At length the army was reduced to rations sufficient for three days only. It would have been folly rather than heroism to advance further. The general considered that his duty lay in the preservation of the lives of those committed to his care. A retreat was made, which was by no means a disgrace, as it was caused by dire necessity. On his arrival at Tavoy he informed his master that his expedition had been a failure owing to the defection of his troops. The King of Ava, smarting under the humiliation of defeat in a land that had been the scene of his triumphs, determined on taking vengeance with the utmost severity. But while preparations were being made for another expedition that he had intended to lead in person, his plans were altered owing to complications with China which had arisen as follows. After the Burmese had laid waste the kingdoms of Pegu, Siam and Aracan, they had invaded Laos and Cassaye, (the latter being part of Bengal), rather as dacoits than as conquerors. They changed these happy and populous lands into arid deserts and gloried in the spoliation of what might have been preserved. The ease with which their early conquests had been effected had caused them to turn their arms against China, which offered a richer prey to their greed. They had no grounds for hostilities whatever, but those whose creed is 'Might makes Right,' are always ready to transgress all laws to obtain their desires. The Burmese declared war on the Chinese on the pretext of taking vengeance on a small nation whom they called barbarians and who were less powerful than they. This obscure race was perfectly contented to live as best it might in the forests that lay between Ava and China. This savage tribe whose sole asset was its independence, seemed never, owing to the fact of its poverty, to have been a prize for the ambition of a conqueror. The Kings of Ava had always stood as its protectors and in return exacted a small tribute. But the Cassians, poor and proud, seeing all the neighbouring kingdoms agitated by home and foreign wars, wished to dispense with having to pay a tribute which was more humiliating than burdensome as it was an indication of their dependent position. In 1749 they had declared that they no longer needed protection, that their forest, were their ramparts and that their courage had taught them daring to fear nothing. For some time they enjoyed their independence, but when the Kingdom of Ava regained its pristine glories, they found that the Burmese harassed them without intermission, and their lands, that hardly gave them a bare means of livelihood, were laid waste by repeated frays. To escape the domination of Burma, they besought help from their neighbour, the Emperor of China, who alone could protect them, and to whom their defence was a matter of importance as they formed the only barrier between his territories and the barbarians.