Chương 66: Goblin-Meat Bombs

A single gunshot shattered the silence of the early morning, bringing everyone's hearts into their throats. Although military law made the Goblin musketeers in the phalanx not dare to whisper to each other, their eyes moved rapidly, desperately wanting to investigate what had happened. As soon as the gun fired, Li Qinwu's face darkened. A red system prompt appeared in the top-right corner of his vision. Goblin Musketeer killed Goblin Warrior.

"Son of a b*tch! Mutiny!"

"All troops, hear my order! Surround Barracks No. 8!" Li Qinwu immediately gave the order, and the Goblin musketeers dispersed quickly, forming a circle to tightly surround Barracks No. 8. The soldiers of Company 8, after a burst of madness, looked at the tragically dead Captain of Company 8 on the ground, and they all came back to their senses. In their hearts, there was only one thought: It's over! We're dead! Looking outside the door, the barracks had already been surrounded.

Their former colleagues were holding muskets pointed at them; everyone's heart sank to rock bottom. As much fun as the sudden outburst was just now, that's how much they regretted it now! While they didn't know what to do, Li Qinwu's voice came from outside: "Soldiers of Company 8, hear my order! Lay down all weapons! Come out of the barracks and assemble in line!" There was quite a commotion in the barracks, with the sounds of soldiers cursing and accusing each other, but no one took the initiative to go out.

Li Qinwu immediately gave the order.

"Light the match-cords! Raise guns! Aim!!" When the soldiers of Company 8 in the room heard this slogan, they knew that the next moment the guns would fire. They immediately ran out of the barracks gate in a panic, without their muskets, and assembled in line as they usually did. Li Qinwu gave Gobu-Spear a look, and Gobu-Spear led his soldiers to rush up, using their muskets to control all the soldiers of Company 8. Li Qinwu walked into the barracks to investigate and saw a corpse on the ground at a glance.

A fist-sized hole was broken in the chest—this was the effect that could only be produced by a point-blank musket shot. Li Qinwu crouched down and squeezed the bones of the corpse; they were limp with multiple fractures. He had suffered a group beating before being shot. This was a sudden mutiny, the bitter fruit of military ideological construction completely lagging behind training! Li Qinwu walked out of the barracks with a gloomy face, came to the front of the phalanx, and stared at the soldiers of Company 8.

The hearts of the Company 8 soldiers were jumping wildly—here it comes, the Boss's death stare. It's over! Li Qinwu wanted to directly order the execution of the Company 8 soldiers. No matter what the reason, for the daring murder of an officer, only death awaited them. But suddenly, he thought of the pile of 13 kg demolition tubes in the warehouse.

He hadn't yet figured out how to deliver these things to within 5 meters of the Hero, but looking at what was before him, he seemed to have found a solution: Goblin-meat bombs! Goblins run fast and are flexible; they can search for enemies on their own. If several of them charge together, there's bound to be some who can reach the vicinity of the Hero Party and explode, right? As for the fear of death, there was no need to worry at all.

Just recruit them as system soldiers and use the battlefield command system to forcibly drag them into a charge. The murderous intent in Li Qinwu's eyes receded slightly. Since they had a use, he couldn't execute them all. But because they dared to kill an officer, they still had to be punished; otherwise, it would be terrible if someone in other companies followed suit. He shouted loudly: "Company 8! All squad leaders and deputy squad leaders, step forward!!"

The 10 squad leaders and 10 deputy squad leaders of Company 8 all stepped forward and stood in a row in front of the phalanx. Li Qinwu then ordered.

"Company 8! Count off by one-two-three, begin!!" When the Goblins of Company 8 heard they had to count off by one-two-three, they trembled with fear. What did this mean? Decimation! The decimation they feared most had come!! The sound of counting one-two-three, one-two-three slowly echoed, filled with terror. All the Goblins were praying that the Boss wouldn't choose the number they reported. After the count was finished, Li Qinwu shouted.

"Those who shouted 2, step out!!" With a whoosh, one-third of the Goblins collapsed to the ground. They were the ones who shouted 2. They knew they were finished; they had become the objects of decimation! Li Qinwu waved his hand, and the Goblin musketeers from other companies rushed up and dragged out the fellows who had shouted 2. Li Qinwu had people escort all the officers of Company 8 and the decimation targets to the firing range, tying them to the scarecrows usually used for target practice.

Li Qinwu pointed his sword at the bound fellows.

