When Gu Jinke arrived at the border, he did not follow the main force. Qiao Xi, who was traveling light, had also arrived at the border and settled down. He also thoroughly sorted out the people and information that Qiao She had given him.
The weather was a bit cold. He was wearing a thick cloak and cutting bamboo tubes in the yard. The wood chips were scattered lightly. A servant came to report: "Sir, the things have been delivered to the designated place."
Qiao Xi nodded and said okay. He took a bamboo tube and looked at it again, then asked casually: "Didn't I ask for Qiao Chen's information before? Why hasn't there been any response for so long?"
The young servant shuddered and lowered his head: "We are not very clear about Master Qiao Chen's whereabouts. He does not always keep us informed. Master Qiao Chen has his own people."
Qiao Xi shook his head and ignored the topic. He split the bamboo tube in his hand, went to a small pavilion on the side, found a thin carving knife, and began to carve on the bamboo tube.
The young servant in the yard did not hear his instructions and dared not move. He could only stand there. When he saw him pick up the carving knife and start carving the bamboo tube again, he felt relieved.
If he hadn't gotten Qiao Chen's information, he was still afraid of being punished by the young master. But now that the young master was already carving bamboo, that meant he wouldn't be punished today, because the young master would be in a good mood after finishing bamboo carving every day.
Qiao Xi was indeed not in the mood to do it. He blew gently, and the excess wood chips under the carving knife were blown away, revealing the outline of a woman. He touched the outline, his heart softened, and the corners of his lips curled up slightly. He hadn't seen Gu Jinke for a long time, but he had not subdued the new people under his command before, so he only dared to send messages to Gu Jinke unilaterally, which made him even more itchy.
Later, he found out that Gu Jinke no longer checked on him and seemed to be quite indulgent. Qiao Xi didn't know what was going on in his mind, but occasionally he would secretly do something and send a specially made "small bamboo tube" to deliver the letter.
Inside these bamboo tubes, there were sometimes paintings he drew when he thought of Gu Jinke, and sometimes some popular love poems and words expressing longing. With a conflicting mood, he would restore the bamboo tubes after finishing the paintings, then paint them to cover up the traces, and then put the letters inside and send them to Gu Jinke.
He didn't want Gu Jinke to discover his obsession with her, but occasionally he hoped that she would discover the secrets hiding his thoughts.
Very contradictory.
As expected, he carved the small bamboo tube in his hand again, closed it, then used a pen dipped in dye to cover the marks, and then put it aside to dry.
Only then did he remember the servant standing in the yard. He raised his eyes lazily and said softly, "Go down. I hope that next time I ask you, you can give me an accurate answer."
His words were not harsh, but the young servant trembled and said yes repeatedly. These days, they were assigned to serve this master and had experienced the master's thundering methods.
Qiao Xi looked at their fearful expressions and curled his lips. In two days, when Gu Jinke had recovered, he would hand the people over to Gu Jinke to take over. In order to prevent Gu Jinke from being too tired, he naturally had to manage the people well so that they would obey Gu Jinke's orders as soon as they were in his hands.
He could no longer give orders, because Gu Jinke's next action would not just be to give instructions, but to fight on the battlefield with real guns and swords. Gu Jinke would no longer listen to him about those matters involving military secrets, which would make it easy for others to take advantage of them. Moreover, if he holds the people in his hands and cannot touch the core, all these manpower will be wasted.
He thought about it, sat down again, picked up his pen and wrote a long letter, which was to be handed over to Gu Jinke.
After reading the little secret in the bamboo tube, Gu Jinke put the bamboo tube away because he didn't know who the person was, and went back to the house to rest for a day.
When she woke up the next day, it was already dawn. Seeing that it was still early, she took Xun Ji directly to the military camp outside the city.
Because the court advocated war, the barracks were bustling these days. When Gu Jinke arrived here, it was not yet completely light. The soldiers in the barracks had finished their training and were eating breakfast. The discipline of the soldiers was quite strict, and although the barracks were noisy, there was still discipline.
Gu Jinke nodded, showing some satisfaction on his face. Seeing Gu Jinke's satisfied expression, a captain who accompanied them couldn't help but smile and praised, "We have to thank you, Your Highness, and the court for this."
Gu Jinke's eyebrows twitched, but he didn't interrupt her. He guessed that she wanted to say flattering words. After all, these were just the norm in officialdom and the basis of human relations. She didn't want to go too far.
