"It's reasonable, but you must swear allegiance to me, never betray me, and help me to eliminate the rebels."
"Deal! Then I'll use one more request. First, a super newbie gift pack. The higher the quality of the items inside, the better. Is that too much to ask?" Hao Jiu was excited. This system god is really a good person.
"As you wish, the transformation begins..."
"Ah!!!" Hao Jiu felt as if his soul was being torn apart.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, the stronger and more complex the system, the more painful the modification process. After the modification is complete, you have ten seconds to choose a beginner's task, otherwise, you'll be annihilated..."
After an unknown amount of time, Hao Jiu's eyes gradually regained their clarity, and the pain in her body had completely disappeared.
"Congratulations, the modification is complete. Now please select a beginner mission. The countdown to elimination has begun: ten, nine..."
I'm fucking...
Hao Jiu hurriedly opened the task list. There were many types of beginner tasks, divided into three levels: low-level, medium-level, and high-level. Hao Jiu decisively chose the low-level task, thinking that it was better to be safe than sorry.
"I choose this one: the Chu-Han Contention Plane Unknown Mutant System Retrieval Mission."
Hao Jiu is very familiar with this period of history and is quite confident in completing the mission. Moreover, this is an era that has produced many outstanding figures, such as Xiang Yu, Zhang Liang, and Han Xin, who are all excellent candidates for the host.
"Very good, for your first mission, I'll help you travel through time and space to the mission dimension for free. Go!"
Biu……
The winds and clouds swirled and then gradually dissipated.
Hao Jiu opened his eyes. The sun was high in the sky, and the blue sky was filled with white clouds—it was the world he knew so well…
No, it should be said that it was the world more than two thousand years ago, the time and space of the Chu-Han Contention!
In an instant, war drums thundered and battle cries shook the heavens!
"Kill them!"
"Kill... Ah!"
Clang clang clang...
Hao Jiu looked down at his feet and saw a dense mass of heads. From this god-like perspective, he could clearly see the overall layout and dynamics of both sides on the battlefield.
On the battlefield, the western side had an absolute numerical advantage, but its vanguard was being driven back by the eastern army, unable to put up any resistance.
The terrain in this area is mostly flat, but there is a large fortress to the northeast of the battlefield, and to the north of the fortress is a winding river. The fortress is built at a bend in the river, so that half of the fortress is under the protection of the river.
The river then turns south a little further on, and there are some fortifications along its banks, two of which are quite large.
Looking further west, three fortifications are lined up in a north-south direction to the west of the battlefield. To the north, a large army is approaching, and to the east, another large army is marching towards the battlefield, almost reaching the east bank of the river.
Further south, three large armies were slowly advancing towards the area, forming an encirclement of the large fortifications along the river.
For Hao Jiu, who was familiar with the history of the Chu-Han Contention, it was easy to identify which battle this was. It was the most tragic and heroic battle in the history of the Chu-Han Contention – the Battle of Gaixia!
In 202 BC, Liu Ji, Zhang Liang, Han Xin, Peng Yue, and other feudal lords from all over the land united and, relying on their advantages in military strength, logistics, and internal support, finally broke the invincible myth of Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, at Gaixia.
Legend has it that the commander-in-chief of the Han army in the Battle of Gaixia was the military genius Han Xin, who defeated Xiang Yu with a single move of ambushing from all sides. But in reality, this great battle was far more complex than that.
In that era of underdeveloped communication, the only way to encircle and annihilate 100,000 mobile enemies was to lay an ambush in advance, but the ambush was highly dependent on the terrain.
However, Gaixia was a vast plain, which did not provide the necessary conditions for an ambush.
According to historical records, Xiang Yu retreated his army from Xingyang all the way to Gaixia, where he stopped and built fortifications to block the Han army.
In reality, at that time, not far south of Gaixia was Jiujiang Commandery, which was under the command of Zhou Yin, the Grand Marshal of Western Chu. It was the largest territory Xiang Yu had left, and beyond Jiujiang Commandery lay Jiangdong.
Xiang Yu's military talent was no less than Han Xin's, so why didn't he return to Jiujiang County and instead went to Gaixia to wait to be surrounded?
First of all, the ambush from all sides is just a legend. The Battle of Gaixia was at most a four-sided encirclement. Moreover, there was a river to the north, another river a little further to the east, and the south was besieged because of the betrayal of Grand Marshal Zhou Yin.
