 1773, the southern Burmese army command provoked a mutiny by its ethnic Mon troops and put down the mutiny with "undue severity". Over 3,000 Mon troops and their families fled to Siam, and joined the Siamese army. The army command warlord's behavior only grew in 1774 when Hsinbyushin suffered from a debilitating long illness that would ultimately claim his life two years later. Local governors began to disregard the king's royal orders, an unimaginable development only a few years previously. In January 1775, another Lan Na rebellion started with full