Chương 159: Resolving the Kobold Tribes

Over the next few days, Li Qinwu mobilized roughly 60% of the population to reclaim wasteland and 40% of the population to engage in construction. First was the construction of Iron-City. Li Qinwu built a perimeter of simple wooden city walls around the industrial zone—specifically, around Iron-Orc's ironworks situated by the small river. Li Qinwu wanted to allow the steel production to tap into the system's output capacity.

It would be best to have it completed before the magical blast furnace was positioned; that way, the high-performance steel could be loaded with a double buff. Li Qinwu had studied it, and this double buff was incredibly awesome. For instance, if you went to excavate iron ore, and there was a castle or town recognized by the system in the vicinity, excavating 10 units of iron ore in reality would cause the system to simultaneously burst out 10 units of iron ore, yielding 20 units of iron ore in total.

Throwing those 20 units of iron ore into the furnace to smelt them into 28 iron ingots would result in another 20 iron ingots inside the system, making it 40 iron ingots. Using those 40 iron ingots to manufacture 40 muskets, supplemented by the system's output, would yield 80 muskets! Ten units of iron ore could ultimately output 80 muskets. The more processes a resource went through, the greater the output generated!

It was only when planning for the future that Li Qinwu discovered his greatest external cheat-code was actually the system castles! The double buff was incredibly overpowered no matter where it was applied. Li Qinwu immediately initiated the large-scale construction of city walls. Iron-City, Sulfur-Village, and the Underworld Tree—Li Qinwu intended to construct castles at every single one of these vital production sites.

Having arranged the production matters, Li Qinwu turned his attention to resolving the issue in his backyard: the kobolds. Located in the expansive forest region east of the Underworld Tree lay a massive number of kobold tribes. They were scattered across their respective hunting grounds, practicing a primitive lifestyle, and their total numbers—combining men, women, the elderly, and the young—amounted to slightly under 10, 000.

Previously, due to various ongoing matters, Li Qinwu had continuously left the kobold tribes alone, maintaining merely a superficial rule over them. Now, things were different; he possessed ample time and abundant power, and he had to thoroughly absorb the kobold tribes! Li Qinwu summoned all the kobold hostages within the tribe—specifically, the eldest sons whom the kobold chiefs had previously been ordered to send to the tribe.

Li Qinwu said to the hostages: "Everyone, as you can see, the Alliance is currently undergoing massive production. Every single individual is laboring, yet we possess countless engineering projects and severely lack labor." Several kobolds exchanged glances with one another. A representative asked cautiously: "Boss, what do you need us to do?"

These few kobolds had walked out from the deep mountains into the Alliance, settling into clean houses and learning cultivation, blacksmithing, weaving, brewing, as well as the utilization of crossbows and muskets. This had dealt a tremendous impact to their primitive lifestyle. They had begun to yearn for the "advanced" way of life within the Alliance; this was the natural allure of a civilized society over a primitive one.

The stance of these hostages had already shifted from the kobold tribes over to the Alliance's side. As long as they were properly guided, the racial integration could be completed at a relatively minor cost. Li Qinwu's gaze swept across the eyes of the hostages. The expression with which the hostages looked at him was akin to looking at a celestial being, which left him highly satisfied.

The other party had already begun to revere him; other than his personal martial prowess, this also stemmed from the yearning brought about by the "advanced" life of the Alliance. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Everyone, I hope you will return to your respective tribes and bring the able-bodied youth out from the forest to perform labor within the Alliance's forest lands. I guarantee here that we can provide grain—sufficient to feed the youths and their families—and once the engineering projects conclude, the iron tools distributed to you can be taken away." The hostages were instantly moved. The condition of being able to take away iron tools was simply impossible to refuse.

Iron tools could cause the productivity of a primitive kobold tribe to skyrocket; whether it was for constructing housing or conducting hunts, possessing iron tools was exceptionally excellent. Previously, Li Qinwu had migrated a hundred-goblin village into the forest region controlled by the kobolds.

The kobolds would frequently drop by for visits, and then find ways to steal iron tools, causing the goblins of that hundred-goblin village to view the kobolds like thieves, hiding their iron tools completely out of sight. The representative of the hostages bowed to Li Qinwu.

"Boss, we will definitely be able to bring our clansmen over to perform labor!" Li Qinwu nodded with satisfaction and permitted him to depart on his own. Although he intended to thoroughly resolve the kobold problem, he wasn't going to mindlessly slaughter his way through. Presently, the Alliance stood as the most advanced faction within the Monster Forest, and the advanced possessed a natural attraction over the backward.

As long as he capitalized on his own advantages, combining appeasement alongside martial threats, the integration could be completed at the minimum cost. Furthermore, the kobold tribes had not achieved any sense of national awakening; they were currently killing one another to a bloody pulp just to contest hunting grounds. Having a powerful faction step in to integrate them, allowing them to avoid internal warfare while enjoying advanced productivity, was something they ought to be secretly rejoicing about.

Li Qinwu's plan was to spend six months to a year completing the integration of the kobolds. First, he would have the able-bodied youths of the kobold tribes stay behind to perform labor, housing them within the dry and sturdy residences of the Alliance, feeding them the collective food and liquor from the grand communal canteens, and ensuring that a single month of labor would yield a return equivalent to several months of hunting.

Then, once the projects concluded, the kobold youths would head back laden with large bags and small bundles of goods—especially the iron tools, which Li Qinwu would genuinely give to them. Once they went back, wouldn't they still want to return? Not long after they returned, they would be living within filthy and dilapidated tribes, running through the mountains for dozens of days just to secure prey that barely staved off starvation.

Faced with this kind of stark contrast between the two realities, who wouldn't become completely dazed and infatuated if they were in their shoes? Afterward, Li Qinwu would summon the kobolds back under the guise of starting new engineering projects, and they would absolutely bring along their entire families.

Over time, the native societal fabric of the kobold tribes would be completely dismantled, allowing the Alliance to mobilize the population power of the kobold tribes for its own use, thereby completing a painless integration. However, this was merely the most ideal scenario. Relics of the old guard would instinctively obstruct the disintegration of traditional society, reluctant to relinquish their authority. For that exact reason, Li Qinwu also needed to deploy martial intimidation.

He summoned Gob-Bow and issued an order to him.

"Gob-Bow, how far along is your unit's conscription process?" Gob-Bow replied respectfully: "Boss, I have already conscripted 11 companies. One of these companies I intend to develop into full-fledged snipers, while the remaining 19 companies can be completely assembled within the next half a year." Presently, the Alliance was engaged in grand infrastructural construction, making population scarce and conscription somewhat slow.

The most premium soldier material naturally comprised the 2, 500 heavy-armored goblins; having experienced actual combat at Boroya, their temperaments were highly mature. The 2, 500 goblins were dismantled and distributed among various units. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Regiments currently possessed only anywhere from 10 to 12 companies each, forming a bare skeleton framework. Moving forward, they merely needed to wait for the population to become abundant before gradually adding flesh onto the bones.

Li Qinwu said to Gob-Bow: "Gob-Bow, have your troops mobilize and station themselves by the Underworld Tree. Conduct frequent field maneuvers to train the mobility of the troops." Having followed Li Qinwu for so long, Gob-Bow instantly understood the intent behind this order.

"Boss, I understand. I will lead the troops to conduct frequent field maneuvers toward the kobold tribes." Li Qinwu was highly satisfied and sent him to carry it out. He then began leading the engineering crews to conduct construction projects. He needed to relentlessly grind his engineering proficiency to unlock even more building factories!