The crowd of villagers grew in size as the man standing from the jeep cried the news. Many stood in disbelief, most in ignorance of the situation. The few selected town officials stood close to the decorated soldier standing on top of the truck as the local monastics formed a perimeter around the man below him, shielding him from any harm that might be flung his way. There were many oddities about this soldier that put him apart from the usual Burmese Militia regalia that made up the minuscule ad hoc army of Min; a patch on his right arm with an embroidered dragon, several dozen markings which were certainly not in Burmese. Why was this Bhutanese soldier so far from home, across even the Thanlyin? Preaching the words of the Wangchuck Dynasty? The soldier read from a decorated scroll wrapped around porcelain, detailing the apparent, sudden regime change across the river and how the Wangchuck Dynasty of former Bhutan was now in de-facto control of the former assets of the now-dissolved Laymen’s Organization, and therefore its diplomatic policy was dissolved in the process, allowing Min to expand past agreed borders with Thailand.

The monks smiled in contentment, knowing their treasuries were about to get significantly larger.

Min annexes VN044, VN043, VN042, and VN049