"Soldiers! These people are traitors! These despicable fellows killed their commander. This is incorrect! Wrong!! Not allowed!!!"

"Now it's time to make them pay the price. Company 1! Deploy in volley formation!" The Goblin musketeers of Company 1, which was Gobu-Spear's unit, ran quickly and formed a row.

"Present!!" 100 soldiers raised their muskets and aimed at the Company 8 warriors.

"FIRE!!" A series of gunshots rang out, white mist filled the air, and 100 rounds of 20 mm bullets were fired into the bodies of the 40 execution targets within 20 meters. Their bodies were blown into flying flesh and blood, without even a chance to cry out in pain; they were dead instantly. The soldiers of Company 1 were full of shock. They had trained for so long but had never used muskets to hit living things. Looking at it now, this thing's destructive power was astonishing!

After the soldiers of Company 1 finished shooting, Company 2, Company 3, and Company 4 followed up and continued shooting. Li Qinwu wanted every soldier to participate in the execution of the rebellious soldiers to let them know the consequences of rebellion. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. After the execution ended, nearly a thousand large-caliber bullets had left the shooting point riddled with holes.

There was no need to collect the bodies; they were all smashed to pieces. A few shovels could turn them directly into fertilizer. The soldiers rebuilt the shooting targets and prepared for today's training. Li Qinwu watched the busy soldiers and fell into thought. This rebellion served as a reminder: an army without a soul really won't work! There's a cliché that has been repeated many times: Goblins are monsters with thin emotions. They have no sense of honor, no spirit of contribution, and not even foresight.

Li Qinwu had informed the army about the threat of the Hero Party, but even knowing such a threat existed, the soldiers still broke out in rebellion because of training difficulties. An army without a soul and a sense of honor won't go far. Even with terrifying military law as a restraint, if soldiers cannot burst with subjective initiative, the army's ceiling will not be high. Honor! How to cultivate a sense of honor in Goblins with thin emotions? This was too difficult.

Li Qinwu felt like he was going to split; his transmigrator predecessors didn't seem to have a guiding ideology! Ah! Mainly because those who transmigrated as Goblins were few to begin with. Those who did were usually invincible themselves and went off to copy-paste beauties of various races; no one mentioned how to cultivate a Goblin army. Li Qinwu scratched his head frantically. Thinking and thinking, he felt he might as well settle for the next best thing.

Since he couldn't cultivate the Goblins' sense of honor for the time being, why not cultivate their sense of humiliation first? There's a saying: Know shame and then be brave. Perhaps for Goblins, doing this would have miraculous effects? Li Qinwu immediately assembled the troops, found a coffin, placed the Captain of Company 8 inside, and had the soldiers of Company 8 carry the commander they killed up to Martyr Mountain—the mountain specifically for burying Goblins who died in battle.

He had the Goblins of other companies stand in line and watch the Company 8 warriors dig a pit with their bare hands and bury the commander they had killed. After they finished the burial, Li Qinwu required them to kneel before the grave and repent. He took the flag of Company 8 and shook it in the air, focusing everyone's attention on the flag.

This company flag was very simple, even crude—just a rectangle sewn from sackcloth with Arabic numerals like 1, 2, 3 painted in black lacquer, representing the various company designations. Li Qinwu shouted: "This was a shameful mutiny! The soldiers of Company 8 cruelly killed their commander! They threw honor aside! Since the soldiers of Company 8 abandoned their commander, Company 8 has no meaning for existence. I announce that from now on, the designation of Company 8 is revoked.

There will be no Company 8 in the future. The soldiers of Company 8 are demoted to Sin-Soldiers!" With those words, he picked up a torch and burned the flag of Company 8 to a crisp. The Goblins watched as that military flag was burned to ashes by the flames, all remaining silent. Li Qinwu scanned their faces. He saw some Goblins with solemn expressions, their brows deeply furrowed, not knowing what they were thinking. This made him feel joyful in his heart.

If even one percent of the people were moved by the revocation of the designation, that would be excellent!! Thought is contagious; as long as it's guided properly, other soldiers will also feel fear and humiliation at the revocation of a designation! When this view of shame is thoroughly established in the army, a sense of honor won't be far off. With a sense of honor, the army will slowly generate a military soul! Training continued, and the intensity remained very high, not decreasing because of a mutiny.

