The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 153

Zhou Chu also valued Lin Lu highly, believing he would become a formidable general under his command in the future.

The only one who was unhappy was Lin Yao. She also wanted to go to Suzhou Prefecture, but Princess Deqing sternly refused. It would be improper for a girl to go to Suzhou Prefecture.

Even if Princess Deqing didn't refuse, Zhou Chu would still refuse. His trip to Jiangnan was extremely dangerous and not something to be taken lightly.

Over the years, Zhou Chu had repeatedly sent his uncle Sun Qiang back to his family, telling them that he owed a lot of money outside. Later, he simply said that he had died outside, and finally got Sun Qiang to give them some money, which was considered a complete severing of ties with them.

Zhou Chu's future path is destined to have no connection with them; otherwise, it would not be good for them, but rather harm them.

Zhou Chu's files were transferred to the Embroidered Uniform Guard as early as when Zhou Chu first became the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. No one except the emperor was allowed to access them. Even the files of Sun Qiang, Chu Liu, and some people around Zhou Chu were in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and no one else could access them.

Sun Qiang has a wife, children, and elderly parents back in his hometown. However, his son is already grown up and not good at studying, and his wife is a country woman with little worldly experience. Sun Qiang regularly sends money back home, so he never thought of bringing them to the capital.

Especially after Zhou Chu became the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Sun Qiang gave up on the idea. Having worked in the brokerage business for many years, Sun Qiang had some experience. He knew that if his family went to the capital, they would not only be in danger, but would also be a burden to Zhou Chu.

Zhou Chu spent several thousand taels of silver to buy Sun Qiang a fairly large house, which was very close to his own home. Originally, he and Chu Liu lived in the house. Now that Chu Liu was going to Suzhou Prefecture with Zhou Chu, Zhou Chu gave him a lot of money to buy some servants and to help look after the Zhou residence.

Zhou Chu was supposed to take Chunlan with him, but for Chunlan's safety, he let her go to Suzhou Prefecture with Tang Bohu and the others first.

During this period, the selection of palace maids was carried out continuously. Every palace maid, from her background to everything else, had to undergo layers of screening by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Only after confirming that there were no problems would she be put into the palace.

In the past month, without Zhou Chu, Yang Yiqing has been able to unleash his full potential and start attacking Yang Tinghe. Yang Tinghe, on the other hand, has lost his fighting spirit due to Yang Shen's setbacks. The Great Rites Controversy is about to come to an end.

Emperor Jiajing had even dispatched his imperial entourage to Hubei to fetch his mother, Lady Jiang.

Zhou Chu understood that Yang Tinghe's retirement and return to his hometown were not far off.

Before leaving, Zhou Chu, Lu Bing, and Lu Song and his wife had a meal together.

Seeing that her daughter was about to leave with Zhou Chu, Madam Yang was a little worried, after all, Yun Jin was not even eleven years old.

"Long hair and short brains. Our daughter is exceptional in both martial arts and military command. Just talking about military command, I don't even understand it. Perhaps our Lu family will produce a female general in the future. Besides, with Hengqi around, what are you afraid of?"

Lu Song drank quite a bit of wine, perhaps because he was afraid that parting would be too embarrassing for him.

Lu Bing also drank quite a lot of alcohol, which was unusual for him.

"Hengqi, you have done so much for the Ming Dynasty and for His Majesty. Compared to you, I am ashamed."

As Lu Bing spoke, he picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp.

"Why act like a girl, brother? After I leave the capital, His Majesty's safety depends entirely on you. You must be extremely careful and not be negligent. You must also keep a close eye on those palace maids. Just because they are reliable now does not mean they will always be reliable. If any of them cause problems, you must replace them immediately."

Zhou Chu gave instructions.

"it is good."

Lu Bing always listened to Zhou Chu's words without question.

He knew very well that he was far inferior to Zhou Chu in terms of cognition and strategy. In the past, with Zhou Chu by his side, he didn't have to think about many things. In the future, he would basically have to rely on himself.

Two weeks ago, after Shen Qing agreed, Fang Hong got engaged to her. Once they were engaged, they could give each other an explanation to the outside world.

After everything was settled, Zhou Chu arranged for over a dozen large carriages. While such carriages were considered oversized, no one cared about this at the moment; they only hoped he would leave the capital quickly.

These carriages appeared to be filled with gold, silver, valuables, and other goods, but in reality, Zhou Chu's eight hundred new recruits were all hidden inside.

The group left the capital in a grand procession and headed south.

As it turned out, these people were even less patient than Zhou Chu had anticipated. Zhou Chu and his group had only traveled less than a hundred miles when they encountered their first wave of bandits.

Although they were called bandits, Zhou Chu could tell at a glance from their movements and formations that they were just private soldiers kept by certain people.

This group of bandits numbered around two hundred. Although they were not armored, their weapons were all standard-issue, making it clear at a glance that they were not ordinary bandits.

"How dare you block the path of the Embroidered Uniform Guard! You are simply courting death!"

Shen Lian drew his embroidered spring knife and pointed it at the bandit leader, angrily rebuking him.

The bandit leader scoffed at these words.

"A mere centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, you think you're something special just because you intercepted him?"

As he spoke, the bandit leader dismounted and came to stand in front of Shen Lian.

"How many of you are there? How many of us are there? Stop bluffing. I'm standing right in front of you now, do you dare to cut me?"

The bandit leader stretched out his neck as he spoke, seemingly certain that Shen Lian wouldn't dare to do anything to him.

puff!

Shen Lian raised his knife and brought it down, instantly severing the bandit leader's head from his neck.

"What if we cut it down?"