The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 74: Selecting Soldiers
The Alailing Ancient Trail really exists.

Later, when Li Xiao was stationed in the northern border, he visited this place many times and was very familiar with the local terrain.

Despite the changes over the past eight hundred years, Li Xiao believes that the topography of Alailing should not have changed much.

It can definitely allow large-scale cavalry units to pass through.

Because there are only a few records in historical materials, Temujin once fought a war with the Merkits at Alai Ridge.

Since Temujin's army can pass through, Li Xiao can also lead his men through.

Not long after, the various units of the Northern Frontier Army received Xiao Simo's orders.

Li Xiao, the captain of Jinzhou, wants to select a group of elite soldiers from various departments to form a special force.

No one is allowed to obstruct, otherwise they will be subject to military law.

On the day the order was issued, Li Xiao arrived at the Desert Army camp.

He was greeted by Xiao Tuladuo, who was temporarily in charge of the Desert Army.

"Captain Li, what does the king's order mean? Could it be that he wants all the elite troops in the army to be concentrated together and launch a fierce attack on a single point?"

Xiao Tuladuo and Li Xiao walked side by side in the desert military camp and asked with a slightly sideways look.

Li Xiao was wearing black armor and holding the cavalry sword at his waist in his right hand, showing his mighty posture.

"How can we guess what the garrison commander is thinking? I am only following orders."

"But I have the same idea as General Xiao. Lord Xiao might have planned it this way." Li Xiao said with a faint smile.

Xiao Tuladuo was not told the truth, which was also Xiao Simo's special instruction.

Because Xiao Simo always felt that something might have gone wrong with someone under his command, but he didn't know who it was.

In order to ensure the success of the operation, only Li Xiao and the other three know about this matter so far.

"Is that so?" Xiao Tuladuo frowned slightly.

Why not let these loyal Khitan generals lead the elite army formed by selecting the best soldiers and generals from the entire army?

Instead, he handed it over to Li Xiao, a Han Chinese?
What a child's play!
Xiao Tuladuo felt a little unbalanced and planned to talk to Xiao Simo later, suggesting that it would be best for him to lead this elite force.

Li Xiao didn't care what he thought and walked around the desert military camp on his own.

There were war horses and tents everywhere, as well as large pots set up by soldiers for cooking. It was a very messy scene.

Even with an old veteran like Xiao Tuladuo as the commander, he was unable to change the situation of the Desert Army in a short period of time.

"Brother, can we pick out elite troops from such an army?" Erhu asked with a little confusion, not understanding why they came here.

"A soldier is in raging state, and a general is in raging group."

"There hasn't been a war in the desert for many years. They've just been away from battle for a long time."

"Select some people and give them a little training, and they will be able to take on important tasks." Li Xiao said calmly.

Then he looked at Erhu's height, patted his shoulder gently, and said with a smile: "This time, I will select one hundred people to serve under you."

"You are the centurion of this team."

Hearing Li Xiao's words, Erhu's leopard eyes suddenly flashed with brilliance: "Really?"

"Of course!"

"That's great, brother. I will definitely train them until they are obedient." Erhu said excitedly.

Looking at this group of desert soldiers again, he felt much more favorable towards them. He wanted to immediately take a stick and beat them up and give them a good training.

"Hehehe, no rush."

"And you, you will all be officials this time, and the worst one will be a sergeant." Li Xiao said to his friends behind him.

Li Xiao has always had high hopes for this group of friends.

He is regarded as his future right-hand man.

Now that we have the opportunity, we naturally need to train them more.

"Great."

"I can be a corporal now, too."

"Maybe it's even longer."

Shouhou, Tietou and others said excitedly.

Next, Li Xiao began to actually select personnel.

The Desert Army consists of a total of 3,500 people, who are gathered in groups of 500 and selected one by one.

Li Xiao ignored the stretched and loose standing formation of these people and focused on screening and examining each person.

"What did you do before you joined the army?" Li Xiao stared at the face of a middle-aged man in front of him.

Although he is young, Li Xiao is not short and can almost see the top of the man's head.

Besides, Li Xiao was fully armored at the moment, with a serious expression on his face, and even Xiao Tuladuo was accompanying him. Everyone knew that he must be a big shot.

So the middle-aged man's inner pressure can be imagined. He subconsciously bent his back and said with a flattering smile: "I used to be a peddler."

Li Xiao shook his head and turned away.

Businessmen can't do it.

He is cunning and deceitful and is of no use.

Li Xiao even had to worry all the time whether they would resell the army's supplies to the enemy.

"What about you? What do you do?"

Li Xiao walked up to the next man, who had rough skin and a simple and honest face.

Frightened by Li Xiao, he was almost speechless. He finally managed to mumble out, "I, I, I am a sheep herder."

