Warhammer Fantasy: I Have Total War System

South of the southern bamboo forest, on a hillside in the rear of the Allied forces.

The afternoon sun was scorching, baking the gravel on the slope until it emitted a layer of white steam.

Li Lin rode a black ink lion and stood on the hillside. In front of him, more than twenty cooks and accountants from the supply camp were moving and counting goods, and the sound of abacuses clattering was deafening.

This was a "Northern Plains Merchant Guild" from Nangao. They imported tea and silk from Shangyang and resold them in Nangao, and then imported exquisite porcelain and carvings from Nangao and sold them in Shangyang.

They had been doing business in the desert for decades, making a fortune, and their headquarters were located in the Zhengong District behind the fourth city wall of Nangao.

They had close ties with many border patrol officers along this route and were a well-known merchant firm in the northern provinces.

Unfortunately, things are unpredictable. With Dong Yan and Ye Sheng seizing power, the landscape of Weixi Province changed drastically, and all their operations in the west came to nothing.

What's worse, they made money they shouldn't have.

Li Lin glanced out of the corner of his eye at the merchants standing not far away, who dared not speak out in anger.

On the day he arrived at Shilei Fortress and was losing money to gain fame, he saw that this merchant group was selling clear spring water in green water bags of excellent quality, so he bought water from their store.

One tael of gold for three bags of water.

It's ridiculously expensive.

But being in the desert, where water is scarce, he could understand.

I bought thirty bags, half of which were murky water mixed with sand to make them heavy. One sip made my mouth taste bitter, as they were full of clumps of mud and sand.

Not only the water, but also the 600 sets of "cowhide ropes" and "sandproof tarpaulins" for setting up tents that I bought from them were all counterfeit and substandard products.

These scoundrels really treated him like a benefactor and swindled him.

He was insignificant back then and had no ability to recover the debt, but now he is determined to get it back with interest!

"The one surnamed Li!"

A loud roar erupted from the crowd of merchants.

A young man, two or three years older than Li Lin, strode out, his face flushed and the veins on his neck bulging.

He was dressed in a dark brown merchant's satin robe, with a silver-inlaid dagger hanging at his waist. Judging from his demeanor, he was clearly the son of a powerful figure in the merchant guild.

"Is this how you people from Nanli do things? You're practically trying to rob us outright!"

Upon hearing this, the shop assistants, accountants, and their families rushed forward to try and pull him back.

The young man channeled his inner strength, unleashing his hidden power, and blasted away all those who approached him.

"The traitor!"

An old shopkeeper in his fifties, dressed in a gray robe, trembled with anger in the crowd, glancing with fearful eyes at the several mangled corpses of镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) below the hillside, as well as the two terrifying stone beasts licking their paws nearby.

Just now, Li Lin's men and cooks were about to go in to move goods when the group of bodyguards saw that he had no guards and drew their knives to attack them.

Unexpectedly, two large black stone lions suddenly appeared, and each of them slapped the five martial arts masters into human meat pies.

"How much grain do they have in their granary?" Li Lin ignored the hothead and turned to ask an accountant who was engrossed in doing calculations.

"Steward, we've only checked half of it so far. Right now, we've already found 300 catties of fine rice in small bags, 50 catties of fried noodles, 430 hard cakes, two jars of pickled vegetables, 50 catties of dried meat, and several bushels of coarse grains."

"They were all pre-packaged according to the specifications of grain shops; they weren't kept for their own consumption."

Wow? So many?

Li Lin's eyes were wide open.

This amount of grain is enough to feed five or six hundred people. If all of it is found, the grain stockpiled by this one caravan alone is enough to feed more than a thousand people.

Do you want to become a grain speculator, hoarding grain and driving up prices to profit from the national crisis?

Tsk tsk, it seems capitalists are all the same in that world.

"Looks like I'll get a lot of gold coins," Li Lin remarked, then turned and calmly looked at the angry young man.

"You're saying I'm blatantly robbing you?" Li Lin's voice wasn't loud, but it was crystal clear to everyone on the hillside. "The Allied forces are in trouble, and supplies are running low. All merchants and caravans are obligated to obey military requisition. The official document was sent to you three days ago. Didn't you receive it?"

The young man scoffed, "What official document? We've never received one!"

Li Lin remained calm and beckoned. A staff member quickly stepped forward, held up a prepared document, and displayed it to everyone.

The seals and approvals are all there, and every word is supported by evidence.

"Didn't receive it? You dare swear to the Dragon Emperor that this signature and seal weren't written by your merchant guild's manager himself?"

