Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Lane Xang invaded Xieng Khuang, seizing the woman in question and taking several thou-
sand captives, who were resettled near the capital. Thereafter Xieng Khuang paid regular trib-
ute to Vientiane and was forced to break off its relationship with Vietnam. Sourinyavongsa
took the daughter of the Vietnamese emperor as a concubine and established the boundaries
between the two states in a treaty with Vietnam which identified all people living in houses
on piles as Lao subjects and all living in homes that rested on the ground as Vietnamese. The
frontier with Ayutthaya remained unchanged, with both countries respecting the border es-
tablished by Setthathilat between the Mekong and the Chao Phraya rivers. Lane Xang was
left holding sway over the northern and eastern portions of the Khorat Plateau.
Sourinyavongsa avoided the bitter rivalries that contributed to the downfall of Setthathilat,
by striking a balance between the regional interests of the kingdom. He appeased the power-
ful families of the central Mekong by dividing the powers of state among three chief minis-
ters - the minister of the palace conducted foreign relations and ran the royal secretariat; a
second commanded the army and oversaw Vientiane; and a third, the viceroy, the powerful
ruler of Sikhotabong, ruled the south.
While the new balance of power provided the stability Lane Xang needed to flourish, no
provisions were made to maintain that stability after the king's death. In the end, the kingdom
paid the price for Sourinyavongsa's stern brand of justice: the king had executed his only son
for adultery, leaving no obvious heir to the throne when he died in 1694. Once again there
was a political crisis, but this time around, the country's three regions went their separate
ways.
The division of Lane Xang
In 1698, Vientiane was taken over by
Setthathilat II
, a Lane Xang prince who returned
from exile in Vietnam to establish a new kingdom. Very soon, however,
Setthathilat
had
trouble on his northern flank. Sourinyavongsa's grandsons - Kingkitsalat and Inthasom -
had fled Vientiane to Chiang Hung (present-day Jinghong in Yunnan) some years before and
sought assistance from their mother's relatives in Sipsong Pa Na. With the aid of a cousin,
the princes raised an army, captured Luang Prabang in 1706 and soon after marched on Vi-
entiane. Setthathilat appealed for help from Ayutthaya. The king of Ayutthaya negotiated a
division of the territory at the bend in the Mekong, south of Paklai, making Kingkitsalat the
first ruler of an independent Luang Prabang kingdom, and leaving Setthathilat to rule over
Vientiane.
Meanwhile, in the south, a new ruling house had emerged at
Champasak
. The prince,
sometimes said to be a long lost son of Sourinyavongsa, assumed the throne as King Soi Sis-
amouth in 1713. Thus the new ruling lines of each of the three major principalities, Luang
Prabang, Vientiane and Champasak, could claim, however tenuously, some link to Fa Ngum
and, by extension, to Khoun Borom. Family ties notwithstanding, it didn't take long for these
