of the House of Bunnag. He sent his sons, including Tish and That, into the palace as the royal pages of Phutthayotfa Chulalok to gain an entrance into Siamese bureaucracy. Tish quickly rose to higher official ranks as Buddha Loetla Nabhalai favored the nobles from the Bunnag family and Tish's maternal family, the Bangchang. Tish then became the minister of Kromma Tha, supervising trade and foreign affairs under King Nangklao. He was offered the position of Samuha Kalahom (Second Prime Minister) by the king, but Tish declined, saying that prime ministers died early. He then became Samuha Kalahom instead. During the Siamese–Vietnamese Wars, Tish led the Siamese forces to Vietnam and imposed a naval blockade on Saigon. The campaigns were successful, however, and the war ended in 1845. With the death of Bodindecha in 1849, Tish remained the only powerful noble in the court. Tish played a key role in the ascension of Mongkut, whether or not Nangklao intended to give the throne to his half-brother. The legend is that Nangklao wanted his son, Prince Annop, to succeed him, even giving Annop the bracelet passed down from his grandfather Phutthayotfa Chulalok. However, Dis switched the bracelet for a forged one, so the genuine one was not passed to Prince Annop. Tish lobbied for Mongkut, a monk of 27 years, to succeed the throne. In 1851, when Mongkut had succeeded the throne, he made Tish Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Prayurawongse and regent in the kingdom. Prayurawongse's brother, That, became Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Pichaiyat and regent in Bangkok. The Somdet Chao Phraya title was the highest noble title, rivaling royalty. The first to hold the title, Maha Kshatriyaseuk, had become the first monarch of Chakri dynasty. Mongkut gave much of his power to the regents he appointed. Prayurawongse was also competent in trade and foreign affairs and crucial to negotiating the Bowring Treaty. Sri Suriyawongse Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Sri Suriyawongse (Thai: สมเด็จเจ้าพระยาบรมมหาศรีสุริยวงศ์; Chuang Bunnag) was a prominent 19th-century Thai figure and served as the regent during the early years of the reign of King Chulalongkorn. The eldest son of Tish Bunnag (Prayurawongse, สมเด็จเจ้าพระยาบรมมหาประยูรวงศ์) and than phu ying Chan, Chuang, was well educated. King Mongkut made him Samuha Kalahom, one of the two prime ministers of Old Siam. After the death of King Mongkut in 1868, his young son Prince Chulalongkorn became the new monarch. However, as the