Chapter 2449

The new Vice Commander was very sensible, his oily nature revealing a hint of cunning. Standing there with Caesar, there was no sense of incongruity.

The twenty thousand soldiers were naturally not in Sand City. Uno couldn't possibly hand over the elite troops guarding Sand City. What Uno handed over were some soldiers stationed on the west side of Sand City—not logistics troops, not the old, weak, sick, or disabled, and not new recruits either. They were a defeated army that had just retreated from the front lines.

Uno couldn't hand over logistics troops, the old, weak, sick, or disabled, or new recruits; the Sand Emperor was not a decoration, and Uno didn't dare go too far.

In Uno's words, this defeated army had become the elite of the front lines, temporarily retreating to recuperate. But a defeated army was a defeated army, and one could imagine how low their morale was.

When Su Xiao arrived at the west of the city, a large expanse of tents came into view. Soldiers stood or sat between the tents; most of them were somewhat decadent, and most had a faint smell of blood on them, which was caused by injuries. Under their light armor were bodies wrapped in white cloth, covered in scars.

"Assemble!"

After the new Vice Commander, Aos, shouted, he unhooked the horn from his waist and blew it with all his might. The sound was neither long nor had the grandeur of an impending battle; it was just like a loud, long, muffled fart.

Hearing the sound of the horn, all the soldiers between the tents tensed their bodies, then relaxed again, standing up in a leisurely manner.

Nearly twenty minutes later, the soldiers finally assembled in the nearby open space. They were divided into twenty squads, each with a thousand men, standing in crooked lines.

Seeing the scene before him, the new Vice Commander, Aos, felt his heart turn cold. Leading such troops, let alone attacking Segona City, they might be wiped out by the Peru Kingdom's 'Male Sheep Cavalry' as soon as they reached the front lines. At most two charges, and the battle line would scatter.

Aos was different from the previous Vice Commander; he had been on the battlefield and had crawled out of piles of dead bodies. His biggest mistake was that his flattery had been misdirected, landing on the fierce dog's balls. The fierce dog hadn't bitten him to death only because he had many achievements.

"My lord, this subordinate suggests resting for a day before rushing to the front lines."

Aos was actually saying implicitly: first buy the hearts of the people, consolidate morale, and then consider the issue of going to the front lines.

"Bahar, how is it on Caesar's side?"

"It should be about ready."

"Depart in half an hour."

As Su Xiao spoke, he turned his gaze to Vice Commander Aos. Aos's lips parted, and in the end, he nodded and bowed with a smile. His edge had been worn down by cruel reality; he was no longer the Haixi Fort Aos who held a scimitar and roared while holding an enemy general's head. His body had started to get fat, and his fighting spirit had vanished.

The Sand Flame Kingdom had six Grand Commanders in total; counting Su Xiao, there were seven now. Excluding adjutants, below the Grand Commander were Commanders, who could command at most fifty thousand soldiers. Below the Commanders were Captains, who managed ten thousand soldiers. The ranking was as follows:

Grand Commander (300,000 soldier establishment) → 6 Commanders (each commanding 50,000 soldiers) → 30 Captains (each commanding 10,000 soldiers).

Below the Captains were Thousand-Man Commanders, Hundred-Man Commanders, and even Ten-Man Commanders. There were many of these low-level officers.

In this era of poor communication, once a war broke out and the soldiers of both sides were mixed together, using ten men as a small unit was the best approach. After the fighting reached a fever pitch, even the Ten-Man Commanders couldn't find where their subordinates were.

If Su Xiao had 300,000 soldiers and was on the front lines, he could even confer the rank of Commander to those commanding fifty thousand soldiers. As for Thousand-Man Commanders and Hundred-Man Commanders, it was just a matter of a casual word.

However, these official positions couldn't be conferred too casually. Once the army under his command took shape, these were the best bargaining chips to win people's hearts. For Su Xiao, the cost was low, but for the soldiers, it was a life-changing event. Higher status meant more salary, and their wives and children could also live a better life.

It took a full hour for the soldiers to pack up their tents. Most of these tents were already full of holes, brought back from the front lines.

Hundreds of White-Horned Beasts were fitted with rope saddles to pull exaggeratedly large wooden carts. White-Horned Beasts were similar in appearance to rhinoceroses but many times larger. They were gentle in temperament and very enduring, making them an excellent choice for carrying supplies.

Vice Commander Aos was at the very front of the column, followed by the soldiers in formation, with more than a hundred White-Horned Beasts in the middle, and soldiers at the back.

If viewed from above, the soldiers looked like a long, winding dragon, marching forward.

Su Xiao sat on a bundled-up thick cloth tent. Now was not the time; it would take at least a whole morning for Caesar to get out of Sand City. When things were handled on Caesar's side, that would be the time to stabilize people's hearts.