Li Xiao nodded and said to Erhu, "Take him aside."

Immediately afterwards, Li Xiao looked at the five hundred people one by one.

In the end, more than eighty people were selected, some of them were shepherds and some were farmers.

And on the surface, he looks like an honest and simple person with no ulterior motives. If you are doing business, don't accept him.

Li Xiao is an officer after all, and he can tell whether a soldier is good or bad at a glance.

Some people appear arrogant on the surface and make a lot of noise on a daily basis, looking quite capable, but when something really happens, they are the first to back down.

Some people may appear honest and quiet on the surface, but they are actually very stubborn and dare to fight to the death at critical moments.

For the superiors, they prefer the latter type of soldiers.

Li Xiao also chose the latter.

Especially those who have a simple and honest face but a hint of ferocity in their eyes are Li Xiao’s favorite soldiers.

Soon, all 3,500 desert soldiers were reviewed by Li Xiao.

A total of more than 600 were selected.

This ratio is not high.

"Captain Li, why did you pick these people?"

"They don't look like elite troops, do they? They're so dumb and stupid."

Taking advantage of this gap, Xiao Tuladuo had already figured out the situation of the people selected by Li Xiao.

Basically, they are farmers and shepherds.

He looks stupid and dull, and doesn't have any outstanding performance on weekdays.

He is not very skilled in martial arts, nor is he an excellent horseman. He has nothing but strength.

At least in the Desert Army, there are many people who are better at fighting than them and have stronger individual combat capabilities.

Xiao Tuladuo was very puzzled. What was Li Xiao going to do?
"These people are indeed quite stupid, but that's why we can use them with confidence." Li Xiao said with a smile.

"All right!"

Xiao Tuladuo shook his head. He was originally planning to compete with Li Xiao for the position of leader of this "elite army".

Now when I see the composition of these people, I suddenly have no idea.

"Thank you for your hard work today, General Xiao. I'll treat you to a drink another day." Li Xiao said.

After all, in this matter, the other party cooperated throughout the process and did not secretly make any obstacles, which helped Li Xiao.

Xiao Tuladuo laughed heartily: "Okay, I love drinking the most, and I won't drink anything but good wine."

"General Xiao, don't worry. The fine wine brewed by my Li family will definitely satisfy you." Li Xiao said confidently.

Small sample~
I'll put a bowl on the ground for you.

After selecting these six hundred people, Li Xiao also picked out a few soldiers.

These soldiers were arrogant and domineering in their daily lives. They had won over a group of younger brothers and acted tyrannically in the barracks. Many soldiers were afraid of them.

Li Xiao left their younger brothers behind and took them out separately.

it works!

After settling these six hundred desert soldiers, Li Xiao came to the camp of a Jinzhou nomadic tribe.

After looking around, Li Xiao sighed: "They are all good soldiers!"

The desert is close to the Tianshan Mountains and is located on the Silk Road. There are many merchants coming and going, which has led many desert people to adopt merchant habits.

Many of the people Li Xiao asked were either waiters or peddlers.

On the other hand, the people of these nomadic tribes all look like grassland herdsmen.

He may look ferocious and difficult to get along with, but he is definitely not the kind of person who has a slick personality.

There were only two hundred soldiers in this tribe, and Li Xiao only selected more than thirty people.

And they are all the kind of slaves who look honest.

He didn't choose any of the Freemen.

"Chief Taritai, I will take these people away temporarily. No matter what, I will give you a sheep as a reward for each of them later."

"If a slave dies, each of them shall compensate you with two sheep."

Li Xiao said to the chief of the nomadic tribe.

Although it was Xiao Simo's order, Li Xiao couldn't help but behave like a human being.

You still have to know how to deal with human relationships and worldly affairs.

Sure enough, after hearing Li Xiao's words, the leader, who was originally reluctant, suddenly smiled.

Just a slave, we'll catch him when he dies.

In any case, the death rate of these slaves in battle is already quite high.

Now, if they are alive, they can earn the wages of a sheep, and if they die, they will get two sheep as compensation.

The price made the patriarch very satisfied.

Send them away happily.

But Li Xiao felt even more satisfied.

Because he can earn more.

After all, going behind enemy lines is very dangerous, and the soldiers are unwilling to do it without sufficient rewards.

So, Xiao Simo generously promised that every soldier who followed Li Xiao into battle would be rewarded with twenty sheep.

Soldiers who died in battle were given fifty sheep as compensation to their families.

Of course, Li Xiao couldn’t swallow all the 19 sheep in the middle by himself.

In order to stimulate the subjective initiative of the slave soldiers, Li Xiao also has to provide them with material incentives.

Ten sheep should be enough.

(End of this chapter)