Chapter 28: Fury Sets the Prairie Ablaze (Three)

  The commander-in-chief of the Han army camp is Chen Kui.

  Chen Kuiyuan was the defender of Luancheng, Hebei Province, in the Northern Song Dynasty. As early as April of the first year of Jingkang (1126), when the Jin army invaded the Southern Song for the first time, they captured Luancheng, and Chen Kui, the commander-in-chief of the infantry, was defeated and surrendered.

  As a relatively early surrendered general of the Song army, Chen Kui was granted the position of Meng'an under the conscious political needs of the Jin people.

  At that time, the Jin state had not yet implemented the northern and southern official systems like the Liao state, so whether it was the Khitan people who surrendered from the original Liao state, the Xi people, or the Bohai people and the Northern Han people, they all adopted the Menganmuke system.

  The mighty An of the Jin state is equivalent to the thousand households of the Liao state and the first-class controller of the Song state, which can be considered a high-ranking general. What's even more rare is that the Jin army doesn't have many people or horses, and if you count all the Jurchen soldiers and various auxiliary troops, the total national military strength is only over 20 million. Therefore, there are not many generals at the level of mighty An, which can be considered as the backbone of the Jin army, capable of standing alone. Unlike in the Song state, where the national military strength exceeds 100 million, and the number of controllers is like cow hair, completely unable to stand out.

  However, it depends on who is in charge. The Jurchen general, Guixin, was a powerful and majestic figure, leading his army alone, conquering cities and strongholds along the way, with an awe-inspiring presence. In contrast, Chen Kui, the Han Chinese general, was like his soldiers, inferior and lacking in strength. Not to mention being compared to the Jurchen generals or Mengke, even when compared to the Khitan generals, he would have to lower his head. No choice, after all, the combat effectiveness of the Han Chinese army is the lowest.

  In the entire Han army camp, the real boss is not Chen Kui, but rather Pu Tuo Ta Lun. Yes, a chiliarch still has to listen to a wujiang. Ta Lun is not only the representative of the new supervisor of the Han army, but his own strength can also completely suppress the Han army. The bravest generals in the entire army were brought out to fight against Ta Lun, and there was no one who could last three rounds. In an army camp that worships martial power, facing such strength, it is impossible not to obey.

  Chen Kui had been cautious in his words and deeds since he surrendered to the Jin Dynasty, knowing that he was not well-received by the Jin people. He also strictly disciplined the thousands of soldiers under him. However, he did not expect that on such an ordinary night, without any warning signs, a raging fire suddenly broke out in his own military camp.

  Looking at the soaring flames and the soldiers scurrying about like ants on a hot skillet, Chen Kui was utterly flustered. No matter whether the fire would be extinguished or the soldiers in the military camp could be controlled, the Jin army's troubles were unavoidable. If things went awry, they might even face military punishment - he had long since seen that Fu Xin had been seething with anger over the past few days, and the big stick of military law was raised high, just waiting for someone to take a step forward. The Jurchen people, Fu Xin was reluctant to take action against; the Khitan people, Fu Xin found it difficult to take action against; but the Han people from the north... would Fu Xin not take drastic measures?

  Chen Kui's greatest desire at this moment was to chop off the officer on duty at the south gate of the camp, as well as his subordinates.

  "Who is on duty at the South Gate tonight?" Chen Kui shouted with flying spittle.

  The personal guard hastily ran out of the camp and came back after a while to report: "It's Fa Hong from Pu Jiang."

  "Bring him here, I'll chop him up!" Chen Kui drew out his waist knife and slashed wildly at the air, as if Fang Hong was right in front of him, being chopped into minced meat by his chaotic blades.

  "Yes, General!" The Imperial Guard still habitually used the Southern Dynasty's title for their officers, then hastily ran out again.

  Seeing the increasingly fierce fire that had almost burned half of the military camp, Chen Kui's heart sank to the bottom. He didn't know whether to organize the soldiers to put out the fire or simply gather the remaining soldiers and withdraw from the military camp that had become a sea of flames.

  Chen Kui was in a difficult situation, but then he saw the imperial guard rushing back in a hurry. Suddenly, Hu's face turned fierce: "How come you're alone? Where is Fang Hong, the one who should be killed?"

  General, it's not good... The central army camp has sent over a thousand men and horses to surround our entire camp... They also specifically asked for you to go and respond.

  What! Chen Kui's waist knife fell to the ground with a clang, and he was left speechless, unable to utter a word for half a day.

