After equipping Goblins with sufficient iron, their loyalty reached **Sworn to Follow**, giving Marcus confidence.
He then sent a group of Goblin longbowmen to explore 20-kilometer radius under guise of seeking fights, to complete system exploration quests and incidentally hunt.
Other Goblins underwent 12-hour-a-day training and practiced sparring with wooden weapons, training to coordinate formations.
Marcus also had Dwarfs forge him a proper Orc weapon – not a human longsword, but a **Warcraft III-style Orc Cleaver**, 1.8 meters long, similar to his height, long sharp blade, heavy at tip for chopping.
And fitted with a crude iron breastplate and pauldrons.
Today, he planned to further expand tribe’s iron smelting efficiency.
He intended to build a proper bloomery blast furnace so Goblins could produce molten iron continuously.
Tribe now had about 650 Goblins and 1500 Snotlings total – counting all mushroom fields.
Whole tribe expanded considerably, and seeing thriving development, Marcus couldn’t help but feel proud.
Just as he was about to lead minions to build furnace at kiln, a Goblin scout carrying longbow and covered in weeds came running, shouting as he ran.
Marcus recognized him – system exploration mission not only required scouting 20km but also eliminating all enemies within range.
Therefore Marcus assumed Goblin had discovered enemies.
While pondering whether it was Beastmen or Skaven, Goblin reached him.
Panting heavily, Goblin said, “Boss, found group of pinkskins to east!
They even have wheeled vehicles, bigger than ours!
Many-many shiny things!”
Pinkskins is what Greenskins call humans.
Hearing humans had arrived east, Marcus was caught off guard.
What were humans doing here?
South of Blackfire Pass lies Badlands, breeding ground for monsters, no sane Imperial merchant comes here.
Although not enemy he imagined, sight of human group passing near territory still made Marcus uneasy.
So he decided to take his boyz to investigate.
**On the road:**
Li Fugui was a small landowner from **Grand Cathay – what Empire calls Cathay, what Marcus’s memory calls Zhen Dan.** His ancestors spent generations raising chickens to geese, geese to sheep, sheep to cattle, finally cattle to land.
In his generation, Li Fugui didn’t want to farm.
He sold land and opened restaurant in city.
Don’t take on job you’re not qualified for.
Soon, restaurant lost money due to poor management.
Fortunately, accumulated wealth of several generations gave resources to make mistakes.
Lean camel bigger than horse.
Having lost money, Li Fugui urgently needed quick buck.
So he set sights on smuggling goods from Cathay to Empire of Sigmar, lucrative business.
Man of action.
After hiring a Tilean who spoke Reikspiel at high price, he led his henchmen and able-bodied men from surrounding villages willing to follow him to fortune.
They smuggled carts full of silk and spices across **Dragon Gate Pass** towards Empire.
After leaving pass, group traversed Howling Wastes, losing dozen lives to wolves before reaching Empire’s **Blackfire Pass**.
After paying entrance fee and bribes, finally arrived in Sigmar territory.
Then with Tilean translator, successfully sold goods.
One trip alone earned more money than ancestors earned for generations.
Humans never satisfied.
After treating brothers to good food and drink for days, and even experiencing exotic charm of Empire in city shantytown, Li Fugui learned fortune-making secret at tavern: travel from Empire through Southern Worlds Edge Mountains to port of High Elves in Sea of Storms – **Barak Varr**.
He heard Empire leather could be exchanged for even more high-quality Dwarf crafts, which if brought back to Cathay, would be huge fortune.
Enough for him and brothers to enjoy wealth for generations, maybe even buy village head position.
So Li Fugui, leading men, purchased large quantity of Empire leather and wool, and headed towards Dwarf port.
He was incredibly lucky; they didn’t encounter bandits or Beastmen Empire people described along way.
They arrived within Marcus territory.
Li Fugui still felt he’d been tricked by Sigmar mercenaries.
These guys said area incredibly dangerous, but nothing happened.
Lying in cart, Li Fugui felt pinch of money spent hiring fifty mercenaries – mostly Imperial Free Company, shabby but armed.
Marcus, lying on ridge with Gaptooth and 40 Goblins, watched humans escorting carts.
Their clothing clearly fell into two categories: one group wore standard Empire attire – leather jerkins, feathered hats – while other group dressed more like Cathayan Han clothing, long robes, topknots.
Seeing this, Marcus understood.
This was caravan from Grand Cathay.
As for why these Cathay merchants weren’t taking Ivory Road back but coming here through Badlands, Marcus could only conclude: Grand Cathay has its own national conditions, and greed makes men take shortcuts.
Armor coverage not high; many wearing leather armor, Cathayans all in cloth, only few Empire mercenaries dressed like knights but without horses, looking shabby.
Maybe 100 Cathayans, 50 mercenaries, 6 carts of leather and wool, plus food.
Looking at cartloads of goods, Marcus was incredibly envious.
Leather for armor, wool for winter clothes, carts themselves, iron from their weapons.
Without further ado, Marcus decided to pull off a heist.
First human caravan fight.
He ordered men to cut down some trees behind caravan to block road, cutting off retreat.
Ordered another group to set up defensive line in front to block road.
Once ready, surround from three sides, suffocating hundred humans on narrow path.
If going to do it, do it thoroughly.
No survivors today – because survivors bring Empire Witch Hunters.
Once Goblins behind blocked retreat with felled trees, Marcus’s plan in motion.
Li Fugui, lying on leather carriage, reminiscing about Empire woman’s passionate service, considering whether he should try finding an Elf once they reached High Elves, suddenly carriage stopped.
Li Fugui thought wheels stuck in mud, but when he stood up, he saw group of ugly green creatures standing on road ahead, wielding spears and axes, reaching only to his chest but many of them, over a hundred, with crude shields.
Greenskins the Empire spoke of.
Seeing over a hundred Greenskins, Li Fugui felt chill down spine.
He’d heard these creatures ate raw human flesh and would rip out hearts of living people to watch beating.
Of course, these were all fabrications by Empire to scare children.
Greenskins aren’t that perverse.
Marcus even thought those fetishes more suitable for describing Dark Elves.
But what Greenskins do do is kill you and take your stuff, and maybe eat you if they’re hungry enough.
And they love leather.
Marcus stood on rock, 1.8-meter cleaver over shoulder, roaring in broken Reikspiel he learned from Dwarfs:
“DIS ROAD IZ IRONHEAD’S!
LEAVE SHINY STUFF!
OR DIE!”
His Goblins screamed **”WAAAGH!”** and banged shields.
Caravan guards raised crossbows and spears, trembling.
Li Fugui, merchant not warrior, realized his shortcut just became the most expensive lesson in Cathayan history.
The Badlands had collected its toll.
The battle was about to begin – Ironhead’s first battle against humans, and its first chance to get real cloth, real leather, and real carts.