In November 278 (the fourth year of Xianning), Emperor Wu of Jin reappointed Du Pre as the general of Zhennan. After receiving the order, Du Zhu went south to Xiangyang (present-day Xiangfan City, Hubei) to take over the post of the late former governor of Jingzhou, Yanghu, in preparation for the upcoming war to exterminate Wu.

At that time, the whole country had not yet been unified, the Western Jin Dynasty had only half of the rivers and mountains, and the Sun-Wu regime still controlled the area south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, Sun Wu's national strength was far weaker than that of the Western Jin Dynasty, and coupled with the political turmoil, it was difficult to compete with the Western Jin Dynasty. After Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty ascended the throne, he always wanted to launch a war to destroy Wu, but the opinions within the Western Jin Dynasty were not consistent. Except for a few ministers such as Yang Hu and Zhang Hua who supported the idea of Emperor Wu of Jin, most of them had an ambiguous attitude. Some powerful figures in the imperial court, such as Jia Chong and Xun Xuan, held different opinions, so that they missed some excellent fighters to destroy Sun Wu. In the spring of the fourth year of Xianning, Yanghu, the commander of the Jin army on the Jingzhou front, suddenly fell seriously ill, and Emperor Wu of Jin, who had always been indecisive, regretted it a little and wanted to let Yanghu go out with illness, but Yanghu died soon. Before his death, Yanghu recommended Du Pre to Emperor Wu of Jin to replace him, believing that he could take on this important responsibility. Yanghu recommended Du Pre, on the one hand, because in the controversy within the imperial court, Du Pre always stood on Yanghu's side and actively supported the war to exterminate Wu; On the other hand, it is because Du Pre has outstanding military talents. Xiangyang, where Du was stationed, was the capital of Jingzhou on the southern border of the Western Jin Dynasty. At that time, the Western Jin Dynasty and Sun Wu each had a Jingzhou, forming a situation of confrontation between the north and the south. At the beginning of the war, Du Yu's first task was to capture Sun Wu's Jingzhou.

After Du Pre arrived in Jingzhou, he actively carried out military deployment, and at the same time sent troops to attack Xiling. Xiling (southeast of present-day Yichang, Hubei) was the western border town of Sun Wu and its strategic location was very important. As long as the Jin army can break through Xiling, the sailors of Yizhou can go down the river and gallop through Jingzhou. Sun Wu has also paid attention to the importance of Xiling. General Lu Xun once pointed out that Xiling is the west gate of Sun Wu, and if Xiling is lost, the whole Jingzhou will not be protected. Therefore, from Lu Xun to his son Lu Kang, he has never relaxed his control over Xiling. However, Du pre-found that since the death of Lu Kang, Sun Hao, the lord of Wu, gradually reduced the number of troops here. It's just that the governor stationed here is Zhang Zheng, a famous general of Sun Wu; Without the exception of Zhang Zheng, Xiling is likely to become a huge obstacle to the advance of the Jin army in future wars. As a result, Du Pre implemented a plan to kill people with a knife. He selected a group of sturdy soldiers from the army and suddenly attacked Zhang Zheng. Although Zhang Zheng was wary of Du Zheng's arrival, he never expected that he would come to attack as soon as he arrived, and he was not prepared to suffer defeat. Zhang Zheng was afraid that Sun Hao would punish him and did not report the situation truthfully. Du knew that Sun Hao was suspicious by nature and did not trust his subordinates very much, so he deliberately sent the captives captured in Xiling to Jianye, the capital of Sun Wu. Sun Hao really hit the plan, and in a fit of rage, he recalled Zhang Zheng and appointed Liu Xian, the supervisor of Wuchang, to replace him. Before the Great War, the enemy's generals changed and the morale of the army was turbulent, which created favorable conditions for the victory of the Jin army. In August 279 A.D. (the fifth year of Xianning), after Du was ready, he wrote to Emperor Wu of Jin to ask for war.

At this time, Wang Hun, the commander of the Jin army stationed on the front line in Yangzhou, claimed that Sun Wu was going to send troops to attack the Jin Dynasty. The opposition seized the opportunity to make irresponsible remarks, causing Emperor Wu of Jin to hesitate about Du Zhu's request for war, and finally agreed to postpone the plan to destroy Wu until the next year.