The young man's expression changed slightly, his fist clenched and unclenched again, and he immediately looked for a new reason to argue.

But this time Li Lin didn't let him talk nonsense.

"You merchants, despite receiving military orders, still dared to attack supply troops with knives. According to military law, this constitutes an attack on the army." Li Lin's voice turned cold.

"The perpetrators should be executed along with their entire gang, and their property confiscated."

"I'm being lenient with you all because you're all respectable people." He paused, his tone softening. "If I wanted to steal, I would have taken everything already. Why would I need to count it in front of you all?"

"The military rations shipped out this morning have disappeared without a trace, leaving the civilians with nothing. I, Li, had no other choice but to do this. If anyone is to blame, it's those corrupt officials in the military!"

After saying that, he waved his hand, signaling the young man to leave.

The young man's face was flushed, but he still stood straight, his face filled with hatred as if he wanted to tear someone apart.

Unable to find a plausible reason, he simply pointed at Li Lin and began to hurl insults:

"Who the hell do you think you are!"

"How dare a bastard from Nanli be so arrogant?"

"So what if you're a military commissioner? You try coming to Nangao! Let me tell you, nobody in Nangao takes your poor place seriously!"

"Our family has run a trading company in Beiyuan for six generations. The Ninth Wall Commander of Nangao is my uncle, and the tax collector at the city gate is an old friend of my father's. If you dare to mess with our family, when we get back to Nangao, I'll make sure you can't even get through the city gates!"

"Shut up! Shut up!!" The gray-robed old manager scrambled out of the crowd and slapped his son across the face. "Are you crazy?! Are you trying to kill everyone in the entire business?!"

Was his son telling the truth?

Yes.

But is it appropriate to say this in this situation?

No.

Li Lin in Nangao is nothing special, but now, on this long march...

Whoever holds the gun barrel is in charge.

Li Lin had already shown everyone that his gun barrel was very large and thick.

The old man turned around and kowtowed three times to Li Lin, his forehead hitting the gravel and blood seeping out.

"Steward Li! My son is ignorant and has offended you. Please, Steward Li, be magnanimous and don't stoop to the level of this beast!"

Two servants with cultivation levels rushed up, grabbed the young man's arms, and gagged him.

The young man's eyes bulged out as he struggled desperately on the ground, making intermittent "woofing" sounds.

"I won't stoop to the level of a child," Li Lin said calmly, glancing at the young man on the ground.

If this had happened when he first transmigrated, he would have already attacked someone if they had insulted him like this.

But there are just too many idiots in Aurora. Killing one batch only to have another come along. It's pointless.

His thinking had already come to a conclusion.

Instead of pointless killing, it's better to see how much benefit you can gain from the other party.

"Thank you, Steward Li! Thank you, Steward Li!"

The old man pressed down on his son's head with such force that he almost buried his face in the ground.

Li Lin had no interest in watching their performance and waved his hand, saying, "According to military orders, in addition to food, each caravan must also provide guards and form teams to search for food and water. With so many people dead here, I doubt you have any manpower available to protect the caravans."

He pointed to the mountain of goods piled up behind him.

"How about this, I'll select some urgently needed supplies from these goods and use them as tax to offset the caravan's obligation to provide manpower. Are you willing?"

Okay, this is blatant robbery.

The old shopkeeper's lips twitched, but when he saw the two stone beasts with blood-stained claws and the bits of flesh scattered on the ground—

In the end, he could only grit his teeth and slam his head heavily onto the ground once again.

"Yes...yes! I'll do as the steward commands!"

"Not bad, a smart old dog."

Actually, Li Lin really wanted them to be a bit tougher, so that they could all be dragged out to hang the streetlights.

However, since the other party took the initiative to back down, he didn't make things difficult for them.

After all, in feudal society, things couldn't be done too extreme.

He instructed several overseers and accountants, who all had a list copied from Yige's silk.

The surface was covered with dense writing of the material's name and descriptions of its appearance, smell, and color.

These are all materials needed to upgrade the Dragon Palace.

"Find the items according to the descriptions on the list. Collect all the ones that match even slightly, and don't miss any."

The overseers' eyes gleamed, and they nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Looks like they can make a lot of money!

Before long, the five oxcarts that Li Lin had brought were filled to the brim.

Li Lin stared at the several supervisors, their crotches stuffed up, awkwardly laughing, and fell silent.

"At least 50% should be given to the people below, you hear me?"

"Otherwise, I'll beat you all to a pulp."