Chapter 225: Vagrant Beggar Sect?

Zhu Gaoxu left another ten thousand taels of silver with Ada to continue purchasing grain.

Afterward, he departed with a group of Embroidered Uniform Guards and the soldiers from outside the city.

The matters regarding the Black Tiger Gang and Yu Feipeng were left to Bai Xinghuo to handle.

The tasks of buying grain and distributing porridge to the disaster victims were left to Ada.

For this reason, Zhu Gaoxu specifically left fifty Embroidered Uniform Guards with Ada.

Clearly, he attached great importance to it.

On the other side, Zhu Gaoxu led the team himself, but not to suppress mountain bandits.

Outside the city, Zhu Gaoxu arrived at the troops' encampment.

Seeing the soldiers he had not seen for several days, and observing that their eyes were clear without a hint of estrangement, Zhu Gaoxu felt a weight lift from his heart.

Clearing his throat, Zhu Gaoxu said to the soldiers below: "Brothers, it has been so long, have you missed this Prince?"

The words Zhu Gaoxu spoke were quite novel, causing the soldiers below to burst into laughter.

Zhu Gaoxu also smiled and said: "Brothers, we have arrived in the North; is it not quite different from the South?"

"Brothers all know that our purpose in coming to the North is not to sightsee or play. Having arrived here, you should also realize that the day to achieve great things is not far off!"

As he spoke, Zhu Gaoxu observed the state of the soldiers.

It was obvious that if the soldiers showed signs of fear, it would clearly be troublesome.

If they looked excited, like wolf cubs, that would undoubtedly be much better.

The state of the soldiers made Zhu Gaoxu feel relieved once again.

Long-term military training had given these soldiers strong military discipline.

They would not be frightened just by hearing a few words.

Instead, they looked excited, and many clenched their fists as if they were ready to charge into enemy lines at any moment.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu nodded with satisfaction and continued.

"Now that you have seen this Prince and know that I am here, I will not say much more. We are currently scouting the bandit situation around the various counties; brothers, be ready at all times to achieve great things."

"Do you still remember what this Prince told you? Even alone, one can look down and laugh at the enemy army; if we die in battle, it is but burying our bones in the yellow sand—have no fear!"

As soon as the words fell, the officers and soldiers immediately shouted in unison: "Even alone, one can look down and laugh at the enemy army; if we die in battle, it is but burying our bones in the yellow sand—have no fear!"

"No fear!"

"No fear!"

"No fear!"

The soldiers raised their weapons and roared loudly.

Zhu Gaoxu smiled with satisfaction at this, then led the soldiers away from the stationed Military Camp.

Mao Xiang found an opportunity to come to Zhu Gaoxu's side; he knew that their target this time was not to suppress bandits.

So he asked Zhu Gaoxu with some confusion: "Your Highness, what is our objective this time?"

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu smiled slightly and said: "I just received news that a certain sect is about to face trouble. It happens to be not far away. Come to think of it, I have heard of this sect before; we have a bit of fate, so I will take this opportunity to go and see."

Hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Mao Xiang nodded and then went down to make arrangements.

Mao Xiang was just like that; he did not speak much.

Whenever he learned of Zhu Gaoxu's arrangements and goals, he would silently arrange everything for Zhu Gaoxu.

However... the news Zhu Gaoxu just mentioned receiving...

He did not recall the Embroidered Uniform Guards having any information in this regard.

He had previously been in charge of the entire Embroidered Uniform Guards, and he would not misremember intelligence matters; this was the signature skill of the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

And he was the most outstanding among them.

Which meant to say... Zhu Gaoxu had other sources of information.

Yet he knew absolutely nothing about it...

This surprised him greatly.

One must know that Zhu Gaoxu was only a child of four or five years old.

Moreover, there were always Embroidered Uniform Guards following him.

Yet Zhu Gaoxu had a new source of information, and no one had reported it to him.

This meant the Embroidered Uniform Guards had not discovered it...

This was too terrifying!

But immediately after, Mao Xiang thought of a new problem.

Should he report this to Zhu Yuanzhang?

After all, this was no small matter.

One must never underestimate any intelligence organization.

This was Mao Xiang's experience after working in intelligence for so many years.

But if he were to report to Lao Zhu that Zhu Gaoxu had a new source of information,

questions such as when it was established, what personnel composed it, what regions it was mainly distributed in, what intelligence it had obtained, and what aspects of intelligence it was mainly responsible for,

Mao Xiang would be unable to answer a single one.

So he was somewhat conflicted.

Even Mao Xiang did not realize that he himself was also silently changing.

If it were before, even if he had a lot of unknown information, he would still have sent word to Zhu Yuanzhang.

But at this moment, he seemed to be finding various reasons to delay reporting to Zhu Yuanzhang.

What exactly was it for?

Mao Xiang shook his head and stopped thinking about these things.

Zhu Gaoxu watched Mao Xiang's departing back with a faint smile and said nothing, then turned his head to look straight ahead.

The source of his intelligence channels was actually very simple.

It was those displaced people.

If he wanted to intervene in the forces of the pugilistic world, having only the Red Rainbow Hall was clearly not enough.

And now there was such an opportunity to come into contact with so many displaced people and beggars.

Zhu Gaoxu simply established a Beggar Sect, currently focusing primarily on intelligence.

After all, these people were distributed much more densely than the Embroidered Uniform Guard; their figures could be found in every corner of the towns, and most importantly, they were not noticed by anyone at all.