Tiger Guards

Chapter 52 Military Rank Slave
Wei Xing had a clear goal, and Jia Kui quickly dealt with Wei Xing's minor matter.

When he returned, he also brought thirty pieces of cloth for Zhao Ji, which was also a mixture of fine linen, coarse silk, and silk in equal proportions.

Three pieces of cloth were the lowest-grade reward, given to auxiliary soldiers who had achieved something.

The auxiliary soldiers who were able to make meritorious service first were all reorganized from the county soldiers.

After devouring Li Le's troops and more than 300 county soldiers of Fan Zheng, these county soldiers generally served as squad leaders, and those who made meritorious service were promoted to sergeants.

Talent is not important. The most important thing at the moment is to control the newly recruited auxiliary troops.

When Jia Kui returned, he saw Zhao Ji painting on a piece of sheepskin. As he approached, he said, "Aji, your cloth is here. How do you choose a riding slave?"

"Don't worry, Brother Liang, take a look at this."

Zhao Ji handed the sheepskin to Jia Kui and said, "In order to distinguish the ranks of the auxiliary soldiers, I want to add armbands to the auxiliary soldiers' uniforms. One bar is for a newly recruited auxiliary soldier, two bars are for a regular auxiliary soldier, and three horizontal bars are for a senior auxiliary soldier. These are for sergeants, squad leaders, and elite squad leaders. Four diagonal bars allow you to serve as a deputy auxiliary officer."

The captain of the auxiliary troops must be a Huben.

Normally, auxiliary troops are equivalent to county troops, and the rank of the commander of a hundred-man team is equal to that of a Jieconghu Ben.

Jia Kui looked at the words and patterns written by Zhao Ji and quickly understood the progressive relationship of military rank identification. "Aji is also going to set up armbands for the Tiger Guards?"

Armbands are not difficult to understand, there is such a thing as a negative badge.

The negative seal is a palm-sized piece of leather that is hung diagonally on the back after wearing armor. It has patterns painted on it and will have a serial number totem and internal logo.

During combat, one's own officers and soldiers can naturally distinguish the numbers, affiliations, and military ranks of the officers based on the badges on their backs.

On this sheepskin, there are seven types of military ranks: three ranks of auxiliary soldiers, four ranks of sergeants; and three ranks each of lieutenants and colonels, for a total of thirteen military ranks.

Zhao Ji enjoyed dealing with Jia Kui and replied with a smile, "Yes, junior members of the Jiecong Huben rank receive one red star, senior members receive two red stars, and Huben Langjiang rank receives three red stars, with senior members receiving a yellow star between two bars. Huben Shilang rank receives two yellow stars, and senior members receive three yellow stars. Huben Zhonglang rank officers like you and me, as well as Caos like Pushe and Beizhang, receive four yellow stars, and four is the maximum."

Their ranks were the same, almost the highest level of this military rank system. Jia Kui immediately liked this not-so-new rank system.

He held the sheepskin and examined it carefully: "Excellent, very excellent! Aji really knows military skills!"

It goes without saying that all the Tiger Guards would agree.

Zhao Ji just smiled and pointed to the horseshoes he had brought with him: "Hou's family has a lot of bronze artifacts. If they are a burden, we can just melt them down and make horseshoes."

The more than 800 horses in the military camp generally did not have horseshoes, but the horseshoeing technology was first circulated among the Hou family.

Not to mention copperware, even if the copper coins were melted, Jia Kui would not feel sorry.

As long as resources are invested in war, Jia Kui is happy with it.

Nodding, "Don't worry, Aji. I'll arrange for people to transport the copperware to the smelting site later. However, copper and tin are not resistant to impact and are easily broken, and pure copper is not wear-resistant... Adjusting the copper-tin ratio will take time."

"It's better to wear out the copper than to wear out the horse's hoof."

Zhao Ji's attitude was clear: "All kinds of gold objects that can be melted down should be melted down. 70% will be presented to the emperor, and the remaining 30% can be used to purchase medicinal materials and iron materials."

"Seventy percent? Are Wei Zhongjian and the others aware of this?"

"I'll talk to them. 70% gold isn't that much."

Zhao Ji had a look of regret on his face as he spoke. The most valuable items were the imperial utensils that were snatched away by Li Jue and Guo Si. People like Li Le, Han Xian and Yang Feng were badly injured and were all poor.

Jia Kui thought about it and felt that it would offend Wei Gu, but he also didn't think it was impossible to do.

He stopped questioning and just held the sheepskin to examine the armband sketch. He added, "Aji, do you want the number and totem pattern embroidered on the armband?"

The armbands need to be made individually and then distributed.

Zhao Ji thought for a moment and said, "We can embroider the unit number. The totem pattern is a bit complicated. We will embroider it for the meritorious troops in the future. After it is distributed, we can have the military officers write the names of the soldiers. After we defeat the Xiongnu, we can make armbands out of leather."

