Chapter 1277

Bei Tianyou nodded lightly, “This time, I’ll have to trouble you, sir.”

Turning back to Baili Xia, his voice softened, “You must be tired from the journey.

Why not go and rest for a while?”

“I heard you started training so early, so I came by to take a look.”

At this moment, Fan Yi had already divided all the brothers into pairs, a total of sixteen groups, with two people standing together.

Seeing that there was going to be a competition, Baili Xia looked on with keen interest.

“Brother You, can I stay and watch their training for a bit longer?”

Bei Tianyou nodded and smiled, “Of course, but when we head back, you should take some rest first.”

After saying this, he instructed Fan Yi to let the brothers begin.

The sixteen pairs of brothers started sparring simultaneously.

All of them were professionally trained, and their fights were unusually fierce.

Soon, some groups had already determined winners and losers.

The ones who lost didn’t look dejected.

Instead, they moved to the side, lined up, and quietly watched the remaining matches.

The winners formed another line and stood off to the side.

Judging by this type of sparring, it wasn’t hard to guess that the winners would likely face another round of competition later.

“Brother Bei, why is your training like this? It feels almost like a competition,” Baili Xia couldn’t help but voice her curiosity.

Bei Tianyou didn’t hide anything and explained the purpose of the training.

In the Miao Domain, every year when spring arrives—around February—a selection competition for the Miao Domain Defense Department is held.

Although the matter concerns the Miao Domain Defense Department, in fact, it has an enormous impact on the defense force of the entire Bei Miao.

Only now did Baili Xia realize that, in the Bei Miao region, there were similarities to Jin City.

Here, many large conglomerates and influential families were entrenched in power.

However, the work of the defense force was centrally managed.

Every conglomerate or family would send one or more defense teams to join the Bei Miao defense force.

Through the annual competition, it’s decided which family will lead the defense force—that is, become the leader of the defense force.

As for the Bei Family, they must first select the minister for the Miao Domain Defense Department.

At that time, the minister will lead the Miao Domain Defense Department in the final competition for the entire Bei Miao defense force.

Last year, the minister of the Miao Domain Defense Department was someone under Bei Tianyou.

However, in February or March of the upcoming year, the next round of minister selection will occur.

There are both individual and team matches.

This is because the competition is primarily designed to evaluate the overall strength of the teams.

Now, Bei Tianyou was training here specifically to select talents for the upcoming competition.

In fact, for over a decade, the leadership of the Bei Miao defense force has been primarily dominated by personnel from the Miao Domain Defense Department.

In other words, at the start of next year, as long as the position of minister for the Miao Domain Defense Department is secured, the entire defense force of the Miao Domain will be under their control.

The Bei Miao defense force is immensely grand in scale.

Securing the position of commander of the defense force is effectively equivalent to seizing political power in Bei Miao.

Politics and commerce have always been superficially separate, yet in reality, they are deeply intertwined.

With political power, one can fully control the economic pulse of the entire Bei Miao.

“So, that means the Miao Domain Defense Department’s selection next spring is crucial for Brother You’s future status in the entire Bei Miao?”

After listening to Bei Tianyou’s explanation, Baili Xia found the selection system rather extraordinary.

She hadn’t expected that such competitions for selection still existed today.

Although the Eight Big Families in Jin City also hold annual matches, those are purely for camaraderie and exchange.

But in the Miao Domain, this is about selecting the minister for the Defense Department—it’s a true battle for supremacy.