Chương 102: Level Grinding

Back in Poloia, a month had slipped by, and the earliest batch of newborn Goblins had reached 2, 000 in number. Having completed their initial feral-breaking training, these Goblins were not yet fully mature and had only just learned to walk upright when they were taken by the officers and thrown directly into military drills. These newly spawned Goblins, yet to comprehend their place in the world, immediately experienced the iron fist of the Union's discipline.

Those who disobeyed an officer's command tasted the military cane; those who failed to maintain a proper military posture tasted the military cane; those who slacked off or committed errors tasted the military cane. For repeat offenders or those guilty of major infractions, death was the sole destination. Fortunately, while the drilling was brutal, they were given all the food they could eat. Four meals a day—filled with carbohydrates, meat, and vegetables—were provided in an endless, unlimited flow.

Training furiously and gorging on food, the Goblins grew as robust and sturdy as young calves. Because the number of trainees was immense, and the second batch of roughly 2, 500 Goblins was expected to be born in half a month, training grounds became scarce. Out of sheer necessity, Li Qinwu dispatched men to repurpose the Temple of the Goddess of Life, several large public parks in the city, and the sprawling residential districts left behind by the fleeing nobility.

He ordered these spaces to be enclosed with wooden palisades and patrolled by veterans; if any commoner was spotted sneaking out, they would be shot dead on sight. Up to this point, the earliest batch of 2, 000 Goblins had trained in the barracks for half a month, and not a single deserter had appeared. The training of the Goblin militia had officially gotten onto the right track. As for the common folk of Poloia, after their initial terror, they gradually regained their composure.

They discovered to their amazement that apart from looting the warehouses and noble assets, the monster army left them entirely unmolested. As they resumed their normal lives, they found things were considerably better than before because there was no longer anyone around to exploit them. Among them, the independent yeoman farmers in the surrounding rural areas felt the most distinct shift. Normally, these farmers would bring their field vegetables into the town to sell.

If a load of vegetables could fetch 100 copper coins, entering the city required a 10-copper gate fee. Upon reaching the market stalls, they had to pay another 10 coppers to the officials for a stall fee, alongside 10 coppers in taxes. That was not the end of it; patrolling soldiers would demand "beverage fees," and local syndicates would extort protection money, instantly eating away half their earnings.

After toiling bitterly for over half a year, once the assorted taxes were collected, practically nothing remained. But now, as the yeoman farmers cautiously entered the city, they found that the exploiters were completely gone. They could pocket 100% of their 100 copper pieces! A few of the bolder farmers approached the musket Goblins standing guard at the city gates, asking if they would purchase their crops.

The Goblins could not understand the human common tongue, so they fetched the militia, and the matter was eventually reported up through the chain of command to Li Qinwu. Li Qinwu ordered an official market to be established just outside the city walls, dedicated exclusively to purchasing agricultural goods. When the first batch of independent farmers received actual silver coins from the Goblins' hands, their jaws dropped in sheer disbelief.

Once word of this spread, Poloia and its surrounding farmsteads settled down entirely. The dark clouds of war dissipated, and the people fully restored their normal production and daily lives. Yet, no sooner had life stabilized than someone leaped out to disrupt it. When the Punisher Army first stormed the city, the local syndicates had laid low because they couldn't read the situation.

But after more than a month, seeing that the monster army did not molest the populace and only drilled troops inside a few barracks, the syndicates revived their operations. They began clashing with one another over territory and extorting protection money. To contest a choice district, the major syndicates ignited a massive street brawl involving over 500 thugs. Upon receiving the militia's report, the Punisher Army assumed an armed rebellion was underway.

They rushed to the scene, and confronted the brawling crowd with a brutal reception of musket volleys and bayonet charges, slaying over 200 men on the spot. The survivors scattered to the wind. Later, interrogations of the wounded revealed that it wasn't a rebellion at all, but merely syndicates fighting over territory. Li Qinwu was profoundly displeased upon receiving the news. Damn it all, I haven't even collected taxes yet, and these bastards have already started collecting protection money!

