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

Chapter 238

Soon, Chu Liu, with his more than one hundred elite soldiers and his incredible gambling skills, rose to the position of centurion.

In this mixed army, money can buy anything.

After becoming a centurion, Chu Liu quickly came into Zhang Heling's sights.

Every word and action of Chu Liu made Zhang Heling feel that he was different from the other evil servants. In addition, Chu Liu had been cramming on battle formations with the Tiger Legion during this period of time. Although he did not understand them very well and his explanations were somewhat ambiguous, it did not matter.

Compared to him, the Zhang brothers, Heling and Zhang Heling, were completely ignorant.

After Chu Liu explained the bizarre battle formation he had learned, Zhang Heling was immediately astonished, thinking that he had met his own Zhuge Liang. For a moment, he even felt that he was destined for greatness.

On the sixth day of the lunar month, he did not wear makeup but used his original appearance. He rarely showed his true face. For a con artist, whether in a casino or elsewhere, he would subconsciously wear makeup.

Of course, this kind of makeup is just simple makeup, and it's far inferior to the almost disguise-like makeup techniques of Xiao Dao and Jin Youcai.

However, his name wasn't Chu Liu, but Ma Hong.

Ma Hong was the identity he used when he and Zhou Chu set up a trap for Wang Cai in the capital on the sixth day of the first lunar month. He was just using it again now.

"Brother Ma is truly a genius. I've heard that you're quite knowledgeable about gambling techniques?"

Zhang Heling looked at the sixth day of the lunar month with a face full of excitement.

As representatives of spoiled young masters, the Zhang brothers naturally loved gambling. They even burned down a casino because they couldn't afford to lose anymore.

Zhang Heling did many similar things; when Empress Dowager Zhang was alive, she often cleaned up their messes.

"I have a slight understanding of it."

On the sixth day, he humbly said...

"That's great! Brother Ma, you'll play a few rounds with us today."

Zhang Heling's thinking was very simple. He regarded the sixth day of the lunar month as his Zhuge Liang. In his opinion, the fastest way to get closer to such a talented person was undoubtedly to play a few rounds of mahjong or dominoes together.

Upon hearing this on the sixth day, no one objected.

Soon, Zhang Heling had gathered his men. The other two were leaders of local gangs on Chongming Island. These two had received orders from their backers to obey Zhang Heling's commands. Their gang members were also incorporated into Zhang Heling's army.

The two men were one rank higher than Chu Liu, serving as generals in the army.

The main reason was that Chen Jing and others had praised these two as unparalleled military talents, but in reality, they were nothing special. It was just that Chen Jing and his group deliberately said that to give Zhang Heling confidence.

Zhang Heling believed him and appointed the two as generals. They were responsible for training a thousand men on weekdays, which seemed similar to a centurion. But in wartime, a general could directly command 20,000 troops.

The two had been involved in gangs on Chongming Island for a long time, and their eyes lit up at the mention of gambling; of course they would agree.

Once at the card table, it became Chu Liu's territory. Under Chu Liu's cheating skills, Zhang Heling got good cards every time and won big, while Chu Liu neither won nor lost. The other two generals lost so badly that they beat their chests and stamped their feet, very unwilling, but they dared not say anything.

With their skill level, they couldn't tell that someone was cheating on the sixth day of the lunar month; they just thought they were unlucky.

Having tasted success, Zhang Heling would invite Chu Liu to every gambling game in the days that followed, because he discovered that he could almost always win when Chu Liu was around.

This made him even more convinced that Chu Liu was his destined one, and that he was being favored by fate.

"Brother Ma, from this day forward, I appoint you as General. You must train the troops well for me. I have high hopes for you. Your talent is destined to lead me to conquer the world."

Zhang Heling said with high spirits.