"Seeing that the young lady is safe and sound, even if I die, I will have done right by the old general's spirit in heaven."
"Young Miss, my brothers and I have been searching for you for half a year, we thought you were... Sigh! Let's not talk about that matter!"
As Gu Hu spoke, tears welled up in his eyes.
It's clear that this person is a man of strong emotions and is extremely loyal to the Gu family.
Gu Zijian sighed softly and then roughly recounted his story to Gu Hu.
This made everyone understand everything that Gu Zijian had gone through.
A year ago, Gu Yongchang, who was the Left Guard General of the Great Capital, was impeached by Li Yigou.
The charge was that he secretly colluded with the Great Zhou and plotted treason; the charges, evidence, and the perpetrators were all present.
They spoke with absolute certainty, their evidence irrefutable.
At that time, Emperor Ganwu personally led an expedition against the Great Xia, leaving the Crown Prince to oversee the country and the four regents to help manage state affairs.
This matter was handled without Li Gancheng's involvement at the time.
Although Wei Xian, who was in charge, was the Minister of War, he became one of the four regents. He conspired with Lin Xuanfu to assassinate the Gu family.
The Gu family was found guilty of attempted rebellion and was massacred. Gu Zijian and others fled overnight.
When Emperor Ganwu learned of this, he was greatly surprised, but it was too late; the deed was done.
Faced with so much evidence of their crimes, the Gu family could only be labeled as rebels.
However, Emperor Ganwu was merciful and did not exterminate them all. He only exiled some of his confidants to the border, and those who were innocent were only demoted but did not suffer any fatal consequences.
Gu Hu had served Emperor Ganwu in his campaign against the Great Xia, which is why he escaped this calamity.
Gu Hu naturally did not believe that Gu Yongchang had rebelled, but faced with overwhelming evidence, he petitioned countless times to no avail. He knew that he was a nobody and could not bring down the powerful officials. He was also ostracized and demoted repeatedly.
In the end, he only got the position of Colonel of the Cavalry.
He has never given up all these years and has been searching for the whereabouts of the people exiled by the Gu family.
But bad news followed one after another: Gu family's exiled confidants were either dead or wounded, and the whereabouts of the others were unknown.
Gu Zijian became the only survivor after the massacre and exile of the Gu family. She fled to the border but was captured again. To conceal her identity, she pretended to be a fugitive commoner and was treated as a war widow.
Then came the matter of meeting Sun Jian.
"I have never forgotten a single one of those corrupt officials! I, Gu Hu, swore that even if I die, I will drag them down with me and make them be buried with the old general!"
Gu Hu's deadly molars could crush it.
"Over the years, I have conducted numerous investigations and have made some progress. Li Yigou, the prefect of Hongnong County, Wei Xian, the Minister of War, and Lin Xuanfu, the powerful prime minister of the court, are all involved!!"
At this point, Gu Hu sighed softly, "Fortunately, I heard that the dog of a prefect has been imprisoned and will be executed in the autumn! That counts as one dead... so the old general's spirit in heaven won't be too uneasy!"
Upon hearing this, Gu Zijian glanced gratefully at Sun Jian, then asked Gu Hu, "Do you know who dealt with Li Yigou?"
"This humble general does not know, who?"
Gu Hu was very excited. He had been adopted by Gu Yongchang as a disciple since he was a child and had been taken care of for twenty years. Gu Yongchang regarded him as his father and lord.
The person who could bring down Li Yigou was not only Gu Zijian's benefactor, but also Gu Hu's benefactor.
Gu Zijian didn't speak, but instead looked at Sun Jian.
Gu Hu may be a bit reckless, but he's not stupid; he quickly realized what was happening.
He also looked at Sun Jian, and after a moment of shock, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Sun Jian.
"Thank you, benefactor, for helping Gu Hu avenge himself! Please accept Gu Hu's three bows and nine kowtows!"
Sun Jian smiled helplessly, glanced at Gu Zijian, and thought to himself.
You don't even need to kowtow to me; your young lady has already repaid me with her body.
Although he thought this way, Sun Jian couldn't just stand by and do nothing, after all, Chu Qingcheng and Zhou Wan'er were still watching.
"Captain Gu, please rise. Since we are all family, there is no need for such formalities."
"No! This is a family matter between the young lady and you, but the benefactor and I are bound by gratitude. This courtesy must be observed."
Gu Hu was a stubborn man, and he continued to kowtow and kneel before Sun Jian.
After performing all the rituals, Gu Hu said respectfully, "My benefactor, you have helped me avenge my father's death. From now on, the lives of Gu Hu and his thousand armored soldiers will belong to you!"
"Gu Hu is willing to be loyal to you for life, even if it means going through fire and water, sacrificing his life, or being shattered to pieces."
Sun Jian helped Gu Hu up.
"I have nothing that would make you sacrifice your brains or your life, so you don't need to say that."
"By the way, you just said a thousand armored soldiers? You only brought five hundred with you?"
Gu Hu said, "My benefactor, I am a Colonel of the Cavalry, and I command a thousand Left Guards according to the regulations."
"I only brought five hundred armored soldiers this time because I was afraid that bringing too many people would be inappropriate..."
Holy crap!
You know it's inappropriate, huh?
You bringing five hundred armored soldiers almost gave me a fright.
Sun Jian rolled his eyes at Gu Hu, but didn't say anything more.
This guy must have only practiced martial arts since he was a child and didn't like studying, otherwise he wouldn't be so stubborn.
"Rest assured, my benefactor, the thousand armored soldiers led by Gu Hu are all elite and loyal. Most of them are from Gu's army, but they have suffered discrimination while following me for so many years..."
As Gu Hu spoke, he lowered his head, blaming himself for his incompetence.
Sun Jian patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "Good, I can see that you are a tiger general, and the troops you lead will naturally be good too."
"Alright, let's not waste any more time catching up. It's our first time meeting, so I can't let you go hungry."
After saying this, Sun Jian turned to Chu Qingcheng and Zhou Wan'er and said, "Qingcheng, have Lao Jiang take some men to boil a batch of potatoes, and have the kitchen slaughter a pig, cook some meat, and also prepare several large pots of vegetables."
"Wan'er, have Lao Cao bring over all the Forget-Worry Valley produced today, and also have him go to town to buy a few cartloads of good wine and food. I want to have a drink with the soldiers of the Gu family army."
Upon hearing Sun Jian's instructions, the two women hurriedly went to make the arrangements.
Sun Jian patted Gu Hu on the shoulder and said, "We can't drink to our hearts' content today, but we can still treat the brothers to a good drink."
“My courtyard is also large. Now go and bring the remaining five hundred armored soldiers with you. I want to get to know them.”
"Yes, sir!"
Gu Hu's eyes lit up at the mention of wine and meat, and he immediately made arrangements.
After everyone left, only Gu Zijian and Sun Jian remained in the hall.
Gu Zijian threw herself into Sun Jian's arms with gratitude. She knew in her heart that Sun Jian did this not just to get to know the soldiers, but for her deceased father, for their Gu family, and to reward the army for this rare reunion!
"Zi Jian, rest assured, whether it's Minister of War Wei Xian or the powerful Prime Minister Lin Xuanfu, I will make them pay the price for this!"
Upon hearing Sun Jian's words, Gu Zijian's delicate body trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes once again.
"Thank you, my husband..."
At that moment, she could no longer suppress her emotions and kissed Sun Jian on the lips...
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