The smaller army was supported by a considerable fleet, both army and fleet being under the leadership of a Chinese who had recently been made, with the usual title of P ya Kosa Tibodi.
P ya Kosa proved to be both incompetent and cowardly. He advanced along the sea coat and captured and burnt the town of Banteay M’eas. His army was, however , attacked there by a combined Cambodian and Cochin-Chinese force, and suffered one of the greatest disasters recorded in Siamese history. The soldiers were in poor condition for fighting, as their orovisions had run short and they had been forced to kill and eat their baggage animals. This unaccustomed diet made many of them ill. Nevertheless they were resisting the enemy bravely when P’ya Kosa,whose fleet was being attacked by a much smaller enemy fleet,fell into a panic owing to the loss of a few of his ships, and fled with the remainder out to sea. This threw the land army into consternation, and they turned and fled in disorder,losing a very large number of men and all their artillery.