From An Zhai's words, Hu Xiaotian could already tell that he and Xue Zhenhai held completely different views on how to deal with Shangguan Tianhuo and his son. He is someone I can win over, he thought. After a century of growth, the Beggar Gang had now fallen into a north-south split, reaching the lowest ebb in its history. This was partly due to treacherous villains within the gang, but also owed much to its failure to pass leadership from the old generation to the new. Looking across the gang, those in power were still a group of old men, while no outstanding figures had emerged among the younger generation. A gang this large could not rely on one or two people alone to keep its flame burning and its influence from waning. This was true of the martial world, and equally true of the imperial court.
The Beggar Gang's crisis could not be solved at its roots by these old men alone. New blood had to be nurtured. Zhu Ba, Meng Guangxiong, Xie Tianqiong, and An Zhai were all hopes for the gang's future. Only when each of them became capable of shouldering responsibility on his own could the gang complete its transition between generations and return to glory. Only a strong Beggar Gang could offer him the greatest possible help. In this respect, the gang depended far more on Hu Xiaotian than he depended on it. At least so far, the help he had given the gang far exceeded what it had done for him.
Although elders of the Beggar Gang such as Xue Zhenhai had received many favors from Hu Xiaotian, deep down they still carefully maintained a boundary between themselves and him, avoiding political struggles as much as possible. This was plainly somewhat selfish.
An Zhai