However, he wasn't angry; instead, he wanted to utilize this incident to grind levels for his new recruits! Goblin recruits had to level up to Tier 2 to become Hobgoblins. Hobgoblins were significantly stronger, more intelligent, and far better equipped to comprehend military commands and discipline. Promoting Tier 1 troops to Tier 2 was relatively simple; generally, by the end of a battle, any soldier who managed to land a few critical finishing blows would accumulate enough experience points.

Back in the Union's territory, a Goblin recruit only needed to slay 10 skeleton soldiers to upgrade. Humans were of a higher tier than skeletons, yielding far richer experience bounties. Li Qinwu called Knight Leo over and asked, "The militia's operations have fully expanded by now. Let me ask you: how many syndicates are left in the city, and where are they located?" Knight Leo nodded responsively.

"My Lord, I was just looking for an opportunity to report this matter to you. Nearly every single street in Poloia harbors a gang. These syndicates formerly served the nobility, but now they operate independently. They went into hiding at the start of the war, but have now crawled back out of the sewers. Private turf wars occur almost daily, leaving public security in absolute chaos. Many of our militia recruits were enlisted from the slums, so plenty of them know exactly where the syndicates are headquartered."

"Excellent. Assemble your militia and come with me to wipe out the syndicates!" The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Li Qinwu opened his soldier management interface, reassigned the 110 system troops he carried into the Poloia garrison, and then recruited 110 fresh Goblin recruits into his personal party.

He then mustered another 400 Goblin recruits from the barracks, using 200 Punisher Army veterans to hold the line, and led this formidable force grandly toward the syndicate headquarters. The troops ran swiftly through the avenues. Pedestrians scrambled to either side, staring in terror at this monstrous army, utterly clueless as to what they intended to do.

"My Lord, we have arrived!" Knight Leo pointed down a street.

"This avenue is the territory of the Blackwater Syndicate. Their entire rank and file consists of Blackwater thugs, numbering over 400 men." Li Qinwu asked, "So many? What do they do to sustain themselves?"

"My Lord, 'Blackwater' actually refers to nightsoil. The Blackwater Syndicate primarily controls the waste disposal for half the urban district. If farmers outside the city wish to transport manure to fertilize their fields, they must pay them." Li Qinwu understood. With a wave of his hand, the soldiers completely sealed off the Blackwater Syndicate's street, leaving it tightly surrounded. Down the avenue, the Blackwater thugs felt a surge of fear, yet these fellows proved exceptionally stubborn.

They brandished their cleavers and daggers one after another, standing in the middle of the street to confront the Punisher Army. A burly, middle-aged man bearing a heavily scarred face stepped forward with a fake smile, holding a chest containing a hundred silver coins. He assumed the monster army had marched upon them because they hadn't paid tribute, and wished to exchange a few pleasantries to settle the matter with coin. But Li Qinwu wanted their lives, not their money.

Utilizing his battlefield command system to control the 110 Goblin recruits, he ordered a direct attack. Clad in chainmail, wearing kettle hats, and brandishing short spears, the 110 Goblin recruits shrieked as they surged forward to thrust their weapons. The divine "F2" key connected them all. The faces of the Blackwater Syndicate members twisted in sheer horror; why did these monsters attack without a single word of warning? What should we do? Do we fight back?

Before the syndicate thugs could decide on a course of action, the 110 howling Goblin recruits slammed into them. The long spears thrust forward viciously, instantly claiming the lives of several Blackwater thugs. In the blink of an eye, the two sides locked into a chaotic melee, and the street filled with a chorus of agonizing wails. These thugs, who excelled only at bullying the weak, lacked the courage to fight back and began to flee.

Bereft of armor, they fell silently one after another as the short spears pierced through them, utterly lacking the resolve to resist. The Goblin recruits hunted down the syndicate members in a wild frenzy; the thugs shrieked as they ran frantically, leaving corpses strewn across the cobblestones. Ultimately, the Blackwater thugs were pinned into a corner. Realizing perhaps that they would not survive, the remaining forty-odd members attempted a desperate last stand.

However, things had reached a point where resistance was entirely futile. After suffering 5 casualties among the Goblin recruits, every single member of the Blackwater Syndicate was slain. The notification of victory chimed in Li Qinwu's ear. He dived directly into the soldier management interface: out of the 105 remaining Goblin recruits, 78 were eligible for promotion. He spent the necessary funds and clicked upgrade. On the field, 78 Goblins let out sharp cries as they transformed into Hobgoblins!

