While the Persians lingered in the depths of the palace in Peshawar, dreaming of conquering Chang'an, the Han dynasty's expeditionary force was pushing the physical limits of warfare. The Pamir Mountains — a region considered by the Western Regions to be a 'forbidden zone for birds and gods' — were being mercilessly crushed by a torrent of black steel.
At over 4,000 metres, the air was thin and sharp, and the once bustling allied forces fell into a deadly silence. Warhorses began to foam at the mouth and foreign soldiers, their faces ashen, collapsed in droves, their lungs desperately craving oxygen.
'Your Majesty, the wind on this mountain... it steals the soul,' said Banji hoarsely, leaning against the rock face.
Liu Xun stood in the heart of the snowstorm, a thin layer of ice covering his black armour. He smiled coldly and golden light shone brightly in his mind.
[System Command]: Activate 'Extreme Environment Survival Module – Roof of the World Edition'.
Core Resources: Highly concentrated chemical oxygen pack (sodium peroxide reaction formula), polar antifreeze biochemical ointment.
Technical compensation: Temporarily enhances blood oxygen-carrying capacity (affects the entire army).
Current consumption: 8,000 national fortune points.
Amidst the astonished gazes of the soldiers, Liu Xun ordered the distribution of transparent leather pouches, each end of which was connected to a thin bamboo tube. 'Inhale it; this is the immortal energy I borrowed from the Eternal Heaven.'
As the first group of veterans took a deep breath of pure oxygen, their excruciating headaches vanished instantly. Each soldier also received a box of pungent-smelling oil — 'Antifreeze Biochemical Ointment'. Formulated using system technology, this oil forms an excellent insulating layer on the skin, preventing sweat from freezing and tearing the flesh.
'Apply it! Even if you fall into a crevasse, you must climb out alive!'" Liu Xun's voice echoed through the glaciers as he began his speech, "Top Performance: The Unyielding King of Expeditions'.
While humans can survive with oxygen tanks, the heavy steam-powered tractors and artillery would only slip on the frozen ground.
Using the 'materials science plugin' in the system, Liu Xun guided the on-site craftsmen to weld high-carbon steel anti-skid chains with deep grooves onto the tractor wheel hubs.
"Add coal! Burn the boilers to their limit!' With a piercing hiss of steam, the massive tractor battled the gale-force winds as it hauled hundreds of thousands of kilograms of military supplies, slowly advancing along the edge of a bottomless abyss. The taut steel cables represented the Han Dynasty's industrial might. When the Qilin banner of the Han Dynasty appeared at the mountain pass to the west of the Pamir Mountains, the border guards of the Kushan Empire even forgot to resist. They knew that crossing the Pamir Mountains would require at least six months of preparation and would have a survival rate of less than 30%. But this Han army was well organised, and even its 'steel monsters' were spewing black smoke filled with murderous intent.
[System Notification]:
[Military Miracle Achieved]: The first large-scale mechanised crossing of the Pamir Mountains in human history.
[Enemy Morale Correction]: It directly plunges into the 'Miracle Fear' state, unlocking subsequent rewards: [High Altitude Disease Prevention Medicine Recipe (Permanent Version)] and [Simple Portable Suspension Bridge Component].
Liu Xun, mounted on his horse, watched the Kushan Plain unfold like a scroll beneath his feet. His sheathed longsword emitted a crisp sound.
'Bo Diao, I crossed the roof of the world not to listen to your bargaining.' His eyes were like knives, surveying all living beings. 'I came to tell you that this world has changed masters.'
On the edge of the Peshawar Plain, the earth began to tremble rhythmically and the formerly clear sky became obscured by billowing dust. Accompanied by low, rumbling roars, the last trump card of the Kushan Empire finally appeared on the horizon: the "Saga White Elephant Legion".
This massive legion comprised three hundred adult war elephants, each clad in heavy brass armour. Each elephant carried a steel-forged arrow tower on its back and four Kushan archers stood high above them, their killing intent palpable.
'Is the mountain moving?' The once-spirited allied army of the Western Region began to tremble, for they had never seen elephants before. These monsters, towering over ten feet tall with trunks like pythons, resembled ancient demons come to life. The warhorses began to spin and neigh wildly, and some soldiers even dropped their repeating crossbows in fear. Liu Xun sat atop the 'steam command vehicle', his black armour reflecting a cold light under the blazing sun. He could feel the subtle vibrations of the armour plates beneath his feet — a biological provocation against industrial civilisation. System Command: Activate 'Battlefield Deterrence – Imperial Aura'. Core Logic: Counteract the enemy's 'Fear of the Giants' negative effect through extreme composure. Psychological monitoring: The morale of the lower ranks of the Han Army is falling below the critical point, requiring immediate intervention.
