"Dark Phoenix Guards."
Chong Yingbiao shook his head. This was an ordinary way of greeting someone in the Royal Guards. He had never expected Gouzi to be so frail.
"Yes! Of course I'll join!"
Gouzi chewed on a stalk of thatch, brimming with excitement.
"A Hundred-Household Commander of the Dark Phoenix Guards, with a Flying Bird Uniform bestowed upon you."
"New clothes too? Brother Biao! I'm in!"
Chong Yingbiao looked at Gouzi seriously. "Then, as Commander of the Dark Phoenix Guards, I have a question for you. Have you heard about all the people who've been making trouble at the Medical Academy lately?"
"Well..."
Hesitation appeared on Gouzi's face, and Chong Yingbiao knew where he stood.
Fortunately, he had already asked his father why His Majesty had established the Dark Phoenix Guards. It seemed these people were precisely the reason.
The Dark Phoenix Guards escorted and protected the sovereign, conducted patrols and arrests, and handled reconnaissance, apprehension, interrogation, and other duties. The key to all of it was intelligence.
Who possessed the most intelligence in Chaoge?
Not the ministers, nor the nobles, but the street thugs and idle loafers.
What could people who spent all day loafing around possibly do?
Nothing but chat, run all over town, and cadge food and drink.
Once he controlled this force, King Zhou, who lived deep within the palace and was the least informed about news in Chaoge, would grasp every movement in the city in one stroke.
And Chong Yingbiao's expertise was a perfect match.
Long before he entered the palace to serve, he had spent years mixing with these thugs and loafers. As the Marquis of the North's only son, he had thrived among them, and everyone, high and low, had to show him some respect.
His Majesty truly had a discerning