  This trusted aide had been by Chen Kui's side since he left Lan Prefecture, so naturally he shared his master's concerns. Seeing the situation, he hastily said: "General, for now, we can only go and apologize, then shift all the blame onto Nanmen Yuezhang Fang Hong. This way, perhaps there will be a glimmer of hope to turn things around..."

  Chen Kui rubbed his eyes, woke up with a start, and nodded reluctantly: "It had to be this way, but I hope... Alas..."

  Originally, the South Gate was the closest to the Imperial Camp, but now it has fallen into a sea of flames. Chen Kui led his dozens of personal guards and had no choice but to go through the West Gate to meet with the Imperial Envoy.

  From a distance, the Ximen camp was already open, with a large group of heavily armored knights, their long spears like a forest, their knives shining brightly in the firelight. There were countless arrowheads shaped like wolf teeth, which seemed to be jumping and twisting under the flickering light. A powerful army's imposing momentum was palpable, making Chen Kui and his personal guards feel suffocated even from afar.

  In front of the iron hooves of this group of knights, there were hundreds of soldiers from the Xie Army in a state of chaos. Some held pots, helmets and wooden buckets, trying to put out the fire; others abandoned their armor and only grabbed some personal belongings, wanting to escape through the gate. Faced with this sudden arrival of fully armed troops, all the soldiers of the Xie Army were bewildered and didn't understand why these friendly armies were holding shining knives and guns instead of fire extinguishers...

  Just then, Chen Kui's loud voice rang out: "The camp guards were not vigilant, resulting in the loss of fire, startling the nobles. Chen Mou cannot avoid blame and has come to apologize. Please, noble envoy, see it from the perspective of being fellow allies and be more tolerant for a moment or two..."

  The first knight sneered: "A fire broke out in the camp and burned down several tents, this is a serious crime. Chen Kui, you're in big trouble."

  Chen Kui and the Imperial Guards walked through a path cleared by the soldiers, and upon closer inspection, he recognized that this person was none other than Amutai, the trusted aide of the new Khan of the Mongols and the commander of the Imperial Guard. He felt a jolt in his heart, as Amutai had always been hostile towards him, never showing him a good face. Usually, when there were no issues, he would still find fault with Chen Kui, now that such a big matter had occurred, it was likely to be difficult to smooth things over...

  Chen Kui's mind was racing, while responding to the conversation, he quietly instructed his personal guards to bring some gold, silver and jewels from their camp, hoping to bribe their way out of this situation.

  A Mu Tai divided his 600 cavalry into two groups, with 100 Jurchen soldiers and 200 Khitan soldiers blocking the west gate, while another 300 Khitan soldiers galloped to the camp to search for any suspicious infiltrators.

  Hundreds of iron riders with swords drawn, bows strung and armor gleaming galloped wildly in all directions, inevitably clashing with some Han troops and engaging in physical altercations, the atmosphere on the scene suddenly became tense.

  Chen Kui's heart was secretly anxious, and he was secretly scolding the imperial guard for being as slow as a turtle when it came to fetching his belongings. Just then, the imperial guard finally arrived, panting and sweating profusely, carrying a large bundle in his hands.

  "Here it is!" Chen Kui's heart skipped a beat, took the package, and subconsciously weighed it, his face changing color. "You, how much did you bring?"

  "Your humble servant didn't know how much to take, so I just brought everything..."

  "You, you're a good-for-nothing!" Chen Kui was so angry that he almost smashed the package on his head - this was the result of his hard work for several years! He brought everything, and now it's all gone. What will he use to ward off disaster next time?

  But now it's too late to say anything, the atmosphere is so tense, no one can guarantee what will happen next... Alas! Let's just hope for the best and avoid disaster.

  Chen Kui carefully approached Amutai's horse and painfully handed over the package: "Mugebi, this midnight, for the sake of Chen's camp, I couldn't sleep well. Chen has been feeling uneasy in his heart, so he wants to treat you brothers to a drink, take a look..."

  Amu Tai took the package with a bewildered expression, and after lifting one corner, his face changed color. He slowly wrapped up the package again, neither accepting it nor returning it to Chen Kui.

  Chen Kui was nervous and didn't know what the other person meant, so he spoke cautiously: "Mou Ke Bei, look at this..."

  "Ah Mu Tai interrupted him: "Where's Talen? Why haven't we seen him?"

  "Where's Talen Pu?" Ah, yes, he...he..." Chen Kui seemed to have just remembered this person and looked around.

  Just then, someone suddenly let out a terrified scream: "No, no! General, look at the south gate's watchtower..."

  Everyone raised their heads to look at the top of the 70-meter-high gallows 100 steps away, and under the illumination of the soaring flames, three corpses dressed in Jurchen attire could be seen hanging from the flagpole, swaying in the wind. Among them was a particularly robust Jurchen man, who was none other than Pu'er Taren.

