of a religious and more of a military-political movement, as people such as landowners converted in the hope that they could gain protection. Under Japanese protection, the religious movement grew quickly. Though Sổ was unable to leave Saigon, his missionaries recruited on his behalf, using the combination of doom-laden prophesies and veiled threats against those who would not join, as well as the distribution of cures and amulets. They supported Cường Để, a member of Vietnam's Nguyễn royal dynasty residing in exile in Japan, as the legitimate ruler of Vietnam. Sổ felt powerful enough to make a pact with F. Moresco, the Sureté director in Saigon, to denounce members of competing groups in exchange for immunity. By late 1944, there were up to a million Hòa Hảo devotees. Sổ used his authority to subvert colonial administration in regions where he had influence. The Hòa Hảo took over the role of colonial courts, converted French-led Vietnamese troops, and supplied the Japanese forces with rice. The Hòa Hảo had accepted Japanese assistance as a means of bolstering themselves against future threats, having been in conflicts with both the French and the Việt Minh. The Hòa Hảo had a capable military force in place by the end of World War II, thanks to Japanese patronage, and had taken the offensive throughout the western Mekong Delta. Sổ and the Hòa Hảo began to mobilize against Japanese military troops in order to demonstrate their credentials as a resolute nationalist organization hostile to all foreign powers, having obtained the military strength required to ensure the religious community's survival. During the Japanese patronage, Sổ wrote new religious texts that no longer referenced catastrophic millenarian notions, but rather to a Pure Land Buddhism. Also, he entered politics openly by creating the Vietnamese Democratic Socialist Party in 1944, known as Dân Xã for short. Sổ claimed that instead of politicizing religion, he was bringing religion into politics. August Revolution Sổ avoided the stigma of being labeled a Japanese puppet by forecasting the empire's defeat months in advance. His movement joined the nationalist front that took power in the interregnum following Japan's surrender to establish a united resistance to both the Japanese and the French. Sổ requested and received a Communist cadre to assist him in training his followers. The Japanese requested from Sổ and his followers more crops, but instead, he advised peasants to stop farming, putting his new