Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 715 The Song Dynasty Traitors and the Jurchens are All formidable Enemies (Part 1)
As a military judge, Du Wuji experienced both pain and pleasure.

The reason for his happiness was that even after losing Xia Cai and his younger brother and private army, Shi Ju was still willing to give Du Wuji a chance, giving him several hundred elite soldiers so that he could continue to establish his authority in the army.

Although it's a job that might offend people, it's still better than being idle in the rear.

The reason for the suffering was that this Jin army was a mixed force of Jurchen and Han soldiers. Du Wuji's authority still had some effect in the Han army, but it was predictable that it would have little effect in the Jurchen army.

His words are utterly useless.

What makes things even more complicated is that Wu Jie's army brought 6,000 troops this time, 4,000 of whom were Jurchens and the remaining 2,000 were newly recruited Han soldiers.

These Han soldiers had been humiliated within the Wujie Army system. Now, when they moved out with Shi Ju's Chenzhou army, they immediately felt like orphans seeing their uncle, and they joined forces with the Chenzhou Han army, beginning to stand up to the Jurchens.

Some officers in Wu Jiejun felt this was a split and a betrayal, and started causing trouble every few days.

But the Chenzhou army generals, whose predecessors were powerful clans in Henan, didn't care about that. The Jin dynasty's rule in Henan depended on them to maintain it. What were the Jurchens pretending to be so arrogant about?!

Furthermore, marching in the rain was extremely difficult and frustrating. As a result, there were no major conflicts within the Jin army, but minor ones occurred frequently.

"What's all this noise?! Everyone, stop!" Du Wuji, wearing a straw raincoat and holding a huge bronze gong, began to bang on it vigorously. "I am Du Wuji, the military judge. Why aren't you all returning to your camps?!"

"Boss Du, you've come at the right time!" Amid the chaos, a man whose straw hat was knocked off, his face covered in mud and dark red blood, shouted, "Come with me and wipe out these barbarians!"

Du Wuji felt his head was about to explode, and he roared, "Guo Taichu, what the hell have you done? What's wrong with you...?"

But before his rebuke could finish, a furious shout rang out: "Han slave! Who do you call a barbarian?!"

By the light of the setting sun and the flickering torchlight, Du Wuji saw that the person speaking was none other than Pu Chaping, a general of the Wujie Army, and felt an excruciating headache.

But Guo Taichu was not afraid of Pu Chaping at all. He drew his knife and grinned, saying, "Which bastard answers? That's who I'm talking about!"

Pu Chaping was furious upon hearing this: "You Han traitor! Do you think this is still the time of Steward Guo?!"

Guo Taichu had been shouting angrily to maintain the initiative, but upon hearing these words, he could no longer restrain himself and drew his sword to slash forward.

Pu Chaping was prepared and also drew his sword in response.

The two generals clashed weapons and fought each other right in front of the military judge.

Seeing this, their personal guards also drew their swords and rushed forward, making a major internal strife seem inevitable.

At the critical moment, Du Wuji stepped forward and led the enforcement team to stand between the two groups. He then personally squeezed between Pu Chaping and Guo Taichu, separating the two.

Because they had already set up camp, neither the Han Chinese nor the Jurchen soldiers were wearing armor or carrying long weapons, which gave the armored law enforcement team the opportunity to suppress them.

Of course, the enforcement team ultimately dared not kill the personal guards of the two generals; they merely used their sturdy armor to separate the two sides.

"Both of you are generals of the Wujie Army. Logically speaking, as the military judge of the Chenzhou Army, I have no right to interfere," Du Wuji said loudly. "But now, I have been appointed by Lord Shi and personally countersigned by General Pucha. It is my duty to maintain the discipline of the army, and I dare not shirk my responsibilities!"

"Whatever your feud may be, tell me now! If I am incompetent, I can explain it to Minister Shi and Chief Steward Pu! What kind of skill is it to kill a colleague?!"

Although Du Wuji's words were reasonable, well-founded, and polite, Pu Chaping still refused to give him face.

"You Han slaves are all a den of rats under the granary. You'd be better off asking the heavens to divine justice than to ask you to uphold justice!"

At this point, Du Wuji was also furious: "General Pucha, I only call you 'General' because of Chief Administrator Pucha. Otherwise, why would I give you the face of a stray dog ​​and a defeated general?!"

Pu Chaping wanted to continue his anger halfway through the conversation, but when he saw dozens of armored soldiers in straw raincoats standing with their swords drawn and staring coldly at him, he forced himself to suppress his rage.

"Good! Good! The Great Jin has truly changed, and the Han slaves can finally hold their heads high." Pu Chaping sneered for a moment, spat on the ground, then turned and said, "Let's go! Sooner or later, we'll let these Han slaves know who's in charge of the Great Jin!"

The Jurchens fled in a flurry, but the matter was not over yet.

Du Wuji frowned and looked at Guo Taichu: "Old Guo, what exactly caused this chaos?"

Guo Taichu opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Du Wuji: "Old Guo, think it over before you speak. These words will be reported to Lord Shi. Pu Chaping is not someone who can't speak to General Pu Chaping. If the two sides disagree on what to say, that will be a serious crime of deceiving the army, which is punishable by death."

Guo Taichu gave a wry smile: "How dare I talk nonsense in front of Boss Du?"

"The army set up camp, and each unit was assigned a section of the town. Lord Shi repeatedly ordered that the people not be disturbed. We complied, at most requisitioning one or two more houses to house the wounded." "But who would have thought that Pu Chaping would occupy houses on a large scale and drive the people out? If that were all, it would be fine, but these bastards would keep any woman they saw who was pretty to serve. A few families tried to resist, but they were beaten up instead."

