Warhammer Fantasy: I Have Total War System

Zhao Yunxiu sat on the ironwood armchair, dumbfounded.

Boiling water soaked his robes, and he was completely unaware that his skin was scalded and blistered.

They dared not utter a single word, nor utter a single syllable.

"What... is this person?" he wondered in horror.

That's right, he was deliberately stirring things up and making things difficult for Wei Qiankun.

But to his surprise, Li Lin reacted so strongly that he immediately tried to kill him!

"Has he gone mad? Does he really want to kill Wei Wuyai and become an enemy of the Soul Demon Craftsmen Association and the Moon Queen's Maid faction behind him?"

"It must be a young man, full of youthful vigor, acting on impulse. That's right, it must be."

Zhao Yunxiu tried to convince himself of this, but a voice deep inside kept reminding him: Li Lin's eyes looked wrong when he said those words.

Li Lin was indeed not impulsive; he truly intended to kill Wei Qiankun.

Firstly, this kid is a lecherous worm, and I won't feel at ease until he's rid of him.

Secondly, the other party has long harbored unexplained unilateral malice towards him. If he doesn't find a reason to eliminate him on this extremely dangerous road of the allied forces, he will only be played to death by the other party when he returns to Nangao.

Walk outside the screen.

Wei Zheng and Feng Yuan stood in the aisle like two wooden stakes struck by lightning, not daring to move, their foreheads covered in cold sweat.

Li Lin walked up to the two men and stopped in his tracks.

"Wei Zheng, Feng Yuan."

"Yes!" The uncle and nephew answered at the same time, their backs ramrod straight and their expressions tense.

"I asked you to stay because I want to ask you something important." Li Lin's tone had returned to calm.

"Is the gunpowder in your army produced in your own workshop?"

Wei Zheng instantly knew what he wanted to ask. The boy seemed to have been holding a grudge about this matter for a long time. Just as he was about to speak, his uncle Feng Yuan covered his mouth.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, it is our own property."

Seeing their extremely nervous expressions, Li Lin softened his tone and said, "I don't mean to blame you. Right now, the Central Guard only has your gunpowder unit. If anything goes wrong, everyone will be in danger. I need to know every detail."

"What's going on with your gunpowder?"

Wei Zheng was about to say something when Feng Yuan covered his mouth tightly.

"Not skilled enough?" Li Lin deliberately provoked him.

Wei Zheng bit his uncle hard, indignantly saying, "How could this be?! It's all that damned Craftsmen's Association's fault for giving us the formula... Ugh!!"

Enraged, Feng Yuan pulled out the cotton gauze from his wound and stuffed it into Wei Zheng's mouth, then explained to Li Lin with a wry smile:

"Steward Li, this matter... Let me put it this way: In northern Zhen Dan, as long as you don't have connections with the Nangao Army and the Changyuan Border Army, and you can't purchase gunpowder from the Nangao Craftsmen Association, and you're unwilling to spend a lot of money to buy gunpowder from the Po Mei Craftsmen Association, there's a risk of gunpowder exploding no matter where you get it. It's the same for everyone, and it has nothing to do with our small workshops."

Li Lin cursed inwardly.

Fortunately, we learned about this in time. If we hadn't been careful when attacking Nanli later, and had blown up a few cannons on the battlefield, we would have been doomed!

He then asked, "Without the constraints of the artisans' association, would you be capable of producing qualified gunpowder?"

A glint of light flashed in Wei Zheng's eyes.

Even though Feng Yuan had his mouth tightly shut, Li Lin already knew the answer just from his expression.

"Steward," Feng Yuan clasped his hands in a fist salute, bowing very low, "please don't ask any more questions."

"We are just small fry, unlike you, who don't have the guts to fight against aristocratic families."

It seems that the two of them overheard some of their conversation with Zhao Yunxiu behind the screen.

Wei Zheng was shocked to see his uncle being so obsequious. His innocent and lively spirit instantly turned into the dejection of a drowning kitten and a confused sense of guilt.

Li Lin did not make things difficult for the two men, but told them not to tell anyone what happened in the car, and then let them leave.

The two fled the cart as if they were escaping.

It was late at night, and the allied forces set up camp to rest and distribute supplies.

Back at their camp, Feng Yuan wiped the sweat from his brow and suddenly asked, "He's not even twenty yet, is he?"

"Hmm?" Wei Zheng took the cassava snacks handed to him by the maid and stuffed them into his mouth, as if trying to calm his unease with the delicious food.

"I can hardly believe he's the same age as you, you brat," Feng Yuan said, exasperated.

Wei Zheng was unconvinced and muttered under his breath, "Why don't you say that his father is a military commissioner?"

"If my father were a military commissioner, and you were a general, I might not be any worse than them!"

He couldn't stop talking towards the end, and Feng Yuan heard him.

The supervisor was furious and grabbed a piece of leather belt to teach the outspoken boy a lesson. Amid the gasps and laughter of the female soldiers, the two ran around the camp.

-----------------

As soon as we stepped off the cart, the night wind of the northern desert, carrying dry sand, lashed against our faces.

Li Lin took a deep breath, forcing his turbulent mind to cool down.

Things need to be prioritized. The most important task at hand is to tell Hou Rong and Xin Qi, two people they trust, the news of the rebel attack in its entirety.

He returned to the Sinan cart.

If Hou Rong can return tonight, he will probably bring people to the Dragon Palace to cultivate.

While waiting, he reviewed some official documents.

Besides military affairs, the official documents also contained many petitions from civilians accompanying the army, mostly pleading for troops to search for missing persons or denouncing the wicked deeds of certain villains in the ranks.

The list of missing persons is particularly large, and there are even large caravans that have disappeared in large groups.

