The fame of the Gurkha mercenaries is now far from its peak.

In 1814, war broke out between the Kingdom of Nepal and the British, and 30,000 well-equipped British troops fought for two years to defeat the poorly equipped Nepalese army, which numbered only 12,000.

The Nepalese army is mainly made up of Gurkhas.

After the war, the British government had a high opinion of the Gurkhas, so they recruited mercenaries from the Gurkhas, west of Kathmandu, and from then on, the Gurkha mercenaries followed in the footsteps of the British Empire and participated in two world wars, as well as all the wars in which Britain participated after the World War.

The Gurkha were infinitely loyal to their employers, that is, to the British government, and they were silent and fearless of death, and the Gurkha mercenaries would resolutely complete whatever combat mission they were given.

Before 1962, the Gurkha mercenaries were almost undefeated until 1962, when the Gurkha mercenaries faced another legendary force, and then they were beaten all over the place.

After India's independence, Gurkha mercenaries were recruited from Nepal, and from that time onwards, Gurkha mercenaries were not limited to the British.

In this day and age, Gurkha mercenaries can only serve the British, and the British only recruit mercenaries from the Gurkhas, west of Kathmandu, and the number of recruits each year is also very limited, and Roque and Mars Howard have already missed the annual recruitment season when they come to Kathmandu, so Roque has to solve this problem on his own.

"It doesn't matter if you don't have soldiers, then let go of the recruitment, all Nepalese, as long as they are between the ages of 20 and 25, can come and sign up, we will choose 500 people this time, recruit a brand new combat battalion, the treatment is exactly the same as other troops, the location of the station is in Dhaka, that's all." Roque is not superstitious, there are only a few hundred people in the Gorkha village, and he can provide tens of thousands of mercenaries for the British government?

It's just self-deception.

I'm afraid that the British government also knows this, but the characteristics of the corrupt government will not change this, and it would rather force the people below to make a fake than stick to the so-called tradition.

"If you let go of your qualifications, Lord, you have to think about it." The British government's local military recruitment chief in Nepal kindly reminded.

"It's okay, I just want the best." Roque was decisive, this time the reconstruction of the 35th Battalion was just an attempt, if the effect was good, Roque would also consider recruiting Gurkha mercenaries, compared with the new 1st Cavalry Division and the Northern Rhodesia Division, Gurkha mercenaries are better and cheaper.

It is not an exaggeration for the British government to evaluate the Gurkha mercenaries as "fearless of death", they are really fearless on the battlefield, it is said that this is because the Gurkha are relatively slow to react and emotionally cold, and it is for this reason that they have become outstanding soldiers, so that they can still deal with themselves calmly and extremely calmly in the fierce battle.

Gurkha mercenaries do not have much sense of right and wrong, as soldiers, sometimes they must carry out combat missions that violate the bottom line of morality, so many soldiers need psychological counseling after the war.

The Gurkha mercenaries did not have this problem, and they never cared whether the orders they received were righteous or not, and as long as they were given, they would resolutely carry out the orders, most famously in Amritsar, where they fired machine guns at civilians for up to an hour.

The other most important problem is that compared with Chinese soldiers, Gurkha mercenaries are really cheap, hiring a Gurkha mercenary only requires a salary of up to ten pounds a year, and now the average salary of the new 1st Cavalry Division and the Northern Rhodesia Division has reached more than 50 pounds, if all Gurkha are employed, then the size of the new 1st Cavalry Division can now be expanded to more than 10,000 people.

Of course, this salary is relatively speaking, compared to the Chinese, the salary of Gurkha mercenaries is very cheap, compared to Nepal, becoming a mercenary is a rare high-income occupation, Nepal's GDP is not counted at all, ordinary people are estimated to not even earn a pound a year, in Nepal, being a soldier is a real job that can support the family, as long as one person in a family is a soldier, then basically the whole family can be guaranteed food and clothing.

This was immediately reflected in the rebuilding of the 35th Battalion.

After the British government released the news at the local recruitment office in Nepal, 1,500 people signed up for the army in just one day.

In Nepal, where the news is relatively closed, it takes a certain amount of time for the spread of information to ferment, and then within three days, the number of people who signed up to join the army exceeded 5,000, and a week later, the number reached 20,000.

Only 500 people were needed to rebuild the 35th Battalion, and more than 20,000 people signed up, and most of them must have been disappointed, even the local recruitment chief of the British government in Nepal did not expect it to be so crowded, and the pressure was on Roque's side for a while.

