Very few people knew that Gongxi Chou had a private army.
It was small, and he had started putting it together when he was young, while serving under Tang Guo. Most of the soldiers were orphans he had taken in or young wandering knights with nowhere else to turn. Back then, he had no ambition to build up his own forces. He simply wanted an excuse to draw empty pay from Tang Guo—since he was technically the adopted son Tang Guo had favored, shouldn't Tang Guo also fund the troops his adopted son raised?
Using an enemy's money to raise your own soldiers was awesome!
But Gongxi Chou was proud to his core, confident in his own great strength and dismissive of ordinary foes. Whenever he led troops into battle, he charged straight in and slaughtered his way through. So he didn't think much of this private army. Over the following years, he took them around to fight on other people's behalf, and their numbers grew from a few hundred to more than a thousand. When he left to find his elder brother and great-nephew, he couldn't be bothered to take them along, so he handed them over to Gongxi Lai.
With this elite force at her side and Mama looking after her, Gongxi Lai's life should be comfortable, barring any unforeseen mishaps. That was one reason he felt so at ease leaving her to handle things on her own—Gongxi Lai was a capable adult who didn't need him watching over her every moment.
"Lord Gongxi, are you looking for Great General Xun?"
Lin Feng hadn't thought of that. She had only thought of Xun Ding.
If one looked closely, Xun Ding counted as one of his old subordinates too.
"Xun Yong'an? Hmph. I'll settle things with him tomorrow. Right