She never expected that this captain was actually praising her sincerely. She showed some genuine smiles in her eyes, full of gratitude: "Your Highness, didn't you deal with General Chen before the New Year? We have been without silver for a long time. Later, even if we had silver, everyone got very little. Everyone has husbands, children and elderly people at home. Without silver, everyone's life is very difficult."
She paused and sighed, "At that time, there were complaints in the camp, but no one in charge gave a definite answer. Every time we mentioned the silver, they just evaded the question. Later, when His Highness investigated General Chen, we found out that our silver had been embezzled."
"Because General Chen's affair was exposed, His Highness raided her house, and the court also dealt severely with her. Only then did we slowly make up for it with silver. The sisters now have silver in their hands, and their lives are gradually becoming more harmonious. All this is thanks to His Highness!"
She looked at Gu Jinke with admiration, tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke: "We are all sincerely grateful to His Highness!"
She emphasized it again.
In fact, there is of course more than that. After the court investigated General Chen, in addition to the superficial problems, there were also many invisible benefits. At least some of the upper echelons who had such tricks became much more restrained and did not dare to blatantly covet their things, for fear that Gu Jinke would take them away without caring. Therefore, they had plenty of silver and their lives were better these days.
Gu Jinke couldn't help feeling touched after hearing this. She looked at the soldier who was eating happily with a smile on his face, and a smile also appeared at the corners of her eyes.
In fact, she investigated General Chen purely for the sake of the plot, because the princess in the original book had also done such a thing and won a lot of gratitude. At that time, Gu Jinke even wanted the empress to depose her as soon as possible, and she didn't even want to do this matter. However, when she saw so much valuable money in the collected evidence, she couldn't get over it in her heart, so she handed in the memorial and dealt with General Chen and his gang.
Gu Jinke has always known that if the water is too clear, there will be no fish, and corrupt officials cannot be killed all. Therefore, this incident can be regarded as killing the chicken to scare the monkey, which has deterred many cases of corruption in the court.
She nodded and said, "Just take the silver if you have it."
Xun Ji, who was following behind him, also felt a little emotional. He still remembered the frightened and horrified looks of the people in the capital when General Chen was being investigated.
The captain smiled and said, "Thanks to Your Highness and the court, the silver has been fully distributed these days. Many soldiers have been looking forward to hearing that Your Highness is coming. They are even more excited to hear that Your Highness is coming to fight against the Barbarians. They are willing to serve as Your Highness's vanguard and drive His Majesty. Many local people have even placed longevity tablets in their homes for Your Highness, wishing Your Highness a long life."
Gu Jinke curled his eyes, his ears turned red, and his heart felt warm.
I didn't expect that I would reap what I sowed. The good deeds I sowed back then have now reaped good results.
After they went back, Gu Jinke began to study the map of the area, and Duke Zhenguo Xu Yeliang came to talk to her about the local situation.
Because this area is vast, sparsely populated and relatively poor, apart from a few cities like the one where Gu Jinke is now, other villages are scattered along the long border.
Some of the people here are family members of the local garrison, some are poor local people, and some are criminals who were exiled here for committing crimes, or descendants of criminals who were acquitted.
Although their situation is complicated, they have lived here for generations. They are the Jin people closest to the barbarian country and are the fat meat in the eyes of small groups of barbarians.
Although the imperial court and local garrisons constantly patrol these borders, it is impossible to be stationed there all the time, and the barbarians will often take advantage of these gaps to invade, burn, kill, and loot. Xu Yeliang pointed to a few dots on the map with a heavy tone and said, "Since we sent troops to the imperial court, these villages have also been massacred."
The harvest in the barbarian country was not good this year, and it is estimated that a large number of people have been displaced, so the scope of harm to the people of Jin State is becoming increasingly larger.
Xu Yeliang said: "When we arrived, nine out of ten houses were empty and bloody. Even the chickens and ducks were killed and taken away by these barbarians."
Gu Jinke stared at the small dot that was pointed at, with a fierce look in his eyes. One black dot was a village. A village had at least dozens of people, not to mention hundreds! She lowered her voice: "So, do you have any clues about what you are looking for?"
"The results are minimal. These people are scattered, ruthless and merciless. They usually rob and leave, then scatter to the borders, making them very difficult to find."
Gu Jinke looked at the weather outside and said, "It's getting colder. Since we can't find it, there's no need to waste time. Let's just go straight to the nest!"
She clenched her fists and said, "Send them back to their lair, and let them retreat back to their barbarian country. Let them discipline themselves!"