'What's the panic?' Liu Xun stood up and took out a specially made 'Gewuyuan cigarette' from his robes, rather than drawing his sword. He lit it using the residual heat from the command vehicle's chimney, took a deep drag and slowly exhaled a smoke ring amidst the overwhelming intent to kill.
'They're just fat pigs with long noses. Today, I'll show you how to slaughter them.' This nonchalant attitude towards the giant elephants, treating them like dirt, was broadcast throughout the army via the loudspeaker system. Seeing the emperor still leisurely smoking, the previously panicked soldiers miraculously calmed down.
'If Your Majesty is not afraid, why should we be!' Banji shouted, regrouping the army. The giant elephant legion began its charge, crushing the earth with each step. General Sakya laughed wildly atop his elephant: 'Emperor of the Han Dynasty, let your "steel toys" be reduced to dust beneath the Buddha's "mount"!'
'Gunpowder arrows, prepare!' Liu Xun ordered coldly.
[System Plugin Activated]: Aerodynamic Ballistic Simulation.
[Equipment]: 'High-Pressure Spring-Forced Crossbow', 'Specially Made Phosphorus-Sulfur Gunpowder Arrows'.
[Principle]: Not only does it utilise explosive power, but it also employs a specific frequency of sharp whistling, as well as intense heat and light, to directly destroy the elephant's sensitive auditory and visual systems.
With a wave of Liu Xun's hand, thousands of red-headed arrows accompanied by piercing whistles pierced the sky. As they approached the elephant herd, they did not directly pierce the flesh, but instead emitted a series of deafening explosions while simultaneously spraying blinding magnesium-aluminium powder.
Giant elephants are inherently timid, and their keen hearing is a fatal weakness. Faced with the unprecedented combination of explosions and blinding light, the once disciplined army of white elephants instantly collapsed. The lead elephant rose to its feet in a frenzy and overturned the steel arrow towers on its back. It then turned and trampled them. "Retreat! Reinforce them!' General Saga cried out in terror, but it was too late.
Three hundred uncontrollable beasts became the most terrifying reaping machines, reducing the following Kushan heavy infantry to a bloody pulp. Screams, cracking bones and the elephants' mournful cries mingled together. What had once been the nation's protective army had become the vanguard of a funeral procession. System notification:
[White Elephant Legion] Collapse Rate: 100%
[Enemy Commander's Will]: Completely Collapsed.
Unlock rewards: High-value ivory craft processing technology and animal hide bulletproof layer research plan.
Liu Xun tossed away his cigarette, mounted his warhorse and drew his Ding Qin sword, pointing it directly at the now chaotic Kushan camp. 'All troops, listen to my command! Beat the drowning dog! I'll make a set of mahjong tiles out of ivory in the Peshawar palace!"
The inner gates of Peshawar melted away like snow in the scorching sun, having been bombarded by the 32-pound siege cannons of the Han Dynasty. Stepping onto a dark red Persian carpet covered in gunpowder and chilling cold, Liu Xun entered the Kushan palace. The air was thick with the expensive scent of ambergris and the stench of fear.
The once arrogant King Botiao now cowered beneath his pure gold lion throne, his jewelled crown askew, looking like a dejected wretch. 'Botiao, I gave you a chance to reply.'
Liu Xun stopped on the high steps and looked down at the defeated king. He waved his hand. Banji immediately presented a set of standard work clothes made of coarse blue cloth bearing the insignia of the 'Great Han Imperial Academy.'
"In the Han Dynasty, only the diligent are worthy of survival. Since you love this land, dig with your own hands." Amidst the laughter of the Han soldiers, the former emperor was stripped of his luxurious silks and dressed in rough garments. Liu Xun personally placed a finely crafted steel mining pickaxe into his trembling hands.
'Starting tomorrow, the new copper mine in the southern suburbs of Peshawar will officially commence operations. You will be there to cut the ribbon, and after that, you will remain inside for one hundred days. If you fail to extract a thousand catties of ore, you will not be allowed to leave.'