  Chen Kui's eyes turned black, and he almost fainted. A sudden big fire had already made Jin Ren suspicious. Just as he was trying to clear up the matter, another big thing happened. If it were a campfire, he could try to shirk responsibility, and with bribery, there might still be a glimmer of hope. But now, Talun died on his turf in this way. It's like mud falling into his pants - whether it's shit or not, it's all the same.

  Bang! A loud noise of a heavy object falling to the ground brought Chen Kui's chaotic thoughts back to reality. He saw that his own bundle had been thrown to the ground, a pair of icy eyes stared at him, and then, was the sound of a curved knife slowly being drawn out of its scabbard...

  Chen Kui let out a long sigh and suddenly turned his head to shout loudly: "Brothers, the Golden Army is about to start a massacre, everyone scatter!"

  Chen Kui finished speaking, took off the helmet and threw it away, and suddenly disappeared into the crowd, fully demonstrating the special skill of the generals of the Song Dynasty who were good at running backwards.

  The news reached Gongsun Zan's central military camp. Although he felt that things were a bit suspicious, Chen Gui was afraid that he didn't have the guts to kill and set fires at this time. However, his enraged soldiers had already launched a bloody massacre on the Han army camp. Things had gone too far and could no longer be reversed. Gongsun Zan made a decisive decision: since things had been done, they might as well be thorough. He again mobilized one thousand Khitan soldiers, joined forces with two thousand Xianbei soldiers, totaling three thousand people, to join the action of annihilating the Han army.

  For slaughtering these slave soldiers, Gao Xin didn't have the slightest mental burden. These "cannon fodder" were originally meant to be consumed, and there was no difference between dying on the battlefield or under the butcher's knife. Anyway, the Song Dynasty had already been destroyed, and in its place was the "Great Chu" regime established by the Jin army. The entire former territory of the Song Dynasty, with its millions of people, would all be used by the great Jin state. Such "cannon fodder" could be obtained as needed, without any need to worry.

  Moreover, Geng Xin also had another speculation: Chen Kui didn't have the guts to make trouble, but who could guarantee that there were no traitors among his signed soldiers? Those northern Yan people weren't as easy to deal with as the southerners in Henan. In this regard, the original Yanjing Shoubei and the commander of the Changsheng Army, Guo Yao Shi, was a typical example.

  Guo the pharmacist, this three-surname family slave who first betrayed Liao to surrender to Song and then again betrayed Song to surrender to Jin. Relying on his own hands holding tens of thousands of fierce and invincible soldiers, in the midst of the three countries of Liao, Song, and Jin, he was able to turn the situation around at will, following the wind and changing direction, whoever gave him milk was his mother. First, he served as a traitor to Liao, then as a traitor to Song, and later... Later on, the Jin people who possessed absolute power did not give him another chance to serve as a traitor to Jin.

  The Jin people disarmed the Changsheng Army, first killing more than 40 generals under Guo Yao's command with big sticks at a banquet, then luring his 8,000 soldiers to Songting Pass, and finally ambushing them all. They thoroughly chopped off Guo Yao's claws, truly fulfilling the saying: "Evil people will be punished by evil people."

  At this time, Gongsun had already mobilized his troops to the extreme. The Xianbei army was in disarray, the Khitan army was empty, and his central camp had less than 300 soldiers left.

  Gongsun arranged the 300 soldiers as follows: Fifty imperial guards defended their own central camp; One hundred elite soldiers were divided into two teams, guarding the east and west gates of the central camp respectively; One hundred elite soldiers patrolled back and forth, strictly guarding the piled-up supplies; The remaining fifty people were spread out to guard more than 8,000 Song Dynasty nobles, women and children, as well as captured young laborers.

  Fifty men guarding eight thousand! It seems to be a very disproportionate ratio. However, for the elite Jurchen soldiers who had once defeated several thousand Song troops with just a few dozen cavalrymen, this was nothing. Moreover, they were now only guarding prisoners, and these prisoners were mostly imperial clansmen, women and children, as well as untrained civilians who were unable to even catch chickens.

  Gu Xin had no worries about this, nor was he worried about external enemies causing trouble - with 300 Jurchen elite soldiers in hand, even if tens of thousands of enemy troops came to attack Huo Yan, he still had the confidence to make the enemy lose a tooth. As for the possible small group of strange soldiers who might have infiltrated the camp... If there were less than a hundred people, he would mercilessly swallow them whole, skin and bones included.

  Is it really true? Di Lie didn't believe it!

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