Xu Yeliang nodded, with a little more excitement in his eyes: "Your Highness is right, when General Qi and the Fifth Princess come back, we can start the fight!"
Gu Jinke nodded: "They are back, let them come to see me immediately."
Xu Yeliang nodded vigorously, his eyes shining.
The fifth princess Gu Jinyun was indeed patrolling the border with her aunt General Qi, and she also took the opportunity to inform her aunt that there were few people patrolling the border.
She learned most of her martial arts from this aunt, who was also her half-master. Plus, they were relatives, so they had a very good relationship since childhood. General Qi treated her like his own daughter.
She told him in detail how she fainted on the way back to Beijing, how she got married, and how she fought against the bandits, but she concealed the incredible incident of her rebirth.
General Qi paused after hearing this, and then thought: "If it is as you said, then you must have made contributions to the court. Why did you rush to the border and write a letter to ask me to pick you up and cover for you?"
Gu Jinyun choked. She didn't dare tell anyone about the collusion with bandits. In the previous life, after the Crown Princess was deposed, her aunt helped her in the fight for the throne with the Third Princess. But she knew very well that half of the reason was because her aunt herself was not satisfied with the Third Princess Gu Jinxiu ascending the throne.
She was loyal to the empress and was very caring towards the soldiers under her command. Her expectation for the future empress was that she should at least love the people and the soldiers. At that time, these old ministers actually had their eyes on the deposed Crown Princess Gu Jinke.
However, the Third Princess was at the height of her power, and the former Crown Princess had committed a serious crime in the Qingcheng Prefecture earthquake and was later implicated in treason. She was imprisoned in the imperial mausoleum and had no chance of turning over, so many old ministers remained silent.
Even though the fifth princess Gu Jinyun was her niece, she always favored the former princess Gu Jinke because she recognized that she had exposed General Chen's affairs and that the former princess had loved the people like her own children.
In the officialdom, there were checks and balances on each other, and when one pulls out a radish, there will be dirt. This made General Qi at the time completely controlled, and he had no way to deal with the corrupt General Chen. Therefore, Princess Yuan was determined to expose the matter, which made General Qi feel very good about her.
Therefore, after the original princess was deposed and the Fifth Princess revealed her ambition, General Qi reluctantly supported Gu Jinyun. Later, due to Gu Jinxiu's frame-up, General Qi died an untimely death.
So when facing such an aunt, the Fifth Princess Gu Jinyun couldn't even bring herself to say that she had colluded with bandits and robbed the imperial court's grain.
And now, facing her aunt, facing her aunt's stern eyes, she recalled what she had done in the capital in the past. She suddenly had an epiphany and came to her senses. She was even more ashamed and broke out in a cold sweat.
Rebirth had confused her mind and made her develop an uncontrollable greed for that position. She also did wrong things because of her greed. She even teamed up with the bandits she despised the most, robbing the court and the people of their life-saving supplies, and even disregarded the lives of the people. In the end, she evaded her responsibilities and hid in the border areas.
She was completely speechless and could only hang her head.
General Qi frowned when he saw her like this. If he hadn't been concerned about her status as an imperial princess, he would have whipped her with the whip in his hand. However, she and Gu Jinyun had a relationship after all. They had supported each other on the frontier for so many years, and they were both teachers and mothers. He immediately became more stern and asked, "What mistakes have you made that made you learn to be hesitant!"
Gu Jinyun still didn't say anything. She could only sigh, her body drooping a little: "I thought you would be more mature after returning to the capital and marrying a husband. I didn't expect that when I see you now, not only have you not improved at all, but you are even worse than before."
She couldn't hide her disappointment and rode away.
Gu Jinyun finally couldn't help it and told about all the stupid things he had done in the capital. The more he talked, the more he realized how stupid he had been. He became more and more ashamed and condemned in his heart. Finally, his voice gradually became inaudible.
General Qi's face became paler and angrier as she spoke. She couldn't help herself and threw the horse's side directly at Gu Jingyun, angrily saying, "All my years of teaching have been in vain! I really regret it!"
As she spoke, she became so angry that her old injuries from the battlefield aroused and she started coughing.
Gu Jinyun was a little panicked: "Auntie!"
General Qi broke free from her hand: "Don't call me aunt!"
"I know I was wrong, aunt!" Gu Jinyun had deep feelings for her. No matter in the previous life or this life, her aunt always doted on her. Seeing General Qi's appearance, she became anxious and apologized in a hurry.
