Song Dynasty: Yuan Dynasty, you didn't expect this, did you? I'm still alive.

Zhao Yu stood before his command tent on the high slope, gazing at the endless army below, its banners fluttering, a smile playing on his lips.

He had always admired a saying of Han Xin, and now he felt it was true: How to command an army of 100,000?

Ten obedient generals are enough.

With 200,000 troops surrounding them, they were surprisingly easy to deploy.

He gently stroked the jade belt at his waist, thinking to himself: It seems that I can easily achieve the "the more the better" achievement today.

Ji Bai stood by, hurriedly urging the scholar behind him to record: "In the twelfth year of Xingwei, throughout the eight directions and six realms, the supreme Khan of Heaven, Earth, and Man personally led an expedition against the Khmer Empire. The Khmer nobles were unpopular, the common people defected, and when the army reached Zhenla, he commanded an army of 500,000 men as if they were his own limbs, and was invincible!"

The scholar, holding his brush, was about to bring it down when he suddenly looked up and hesitated, saying, "Lord Ji, isn't an army of 500,000... a bit too few? It's insufficient to demonstrate the divine might of the Heavenly Khan."

Ji Bai's eyes lit up. He turned to look at Zhao Yu, and seeing that Zhao Yu did not object, he made the decision: "You're right! Record it as a million-strong army!"

"Good!" The scholar did not hesitate and picked up his brush to carve the four characters "million-strong army" on the bamboo slip.

Inside the Zhenla Governor's Mansion, the atmosphere was as oppressive as an impending storm.

Lu Yuzhou's "good brother's" elder brother was none other than the Governor-General of Zhenla, Wa Ke.

Upon hearing the report that the Song army was pressing in, cold sweat had already soaked through his brocade robe.

"A million-strong army?" Vaq slammed his hand on the table, making the teacup rattle. "Where did this million-strong army come from? How many people are there in the entire area around Zhenla? How could he possibly muster a million?"

The scout replied tremblingly, "Governor, the opposing army all claims the same thing; their camps stretch for dozens of miles, as far as the eye can see..."

"Idiot!" Vaq roared, pointing at the scout's nose. "You believe everything the enemy says? Can't you count for yourself? Find out exactly how many people there are!"

The scout obeyed the order and went off, hiding and counting the enemy troops in front of the battle lines for most of the day. When he returned, his face was deathly pale, and he stammered, "Governor, the enemy numbers are too many, densely packed, like stars in the sky, it's impossible to count them all..."

"Useless trash!" Vaker roared in fury, "Men, drag this piece of trash out and behead him!"

Just then, the mansion gate was hurriedly pushed open, and Wa Ke's younger brother, So Ke—Lu Yuzhou's "good brother"—rushed in in a panic.

His clothes were disheveled, and he was covered in sweat. As soon as he entered, he asked urgently, "Brother, what important person have you offended? How come there are so many soldiers attacking Zhenla?"

"You're asking me? I'd like to ask you the same thing!" Vaker, still furious, glared at him fiercely. "Have you been getting into some trouble lately?"

"I didn't!" Sok waved his hands repeatedly, looking completely wronged. "I just run a small business; how could I dare to offend any big shot?"

Wa Ke rubbed his throbbing temples and waved his hand wearily: "Forget it, there's no point in pursuing this now. Send an envoy to their camp to ask why they've mobilized troops. Go ahead and do it."

"Huh? Me?" Sok pointed to his nose, his eyes wide open, his face full of terror.

"You are the person I trust the most, so you are the most suitable to go," Vacker said in a deep voice.

Sok hesitated, taking a step back, his face contorted with grief. "But what if the negotiations fall apart and they kill me? I'm your own brother!"

V.K. shook his head with a bitter smile, his tone tinged with despair: "If you are killed after the negotiations break down, how long do you think I will live? When Zhenla falls, I'll just die with you."

"But..." Sok wanted to argue.