Du Yu learned that Emperor Wu of Jin had changed his hexagram and was very anxious. Again, he wrote and stated his opinion. He said that Sun Wu's forces were quite tight, and he could only concentrate on holding the east of Xiakou, and he was unable to reinforce even the western front. Du pretended to criticize Emperor Wu of Jin for listening to rumors and giving up the plan to destroy Wu, which was actually indulging in the enemy's troubles and giving the enemy a chance to breathe. He believes that the war to exterminate Wu will be won and that even if it does not succeed, it will not lose anything. Regarding Du Pre's letter, Emperor Wu of Jin was still noncommittal. Du Yu was anxious and angry, and wrote to the third time to request an immediate war. He angrily criticized the opposition's dark psychology and shameful behavior of disregarding the interests of the country and fearing the meritorious service of others. Du Yu also pointed out to Emperor Wu of Jin that since the news that we were going to attack Eastern Wu had leaked, Eastern Wu might have to take countermeasures, which would definitely bring many new difficulties to our war to destroy Eastern Wu. When Du Pre-'s book was sent to Emperor Wu of Jin, the minister Zhang Hua was playing chess with Emperor Wu of Jin. Zhang Hua immediately pushed away the chessboard, persuaded Emperor Wu of Jin to stop being indecisive, and begged him to adopt Du Yu's suggestion. At this time, Jia Chong, Xun Miao and others came out to disagree. Minister Shan Tao actually said forcefully: "Outside Ning must have internal worries." Leaving a Soochow can avoid civil strife, maybe it's a great thing! Due to Du Pre's several letters, the situation of attacking Sun Wu was clearly analyzed, and Emperor Wu of Jin finally made up his mind and immediately sent troops to attack Sun Wu.

In November 279 A.D. (the fifth year of Xianning), Emperor Wu of Jin mobilized more than 200,000 troops, divided into six routes, and advanced by land and water, and attacked Eastern Wu on a large scale. Du Zhen did not serve as the commander in this war, and Emperor Wu of Jin only appointed him as the commander of the Western Front, with the specific task of taking Jiangling and occupying Jingzhou, and was responsible for dispatching the sailors of Wang Jun, the assassin of Yizhou, in the Jingzhou area.

In the first month of 280 A.D. (the first year of Taikang), Du Pre ordered his army to besiege Gangneung. Gangneung City is well defended, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Du Yu didn't want to waste time and troops here, and just surrounded it but not annihilated. After cutting off Gangneung from the outside world, he immediately mobilized a part of his forces to attack westward and capture some cities along the river. One dark night, Du Pre sent several capable generals to lead 800 sturdy soldiers to attack Lexiang in the south of the Yangtze River. Under the cover of night, this army crossed the Yangtze River unnoticed. According to the tactics of the commander-in-chief, on the one hand, they lit fires everywhere on the mountain, set up flags, and bluffed; On the one hand, the troops were divided to attack various key areas near Lexiang. In this way, Sun Xin, the governor of the Wu army in Lexiang City, was scared to restlessness, and the Wu army everywhere was also panicked and did not dare to act at will. Then, Du Yu's troops were ambushed outside the city of Lexiang, waiting for the opportunity to attack the city. Coincidentally, at this time, a Wu army returned to Lexiang from the riverbank; Du Yu's soldiers disguised themselves and sneaked into the city in the ranks of the Wu army, and captured Sun Xin, the governor of the Wu army. Du pre-designed a clever way to enjoy the township, which made his subordinates very admired. They all said: "The boss fights with stratagem, and he really thinks that one is ten thousand!"

After clearing the perimeter of Jiangling, Du Yu quickly took Jiangling and occupied Jingzhou. Then Du pre-waved his army eastward, and cooperated with various Jin armies in other regions to attack Sun Wu's capital Jianye. At a military meeting, some people were afraid of the continuous march, and it was suggested at a military meeting that the weather was getting hotter and the rain was increasing, and the northern soldiers were susceptible to diseases and diseases if they did not adapt to the water and soil, and that they should wait until winter to continue the march. Du Zhen disagreed, analyzed the entire war situation, and said: "Now that we have won one victory after another, our morale has been greatly boosted, and we just need to work hard in one go. Fighting a war is like splitting bamboo, as long as you split a few sections, the bottom will be solved. Du Pre-Forecast's opinion was finally accepted by everyone, and the situation of the war in the future developed just as Du Pre-predicted it.