Li Qinwu would absolutely not improve the Goblins' situation because of a bottom-up mutiny. As soon as there's a sign of subordinates defying superiors, it must be suppressed with violence! If Goblins were allowed to get used to using violence to express demands to superiors, it would cause disastrous consequences in the future! But since the problem was exposed, Li Qinwu still had to make changes. The training intensity couldn't be reduced, so he would improve in other areas.

First, Li Qinwu established the position of Deputy Company Commander under the Company Commander position, also letting system soldiers fill it. In addition to cooperating with the Company Commander to command troops during wartime, the Deputy Company Commander also had the task of listening to the soldiers' demands in normal times. This mutiny let Li Qinwu know that Goblins also have a desire to express themselves, but the army management system he designed was very crude.

The only language superiors had for subordinates was military orders and military canes; subordinates had completely no channel to communicate with superiors. He wanted to establish a channel for subordinates to express their voices to superiors. Li Qinwu called the Deputy Company Commanders together, gave them a three-day class, and spread some talking points. They were roughly about the army's view of honor, the army's view of shame, and the Hero's threat theory.

The Deputy Company Commanders didn't even understand the meaning of these talking points themselves, but that wasn't important. Li Qinwu wanted them to mechanically chant in the soldiers' ears, branding these things into the Goblins' brains like an ideological imprint! It wasn't important for the warriors to understand; it was important for them to know such a thing existed. He also wanted the Deputy Company Commanders to actively listen to the warriors' demands.

Making Goblin officers have heart-to-heart talks with Goblin soldiers was a bit difficult for Goblins. These fellows only have "kill-kill-kill" and "shag-shag-shag" in their brains; making them care about their own kind was "no-dick-talk" (pointless). But it didn't matter. Li Qinwu directly gave the commanders behavioral guidance.

If a soldier approached a Deputy Company Commander for a heart-to-heart talk, what the Deputy Company Commander had to do was empty their brain, put on a listening appearance on the surface, and once the soldier finished speaking, pat him on the shoulder and take him for a good meal, settling it with some wood-rat. He couldn't provide more detailed guidance. Now that the people's intellect was not yet opened, he could only set up a crude frame first.

It didn't matter if it was effective; what Li Qinwu had to do was build up brick by brick. Cultivating the Goblins' sense of shame was one brick, and cultivating the Goblins' sense of honor was another. With such bricks constantly laid on top, one day a nation could be built! While the personnel aspect was improved, Li Qinwu also increased the material rewards for the soldiers. He developed a thick soup—a dish made by stewing vegetables with magic-beast blood and viscera.

This thing, for Goblins, was similar to the temptation of pork stewed with vermicelli for humans. Li Qinwu began to add this Goblin-specialty grand dish to dinner to increase the Goblins' training enthusiasm. He also found a few humans who could brew alcohol, letting them use wheat and potatoes to manufacture liquor, and then providing free liquor on the soldiers' rest days to soothe the mental fatigue of the musketeer Goblins. These measures greatly stabilized the morale of the musketeer Goblins.

If they were all Li Qinwu's system soldiers, he would be able to see the soldiers' morale rising from a yellow state of around 40 to a green stable state of 70. With internal problems resolved, training continued on the schedule. The musketeer Goblins trained day after day, and their use of muskets and coordination became more and more polished.

Sometimes, when the musketeer Goblins fired a neat volley under the command of a military whistle, Li Qinwu would have an illusion that those in front of him were elite Redcoats. The Sin-Soldiers of Company 8, whose designation was revoked, were not idle either. These fellows who should have been executed were arranged for special training by Li Qinwu. Running, sprinting, repeated incessantly. Musket shooting, physical training, and standing at attention were all cancelled.

The Sin-Soldiers strapped an iron canister to their chests every day and then ran, ran, ran. To protect their knees, the Sin-Soldiers only had to train for 2 hours a day; the rest of the time was spent resting and relaxing. Li Qinwu even found people to massage the lower limb muscles for these Sin-Soldiers to help them quickly release lactic acid, ensuring they could continue training the next day. The Sin-Soldiers were as happy as if they were flying.

Changing from 12 hours of training a day to 2 hours—is this heaven? The Sin-Soldiers were happy all day long, running across the training field and seeing the musketeer Goblins standing stupidly at attention, their faces full of triumph. They thought these fellows must be envious to death.

However, the Sin-Soldiers would absolutely never guess what the iron canisters they hung on their chests every day were for, nor did they notice that the look in the musketeer Goblins' eyes when they looked at them was already the look one gives to a dead man.