"No need to say anything more!" Vacker interrupted him, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Helpless, Sok had no choice but to bow and retreat.

Stepping out of the governor's mansion, the panic on his face was instantly replaced by resentment. He cursed inwardly, "You heartless wretch! I have money and wealth. Even if the city falls, where can't I live a good life? Why should I risk my life with you? You caused this disaster, yet I have to bear the consequences. What kind of brother is this? Since you are heartless, don't blame me for being unjust!"

A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes. Instead of heading to the Yellow Turban army camp, he turned back to his own residence, quickly gathered his gold and silver treasures, and, with a few trusted men, quietly fled towards Angkor Thom.

News of Sok's escape quickly reached Va's ears.

The subordinate general requested, "Your Excellency, Lord Sok has deserted his post, which is tantamount to treason. Should I lead men to capture him?"

Looking out at the gloomy sky, Va. K. sighed deeply, and his slowly raised arm finally fell limply to his side: "If it's going to rain, it's going to rain; if a mother wants to remarry, so be it."

He was the one who caused this trouble; he shouldn't have dragged his younger brother into it.

However, the city only had 10,000 soldiers, including the militia temporarily conscripted. How could they possibly withstand the enemy's million-strong army?

With things having come to this point, Wa Ke had no choice but to bite the bullet and send another envoy to the Yellow Turban army camp to negotiate.

"Why did this general raise an army?" Zhao Yu leaned back in his command chair, twirling a jade pendant in his hand, and chuckled as he looked at Ji Bai. "Ji Bai, you tell him."

Ji Bai stepped forward and sternly rebuked the envoy: "Your governor, Wa Ke, is incredibly audacious! He dared to abduct five thousand slaves that the King of Champa was offering to the Heavenly Khan! Do you really need to ask why my army has mobilized troops for such a heinous act?"

Upon hearing this, the envoy was greatly alarmed, his legs went weak, and he almost knelt down.

He inwardly groaned: So the governor had done such a stupid thing, and he still dared to send him to inquire about the reason!

Fortunately, the Song Dynasty was a celestial empire with a long-standing rule against killing envoys; otherwise, he would surely be dead today.

The envoy dared not say more and scrambled back to Zhenla City, reporting Ji Bai's words verbatim to Wa Ke.

"When did I ever kidnap five thousand slaves sent by the King of Champa?" V.K. looked utterly bewildered and confused. "I have no idea about this!"

"Investigate! Investigate thoroughly!" Vacker suddenly stood up and gave the order in a stern voice.

After a while, his men finally found out the truth—it turned out that Sok had secretly abducted five thousand slaves sent by Champa and sold them to slave traders in the Eastern Song Dynasty, enriching himself.

"Good! Good for you, Sok!" Va K was trembling with rage, cursing through gritted teeth.

He had always felt guilty for dragging his younger brother down, but he never expected that the real culprit was his own brother!

With things having come to this point, Wa Ke could only send someone to the Yellow Turban Army camp again to explain the situation and hope to quell Zhao Yu's anger.

"Since it was done by your governor's brother, where is he now?" Zhao Yu asked, raising his eyes, his tone calm and indifferent.

The messenger stammered, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time, and finally had to report the truth: "Lord Sok... Lord Sok has already escaped."

"Hahaha!" Zhao Yu laughed angrily, slapping his command chair. "Do you think I'm stupid? You dare to try and fool me with such a lie? Enough said. Tell your governor to wash his neck clean and wait for me to breach the city!"

The envoy was terrified and fled back to Zhenla in disgrace.

Little did he know that even if Wa Ke really handed over Suo Ke, Zhao Yu would never let Zhenla go—he had gathered these 200,000 Yellow Turban soldiers not for child's play.

These 200,000 Yellow Turban soldiers had already been reorganized by Zhao Yu and divided into twenty armies, named sequentially by numbers, from the First Army to the Twentieth Army.

Each army was commanded by a Khmer man, known as the "Chief Commander".

