Gray's self-confidence is very justified, after all, the opponent is a rabble gang of horse thieves, and in addition to those recruits, he has a full 2,000 elite Northwest Army and 500 cavalry. With these forces alone www.biquge.info even if he faced a moderate tribe of the steppe people, he would not have any timidity at all.

In fact, things turned out just as Gray had predicted. Since the more than 6,000 soldiers left the valley corridor, they have encountered little decent resistance. Gray selected a group of cavalry as sentinels, and since entering the Gobi Desert, he has released cavalry to scout every day, and only a few horse thieves have been encountered. He did not disperse his army, after all, marching on such a desert Gobi, it was not a wise choice to divide the troops.

A few days after entering Tadamu, Gray felt that something was wrong, because in the past few days, his logistics officers had reported to him that the army's food was running out, but the team transporting the food had not arrived for a long time. Although the people in charge of logistics and transportation are his own subordinates, the materials are all allocated by Joseph. After Gray heard this, although he had some doubts in his heart, but for the sake of insurance, he still ordered the official in charge of logistics to send someone to urge Jose for military rations. After all, more than 6,000 people are on the Gobi Desert, and if the food supply is cut off, it is not a trivial matter!

Soon, however, he received a messenger from Joseph that the rations were on their way and that they would arrive in three days. But Gray had a little more heart this time, and directly sent his subordinate logistics officers to march to Boulder Town together to personally escort the supplies back. Gray's army is now in the southern frontier of the Tadam Desert, and it is only three days away for the army to return to Sadran Boulder, and it only takes a day for fast horses to come and go.

He was even a little alert, feeling that this Viscount Sadland's behavior seemed a little strange, although he didn't quite believe that Joseph would cut off his food route and let his thousands of men starve to death in the Tadam Desert, but he still specially ordered his officers to consciously stop the westward march, and if there was any accident, the whole army would immediately retreat to Sadland, and the time and military rations were still sufficient for the time being.

However, to Gray's surprise, his logistics officer, after returning to Boulder Town, quickly sent someone to send a message to Gray: Viscount Sadland was indeed on the way to transport the military pay, and the military pay was expected to arrive in three days. Three days later, Joseph sent a large number of wagons carrying food and fresh water.

After solving the food problem, even Gray felt that he seemed too suspicious, but soon another thing caught his attention: the cavalry he sent out sent a letter to report a large number of men and horses not far ahead, and it looked like they were dressed like ordinary caravans, most likely the lair of horse thieves somewhere!

Such news undoubtedly made the entire army extremely excited, especially the generals of the Northwest Army, who came to the Tadam Desert this time, ate sand for several days, and finally encountered a gang of horse thieves this time, and naturally asked to fight. Gray faced the request of this subordinate, but there was a strange feeling in his heart, it was not the first time he had marched in this kind of desert, but what had happened in the last few days made him a little uneasy, even at this moment, he always felt a little apprehensive in the face of the sudden appearance of horse thieves.

"Let the sentinel in charge of the report come to me!" Gray pondered for a moment, and finally saw the horsemen in the military tent, and after carefully inquiring about the information, he also felt that his doubts seemed to be a little suspicious. So he gave the order that night: the whole army will be repaired overnight, and tomorrow at dawn it will march westward!

Now that the pay was already on its way to arrive, and the horse thief had already been discovered, Gray had absolutely no reason to hesitate any longer. But he didn't know that on the night he gave the military order, a fast horse had already arrived in the desert barracks to Boulder Town, and the news of the imperial capital in the Gray barracks was constantly reaching José's ears.

This cavalry unit was Gould's old unit, and the reason why they followed Gray was only to serve as a means for José to learn about the intelligence of the Northwest Army. Just as Gray's army was approaching the Tadam Desert at dawn, Joser was also in Boulder Town, gathering two banner regiments under his command, totaling 6,000 new troops.

The young viscount was dressed in a military uniform, and the gentle smile on his usual face was gone, replaced by a serious and solemn face. He looked at these recruits under the high platform, these private troops with new equipment, swords, and strict discipline, and thought excitedly: This is Lao Tzu's army!

"I am your commander, Viscount Sadland, perhaps many of you already know me, some of you have been promoted by me for outstanding performance, and some of you have been punished by me for making mistakes. But none of this matters! You just need to remember that I am your leader, and that your life and loyalty belong to me alone—Lord Saddran, Lord Chasé!"

Joseph shouted heroically at the thousands of soldiers in the audience: "You are my private army, just a few months ago, you were still a group of hairy boys who didn't know anything, but after these days of training, I think you all have the initial qualities that a qualified soldier should have, right? Let me ask you, what is the most important quality of a soldier?!"

Under the high platform, all the soldiers' eyes were focused on Joseph's body, and after listening to him ask this sentence, many soldiers had already subconsciously replied: "Obey the order!"

"Very well, louder and tell me like a man what are the qualities of a real soldier!"

"Obey orders!" shouted in unison this time.

"Very well, my warriors, I think you have the basic qualities of a soldier!" José was pleased with the reaction of the new troops, and then he glanced at Gould beside him. The fat man is also wearing a military uniform at the moment, wearing a special armor that is one size larger, and his burly figure and fat body are extremely conspicuous.

Gould's eyes were like torches, his face showed a faint evil aura and majesty, and then he shouted at the recruits in the audience: "Your Excellency the Viscount has an order! The 1st Infantry Regiment of the Sadland, the 2nd and 3rd Banner Regiments will obey the order, prepare the whole army, and go to the Tadam Desert separately in the afternoon! If there is a violation of the deadline and does not arrive, the military law will be involved!"

There was a low noise among the soldiers under the high platform, but it soon fell silent, and these recruits had already seen the clue from the serious attitude of Joseph and Gould: this time the Viscount mobilized a private army, I am afraid that he wants to put his new army on the battlefield!

Nervousness, excitement, excitement or fear, every recruit has different thoughts, but there is only one thing they have in common: whether they want to or not, they are about to face the first battle of their military career!