Chapter 245 The End of the Dynasty

"Temporary Event: Breaking the Siege triggered (Completed);

During the breakout, the Host's forces lost 221 soldiers. Overall evaluation: A. Commencing reward distribution."

"What the hell? System, get out here! I fought so brilliantly, not only jumping out of the encirclement but also wiping out half their army, and you're telling me it's only an A?"

"Host, please read the scoring criteria carefully: The reward level is determined by the final number of remaining soldiers."

"System, are you saying that if I hadn't fought that last battle against the Xifeng Tribe, my score would have been higher?"

"Yes, Host."

"Uh..."

Gao Yuan clutched his chest, feeling a heartache so intense he could barely breathe.

But thinking back carefully, if he hadn't driven off the Xifeng Tribe, he wouldn't have captured nearly a thousand warhorses. With such a tail following him, he likely wouldn't have escaped so easily anyway.

After comforting himself, that feeling of heartache finally eased a bit. Just then, the system's rewards arrived.

"Reward calculation complete. Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the reward: Mysterious Key X2."

"Eh? That seems pretty good! Two keys? Doesn't that mean I can buy two things?"

"Correct, Host."

"Hahaha, not bad, not bad at all. Come, come, dear System, open the System Mall for your great Host."

The screen changed, and that familiar yet exciting display window appeared before his eyes. This time, Gao Yuan actually saw a Talent Summoning Card, but a B-rank one actually cost a hundred thousand guan.

"At this price, wouldn't an A-rank one cost two or three hundred thousand? That's too damn expensive. Can't afford it, can't afford it."

If it were an S-rank card, Gao Yuan might grit his teeth and buy it even for two hundred thousand guan, but a B-rank? That's a bit of a rip-off.

Continuing to scroll down, Gao Yuan stared intently at each window, afraid of missing any crucial items.

Soon, he found something good: Random Quantity Legion Expansion Card.

Random Quantity Legion Expansion Card: Upon use, it randomly increases the quantity of soldier martial souls the Host already possesses or has used.

"Good stuff!"

Seeing it only cost five thousand guan, Gao Yuan bought it without hesitation.

As soon as he bought it, the icon dimmed and was marked as 'Sold Out.' Soon, the system prompt came again.

"Host has completed one purchase. Would you like to refresh the Mall?"

Gao Yuan scrolled down the interface and found nothing else of interest, so with a thought, he refreshed the Mall.

He wondered if it was because the Empress in his arms brought him luck, but indeed, another good item appeared: an A-rank Talent Summoning Card. Looking at the price: five hundred thousand guan.

He had truly underestimated the System's greed. It could actually be this expensive; it was simply daylight robbery!

"Host, as the saying goes, 'A thousand troops are easy to get, but one general is hard to find.' Is five hundred thousand guan expensive? It's not expensive at all, okay?"

"Black-hearted System, go stay wherever it's cool. Five hundred thousand guan? If I spend this much, how am I supposed to live? And with you taking so much money, aren't you afraid of disrupting the financial balance of this world?"

"Rest assured, Host. As the saying goes, 'Taken from the people, used for the people.' Every cent the Host spends in the System Mall will return to society."

"For example?"

"For example, some old man might find a single copper coin when he goes out."

"Scram, scram, scram! Five hundred thousand guan? If an old man picks it up one coin at a time, he'll probably break his back before he even picks up one guan."

"I was just making an analogy."

Gao Yuan couldn't be bothered with the System anymore and continued checking his Mall. Unfortunately, there were no other particularly good items, which almost made him consider selling everything he owned to get that card.

However, he eventually suppressed the urge to splurge. He couldn't afford the top-tier goods, so he had to pick the best of what was left.

After looking for a long time, Gao Yuan finally exchanged for something that had appeared repeatedly, with a heavy heart—the Tang Modao Forging Blueprints.

Among infantry weapons, the Tang Modao was definitely a top-tier killing machine. Unfortunately, it was later lost to history for various reasons.