Despite his growing fatigue, Li Lin dealt with each issue one by one.

He instructed his civilian officials in the supply corps to review the case and to severely punish the perpetrators.

At the same time, it is regrettable to inform those who want to search for missing relatives that the allied forces are powerless to help. However, they can record the time and place of the disappearance. When he takes back Nanli, they can bring this receipt to Nanli to find him, and he will surely lend a helping hand.

It was almost 11 PM when Hou Rong arrived.

He still maintained an attitude of not caring about anyone.

Without giving Xing Ganqi and the others a chance to ask questions, he snorted coldly and strode forward, leading a male and a female adjutant, directly into Li Lin's camp and to his compass cart.

Li Lin teleported outside, stopping the conflict, and quickly teleported the four people to the inner palace of the Dragon Palace.

Inside the carriage, Chen Guizhou, following Li Lin's instructions, immediately contacted Xin Qi. Shortly after, Xin Qi arrived alone on horseback. After politely greeting Xing Ganqi and the others who were guarding her, she came to the front of the Si Nan carriage and was teleported into the Dragon Palace by Li Lin.

"I have something very important to tell you both."

Inside the Dragon Palace, Li Lin greeted the Commandant of the Imperial Guard and the General of the Army with clasped hands.

Then he glanced at the two adjutants near the Dragon Ball, who were already impatiently sitting cross-legged and cultivating.

It means that they hope the two of them can wait outside.

"No need to trouble yourself," Hou Rong waved his hand. "I know my people well, so just say what you want without holding back."

Li Lin raised an eyebrow.

You said it yourself.

"Okay." Li Lin composed himself and recounted the events of the day from beginning to end.

This includes the incident where Wei Qiankun disobeyed military orders, opened fire without authorization, annihilated the enemy's vanguard, and attracted the attention of the enemy's main force.

"I bear an unshirkable responsibility for this."

Xinqi closed her eyes and remained silent.

Hou Rong, unusually serious, said, "You really are as useless as the rumors say. Also, I was just about to talk about the Southern Li rebels."

"When I led the vanguard north during the day, I originally wanted to see what else was hidden behind these useless feints, but I found that there was a big commotion in the south."

"There were fireballs in the sky like fiery clouds, covering the sky and the earth. They were about several hundred miles away from us, but we could still see them clearly. The main force of the rebels was moving eastward."

Xinqi opened her eyes and said in a low voice, "They must have gotten into a fight with Governor Yu and the others."

"Yes," Hou Rong nodded, "So what I want to say is that the main force of the rebels is currently fighting the governor and his men, which has nothing to do with us. They are going in the opposite direction, and they won't be able to get here for at least a few days. This is a good time for us to march overnight."

"No." Li Lin shook his head, his tone firm. "The main force of the rebels will definitely come. Even if it's not the main force, it will be a force we can't withstand. The situation should be similar to the previous cannibal attack."

"How did you know?" Hou Rong asked suspiciously, squinting his eyes.

He had many methods, but none of them could yield such detailed intelligence.

"We have our own way, so please don't ask any more questions."

"Tch," Hou Rong sneered, arms crossed, rolling his eyes. "Don't worry about being mysterious. I won't covet your little bit."

Xin Qi remained silent, and judging from her expression, she didn't care what methods Li Lin had used.

"Tomorrow, I need to trouble Commander Hou to accompany me. I need to hold a military meeting to reorganize the rear guard."

Li Lin paused for a moment, then dropped a bombshell:

"Before the rebels attack, I will deal with Wei Qiankun and all his men, and then incorporate his gunpowder troops."

"This process will definitely involve bloodshed, a lot of blood."

"Do you have any objections?"

After he finished speaking, he waited for their reply.

But all that followed was a long silence.

Even Hou Rong, who was fearless, chuckled, pretending not to hear, and yawned.

Xin Qi remained calm, looking at Li Lin without uttering a word.

The meaning is clear: do what you want to do, but the two of them won't participate.

On the contrary, the two adjutants sitting not far away looked as if they had seen a ghost and turned to look at Li Lin.

Only after being glared at by Hou Rong did he quickly pretend nothing had happened and continue cultivating with his eyes closed.

Judging from his restless appearance, he probably won't be able to practice anything tonight.

I warned your master, you know!

Li Lin scoffed inwardly.

"Let's change the subject, new commander. What are your plans regarding the marching route and formation?"

-----------------

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking.

Hou Rong led the Guiyin generals and Jingsai army, adorned with gold and silver, to Li Lin's camp, to escort Li Lin's military meeting as agreed.

The military meeting was held in an open space in front of the compass cart, and a simple command tent was set up in the early hours of the morning.

Chen Guizhou relayed the general's meeting notice to all parts of the rear guard at noon yesterday.

Li Lin sat upright in the center of the command tent, waiting for someone to arrive.

Suddenly, a series of chaotic footsteps came from outside the camp. Some cooks, covered in grime, ran up and spoke to the guards at the camp gate. The guards then spoke to the officer on duty. The officer on duty ran to the Sinan wagon, knocked on the door, and spoke to Chen Guizhou's staff.

A moment later, Chen Guizhou, walking hurriedly, lifted the tent flap, walked to Li Lin's side, and whispered:

"Steward, something has happened."

"The military supplies and provisions that were being transported from the Central Guard Army to our Rear Guard Army yesterday were intercepted on the way."

Li Lin raised an eyebrow: "Who did it?"

In fact, he already had the answer in his heart.

"Several officers who had been dismissed and demoted before led a large number of disarmed stragglers."

"They said this batch of grain should have been allocated to the rear guard battalions, but you monopolized it all."

He paused, then lowered his voice and added:

"The person who instigated the trouble is called Lu Pingchuan."