Throughout the history of Ayudhya, the kings had to make continuous attempts to minimize and, if possible, abol ish the authority of the regional governors. For example, as Lorraine Gesick observes, the position of yokkrabat (royal inspec tor was created by the rulers of Ayudhya in order to monitor he activities of the governors (chao muang) and to retain a degree of influence in distant cities. In short, a yokkrabat, who ranked with the highest members of the chao muang's council, "was a person of trust appointed by the king and his chief duty was to act as the king's agent in keeping watch on the chao muang Apart from yokkrabat, Ayudhya kings, with the intention of eliminating the autonomy of regional governors and improv ing the dysfunctional bureaucratic system of the kingdom, in sioner governors) to troduced the position of phuran (commissi the stage of Ayudhya provincial politics. Lorraine Gesick cites La Loubere on this subject: "The king of Siam names the Pou- ram lor phuranl upon two accounts, either when he would have no Tchaou Meluang lor chao muangl or when the Tchaou-Meuang is obliged to absent himself from his "us This ob- Government. light on the fact that Trilok's administrative servation sheds system did not function successfully; therefore the medieval kings of Ayudhya after him had to improvise new methods again and again to enforce their control. Royal authority con tinued to be influenced by the relative might or weakness each king. In reality, regional governors near and far never hesitated to shift their loyalty from one patron to another order to protect their own political interest. The authors of the Glass palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma (Hmanman Mahayaza indawgyi, 1829) revealed that sixteen of nineteen governors of major provincial cities of Ayudhya transferred their loyalty to the Burmese commanders-in-chief, Nei-myou-thihapatei and ha naw ra-hta, in order to protect their lives and status when the Burmese army approached their city (1766). Among these turncoat governors, one (the governor of Suphanburi) fought his death for the Burmese against Ayudhya