Li Qinwu rotated these 78 fellows out of his immediate party, filled the vacant slots back to maximum capacity with fresh Goblin recruits from the barracks, and issued an order to Knight Leo: "Move out. Next target." Operating in this fashion, Li Qinwu spent several days combing through every corner of the Poloia urban district, completely purging nearly every syndicate organization in the city.

Out of the 500 Goblin recruits, 92 were lost, while the remaining 400-odd men all successfully transformed into Hobgoblins. Seeing how exceptionally efficient this leveling method was, Li Qinwu intended to grind the remaining 1, 500 recruits into Hobgoblins as well. He turned to Knight Leo and asked, "Are there any bandits outside the city?"

"Yes, my Lord. The mountains outside the city are crawling with banditry. Certain outlaws have claimed the peaks for themselves, building massive fortresses. Relying on the treacherous terrain, even the nobles' private retainers couldn't chew them down."

"Excellent. Lead the way. We are going out of the city to hunt bandits!!" Li Qinwu led his forces grandly out of the city and plunged into the mountains. He used artillery to blast open the bandit strongholds, then ordered his system recruits into the breaches in batches to hack and slash against the outlaws. Half a month later, dozens of bandit factions in the mountains surrounding Poloia were completely eradicated.

Out of the 2, 000 Goblin recruits, after losing 389 men, nearly 900 had successfully transformed into Hobgoblins—the quality of his forces had achieved a terrifying leap! The physical capacity of a Hobgoblin far exceeded that of a human soldier. Once equipped with the plate armor left behind by the Poloia garrison, they transformed into formidable heavy infantry. Provided they underwent orderly discipline training, dragging them onto a battlefield would unveil a terrifying force!

With the vast majority of the first batch of recruits successfully transformed into Hobgoblins, the second batch of over 2, 500 Goblin recruits was born and entered military drilling. Li Qinwu needed to find a new source of targets to grind experience, but with the syndicates and bandits completely wiped out, he couldn't locate any targets for the time being. Could it be that I have to resort to slaughtering villages? Li Qinwu silently opened his system interface.

Under his continuous string of actions, his favorability among the commoners surrounding Poloia had been ground up to 40 points. With this level of favorability, the system would absolutely never designate them as enemies. However, he still possessed a clever trick up his sleeve: he intended to manufacture a few targets to hunt. The rural areas of this world did not merely contain independent farmers and serfs; they also housed gentry, landlords, and relatives of the nobility.

These influential elites controlled vast amounts of population and land. If he could provoke them, forcing them to stand in opposition to him, wouldn't that instantly generate a wealth of targets to hunt? Li Qinwu let out a sinister smile. He summoned Knight Leo and instructed, "Disperse your militia into the rural villages under Poloia's jurisdiction. Announce that the new Master of Poloia, King of the Goblins... Arthur Louis Romanov Qin Shi Huang, has issued a new decree."

"From this day forth, Poloia abolishes the institution of serfdom. No means of holding slaves shall be permitted. All land currently cultivated by serfs shall henceforth belong to those serfs as their personal property."

"Abolish all exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes; from this moment on, they only need to pay a flat thirty percent tax!"

"Intelligent creatures are born equal; no soul is the slave of another. While variance in individual capabilities may lead to differing social standings, every single person deserves to possess freedom equally!"

"Go forth, and let freedom fly to every single corner of Poloia."

"My Lord!" Knight Leo was moved to absolute speechlessness. In his eyes, this act was the supreme manifestation of Li Qinwu's lofty morality; only a saint would willingly relinquish land and slaves. Filled with immense gratitude, Knight Leo went off to execute the task, while Li Qinwu consolidated his forces to prepare for war. Since time immemorial, touching a landlord's land was identical to demanding a landlord's life.

Li Qinwu was certain that the moment this decree went public, a magnificent hoard of red experience packs would appear across the map. This decree would also violently intensify the conflict between the gentry nobles and the serfs, ensuring that the gentry could not manipulate the commoners into forming a unified front to counter him. In short, the heavens above Poloia were about to change.