There were no supplies of any kind, and no gold coins were sent before departure. Under the current circumstances, let alone going to the front lines to fight, after marching for one day, the 20,000 soldiers would be hungry.

The purchasing power of gold coins was astonishing; they were the currency with the largest denomination. When Su Xiao escorted a caravan across the desert, he only received 28 gold coins as a reward. One had to know that he escorted them as a Holy Soul-er; ordinary Holy Soul-ers crossing the desert had to bear the risk of losing their lives.

4 gold coins were enough to open a small restaurant, and 30 gold coins were enough for a civilian to live a wealthy second half of their life. If a soldier died in battle, the Sand Flame Kingdom's pension was 37 gold coins.

After marching for two hours, the army's formation became even more chaotic, and some soldiers even started chatting and laughing with each other. According to the current trend, as long as they reached the front lines and engaged with the enemy, they would scatter in minutes.

"Stop marching."

Su Xiao's order was conveyed layer by layer. Before long, the marching column stopped.

"My lord, what are we doing?"

Vice Commander Aos spoke very opportunely. The previous Vice Commander had died too miserably; how could he dare not be honest?

"Pitch tents, rest on the spot."

"Yes."

After Aos conveyed the order, the soldiers' messy discussions could be heard. They couldn't understand at all why they stopped after marching for only two hours.

Su Xiao was waiting for Caesar and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang. Only if things went smoothly on their side could the plan continue.

Although the soldiers didn't recognize Su Xiao as their Grand Commander, they still built a very spacious tent, fully equipped with tables, chairs, and beds, and even placed cactus fruits on the low table.

Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the wooden bed inside the tent, holding a tablet computer and playing a puzzle game. Now, he just needed to wait.

Caesar and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang didn't make Su Xiao wait too long. Five hours later, a large group of laborers leading White-Horned Beasts walked over from the distance. Conservatively estimated, the number of White-Horned Beasts was over two hundred, pulling various materials.

White-Horned Beasts didn't need gold coins; they were obtained from the military supply department. As a Grand Commander with an establishment of 300,000, Su Xiao picking up two hundred-plus White-Horned Beasts was something neither Uno nor Karos could find fault with.

The army Su Xiao controlled now had 20,000 soldiers, 316 White-Horned Beasts, supplies, and 310,000 gold coins.

Where did the materials pulled by the White-Horned Beasts and these 310,000 gold coins come from? The answer was the High Priest Uno's 'friendly sponsorship', only the other party didn't know it yet. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang had made a trip to the vault in the other party's home, obtaining a total of 80,000 gold coins, as well as countless treasures of all kinds.

The reason Caesar and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang arrived only now was that they went to fence the stolen goods—no, to sell the treasures obtained in the cities near Sand City, and then purchase 31, and entrust the Sand Emperor to help do one thing. Just the gold coins handed to the Sand Emperor amounted to 352,800.

These gold coins were used to stabilize the morale of the army. The Sand Emperor couldn't possibly keep these gold coins for himself. Once he did that, and some things were made public, it would be an unmaskable dark history. That thing was: withholding the salaries of the soldiers' families!

That's right, Su Xiao entrusted the Sand Emperor to distribute those 352,800 gold coins to the families of every soldier or officer according to their rank. For those without families, they would be distributed uniformly during the next rest.

Besides these gold coins, Su Xiao also spent nearly 70,000 gold coins to purchase various supplies. I have to say, the Sand Emperor's confidant, Red Sand, helped a lot. Without his help to smooth over relationships, it would have taken at least 1 to 3 days to purchase these supplies.

Everything was ready, and the army continued to march. The target of the next stop was the vicinity of Anji City.

Yellow sand filled the sky. When the day gradually darkened, Su Xiao saw the towering city walls from afar. Anji City had arrived.

Just as they arrived near Anji City, several thousand soldiers rushed out of the city, along with a middle-aged man wearing black and gold clothing. This was the Administrator of Anji City, the manager of this city.

Vice Commander Aos immediately took over a hundred soldiers forward to negotiate. Before long, Aos was hugging the Administrator of Anji City, whispering to each other with full smiles.

After seeing off the Administrator of Anji City, Aos hurried back.

"My lord, Aika Mai agrees to let us enter the city, but we must also camp outside the city. Soldiers can enter Anji City, but they must not cause panic among the civilians."

"Hmm, have the soldiers assemble in two hours, and find 50—no, 300 people to stand by near my tent."

"Yes."

Aos went down to convey the order, and the soldiers started to pitch tents again. They had rested twice in just one day, and morale was even more scattered.

Su Xiao had many things to do, and he had to complete them all tonight. When he finished these, the twenty thousand soldiers wouldn't necessarily become elites, but at the very least, they would be willing to sell their lives for him.