The confiscation of royal power was only the first step; Liu Xun's true trump card lay in 'currency unification'. In the central square opposite the palace, a building reinforced with cement overnight displayed a sign with wet ink: 'Royal Bank of the Han Dynasty – Western Regions Branch.'
[System Command] Activate 'Financial Colonial Module – Currency War'.
Core Policy: Abolish the legal tender status of Kushan gold coins and forcibly implement 'Han Yuan paper money' and 'Great Han silver dollars'.
Exchange trap: Use the 'reserve information gap' to set extremely high fees for exchanging gold and silver.
Economic Harvest: Rapidly absorb the physical gold held by Kushan nobles into the Great Han treasury through the devaluation of the local currency.
'Any Kushan subjects who fail to convert their gold coins into Great Han paper money within three days will have their property confiscated.' Bangi led his armed guards through the streets; the rows of dark crossbows behind him were the ultimate endorsement of his authority. The Kushan nobles, who had initially harboured illusions, rushed to the banks with their gold bricks after witnessing the White Elephant Legion's devastation.
'Your Majesty, can these scraps of paper really be exchanged for grain and cotton cloth?' an old count asked tremblingly, holding up a stack of paper money that smelled of ink.
Standing on the second-floor terrace, Liu Xun looked at the long queue below and revealed a gentle, Oscar-worthy smile. He knew that, once this gold entered the treasury of the Han Dynasty and his infinitely printable paper money flooded the market, the economic lifeline of the Kushan Empire would be completely in his grasp.
[System Notification]:
[Han Dynasty Financial Hegemony]: Initially established in the Western Regions, the currency's credit rating increased to 85.
[Resource Control]: High-quality cotton-producing areas and high-yield gold and copper mine rights in the Indus River Basin acquired.
[Territorial Expansion]: The territory of the Han Dynasty expanded westward by three thousand li, unlocking the achievement 'Han's Prestige Spreads Far and Wide'.
Subsequent rewards: Preliminary conceptual drawing of an internal combustion engine, Submarine cable laying plan (Caspian Sea version).
Looking at the commotion gradually subsiding in the distance, Liu Xun turned to Gongshu Qi behind him and said, 'When Bo Diao is working at the mining area, send several artists with him. I want to publish his photos of him sweating profusely on the construction site in the Great Han Daily and distribute them to the envoys of Parthia and Qin.' Pausing, he continued, his eyes gleaming with expansionist ambition: 'Tell them that if they don't want to wear the same work clothes, they'd better hand over the Caspian oil fields.'
But on the long journey from Peshawar to the Parthian border, the most pervasive smell was that of blood and decay. In ancient warfare, septicaemia caused by infected wounds killed more elite veterans than combat itself. Outside the marching camp, Liu Xun stood watching several wounded soldiers being carried down, his eyes revealing a cold, timeless glint.
"System, activate the 'Battlefield Medicine – Life Protection' module and use the 'Basic Surgical Kit' and 'Preliminary Antibiotic Synthesis Method'." System notification: Consuming 12,000 points of national fortune has unlocked the following technologies: "High-Purity Alcohol Distillation Method", "Degreased Cotton Gauze Production Line" and "Hemostatic Forceps and Scalpel Casting Diagrams".
Core bonus: wound healing rate increased by 400%; battlefield infection mortality rate reduced to below 5%.
Host privilege: Shennong's Eye (instantly sees through bone and blood vessel damage in wounded soldiers).
Liu Xun turned to Gongshu Qi behind him: 'Order the 300 "battlefield medics" transferred from the Gewu Academy to enter the camp immediately. Tell them to discard the talisman water and grass ash and to use fire and alcohol to cleanse the battlefield."
Under the sceptical gaze of the entire army, a team of medics dressed in white dust suits with medicine chests embroidered with the 'Red Cross' symbol slung across their shoulders moved through the pools of blood. "Alcohol wipes, wound cleaning!"
'Ligation of blood vessels, suturing!' Liu Xun personally entered the tent of the seriously wounded. A centurion with an arrow in his abdomen had dilated pupils. But Liu Xun's "Shennong's Eye" quickly identified the bleeding point. He took the scalpel, his movements as precise as a machine's. Under everyone's breathless gaze, he completed the haemostasis and suturing and applied the 'simple penicillin ointment' provided by the system.
'They're... they're alive!' A low gasp rippled through the onlookers. To them, this method of cutting open a human body and stitching it back up again transcended medicine — it was divine "soul-snatching" power.
