Chapter 355 The Elite of the Elite

"Host is summoning an S-rank Life Mentor. Randomizing..."

Countless character images appeared on the semi-transparent screen before him, flickering rapidly. After about a dozen breaths, the speed slowed down and finally stopped on a single image.

"Randomization complete. Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the second exclusive Life Mentor: Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. Optional guidance skills: Intelligence S+, Leadership S, Internal Affairs S+."

All three attributes were top-tier choices. However, Gao Yuan only hesitated for a moment before making up his mind—he chose Leadership.

With a group of capable women like Zhao Xiyao and the others, plus legendary ministers like Gao Yao, Yu Qian, and Liu Rengui, why would he ever need to worry about internal affairs?

With a single thought, the system made the arrangements.

"Host has selected the Life Mentor guidance direction: Leadership. Mentor Leadership rating: S, bonus ratio: 75%. Because the Host has a wife named Princess Consort Huang Yueying, a special bonus is triggered, increasing the bonus ratio to a maximum of 100%."

To think such a hidden attribute existed. Gao Yuan was stunned. At this moment, he felt incredibly lucky that he had been such a 'beast' and hadn't let a single beautiful girl by his side slip away.

If it weren't for the fact that he still had rewards to redeem, Gao Yuan would have gone to test out exactly what kind of effect this 100% bonus had right away.

"Among the girls by my side, it seems only Sister Yueying hasn't experienced the joy of being a mother yet. Looks like I'll have to have a deep discussion about life with her tonight."

Gao Yuan adjusted himself into a more comfortable position and sent another command with his mind.

"System, draw the Legion Card for me."

"Host is using an S-rank Random Legion Card. Randomizing..."

Many images appeared on the semi-transparent screen again, but instead of single individuals, they were groups of people, and the images began to change rapidly.

Gao Yuan wasn't particularly nervous this time. After all, it was an S-rank card; it wouldn't be bad no matter what. However, when the screen stopped, he still bolted upright.

He scrambled out of the bath, hurriedly dried himself, threw on some clothes, and rushed out.

Rushing back to his sleeping quarters, he urged his maids to help him change into a war robe and armor before hurrying to the drill ground.

Even with his powerful physical fitness, sprinting all that way in dozens of pounds of armor nearly left him breathless. He leaned on his knees, gasping for air for a while, before standing up and dismissing the nearby Female Soldiers and maids.

Once he was sure no one was around, Gao Yuan sent the command.

"System, summon!"

"Host is using the Beiwei Army Summon Card..."

With a flash of dazzling golden light, an army clad in full heavy armor appeared before Gao Yuan. They were silent, but their entire being radiated a fierce and terrifying murderous aura.

When the golden light completely dissipated, everyone dismounted in unison. The three men at the head stepped forward quickly and bowed to Gao Yuan.

"This humble general Yue Fei (General Yue Yun, Yue Yun) greets the Prince of Tang."

Hearing the three introduce themselves, Gao Yuan was ecstatic to the extreme. He had thought it was just a powerful legion, but who would have expected that even the army's commanders would be summoned together?

Just as he was about to ask why, the system suddenly spoke.

"Host, you were in too much of a hurry just now and didn't notice that this summon card had a special option. Since you didn't make a choice for a long time, the system has thoughtfully made an automatic choice for you."

Gao Yuan was startled and immediately reopened the system interface, only to find a record.

"Does the Host wish to consume all future opportunities for General Summon Cards to equip the Beiwei Army with commanders?"

Gao Yuan froze, unable to believe his eyes. He asked weakly,

"System, does this mean I can never summon general-type talents through the system again?"

"Of course!"

"Why the hell are you showing off your English to me!"

Looking at the three men before him, Gao Yuan didn't know whether to be happy or sad. An SS-rank top-tier commander and two S+-rank peerless generals—this was definitely the biggest surprise harvest of the year.

But it came at the cost of all his future opportunities to summon general-type talents. How could he not feel the sting?

To be honest, ever since he had openly opposed the Powerful Families and situated himself in the southern border, far from the core northern regions, Gao Yuan had always lacked local talent.

The situation had improved somewhat this year after he took up the banner of the Great Qian's legitimacy, but it was mostly low-level talent; even B-rank individuals were rare.

His core team, from Xia Luqi and Liu Rengui to Gao Yao and Yu Qian, all came from the system. It could be said that without the system's help, he could never have built such a luxurious lineup, let alone made it to where he was today.

Seeing Gao Yuan standing there without a reaction, Yue Fei led the others in another loud greeting, which finally snapped Gao Yuan out of his thoughts.

Realizing he had neglected the talents before him, Gao Yuan quickly stepped forward, grasped Yue Fei's arms, and helped him up.

"Pengju, no need for formalities."

After helping Yue Fei up, Gao Yuan carefully observed this Prince of E and Yue Wumu from his original timeline—a ceiling-level commander who had been elevated to the status of a god.

Regarding Yue Fei's appearance, there had never been a definitive description because of Qin Hui's slander and disparagement, coupled with the deliberate beautification by his grandson, Yue Ke, after his exoneration.

The version closest to reality came from the painting 'Four Generals of Zhongxing' by the Southern Song court painter Liu Songnian. It depicted Yue Fei with a large, square face, a broad forehead with sparse eyebrows, full cheeks, round eyes, a pointed nose, a very long double chin, and no beard.

Furthermore, it was said that Yue Fei had eyes of slightly different sizes due to an eye ailment. Supposedly, after Song Gaozong Wanyan Gou's birth mother, Consort Wei, returned to the Capital City from the Jin Kingdom after much hardship, she specifically asked, 'How is the general with the uneven eyes?'

However, the Yue Fei before him clearly did not fit that description. Instead, he was closer to the image the public preferred to accept; Gao Yuan would describe the middle-aged handsome man before him as being 'of magnificent appearance'.

According to the system settings, Yue Fei was currently thirty-five years old, the same age as Gao Yuan, and in his absolute prime. His background was set as Gao Yuan's childhood friend who had traveled thousands of miles from the north to join him.

General Yue Yun and Yue Yun were set at eighteen years old; one was Yue Fei's son, and the other was General Yue Yun's sworn brother.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Yue Fei and comforting his two nephews and juniors, General Yue Yun and Yue Yun, Gao Yuan finally took a proper look at the Beiwei Army.

Gao Yuan had always considered Yue Fei's Beiwei Army to be the ceiling of combat power in the feudal era, which was why he had named his own core army the Beiwei Army.

After years of training and spending countless resources, Gao Yuan believed his own Beiwei Army wouldn't be much worse than this summoned army.

Of course, that was assuming their equipment was the same.

The equipment of the Beiwei Army before him was of a crushing level in this era. They wore triple-layered Infantry Armor weighing seventy pounds and carried ten-pound Long-handled axes—the standard configuration for elite Song Dynasty infantry.

Behind these seven thousand heavy infantry were three thousand Cavalry, each with two horses. Most importantly, these were three thousand Cataphracts, also known as heavy Cavalry, with both man and horse armored, weighing a total of one hundred and twenty pounds.

If the Xiaoguo Army—the Sui and Tang iron Cavalry type where only the rider is armored—were like infantry fighting vehicles, then the Cavalry before him were the heavy main battle tanks of the cold weapon era.

The absolute core point was that this army possessed a martial soul. As long as he ensured they had equipment, he could use them indefinitely.