"Just follow Aji."

The design of the armband is just a small matter, and no one will object to this trivial matter now.

Jia Kui took the pen, wrote on the sheepskin, and rolled it up. "Aji, are you going to choose a riding slave now?"

"Well, thank you for troubling Brother Liang."

"What kind of trouble is this? I really hope there will be more trouble like this in the future." Jia Kui put the parchment scroll and brush aside, turned back and walked back to talk with Zhao Ji, feeling quite emotional: "I thought Aji was fierce, difficult to talk to, and a dictatorial person. Now it seems that Aji is a reasonable person who understands the big picture."

"Brother Liang, you've misjudged me. This is just a minor detail, I wouldn't care. If it were a matter of life and death, I wouldn't give in even a single step."

Zhao Ji also warned this fellow, saying, "For example, when we are about to fight and defeat the enemy, if anyone dares to delay or obstruct us, I would rather kill him on the spot and then mourn over him at his grave afterward than miss the opportunity. The stories of Wang Yun and Lü Wenhou are a lesson for us; we must be cautious."

Jia Kui restrained his expression and looked sideways at Zhao Ji seriously: "That's how it should be!"

"happy!"

Zhao Ji grinned, stretched out his arm and patted Jia Kui on the shoulder.

Jia Kui felt uncomfortable with the sight of them arm in arm, and he kept a stern face.

After walking a dozen steps, they arrived at the place where the riding slaves were detained. These riding slaves were either from the Hou family's troops or from the mixed Hu tribes. There were more than eighty of them at a glance.

Two Tiger Guards, accompanied by auxiliary soldiers holding spears, supervised the procession. At this moment, Zhao Ji retracted his arm and stepped forward to address the crouching slaves. "I am Zhao Ji, the Lieutenant Colonel of the Tiger Guards. I would like to select fifteen of you to serve as my followers. If you follow me, your families will not be divided. You will be redeemed after you have performed meritorious service. If you are willing, please stand up."

A young man stood up first and said, "General, we don't want to follow you, but we want to share the land with other generals."

"Yes, all the male members of the Hou family have been killed. From now on, you will belong to the Tiger Guards. If you make meritorious contributions, you can escape slavery and join the ranks of the Tiger Guards. At that time, your families will also be redeemed and become good families."

As more and more people stood up, Zhao Ji said, "I only want the bravest. I will shoot arrows from fifty steps away. Those who do not dodge or evade will be selected. Those who are willing, please stand in front of the date tree."

Upon hearing this, these people looked at each other and those they knew, and some of them squatted down.

Accepting the fate of a riding slave does not mean gambling your life on Zhao Ji's archery skills.

The nearby Tiger Guards couldn't help laughing when they saw more than a dozen people squatting down.

Two Tiger Guards came forward with spears and drove the standing slaves to line up beside the jujube tree.

There were also bows and arrows that the Huben soldiers used to load onto the carts, and they brought several bows for Zhao Ji to test the feel.

Zhao Ji picked and chose, and then selected the arrows. After standing at a certain distance, he drew his bow and shot three arrows in a row. After he stabilized his grip, he began to select the riding slaves.

About thirty people stood up and walked forward one by one to stand in front of the jujube tree.

The first person didn't dare to open his eyes, and the supervising Tiger Guard beside him shouted, "Open your eyes!"

"Here!"

The man could only open his eyes and saw Zhao Ji quickly draw his bow and shoot from fifty steps away. A black shadow flashed in his sight, and he heard a crisp sound as the arrow hit the tree trunk behind him.

"Selected, next!"

Another Tiger Guard shouted, and seeing that the riding slave in the queue had weak legs, he turned around with his spear and hit the man on the shoulder with a stick. The man stepped forward with trembling legs.

He saw clearly just now that this Tiger Guard Zhonglang didn't even take aim and was simply playing with their lives.

After barely standing steady, he was kicked again. Only then did he look at Zhao Ji with wide eyes.

His eyes were almost out of focus and his vision was blurred. He heard the arrow flying past his head with a whoosh. His whole body lost its energy and spirit immediately and he collapsed to the ground.

"Drag it down, next one!"

The Huben shouted loudly again, and the next person felt a little more confident. He walked to the tree trunk and opened his eyes to look at Zhao Ji.

The arrow flew through the air, and he stabilized his body. He heard the tiger guards on the other side shouting, "Selected, next one!"

Then he moved over, his legs a little weak, and was supported by the first person. The two of them went to see the fourth person together.

The fourth man stood there, his legs trembling and unable to move. He was kicked over by the Tiger Guard beside him. He turned around and shouted, "Next!"

The fifth-ranked riding slave took a deep breath, stepped forward, and tried to look at Zhao Ji.

Another arrow flew past their scalps, and now the other cavalry slaves calmed down a lot.

But even so, when Zhao Ji selected fifteen cavalry slaves, five of them were still eliminated due to fear.

(End of this chapter)