As wounded soldiers who should have died rose again, the morale of the Han army underwent a qualitative transformation. Previously, soldiers fought for compensation, but now, as they looked at the imposing Red Cross flags in the distance, they had only one thought: as long as they had a breath left, His Majesty could pull them back from the underworld.
[System Notification]:
[Army Loyalty]: Exceeded the limit (generated 'Holy War' fanaticism attribute).
[Battlefield Fear Immunity]: Increased by 80%.
[Achievement]: [The Merciful God of War]
Just as the army's morale was at its strongest, the reconnaissance team at the front sent back good news.
'Your Majesty! According to your coordinates, on the black soil of the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, the drill bit has penetrated thirty zhang (approximately fifteen metres) and spewed out jet-black 'stone lacquer'!" Standing on high ground, Liu Xun looked at the black dragon soaring into the sky in the distance and activated his 'Actor-like Public Relations: Civilised Writer' mode. He smiled slightly at the generals behind him and said, 'Do you see that? That black liquid will be the blood of future war chariots. I will use this 'black gold' to connect every corner of the Earth. If the Parthian prince still wants to negotiate, I will show him how I use this liquid to boil the sea."
At dusk on the Caspian Plain, the last elite force of the Parthian Empire — the 'Undying Cavalry' — stood blocking the only road to Ctesiphon. Thousands of armoured figures gleamed dark red in the setting sun; the air was thick and almost solid. The Parthian prince's political enemy, the formidable General Suren, mocked the vanguard of the Han army as mere mortals armed with firearms.
Meanwhile, Liu Xun stood on a specially designed, steam-powered command platform. The system screen in his mind had already been switched to 'mystical mode'.
'Gongshu Qi, release the "Ragnarok" I prepared.' With a flick of Liu Xun's finger, hundreds of 'pressure ceramic canisters' buried in front of the Han army exploded simultaneously. This smoke was no ordinary black smoke, but a dense, colourful fog created by mixing 'high-concentration metal salt flame reaction powder' and 'dry ice sublimation technology', obtained through the system.
In an instant, the battlefield, spanning several miles, was shrouded in eerie purple, emerald green and golden smoke. The smoke condensed and refused to dissipate under the low pressure, resembling auspicious clouds descending from the heavens.
The Parthian soldiers retreated in terror as a deep, inhuman voice seemingly exploded from the clouds and swept across the entire plain.
[System Plugin Activated]: 'High-Power Directional Sound Wave Emitter' (hidden within the steam turbine unit).
Technical core: A giant megaphone driven by steam pressure reaching a volume of 150 decibels.
Psychological effect: 'Divine intimidation' (includes infrasound waves inducing physiological palpitations and fear in the human body).
"Surrender! You mortals, how dare you peek into the will of Heaven?' Liu Xun activated 'Top Performance: Descending God.' His voice, amplified multiple times by the megaphone, sounded like the simultaneous shouts of millions, causing Parthian warhorses to drop to their knees en masse. Soldiers dropped their weapons and clutched their chests, groaning in agony.
In order to deliver the final blow, Liu Xun activated the 'high-brightness optical lens group' in his system, utilising the humid air from the Caspian Sea. A colossal phantom of Liu Xun, a hundred zhang tall, appeared atop the colourful cloud of smoke. His black armour gleamed and a giant dragon seemed to roam behind him. To the ancient people lacking knowledge of optics, this could only be explained as 'divine intervention'.
'A god... that's the God of War from the East descending!'
"Spare us! We confess our crimes!' The once-orderly Parthian cavalry formation collapsed instantly. Tens of thousands of elite armoured soldiers fell like harvested wheat, frantically kowtowing to the cloud of smoke.
[System Prompt]:
[Psychological Impact]: Perfect!
[Enemy Surrender Rate]: 92%
Achievement obtained: [Void Overlord]
Unlocked rewards: High-Purity Aluminium Powder Refining Technique, Basic Magnesium Ignition Bomb
Liu Xun turned off the megaphone, the 'divinity' on his face vanishing instantly to be replaced by the playful expression of a movie star after a day's work. He watched General Suren scrambling to surrender in the distance and whispered to Banji behind him, "
'Go and enrol these "victims of miracles" in labour camps. Tell them: "The gods said that as long as five hundred miles of paved road are built along the Caspian Sea, their sins will be cleansed and they can return to Heaven." That night, the black oil of the Caspian Sea flowed under the torchlight. To the soldiers, Liu Xun was no longer emperor, but the one true god walking among men.