Wu Mingche
It was as the governor of Bashan Commandery that Xiao served under the major general Wu Mingche in 573 as Wu, commissioned by Emperor Wen's brother Emperor Xuan, led a campaign against Northern Qi, seeking to capture the region between the Yangtze River and the Huai River. The Chen forces under Wu were intimidated by a small vanguard force in the Northern Qi army, commanded by the Xianbei generals Wei Pohu () and Zhangsun Honglüe (), this elite squad consisted of tens of sturdy looking fighters with great physical strength and they were all above 1.9 metres tall, and accompanied by a sharpshooting Eurasian bowsman from the Western Regions ("Xiyu"). Wu informed Xiao of this, while praising him as having fortitude equivalent to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. In response, Xiao first sought out the "Xiyu" bowsman, charged forward and killed him with a dart, and then dozens of fighters from the elite squad came forth and challenged Xiao to a small battle, Xiao fought fiercely and eventually slew all of them, leading to the Northern Qi forces' losing morale and collapsing. Wei fled, while Zhangsun was killed in battle. Wu was eventually able to capture all of the region between the Yangtze and the Huai later that year. For Xiao's contributions, he was created the Count of Lianping and soon promoted to the rank of marquess. During the subsequent minor campaigns against Northern Qi over the next several years, Xiao also contributed.