The guard who led the way was a little shy at first. Later, hearing that Cao Chun Hua once followed Gu Yun to clean up the Northern Barbarians, he finally opened the chatterbox: "The Westerners can't get any scrap from Marshal, they couldn't win in direct battlefield either, these days, they have been lingering around several ports of Liangjiang and come to harass us. I heard from the captain, maybe they want to measure their strength with us. Master, don't they all say that our Great Liang has a large amount of land and wealth? Why do foreigners also have so much money?"

"Don't call me ‘master’, I'm also a servant running errands," Cao Chun Hua waved and said again. "I actually don't understand much about these things either, but I've heard a few words from Master Du. You can see that their warships were specially designed for going out to sea and fighting naval battles. Did our Jiangnan Port and Dagu port not get destroyed in one move that year? Even our army is like this, let alone those small countries on the sea. Whenever they razed down one place, they would completely ‘devour’ that place, plunder local materials, open factories that cannot be opened within their country, and force the prisoners to work for them, wringing out their blood. Over time, there will be money."

The guard was silent for a moment, and led Cao Chun Hua all the way to Gu Yun's tent.

The guard at the gate went in to report back. The young guard took the time to tell Cao Chun Hua, "Sir, before, I heard the old soldiers talk about the Liangjiang garrison of the past, saying that when they were under General Zhao, salaries were high and work was little, the daily training was also lighter than garrisons of other areas. When there were no missions, they could even cross the strait and enjoy the apricot blossoms and the misty rain. At that time, I felt that I was born in the wrong era, if it was peace time, perhaps I could even climb into the ‘military master’ position."

Cao Chun Hua looked back at him, and the little guard smiled a little sheepishly. "Today, hearing this from you, I felt that I was short-sighted. Those who can hold swords are still luckier than those who can only wait to be driven away by others."

Just then, a personal guard of the Marshal tent came out and said, "Master Cao, please, Marshal invited you to come in."

Cao Chun Hua came back to his senses and walked into the Marshal tent. At a glance, he saw Gu Yun wearing a particularly coquettish liuli glass on the bridge of his nose. The carved patterns behind the mirror outshone the wearer, almost covering his face from the bridge of his nose all the way to his temple. It did not appear like a liuli glass, but more like a mask.