Zhao Yu gave them Chinese names: Chen Wuge, Lin Zhenla, Zhou Funan, Lu Jianpu, Zheng Bagan, Xie Zhancheng, Wu Jinbian, Yang Bangxun, Luo Dongli, Gao Xianluo, Cai Lancang, Feng Meigong, Shi Bashan, Li Langbo, Zhang Boluo, Huang Gongxiang, Su Danxia, ​​Mo Shuishen, Li Ansong, and Wang Shupuzhai.

"I have made the following deployment." Zhao Yu stood up, walked to the sand table, picked up a wooden pole, and pointed, "Chen Wuge will lead the First Army to attack the East Gate, Lin Zhenla will lead the Second Army to attack the South Gate, Zhou Funan will lead the Third Army to attack the West Gate, and Lu Jianpu will lead the Fourth Army to attack the North Gate!"

"Ji Bai, repeat it again," Zhao Yu instructed, turning his head.

Yesterday, the military scribe fell ill and was bedridden, so Ji Bai took over the task of recording.

Holding the brush, he frowned and asked with a troubled expression, "Your Majesty, how do you write the character '柬' in '陆柬浦'?"

Zhao Yu sighed helplessly and waved his hand, saying, "Forget it, let's find someone else. Let Zheng Bagan lead the Fifth Army to attack the North Gate."

Lu Jianpu, standing to the side, was full of question marks, and thought to himself: Can you blame me for having such an unusual name?

Besides, I didn't choose this name myself!

But he dared not complain in the slightest. After bowing and accepting the order, he hurriedly went to the Yellow Turban camp to mobilize troops.

It is worth mentioning that the Yellow Turban Army and the Song Army's camps were not built together, but were several miles apart.

This arrangement served two purposes: firstly, to prevent the weak Yellow Turban army from disrupting the Song army's discipline; and secondly, to prevent the Yellow Turban army from crashing into the Song army's main camp during their defeat.

The Yellow Turban Army was extremely poorly equipped. Most of the soldiers sharpened a piece of wood to make a spear, and they had no armor at all. There were even many women, children, and the elderly mixed in with the troops, making them a mixed bag of good and bad.

Given the current steel production capacity of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Yu could easily assemble enough cold weapons to equip an army of 200,000 in a short period of time, but he felt it was unnecessary.

If the Yellow Turban Army were also fully armed, could they still be called the Yellow Turban Army?

After the deployment was completed, Chen Wuge, Lin Zhenla, Zhou Funan, and Zheng Bagan each led an army of 10,000 to besiege the city of Zhenla.

However, after several days of continuous attacks, the Yellow Turban army suffered heavy casualties, with corpses strewn across the fields, yet they still failed to breach the city of Zhenla.

When Vaq on the city wall saw this scene, his tense nerves finally relaxed for a while.

He let out a long sigh and muttered, "So they were just a bunch of rabble, all there was to them, but they had no real fighting ability."

The daily food consumption of 200,000 people is enormous. As long as he can hold the city, the enemy will naturally collapse without a fight when their food supplies run out.

What Kova didn't know was that Zhao Yu wasn't worried about food supplies at all in the short term.

Wherever the Yellow Turban army went, they burned, killed, looted, and left nothing but desolation, and had already amassed a large amount of grain and fodder.

Let's do a simple calculation: an ordinary commoner's family would usually keep half a year's worth of grain in their reserves; even though many families couldn't even afford half a year's worth of grain, many noble families had grain stored up for several years.

In summary, each person can contribute an average of six months' worth of stored food.

Moreover, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion's expansion, a large number of Khmer people died in the war, which meant that the average food rations of the remaining personnel were enough to last for more than half a year.

What will happen after half a year?

Zhao Yu didn't care at all.

What does it matter to the King of Siam that the Khmer people are starving?

If you're looking for someone, go find their Khmer king, Nipahan Bhat.