Sweeping across the Three Kingdoms

Ede was considered the largest vassal state of Khmer, occupying a territory of two and a half prefectures. Its strength was decent, though of course, that was before.

In the Battle of Angkor, Ede had mobilized eighty percent of the nation's troops, and as a result, not a single soul returned. Now, with only over two thousand troops left in the entire country, how could they possibly withstand the fierce Qian Army?

Accustomed to living under someone else's roof anyway, King Yi Sap Knon Adraang was quite straightforward. Facing the aggressive Qian Army, he didn't resist and surrendered the city directly, which greatly surprised Liu Rengui.

The same went for Vietnam next; they were even weaker than Ede and had no capital for resistance, so they also chose to surrender directly.

Liu Rengui did not deal a killing blow to these people who understood the situation, arranging for them to relocate to Vientiane to live as wealthy retirees.

Champa, however, belonged to the category of stubborn and unyielding die-hards. With a point of Liu Rengui's sword, the army split into two routes to enter the Central Highlands and Panduranga, with their target set straight for Saigon, where Champa was located.

While Liu Rengui was advancing irresistibly at the front, Gao Yuan was also busy beyond belief in the rear.

By this time, he had already arrived in Vientiane, though not for war, but to deliver troops.

Having occupied so much territory in one go, he had to arrange for troops to garrison it, and more importantly, handle the settlement of the population.

With over a dozen prefectures and a population exceeding a million, leaving these people where they were would inevitably lead to trouble in the future. Therefore, migration was necessary to reduce the density of the local indigenous population.

This was a massive undertaking; the migration and settlement of over a hundred thousand immigrants alone was an extremely complex matter.

Thus, Gao Yuan did not come alone this time; he brought Zheng Wan, Wu Zetian in her youth, and Mu Sheng with him.

It was another day of being busy from morning till night. It wasn't until the sky was completely dark that Zheng Wan finally emerged from the pile of documents, rubbing her long-stiff neck and complaining with a pout,

"If I keep being this busy, I feel like I'm going to age several years."

Gao Yuan also closed his documents, revealing a pleasing smile.

"No matter how old you get, I will always like you just as before."

Zheng Wan shot him two pretty glares and said coquettishly,

"Have you no shame? There are people here."

Beside them, Wu Zetian in her youth raised her small head, paused for a moment, and then decisively shook it.

"I... I didn't hear anything."

Gao Yuan suddenly thought of something and asked,

"Wu Zetian in her youth, once this area is pacified, would you be interested in serving a term as a local official here?"

Wu Zetian in her youth was somewhat surprised, pointing a slender finger at herself as she asked,

"Me? Here?"

Gao Yuan shook his head.

"The area of Zhongnan Circuit is about to double. Liu Renguis courtesy name certainly won't be able to handle it all alone. I want you to serve as the Chief Administrator here to help him share some of the administrative affairs."

Wu Zetian in her youth's cherry-like mouth hung open in surprise, making Gao Yuan really want to stuff something into it.

It took a long time for the girl to recover from her shock.

"If you... if you and the Grand Princess trust me, then I am willing. I just fear..."

"Don't worry, Liu Renguis courtesy name won't have any objections; he will cooperate with you fully."

If Liu Rengui knew about this, he would surely hug Gao Yuan's leg in tearful gratitude.

"My Lord, you've finally remembered to find someone to help me! You have no idea how tired I've been these past few years!"

As the three were walking toward the dining hall, Gao Yuan suddenly received a system notification.

"Congratulations to the Host for destroying the two nations of Ede and Vietnam. You have obtained two B-Rank Random Talent Summon Cards."

Although they were only B-rank cards, Gao Yuan was already very satisfied, even eating two extra bowls of rice for dinner that night.

That night, after finally exhausting Zheng Wan—whose desire for 'learning' was becoming increasingly intense—until she fell asleep, Gao Yuan dressed and went to the study.

With a thought, the system notification arrived.

"Host is using a B-Rank Random Talent Summon Card. Randomly drawing now..."

It was the familiar large spinning wheel again. Gao Yuan didn't bother watching and casually picked up a book on military strategy to flip through.