Secondly, Xiang Yu's original intention in setting up fortifications at Gaixia was to hold onto the last piece of territory north of the Huai River and leave himself hope of a counterattack. At that time, the garrison of Pengcheng in the north had already surrendered to Han Xin, Donghai Commandery had long been captured by Guan Ying, and Liu Ji had broken the Honggou Agreement and was pursuing them from the west.
Xiang Yu's personality has always been one of direct confrontation. The reason he retreated from Xingyang to Gaixia was because he received news that Pengcheng had been occupied by Han Xin and Changyi and other places had been occupied by Peng Yue.
With his supply lines, already harassed by Peng Yue, completely cut off, Xiang Yu had no choice but to retreat.
Gaixia was very close to Jiujiang County. Before his rebellion, Zhou Yin, the Grand Marshal of Western Chu, had been a close confidant of Xiang Yu. Once Xiang Yu's army arrived here, the problem of supply would be basically solved. With sufficient supplies, Xiang Yu's army was fearless.
Therefore, Xiang Yu set up fortifications at Gaixia to defend against Liu Ji's pursuing troops, while also deploying defenses on the south and west banks of the Xiao River to deal with Peng Yue and Han Xin.
If nothing unexpected had happened, Xiang Yu could have held out at Gaixia until reinforcements from Jiujiang arrived, or even reinforcements from Kuaiji Commandery in Jiangdong, and the Battle of Gaixia might have had a different outcome.
It should be noted that Xiang Yu defeated 300,000 Qin troops with 30,000 men at Julu and 560,000 Han troops with 30,000 men at Pengcheng, both victories achieved with fewer troops than his opponents.
Unfortunately, reality is cruel, and there are no "what ifs." Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King, was ultimately defeated at Gaixia due to various reasons, and he fought desperately to break through the encirclement.
At this moment, Hao Jiu looked down from the air and saw that the allied forces' encirclement was basically complete, and the Chu army was probably powerless to turn the tide.
If you chose Yu as the host, and with the help of your strongest system, you could turn the tide with a series of amazing maneuvers, wouldn't that be awesome?
Hao Jiu couldn't wait to open his system panel. There was too much time before, so he didn't have time to see what kind of amazing functions his strongest system had.
[System Name] The Strongest System
【System Features】
1. Possess Hao Jiu's personality, memories, emotions, etc., and try to be as human as possible, with a more handsome appearance than the original Hao Jiu (Note: He has undergone plastic surgery).
2. Universally compatible upgrade, can be equipped with any functional module (Note: Modules can be purchased with energy in the God's Shop).
[System Function] Automatic Language Switching
[System Energy] 100.00 points (Note: Below the safe limit, you cannot purchase any items)
[System Item] None
So this is the strongest system I got by selling my body?
Aside from the fact that it's called the strongest system, there's clearly only the framework of the strongest system!
I'm fucking...
Can you believe that the most powerful system will only shout "666" next to its host?
Chapter 2 Choosing a Host
Hao Jiu felt that he had been tricked by the God of the System. When he opened the so-called God's Shop, he saw that the cheapest automatic language conversion module cost 1,000 energy points, while the slightly better ones cost tens of thousands, and the truly powerful functions cost hundreds of thousands or even millions. There were all kinds of expensive ones.
Then I opened the task dialog box and...heh.
[Task Name] Recover Unknown Mutant System
[Mission Rewards] Time Travel Item x1, System Capture Item x1, Energy Points x100
[Task Prompt] Bind to the host as soon as possible, use the system radar in the newbie gift pack to lock onto the target, kill the host, and then use the system capture item to retrieve the target system.
Hao Jiu almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Completing one task only gives 100 points, and it takes ten tasks to buy a language module, which he already has.
So, does the God of Systems mean that he should make this system frantically complete tasks to earn energy points and upgrade itself into the strongest system?
But then again, is there any such thing as becoming a god so easily in this world?
At least I've achieved immortality through the system, so I should be able to do everything except pick up girls and eat, right?
Hao Jiu looked at his hands, then clenched his fists. From this moment on, he would officially begin his career as the strongest system.
The first rule of the system is that the system must have a host.
Whether it's completing a mission or fighting between systems, everything requires a host. No matter how strong a system is without a host, it cannot kill a system with a host. The host can play a role in protecting and providing energy.
Without a host, the system consumes energy points to do anything. With a host, not only does it not consume energy points, but it also receives a certain amount of energy points every day. The specific amount depends on the host's talent and strength; the more powerful the genius, the more energy points they receive.
