Gu Yun was silent for a while, then suddenly said: "Truth was, the first time I went on the expedition, it was actually thanks to Old General Du and the others from the previous Marquis' old faction who worked hard to bring forth their request to the former emperor."

Chang Geng looked up.

Gu Yun was not a very modest person. When he'd had too much, he often ran his mouth. Even fibs such as 'I can put down twenty iron puppets in half an incense time with my ears plugged and my eyes blindfolded' had come from him before.

However, when one thought about it, he became famous in his youth. This chain of glorious history, from holding in his hand the token of command to march forward the west, up to the restoration of the Black Iron Camp, even just one of the above was enough to talk about for half a lifetime, yet Gu Yun had never mentioned them.

Gu Yun poured a cup full of a sour wine for Chang Geng: "This is the wine of the Lou Lan people. You have also grown up, you can have a few sips."

Chang Geng took a mouthful but wasn't able to make out any taste. He set it aside. He and Gu Yun had not seen each other for a long time, just seeing him here now was enough to stir his blood into a frenzy; he really did not need to add alcohol into it.

Gu Yun: "I didn't understand anything at that time, going with them only to cause more chaos, combined with my youthful arrogance, I had refused to admit my shortcomings."

"On the way to eliminate the bandits, I was too eager to take the initiative and acted alone. Just a small campaign ended up losing more than thirty Heavy Armors that real money was poured into, not only that, it even caused serious injuries to old General Du... Have you heard of General Du Chang De?"

Chang Geng had heard of him before from Liao Ran. The monk was perhaps even more familiar with the magistrates and military personnel of the former dynasty than he was with Buddha's scriptures.

Ten years ago, the old marquis and his wife both passed away due to illness. Gu Yun was still young. It was General Du who dutifully took care of both sides from the frontier to the Imperial Court and had single-handedly carried the current state of affairs. Unfortunately, his old wounds acted up. Later on, he had passed away while on the Northwest Campaign. Thus he had let Gu Yun, who was only seventeen years old at the time, take the position of a commander in that expedition.

Gu Yun: "At that time, if it wasn't because of me, the old man would still remain healthy and strong, his old injuries would not have acted up just because of a simple cold."