While advancing eastward, Du Zhen also divided his troops to the south and captured the Jiaozhou and Guangzhou regions, which are now Guangxi and Guangdong. In the entire campaign to exterminate Wu, Du Zhen made outstanding achievements, killing and capturing a total of 14 high-ranking officials such as the governor of Sun and Wu, the superintendent of the army, and as many as 120 middle-level officials such as Yamen and county guards.

Du Yu himself has almost no martial arts. According to the Book of Jin, he couldn't even ride a horse, and his archery skills were terrible. But whenever there was a military activity, the imperial court had to call him to plan for the staff. He knows his opponent and knows his friends, and is good at fighting wits with his enemies. In the war to destroy Wu, the Wu people hated Du Yu the most, mainly because he was good at using troops and often dealt fatal blows to the enemy. Du Pre had a big neck disease, so the Dongwu people put a water scoop on the dog's neck, saw the tree with a long bag, wrote "Du Pre Neck", and then cut it off, in order to vent their hatred for Du Pre.

Du is broad-minded and can take care of the overall situation in case of trouble. Wang Jun, a veteran in his seventies, has been building warships and training sailors in Yizhou for many years to prepare for war. After the war began, he led the naval army down the river and was invincible. Arriving within the boundaries of Jingzhou, Wang Jun needed to be dispatched by Du Pre-command. However, Du Yu respected him very much and did not use his position to create any difficulties for the other party. Du Yu also told Wang Jun that the navy could command itself according to the development of the war, and suggested that he should minimize delays, go straight to Jianye, and establish a great achievement. Du Pre's attitude has an important relationship with the Yizhou Navy taking the lead in capturing Jianye. This is also in stark contrast to what happened to Wang Jun in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. There, Wang Hun, who commanded the dispatch of the navy, was afraid that Wang Jun would win the first credit and make things difficult for him in every way. Just after Wang Jun eliminated all kinds of interference and occupied Jianye and captured Sun Hao, the lord of Wu, Wang Hun was still attacking and framing him. Compared with Wang Hun, Du Pre's character has been respected by people.

The war in which the Western Jin Dynasty destroyed Sun and Wu was an important war in Chinese history. It ended the state of division and separatism since the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, and reunified China. It was also the only successful unification war in the 400 years of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Du Zhen showed outstanding military talent in this war, and his exploits were very outstanding.

After the Western Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu and unified the country, Du Pre was awarded the title of Marquis of Dangyang County for his merits, increased the number of food to 9,600 households, and named his son Du Tan as the Marquis of Ting, 1,000 households, and gave 8,000 horses of silk, and Du Pre continued to guard Xiangyang. He opposed the idea that armaments should be discarded when the world was stable, and during his tenure of office, he never relaxed the training of the troops. Du pre focused the defense of the Jingzhou army on dealing with the local ethnic minorities.

In Jingzhou, Du pre-built a number of water conservancy projects. Among them, on the basis of renovating the canals of the previous generation, he diverted the water of the two rivers of Zhushui and Shushui into the fields, benefiting more than 10,000 hectares of farmland. In order to allow both the tuntian and the ordinary people's fields to be irrigated, Du pre marked the canals with boundary stones according to the lots. Du pre-dug more than 10,000 miles of canal from Yangkou to Baling, so that Xiashui and Yuan and Hunan rivers could communicate directly, which not only solved the problem of flood discharge on the Yangtze River, but also improved the transportation between the north and south of Jingzhou. Du Pre's political achievements have been praised by the local people, who call him "Du Father" and praise him: "There will be no rebellion by Du Weng in later generations, who knows wisdom and fame and bravery." However, Du Yu had to beware of the powerful people in the capital framing him. Every year, Du Pre has to give a large number of gifts and bribe them. He once told others that he was not trying to gain any benefit from them, but only hoped that the powerful would not harm him.

In January 285 A.D. (the leap December of the fifth year of Taikang), Du was requisitioned to the central government as a lieutenant, on the way to Deng County, suddenly died of illness, at the age of sixty-three, Sima Yan was very mournful, posthumously presented the general of Zhengnan, Kaifu Yi and the three divisions, and became a marquis.

"Art and Literature Gathering" and "Taiping Guangji" contain an incident that refers to Du Pre as the assassin of Jingzhou, and when he was guarding Xiangyang, he was drunk and vomited alone in his residence, and was seen by a small official to transform into a big snake.

(End of chapter)