Game of Thrones: From a deserter to a high-ranking official

Chapter 50 Vito: Not bad, at least the kid knows that discipline is the most important thing!

"That's about enough, Tiberius," Vito said to Tiberius, looking at the soldiers in front of him who at least had some color in their faces.

"Now you can begin your... well, training career. Just a heads-up, your mission today isn't to make them line up, but rather to prevent them from crying!" Vito stood to the side, hands in his pockets. "These guys are lucky they can even line up by now!"

"Alright, I'll get started then. Vito, you're in charge of making sure those mercenaries have whips and soft sticks in their hands, and occasionally swing them around to 'wake them up'!"

He looked at the slaves huddled together in the distance, their heights and builds varying greatly, their condition even more disheveled. Some were staring blankly with their heads up and shoulders shrugged, others were hunched over coughing incessantly, some were looking around nervously, and still others were scratching their heads.

Such a formation left him speechless, having grown accustomed to seeing orderly armies marching forward.

He was, after all, a college student from a later era, and he was an expert in military training drills. He knew exactly how to train a bunch of inexperienced, disorganized people into model soldiers who marched in perfect formation...

Although the cultural level of people in this era was far lower than that of students in Tiberius's time, they were more obedient. Moreover, here, if someone dared to disobey orders, they would take matters into their own hands without any problem.

Vito frowned, looking at the undisciplined slaves. "To be honest, it's not too late to find people now; our current investment isn't that large..."

"Hey, just you wait and see!" Tippy chuckled softly. "I'll show you something!"

"Tch..." Vito spat out the foxtail grass from his mouth.

You'd better train to a decent level, otherwise I'm really going to go find some old friends and ask them if they have time to take on some casual work lately!

Tiberius wrote a few words on the sand with a stick.

"What is this?" Vito asked.

"The most basic objectives," Tiberius tossed the stick aside, then asked Vito, "Take a look and see if there's anything that needs improvement?"

Vito looked over and saw that Tiberius had written a few lines on it.

"Squatting and standing up, marching and standing at attention, forming a line of ten, turning left and right, moving forward and backward, the line gathering and dispersing, assembling and disbanding..."

Then, Vito raised his head and looked up at the sky.

"Hey, Vito, why are you looking at the sky?" Tippi asked, somewhat puzzled.

"I was thinking, the Seven Gods are being way too nice to you, kid," Vito muttered. "I really don't know how they designed your brain, making you understand the basic principles of training an army so quickly, and nobody taught you that. But..." Vito chuckled.

"Talking and doing are two different things. I'm waiting to see how you turn those idiots into smarties!"

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To Vito's surprise, Tiberius quickly divided the 150 or so men into three teams of 50 each.

Tiberius's method was very simple: he would stand on the platform and make everyone shut up, not to speak or move, and anyone who dared to move would be whipped or hit with a soft stick.

Tiberius then personally went down and divided the people into several teams. He then took out clothes of three colors: black, gray, and khaki, and had them put them on. He then divided them into five smaller teams of ten people each.

It was indeed chaotic at first; they pushed and shoved, shouting and arguing. Tiberius simply watched the whole thing with a cold eye. After the chaos lasted for a minute or two, Tiberius said something that quickly restored order, and they began to form ten-man squads and fifty-man squares on their own.

"I'll be back in three minutes to check. Anyone who hasn't found their team of ten will not get dinner tonight!"

Their food these past few days has been more than twice as good as when they were slaves; there's meat, oil, bread, and rice to eat!

Therefore, their fear of hunger is greater than ever before.

At the same time, Tiberius would organize them every day to listen to his "storytelling," educating them on the benefits of being mercenaries, often citing Vito as "evidence."

To satisfy Tiberius's demands, Vito had no choice but to brazenly boast about how wonderful mercenary life was: gold and silver coins were plentiful, there was meat and wine at every meal, and if you were lucky, you could even have a house and your own property.

Vito had originally planned to hold a team-building event at the Erotic Garden, where he would meet many wealthy men and governors, as well as recount the "traditional art" of looting during the war, but Tiberius stopped him.

The reason is simple: Tiberius needed mercenaries who would obey his orders completely, not Vito, a seasoned soldier who had been corrupted by the ways of the world.

If he were to truly instill in them the idea of ​​robbing money, food, and wives, how would he lead troops in the future?

"Stand still!" Tiberius roared from the platform.

"Very good, I am very satisfied with your performance!" Tiberius looked at the three groups of fifty people below the stage.

Vito muttered, "Those are clearly three wriggling clumps of people..."

At least, I've already completed the first step!

The second thing Tiberius had to do was to get them to line up!

This was not difficult for Tiberius: first, he had them extend their hands to the front row to create distance between them; then they extended their hands to the left and right to maintain an arm's length distance.

"An arm's length to the left and right, and an arm's length to the front and back!"

【Very good, although the formation is scattered and the arrangement is crooked, at least it looks like a square now!】Tiberius thought to himself, and then had them line up in a straight line.

This was naturally not a difficult task for these slaves. After all, Tiberius's orders were simple; they only required them to perform one action.

But if you don't understand this, then what awaits you is the whip.

Tiberius didn't have time to explain in detail why he had to do it, or how to do it. He either had to observe how others did it, or he would be whipped. It was that simple!

Then, Tiberius did not begin the next stage of training. After the three fifty-man formations had barely formed a proper formation, Tiberius gave them his orders:

"Standing posture training! Begin!" Tiberius stood firm on the platform, like a towering pine tree. Then, pointing to the slave soldiers below, he said:

"Look at you all! When you stand up, you look like coconut trees that have been blown down by a strong wind! What kind of behavior is this!"

The slaves looked at each other, not thinking there was anything wrong with standing like that. Isn't the right way to stand to be comfortable?

But no one dared to object, and under Tiberius's demonstration and correction, they began to relearn how to stand up straight...

After demonstrating his standing posture, Tiberius walked through the crowd with a wooden stick in his hand.

"Heels together, toes pointing outwards, yes, that's it, correct your pigeon-toed stance!"

"You! Keep your legs straight, stomach slightly tucked in, chest out, and shoulders level! What kind of posture is this, all slouching and drooping?"

"Arms hanging straight down, fingers together and slightly curved. That's right, very well done."

"Heads straight, necks upright, mouths shut! Anyone who dares to speak will get two whacks! And your ten-man squad will be starving tonight!" Tiberius patrolled his territory like a lion, occasionally tapping the soldiers with his stick to make them follow the rules.

To Tiberius's satisfaction, these people were indeed as he had imagined: having long been in a subordinate position, they were accustomed to obeying the commands of those in power. Therefore, Tiberius's only obstacle was how to make them understand the actions in a language they could comprehend.

"Damn, this kid's got some skills..." Vito muttered to himself as he looked at the somewhat impressive line below from the high platform.