The result came out quickly. Following a flash of golden light, two people stood before him.

One was a general and the other a scholar, which brought joy to Gao Yuan's heart—finally, a man of letters had arrived.

The two bowed deeply to Gao Yuan.

"Chen Dao (Zishan) greets the Lord."

Unsurprisingly, they were characters from the Three Kingdoms again. Gao Yuan used the system to take a quick look and found they were both B+ rank.

This gave Gao Yuan a great surprise; his luck was truly exploding today.

According to Gao Yuan's memory, Chen Dao was the Imperial Uncle's great bodyguard. It seemed he now had a candidate for his Personal Guards commander.

That blockhead Zhao Meng was fine for following him to cut people down, but asking him to lead troops was truly pushing him too hard.

Even Zhao Meng himself had requested to step down and let someone more capable take over several times, but unfortunately, Gao Yuan had no one available.

As for Zishan, he was the provincial inspector of Jiaozhou for Eastern Wu, a top-tier regional official and definitely a talent.

He likely had other areas that dragged him down, causing his overall rating to be only B+.

Gao Yuan cleared his throat.

"Chen Dao, from now on you will stay by my side and be responsible for commanding my Personal Guards Cavalry;"

"As for Zishan, you will temporarily stay by my side to help me handle affairs. Once we return to County, other arrangements will be made."

"Thank you for the promotion, Lord."

"Mm, it's late. You two should go rest first."

After speaking, Gao Yuan summoned a Female Soldier to lead the two to the front courtyard to rest.

With the two cards used, Gao Yuan looked at the system warehouse with a slight sense of loss.

Only one Attribute Enhancement Card and one Equipment Enhancement Card remained, which he was currently reluctant to use.

Aside from those, he was penniless once more. He really hoped for some powerful cards.

With a talent like Zishan, handling the migration of the Common People became much easier.

Seeing that Zishan handled things well, Gao Yuan felt relieved enough to dump all these matters onto him and Wu Zetian in her youth, while he took Zheng Wan out to enjoy the scenery.

This left the young girl Wu Zetian in her youth feeling somewhat resentful.

Only after Gao Yuan promised to personally cook a meal for her did the little girl turn her tears into smiles.

Women, whether princesses or empresses, are truly hard to coax.

At the southern end of the peninsula, Liu Rengui swept away the garrison troops everywhere, and now his army had surrounded Saigon.

Currently, there were only over a thousand defenders in the city; trying to hold it was a fool's dream.

However, the monarch and ministers of Saigon had never intended to hold it from the start. There was only one reason they were unwilling to surrender: they wanted to flee.

Saigon was different from other cities; it had only a single curved wall and backed onto a harbor.

What Liu Rengui didn't know was that the harbor was currently bustling with activity, as a large number of seagoing vessels were being loaded with goods.

As the last batch of treasures was loaded onto the ships, all the royalty, nobles, and high-ranking ministers of Champa boarded the vessels and set sail.

The next day, the gates of Saigon were thrown wide open. Only after Liu Rengui entered the city did he realize the big fish had all escaped.

Most hateful of all, those people had loaded all the grain away, leaving not a single grain in the homes of the Common People.

If not for the capture of over five hundred thousand dan of grain in Angkor, Liu Rengui would have truly been in a bind this time.

It could be considered a bloodless victory; the three major vassal states of Khmer were completely pacified.

Liu Rengui finally had the time and energy to go join the excitement at Phnom Penh.

At this moment, rivers of blood flowed outside Phnom Penh, and corpses were piled like mountains. Coupled with the scorching heat, a foul stench filled the air everywhere.

The two warring sides had no choice but to stop and clean up the battlefield; the corpses needed to be burned and buried, otherwise, a plague would surely break out.

After more than a month of siege, the conscripted laborers brought by the toungoo people had long since been wiped out, and their main force had also suffered thousands of casualties.

Inside the city, things were also very difficult. Because they were ill-prepared, even as the defenders, their losses were substantial.

Counting both the army and the able-bodied youth, they had already suffered nearly twenty thousand casualties, with only over thirty thousand capable of fighting remaining.