The reason the border city commanders had intervened previously wasn't just because Gu Wenheng held the authority to mobilize troops. There was another layer to it: most of the garrison commanders here were Cao Xiangqian's former subordinates, which was why they handled things with such exceptional efficiency.
Having borrowed their manpower, Gu Wenheng naturally had to pay them a visit to express his gratitude upon arriving in the area. After all, he would still need to rely on these garrison commanders to help clear out the wild beasts in the mountains across this region in the future.
"Mr. Gu, you are being entirely too polite," General Yun said. "This was something we local garrison commanders ought to do anyway. It was just that since the local officials hadn't spoken up before, it wasn't our place to step in." General Yun hadn't expected Gu Wenheng to be so generous, actually bringing over tens of thousands of pounds of grain on this visit.
