Chương 58: Hero?

After the funeral, Li Qinwu began commissioning officers. He formally appointed Expendable as a Company Commander, along with 30 Platoon Leaders and 100 Deputy Platoon Leaders. Since this was a collective victory, military merit was technically split, but the implementation was key. Li Qinwu allowed the Company Commanders to select the most courageous warriors for immediate promotion. Others were credited with a single "head" of merit for future rewards.

To prevent resentment, those not promoted received a massive material bonus: 50 sticks of dried meat each. Furthermore, they were granted three days of indulgence with the wood-rats. Li Qinwu had consulted Dog-Witch about this. The old dog said that as long as there was enough meat, Kobolds were perfectly willing to bear offspring for Goblins; unlike humans, they lacked complex moral codes.

Li Qinwu felt a sense of relief—a lack of strong morality in monsters was actually a catalyst for racial integration and population growth. The Goblins were ecstatic. Those promoted walked with their chests puffed out, while those not promoted felt secure with their meat. Li Qinwu ordered a three-day carnival, after which the "Great Construction" would begin. The Goblins rushed toward the female Kobolds with their dried meat. Li Qinwu looked at the graveyard on the hill and turned away.

He had linked the funeral and rewards intentionally to foster a sense of "honor." Goblins were emotionally cold, making honor difficult to cultivate, but an army without it had no future. He wanted them to associate death with glory and rewards, making them feel that dying for the tribe was "worth it." By the end of the carnival, almost every female in the tribe was pregnant. A population explosion was imminent. The spear-Goblins had no time to savor their frenzy; Li Qinwu immediately sent them out to hunt.

With the population exceeding 1, 500 and heading toward 2, 000, the pressure to provide food was immense. He had to transition the tribe from hunters to farmers before the forest's resources were exhausted. The era of Great Construction began. Trees were felled; stumps were uprooted. Ogres, wielding massive pickaxes shaped like nautical anchors, stood in a line, dragging the steel deep into the earth to overturn half a meter of soil.

Goblins and Kobolds followed with hoes, refining the soil and planting wheat, potatoes, and vegetables. The primeval forest was dying; farmland was spreading like a virus. Crude dirt roads followed the fields. To house the farmers, Li Qinwu built "Hundred-Man Villages" at regular intervals—strategic nodes that would eventually span the empire. The blacksmith shop expanded into a Steel Workshop. Iron-Orc erected a second waterwheel, a second large bellows, and a second blast furnace.

With 50 skilled Goblin smiths and 100 apprentices, the tribe reached a ratio of one blacksmith for every ten people, making iron tools incredibly abundant. After a month, the messy village was replaced by rows of wooden houses and vast fields. The usable population reached 2, 000. To stabilize the food supply, the Kobold chiefs Li Qinwu had previously released began to arrive, kneeling to beg for hunting rights. He "generously" allowed them to keep their grounds in exchange for a 30% tax on all kills.

Meat began flowing into the tribe daily as tax. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Li Qinwu also built a crude school. All commissioned Goblins were forced to attend. The curriculum was simple: the ten Arabic numerals and basic arithmetic (+, -, ×, ÷). That was it. As long as they mastered math, management could enter a new era. The teacher was One-Ear, the self-taught math genius.

Li Qinwu gave him a syllabus and a "carrot and stick" incentive: Goblins who couldn't learn were beaten severely; those who succeeded were rewarded with meat or wood-rats. The graduation rate was a staggering 90%. Li Qinwu also planned a stone wall to protect the core residential area. To do this, he needed lime, which was being produced at Goblincastle. He led a team to Goblincastle, arriving after three days of travel. He was disappointed to see that without his direct guidance, the castle hadn't changed much.

Gobu-Da came to report: "Boss, the population is this big. The new land is that big. We have this much grain and that much meat!" Li Qinwu's head hurt.

"Shut up and let me count." His system troops, who knew math, finished the inventory: Population: 1, 400 adults (including 200 Hobgoblins). Stockpile: Enough for 1, 000 people for two months. Farmland: Enough for five "Hundred-Man Villages." System Warehouse: 53 Axes, 53 Hoes, 889 Grain, 264 Meat, 105 Fish, and 1, 050 bags of lime. Li Qinwu ordered Gobu-Da to use half the population to build a "hardened road" connecting the castle to the village.

He personally taught them how to mix lime, sand, and gravel with water to create simple concrete. Weeks later, the road crews were proficient. Li Qinwu used his system inventory to transport 1, 000 bags of cement to the village to begin construction from both ends. Once finished, iron from the village and lime from the castle could be exchanged freely. One night back at the castle, Li Qinwu lay on his bed while Dog-Witch held his staff, looking uneasy.

"Boss... do we really have to do this? Fear Spells are painful. Do you have some weird hobby?"

"Shut up! I suspect this spell can predict the future. Cast it now or I'll slap you!" The purple-black energy surged into Li Qinwu. He accepted it, and the vision appeared. It wasn't the distant future this time; it was the near future—within a year. He saw a "Hundred-Man Village." Goblins were returning from the fields to rest. Suddenly, a massive fireball slammed into the village, incinerating a wooden house. More fireballs followed like artillery.

Goblins who escaped the flames were picked off by precision arrows to the head. Four strangers charged into the village: A man in full plate armor with a door-sized shield. A mage in a hat throwing fireballs. A beautiful elven archer with long ears and a longbow. And the leader: a young man with short brown hair, wearing half-plate armor and wielding a magnificent longsword. The "Sunny Boy" swung his sword, effortlessly cleaving a roof beam as thick as a man's waist.

Within five minutes, the entire village was slaughtered. The team swept through the forest. Goblincastle fell within half an hour, reduced to a sea of fire. Within a day, they reached the main Goblin tribe. Li Qinwu led five full companies in a charge, but they were cut down like grass. Finally, Li Qinwu and his 40 system elites were slaughtered. The shield-man was heavily wounded and the elf lightly injured, but the Sunny Boy cut Li Qinwu in half with a single stroke.

As consciousness faded, Li Qinwu saw the mage hugging the young man's arm, rubbing her "large assets" against him while gushing:"Wow~~~ Hero-bro has gotten even stronger again~~~" Li Qinwu snapped awake, drenched in cold sweat.