In 1866, a patchwork army of Khmer peasants, Vietnamese, Muslim Chams and Stieng hill fighters stormed the old royal capital of Oudong. Leading them was a Buddhist monk with a near-messianic hold over his followers: Pou Kombo. His uprising, one of the largest Cambodia saw in the 19th century, came close to toppling both the throne and the fledgling French protectorate.
