Chương 80: Artillery

Over the following days, the tribe's development hit its stride. The Crimson Queen remained at the construction site, displaying a surprising level of compliance. For a shut-in who hadn't left her nest in two centuries, she adapted to her role as a "mobile steamroller" remarkably well. In just three days, her massive weight crushed over 60 kilometers of roadbed into solid ground, and she produced a fresh batch of eggs, which Li Qinwu transported to a heated nursery in Iron City.

Li Qinwu returned to administrative duties, overseeing four major projects: road construction, fortifying the Underworld Tree, reinforcing Iron City's walls into a certified fortress, and expanding the "Hundred-Man Villages." The villages, now totaling 25, served as the Alliance's core administrative units. However, Li Qinwu realized he had hit a development bottleneck: the cultivated land could no longer support the population boom fueled by the system's bonuses.

To continue expanding without a massive external grain injection would invite famine.

"It's time to profit from war," Li Qinwu thought, eyes turning toward the Kingdom of Thassos to the west. Between avenging the old 10th Company and the system's hints of a global war, the opportunity was too good to pass up. But first, he had to stabilize his home base. He summoned his lieutenants: This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. 1. Resolving the Kobold Issue:" Gobu-Witch, go to the Kobold tribes.

Tell them to resume their tribute immediately and send the chiefs' sons to learn farming as hostages. Otherwise, the 10th Company will bring destruction with fires of sulfur!" To ensure compliance, Li Qinwu decided to send the Crimson Queen along as a "diplomatic" threat. He planned to build roads to every Kobold hunting ground, replacing their primitive chieftain system with a standardized village structure. 2.

Domestic Defense and Bureaucracy: He ordered One-Ear to select 200 elite young Goblins to form the "National Guard" for home defense. Recognizing One-Ear's exhaustion from overwork, Li Qinwu also authorized the recruitment of the best student mathematicians to form a nascent civil service. 3. Developing Strategic Weaponry: Li Qinwu laid out a parchment before Iron-Orc detailing the manufacturing process for a 6-pounder Napoleon cannon, including iron-mold casting and bore polishing.

Iron-Orc studied the blueprints, looking worried.

"Sir, this 'giant musket'... if air bubbles form during casting, it will likely explode when fired. Copper would be better for its ductility."

"A shame," Li Qinwu shrugged.

"We only have iron." Iron-Orc scratched his head nervously. He knew a cannon used hundreds of times the propellant of a musket; a catastrophic failure would be lethal. He couldn't guarantee success without extensive testing. Li Qinwu, understanding the technical hurdles, told him to proceed with experiments and report progress. A total transformation—from administration to military technology—was now brewing in the depths of the wilderness, accompanied by the first echoes of developing artillery.