Normally, it's considered good if a host provides the system with more than 1 energy value per day, and there are even junk hosts who only provide 0.01 energy value per day.
In addition, the super newbie gift pack promised by the system god can only be claimed after binding a host, and it is a kind of achievement reward.
In short, the host is the most important thing for the system, and the choice of host is also related to whether the novice task can be completed smoothly.
Meanwhile, the battlefield below changed again. The Han army continued to reinforce its troops and stopped its decline. Moreover, another Han cavalry force took advantage of the fierce fighting here and sneakily tried to bypass the battlefield from the south. It was probably going to the east to meet up with Han Xin's army crossing the river.
If Xiang Yu were to lead his army to break out now, there would still be a better chance of success. But once Han Xin's army arrives, it will be too late.
"Fortunately, it's not necessary to choose Yu as the host..." Hao Jiu couldn't help but sigh.
To be honest, Hao Jiu really liked Xiang Yu. His original plan was to choose Xiang Yu as his host, so that he could complete the mission and help Xiang Yu defeat Liu Ji and seize the world.
Hao Jiu never expected that he would arrive at the time of the Battle of Gaixia, and that the encirclement would be about to be formed.
Given the capabilities of his strongest system, even if Hao Jiu were to successfully bind with Xiang Yu now, he wouldn't be confident of breaking out of this predicament.
Even if Xiang Yu were persuaded to return to Jiangdong, it would be extremely difficult for him to defeat Liu Ji again, not to mention the interference of the mutated system.
Fortunately, this beginner's mission does not necessarily require defeating Liu Ji; you only need to successfully retrieve the mutated system.
In Hao Jiu's view, there are too many people who could become the host of the mutation system, such as Xiang Yu, Han Xin, Zhang Liang, Xiao He, Peng Yue, Ying Bu, Liu Ji, etc., and the mutation system is most likely to choose Han Xin.
Han Xin is not only militarily powerful, but he is also about the same age as Xiang Yu, both in their prime, while Liu Ji, Zhang Liang and others are already quite old.
Of course, if Xiang Yu can rewrite history in the upcoming Battle of Gaixia, it means that the mutation system has chosen Xiang Yu.
In addition, other lords in Liu Ji's camp could also become hosts, even Modu of the Xiongnu.
Hao Jiu now understands that this beginner's mission is quite difficult; a slight mistake could lead to failure in the mission, as the situation is far too complicated.
Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King, is trapped in a dead end. Breaking out of the encirclement is as difficult as ascending to heaven. Moreover, Liu Ji's camp is not a monolithic entity. Most of its fighting force was lured in by Liu Ji with empty promises, and many others are opportunists. If a system were to interfere, who knows what would happen?
However, the most pressing issue right now is time. The host can immediately kill 100,000 soldiers with a single palm strike after obtaining the system, something Hao Jiu cannot do. In fact, it can be said that the host's strength may not improve significantly in the short term after obtaining the system, and he will need to grow stronger little by little.
In this way, people like Xiang Yu, whose situation is not optimistic, are not suitable to be hosts.
After careful consideration, Hao Jiu finally decided to choose Liu Ji as his host, since Liu Ji currently had a clear advantage and was supported by Zhang Liang and others, which would be relatively beneficial for completing the mission.
Of course, given Hao Jiu's fondness for Xiang Yu, if Xiang Yu were not the host of the target system, it wouldn't be unreasonable for Liu Ji to let Xiang Yu's remnants return to Jiangdong.
Even after he completes his mission, he could secretly help Xiang Yu by letting Liu Ji start the massacre of meritorious officials ahead of time, giving Xiang Yu a chance to turn defeat into victory, which would be excellent.
A host is necessary for the system, but it is not for life. As long as the rules are not violated, it is not impossible to change the host, but there will be a certain price to pay.
However, given Hao Jiu's personality, binding himself to an unsatisfactory host and then paying a price to unbind him is too wasteful; he really can't stand it.
Hao Jiu flew westward, searching for Liu Ji's figure. He quickly flew into the Han army formation and headed straight for the location of the commander, pondering how to tell Liu Ji.
After all, people in ancient times had no concept of systems, and his system did not have the function of unilaterally binding to the host; it could only bind the host if the host was willing.
To be honest, you might accidentally scare Liu Ji to death, so what's the point of binding him?