The reason he hadn't bought it before was that it was just a blueprint. If he exchanged for it and couldn't actually forge it, it would be a problem.

Think about it: even at the peak of the Tang Dynasty, they couldn't provide these weapons in unlimited supply. The forging difficulty must be immense. He could only take it back and have the craftsmen study it carefully, hoping it wouldn't go to waste.

With both keys used up, Gao Yuan was also tired. He held the beauty in his arms tightly and drifted into a dreamland.

Waking up the next morning, Gao Yuan immediately had someone send the Modao blueprints back to Panyu, hoping they would start research as soon as possible. Then, he used the card he had just bought.

"Host has used the Random Quantity Legion Expansion Card. Designated target: Baier Soldiers. Randomizing..."

"Randomization complete. Congratulations, Host! The number of Baier Soldiers martial souls has increased from 1,000 to 1,150."

Only an increase of 150? Gao Yuan felt like he had lost out on this key too.

"Sigh, it's all because I'm poor. If I had mountains of gold and silver, I would have bought those two summoning cards."

Unfortunately, there are no 'ifs' in life. However, Gao Yuan decided that if he got more keys in the future, he would save them up and use them all at once when he had the money.

This time, he only rolled an A-rank summoning card. If he rolled an S-rank and couldn't afford it, wouldn't he regret it until his legs turned blue from slapping them?

After staying in Vientiane for ten days, Gao Yuan finally set out on his journey again.

Having rested for ten days, the soldiers were all full of energy, except for Gao Yuan sitting on his horse. He looked listless, with dark circles under his eyes as heavy as a panda's.

Everyone there was an adult and knew exactly what was going on seeing Gao Yuan like this. Privately, they said: 'This Madam Wu is truly formidable; not only is she great at governing the country, but she's also great at... other things.'

From the third day onwards, Gao Yuan had been lamenting that the Empress was truly fierce; his old back couldn't take it anymore.

Gao Yuan's group hurried and reached Toungoo City more than half a month later. By then, the first stage of the campaign had already ended.

The two armies had already occupied Pyay and Thandwe, completely cutting off the connection between Chittagong and Ava.

To avoid being picked off one by one, Bayinnaung used gold to bribe Mughal officials and withdrew his troops from Tripura, officially abandoning the top-tier natural deep-water port of Chittagong.

When Gao Yuan reached the front line, the main force of the Western Route Army had also returned, preparing to participate in the final decisive battle for Toungoo.

On a plain about eighty li south of Ava, the combined forces and laborers of both sides numbered over a hundred thousand. They were now encamped less than ten li apart, facing each other in a stalemate.

When the number of people exceeds ten thousand, it looks boundless, let alone nearly two hundred thousand. The number of tents joined together was like Xiahou Dun looking at Louis XVI—he couldn't see the head with one eye.

Gao Yuan's arrival with the Baier Soldiers caused no ripples in this situation, but for the Southern Yue Army, it was like a shot of adrenaline.

With the commander-in-chief arriving at the front and the Western Route Army having just occupied Chittagong, with the double buff, Gao Yao could confidently pat his chest and say:

"The! Advantage! Is! Ours!"

The moment Gao Yuan sat down in the commander-in-chief's seat, he was startled by a sudden system prompt.

"A-rank Series Event: The End of a Dynasty has been triggered;

The End of a Dynasty: Toungoo, once the absolute hegemon of the Indochina Peninsula, has fallen into decline. As the new generation hegemon, the Host has the duty to be the terminator of the dynasty;

Event Objective: Destroy the Kingdom of Toungoo. Advanced Objective: Kill or capture the King of Toungoo, Bayinnaung;

Event Reward: One A-rank lottery card. Advanced Objective Completion Reward: Upgrade the A-rank lottery card to an s-rank lottery card;

Failure Penalty: Bayinnaung will surrender to the Mughal Empire."