"Aunt, I really know I was wrong. I shouldn't have associated with bandits, and I shouldn't have stolen the relief supplies! I have failed to live up to your teachings!"
General Qi laughed bitterly: "Why did I teach you martial arts since you were young? So that you could protect the weak! Why did you come to the military camp to be a general? So that you could protect your country and your people. What did you do before? Which one of these points did you meet?"
Gu Jinyun pursed his lips and clenched his fists. He felt as if his spine was bent by her questioning.
General Qi waved his hand and said, "If you want to fight for the throne, do it openly. You are the princess, and I won't say a word to you. But if you fight in this way, will the people of the world really submit to you?"
She put her hands behind her back and turned away. "I see you still don't understand where you really went wrong. You don't have to follow me these days. Go around the city and visit the villages that were massacred before."
"Come back if you can really think it through!"
As she spoke, she no longer paid any attention to Gu Jinyun, got on her horse and left with her men.
Gu Jinyun stood still, and her personal guards and Feng You gathered behind her to protect her.
The wind in the wilderness was cold, blowing on his body like a knife. Gu Jinyun stood still for a long time and then walked back.
Soon, Gu Jinke sent a message saying that something seemed to be going on between the Fifth Princess and General Qi. The Fifth Princess seemed to have been scolded by General Qi, and then she went to wander around the city and several villages that were massacred.
It is said that he is in a daze.
Gu Jinke tapped the table and frowned, not quite understanding what they were arguing about. The war was about to begin, and the commander's emotions had to at least remain stable. Gu Jinke thought about it, then took his men on horseback and headed towards the village that was being massacred.
But she didn't expect that when she arrived at the entrance of the massacred village, she would meet Gu Jinyun walking out of the village.
In fact, she and Gu Jingyun had not seen each other for a long time. They went to Qingcheng Prefecture from the capital respectively. Gu Jinke was busy and Gu Jinyun was doing things in the rear. Later, they ran directly to the border. It was the first time Gu Jinke saw her after he arrived at the border.
Unlike when she was in the capital, during her recovery period, Lord Degui and Lord Wuwang Tan Xi fed her with soup and supplements every day, and she gained some weight.
Gu Jinyun now looked a little thin, and seemed to be constantly on the move. Her face was a little rough, and her eyes were dull. The high-spirited and ambitious look that Gu Jinke had seen when she was just reborn in the capital was gone.
She stood in front, staring at Gu Jinke on the horse.
This attitude was indeed not friendly, and the two sides seemed to be on edge. Xun Ji thought about the news they had received about what Gu Jinyun had done, and couldn't help but be on guard. He rode his horse to Gu Jinke's side as a guard, holding the sword tightly and looking at Gu Jinyun defensively.
Feng You, who was beside Gu Jinyun, naturally also felt the unusual atmosphere. She also took a step forward and stood in front of Gu Jinyun, holding the sword tightly in her hand.
But the two people involved didn't seem to feel this atmosphere. Gu Jinke looked at the desolate surroundings, frowned, and then looked at Gu Jinyun: "Fifth sister, long time no see, I wonder why you are here?"
Gu Jinyun looked up at her eyes and saw that her eyes were clear, as if she had seen through everything, which made her look even more embarrassed.
She thought about what she had seen during her travels in the city and what she had just seen. Something in her heart was churning. Then she looked at Gu Jinke, suddenly gritted her teeth, lifted her robe, and then knelt down straight.
"Your Highness, I apologize!"
The author has something to say:
Everyone is inclined towards Qiao and Li? And Joe has the most positive reviews, are you sure?
Is it decided like this, or should I write the name and everyone likes it, and the one with the most likes gets the top spot?
Because of JJ regulations, it is impossible to include everyone. As for the extra chapters, I have to wait until the editor goes to work and ask him in detail.
jj has requirements for this kind of multiple male protagonists. For example, if the female protagonist breaks up with A after confirming her relationship with him, and then falls in love with B, she cannot go back and be with A.
Then I decided to turn evil. Next time when I write a story with many male protagonists, I want each of them to fall in love with the female protagonist, and the last one to fall in love with is the male protagonist! Because you can't go back to your old love. So last night's passion opened the pre-collection, if you like it, remember to collect it~ "Falling in Love in a World of Female Domination"
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2022-06-23 23:47:38 ~ 2022-06-24 23:47:07~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the shallow water bomb: 1 chili pepper;
Thanks to the little angel who cast the mines: 2 chili peppers;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Xilou 10 bottles; Yiguang Xianshi 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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