"What to do? If we only say that 500 people will be recruited, will the disappointed Gurkha rebel? "Mars Howard is very worried, Roque and Mars Howard only brought one platoon of guards to Nepal, if something really happens, dozens of people may not be able to control the situation.

"Lord, if I can, I suggest increasing the number of conscripts, these Nepalis are brave and good at fighting, they could not be mercenaries for some reason before, and now with this opportunity, they will definitely burst out with the greatest enthusiasm." The head of recruitment, Hilton Robert, suggested to Roque.

This suggestion is a bit of a big deal, the British army in India has a fixed battalion of troops, and Roque has no authority to change it at will.

However, Roque has one of the biggest advantages is that Roque, as a Baron of Nyasaland, is also the commander of the new First Cavalry Division, and the establishment of the new First Cavalry Division is all Roque's final say, and the British government has no control over it.

So Roque simply sent a telegram directly to Lord Bellok, in any case, the troops in southern Africa are not considered British troops, and the Gurkha mercenaries serve in southern Africa and are not out of the British army.

Lord Bellok's reply to Roque was very simple, the 35th Battalion only had 500 people, and the new 1st Cavalry Division wanted as many people as Roque did by himself, if Roque was not afraid of spending money, even if he got 20,000 people away, Lord Belloc had no opinion.

Then what else is there to say, expansion, expansion, Roque increased the number of places by 1,500 with a stroke of the pen, 20,000 people to pick 500 is too little, it is very appropriate to pick 2,000, and those who are not elected will not have much opinion.

According to the standard of the British government to hire Gurkha at this time, as long as they are in good health, there are no special requirements in other aspects.

This time, 20,000 people signed up, and Roque could pick and choose, so the rules were all made by Roque.

In addition to physical fitness, Roque also requires basic obedience, good coordination, and excellent physical fitness.

As for tactical ability, this is not important, after entering the army, you can train slowly, as long as the foundation is not bad, you can always practice it.

The first level of Roque's selection is physical fitness, 20,000 people run laps in the military camp in Kathmandu in units of 100 people, Roque does not ask for time, does not require distance, but only half of the people in each unit can qualify, 20,000 people seem to be a lot, and 10,000 will be wiped out in three days.

Then there is obedience and coordination, these two points are more troublesome and require time to observe slowly, but fortunately, Lord Belloc did not ask for time, and Roque and Mars Howard could take their time.

All those who successfully passed the physical fitness level were organized into temporary companies of 100 people, and all the officers were soldiers of Company A, these soldiers were originally trained as officers, and of course their personal qualities were not to be said, they were very conscientious, and all the Gurkhas, who had not performed well the day before, were sent away after lunch the next morning, and each of them also had a fivepence a day allowance, which of course Roque had sponsored out of his own pocket.

As a result, the Gurkha were simply mad with joy, and even the Gurkha who were sent away were full of gratitude to Roque, five pence a day, about the same salary as a Gurkha mercenary serving in the British army.

Of course, due to the conditions, during their time in Kathmandu, the cooks brought by Roque could only serve Roque, Mars Howard and other Chinese officers and soldiers, and those Gurkha people could not take care of them.

It was only then that Roque got to know the level of an Indian chef.

Speaking of Indian chefs, they are also wonderful, they have a habit, no matter what it is, they have to make it slimy paste, and they can't distinguish the original ingredients at all, Roque maliciously speculated that the chef's purpose is to make people can't distinguish the types of ingredients, anyway, just mess with the stomach.

Even if these mushy mush, which tasted bad and didn't taste very good, these Gurkha people ate it with relish.

It seems that Visacam is right, there is indeed not enough food in India, Johannesburg has to use the surplus potatoes to feed the pigs, and there are still many people in India who are going to starve, no wonder those Indians who left India do not want to return to India anyway.

Although Roque's requirements were very strict, half a month later, Roque was still surprised to find that the last 2,800 Gurkhas, even judging from Roque's requirements, were qualified to become real soldiers.

"Leave all of them, leave 500 for the 35th Battalion, and the rest will go to the new 1st Cavalry Division." Luo Ke is not afraid of many people, some squad leaders of the newly formed First Cavalry Division have already hung the rank of second lieutenant, and there are still only a dozen people under his hands, which is really shabby.

Mars Howard does not have Roque's courage to get 500 excellent Gurkha mercenaries, Mars Howard is already satisfied, Roque's requirements are stricter than the British government's requirements, and the last remaining 2800 Gurkhas, all of them can become the best soldiers, Mars Howard now has the most headache to learn Gurkha.

The same problem exists for Roque.