"Although I am a Han Chinese from Youyan, many of my subordinates are from Henan, and some of them are from nearby. They couldn't stand it and spoke up to reprimand me."

"Who knew those barbarians would actually start killing people with knives! When I arrived, more than a dozen of my men were injured and three were dead. That's when the fight broke out with them."

"The boys all know about this, which can prove it; it's definitely not a lie!"

Du Wuji was somewhat taken aback upon hearing this.

Although he was a military judge, he was overwhelmed with other matters and could only deal with the most serious cases, so he did not expect this incident to occur.

"We can't let them run rampant in Henan!" Du Wuji immediately made a decision: "I'll go and report to Minister Shi right away!"

Guo Taichu pulled Du Wuji aside and led him to a corner. After looking around, he said in a deep voice, "Brother Du, it's no use. Master Shi can't control these Jurchens. In the end, they will still fall into the hands of Chief Administrator Pucha."

Do you really think that General Pucha would punish a high-ranking general or his own nephew for such a trivial matter?

Du Wuji thought for a moment and felt that Guo Taichu's words made sense: "Old Guo, what do you want to do?"

Guo Taichu looked around again, then lowered his voice once more: "Boss Du, our army now numbers 20,000. Although the Wujie Army has 6,000, only 4,000 of them are Jurchens. The remaining 2,000 Han soldiers are all loyal to the Chenzhou army. Why don't we take this opportunity to wipe out all these Jurchens..."

As he spoke, Guo Taichu made a gesture of slitting his throat.

Du Wuji was startled: "Old Guo, we're so close, why would you want to harm me? Putting aside everything else, you're a member of the Guo family of Youyan. Do you think I'd believe you if you tried to conspire with me?"
Never say such things again. If someone hears you, it's a capital offense.

Guo Taichu still held onto Du Wuji's arm tightly, and said with a bitter smile in a low voice, "Brother Du, how can the name of the Guo family of Youyan still exist in Youyan now? When the country was founded, our ancestor took a wrong step, which led to suspicion and an unclear death."

Later, because Grand Commandant Guo Anguo caught the eye of the current emperor, the Guo family's fortunes began to improve, and even someone like me was able to become a general in the army.

"However, now, when Grand Commandant Guo was fighting the Shandong bandits, we don't know whether he died or was captured. In short, he has disappeared without a trace. After Grand Commandant Pucha took over, although he said he would treat everyone equally, all the men of the Wujie Army are like orphans. How can they have a good life?"

“Boss Du, you have a great reputation, strong hands, and many friends in the Han army. I’ve also contacted some of my friends in the Chenzhou army, and they are also suffering from the oppression of the Jurchens. Why don’t you make the contact and deal with these four thousand Jurchens in the next two days?”

Du Wuji, finding Guo Taichu's words increasingly absurd, forcefully swung his arm and said in a low voice, "Are you insane! The Song traitors are right in front of us, and you still want to start an internal conflict! You're truly absurd!"

Guo Taichu had no choice but to release Du Wuji's arm, but he was still unwilling to give up: "Boss Du, it is precisely because we are facing the Song traitor that we have reached a point where we have no choice but to take action immediately."

Otherwise, when the time comes to truly fight the Song rebels, it will be our Han Chinese army fighting on the front lines, while those elite Jin cavalry will be left to their own devices, only reaping the benefits at the end!

"Brother Du, as long as we take advantage of the night to surround and kill these Jurchens, then we can support Lord Shi as the King of Henan, and Brother Du can also become a real Grand Commandant!"

Du Wuji lost all patience upon hearing this, stared at Guo Taichu and said in a low voice, "Old Guo, I'm asking you, what are you going to do with this traitor Song?"

Guo Taichu stamped his foot and said, "The key point now is not the Song traitors, but the Jurchens even if the Great Jin wins. What does it have to do with us Han people? Did you hear what that bastard Pu Chaping just said about Han people being slaves? We are slaves! Why should we debase ourselves and risk our lives for the Jurchens' world?"

Du Wuji stepped forward, grabbed Guo Taichu's collar, and said through gritted teeth, "Old Guo, all my brothers and comrades are trapped in Xia Cai and have perished at the hands of the Song traitors. Now you say the Song traitors are not a problem? Are my brothers not a problem either?"

Du Wuji pushed Guo Taichu, causing him to stumble a few steps, then turned and left, saying, "Old Guo, let me give you a piece of advice: before defeating the Song traitor, don't cause any trouble, or don't blame me for being merciless!"

Guo Taichu could only sigh and stomp his feet repeatedly in the rain as he watched Du Wuji's retreating figure.

Ignoring Guo Taichu's reaction, Du Wuji led the enforcement team back to Shi Ju in the central army to report on the day's events, but completely concealed Guo Taichu's private remarks.

"...That's how it is. Both generals hold high positions and great power, and I dare not act on my own initiative. I would like to ask Lord Shi to make the decision."

Shi Ju remained silent for a moment, then summoned his personal guards directly: "Tell Chief Steward Pu Cha to restrain himself and not jeopardize the situation in Henan!"

Du Wuji hesitated for a moment before saying, "Lord Shi, please issue a military order and let me deal with these people. After all, this is Henan, and our troops are made up of Henan men. If this continues, it may affect the morale of the army."

Shi Ju flipped through the documents and said calmly, "Let's not provoke any more trouble. Let's be patient for now. After we drive the Song traitors into the Huai River, I will have my own explanation. I will not let the Han people die in vain."

Du Wuji was completely convinced and agreed with clasped hands.

(End of this chapter)