ENTORNOS DE REALIDAD VIRTUAL

These rebels succeeded in taking over control of the province and chased away its governor.

When Duong learnt about the event, he despatched an ocnha, the Yothea Sangkream with a small army to meet the rebels, either to work out a peaceful settlement with them or simply because he under­ estimated their strength due to lack of information. This army was disintegrated and the Royal Envoy murdered by the rebels. Duong was very upset at the news of the disaster. He organised and personally

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led another military expedition soon afterwards. No figures

77 Moura, Le Royaume du Cambodge, Vol.II, p.133. 78 Ibid, p.133.

79 See Chapter II, p.44.

80 Nupparot, p.234; Wat Kork Kak, Vol.IV, p.17; Moura, Le Royaume du Cambodge, Vol.II, p.134.

about the size of the royal army or how long the battle lasted are available; however, it is understood that Duong had a large army, moving especially by boat, and that the rebels had put up a fierce

resistance. Finally, one of the rebel leaders was killed during the fighting and their army was routed. They made their retreat to Chaudoc. Ocnha Tuon-li, who lived in Oudong, fearing for his own security, took his family with him and joined his brothers in

Chaudoc. The rest of the Cham-Malay population of Thbaung Khmum province and in adjoining regions who did not flee were carried off, on Duong’s orders, to settle in Pursat, Lovek, Kampong Tralach, Kampong Luong and Phnom Penh. This decision was probably taken as punishment of these inhabitants for the direct or implicit support they gave voluntarily or unvoluntarily to the rebels, and also as a precautionary measure to cut off eventual link between the rebels and their co-religionists inside Cambodia, thus to deny them support for further disturbances. Nevertheless, a few months later, in 1859, the rebels succeeded in making a daring and lightning

incursion into Phnom Penh and even further, up to Kampong Luong, to release their fellow co-religionists and brought them along to

oo

Chaudoc without alerting the Cambodians. Duong was stunned by this coup de main. He felt somewhat ashamed of the inability to detect the intentions of the enemy beforehand, and so prevent the coup from happening, or at least to react in time to the raid.

81 Nupparot, p.234; Moura, Le Royaume du Cambodge, VolII, p.134; Veang Tioun, p.853.

82 Nupparot, p.234; Wat Kork Kak, Vol.IV, p.18; Veang Tioun, p.853; Moura, Le Royaume du Cambodge, Vol.II, p.134;

Ledere, Histoire du Cambodge, p.446.

Wat Kork Kak, Vol.IV, p.18; Ledere, Histoire du Cambodge, p.446; Moura, Le Royaume du Cambodge, Vol.II, p.134.

Duong summoned the Vietnamese authorities in Chaudoc and asked them 84

to hand back the rebels and their followers. The Vietnamese

governor of Chaudoc refused to comply with Duong’s request and began to arm the latter. Duong consequently prepared another military expedition, this time not only against the rebels alone but also against their supporters, the Vietnamese army in Chaudoc. He dared to undertake such a military action because at that time French forces had already overrun Saigon and were attacking the Vietnamese

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forces in other provinces of Gia-dinh. He appointed a high- ranking ocnha named Kep, the Governor of Dey Treang, to lead the expedition. The Cambodians fought very well and were said to have gained substantial territory from the Vietnamese, according to

Cambodian chronicles.

Meanwhile, Duong made a trip to Kampot, allegedly to inspect the construction of a sea-going junk that he had made as a trading- vessel with Singapore. It was during his stay in Kampot, which lasted several months, that Duong met the French explorer Henri Mouhot, whom he provided with assistance to continue his trip to Oudong.

Mouhot set sail from Bangkok on the 28th December, 1858, to Chantaboun, where he spent about two months exploring the region before he continued his journey to Kampot. He arrived there in March, 1859. In his diary, he wrote:

It happened to be the day fixed for the King of Cambodia, then in Kampot, to pass in review all the ships lying in the

roads; however for some time he had been detained by the

84 Moura, Le Royaume du Cambodge, Vol.II, p.134; Ledere, Histoire du Cambodge, p.446.

85 Nupparot, p.235; Ledere, Histoire du Cambodge, p.446. 86 Veang Tioun, pp.853-854; Ledere, p.445; Moura pp. 134-135.

rough weather in a sort of apartment erected for him on piles, in a place where water was shallow. As we passed the custom­ house, we perceived the royal cortege advancing towards a large junk, which his Majesty was having built as a trading- vessel with Singapore.87

He exchanged a few words of greeting with Duong during his royal tour of inspection, and when he had all the transportation assistance that the King had promised him, he left Kampot for the capital, about a four-day journey by land on the road that Duong had had built earlier and repaired not very long before for the French envoy, M.Montigny, during his visit in 1856. The French explorer gave a good and clear description of this road, probably the most important in Cambodia at that time. He wrote:

At this dry season a broad track in the middle of the road, which altogether is from twenty-five to thirty metres in width, is beaten hard by the frequent passage of vehicles and elephants, and the fine thick dust arising from it is very annoying. The remainder of the road is covered with grass and shrubs, and on either hand is the forest, with its trees tall, straight and majestic, surmounted by immense tufts of leaves. The effect is that of a magnificent avenue; and from the regularity of the intervals between the trees, one might almost believe that it had been laid out by the hand of art. The stations are equidistant from each other, about twelve miles apart; and at all of them, besides the old

caravanserais for the shelter of ordinary travellers, new ones, much more spacious and ornamental, have been erected for the accommodation of the King. There are also intermediate resting-places between every two stations, where travellers can obtain a welcome shelter from the midday heat.88

Mouhot was well received by Prince Vodey, the eldest son of Duong, when he arrived in Oudong. In his diary, he gave a detailed account of his audience with this Prince and also about the daily

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life in the Cambodian capital. He noticed that at the Prince's

87 Henri Mouhot's Diary: Travels in the Central Parts of Siam, Cambodia and Laos During the Years 1858-1861, p.33.

88 Ibid, p.40. 89 Ibid, p .46 f f .

court there were many Thai pages and retainers. He stayed in Oudong and Ponhea Luu, a town not far away from the capital on the north where Bishop Miche had established his diocese, for a couple of months before he continued his journey to Angkor. He left Cambodia

towards the end of the year and returned to Bangkok from where he departed for the Lao kingdoms in the following year.

In the meantime, Duong fell ill soon after he returned from Kampot. He died towards the end of 1860 at the age of 65 after thirteen years on the throne and eight years of warfare, with the Thai General Bodin Decha, against the Vietnamese. Duong was

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