The state of Qi lost its hegemony, and the state of Jin also fell into chaos after Li Ji conquered the Jin Dynasty. At this time, the state of Chu in the south was becoming increasingly powerful and prosperous under the rule of King Chu Cheng. Most of the small countries in the Central Plains, Zheng, Xu, Chen, Cai, Lu, Wei, Cao, and Song, were dependent on Chu, or were wavering between Chu and Jin. Chu had a tendency to dominate.
After Duke Wen of Jin came to the throne, the situation in Jin was stable, the economy developed, and people's livelihood was rested. At the same time, Duke Wen of Jin also led troops to serve the king and stabilize the royal family during the rebellion of the princes. He also actively strengthened ties with Qin and Qi, and the power of Jin as a great power gradually After recovery, he also has the heart to strive for hegemony in the Central Plains. Under this situation, the situation between Jin and Chu that Chong'er predicted in Chu would have to be like "Jin and Chu's military management will encounter the Central Plains".
Since Song Xianggong failed to seek hegemony and suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Chu State, the Song State could only rely on the Chu State. However, Song Chenggong, the son of Song Xianggong, had a grudge against the Chu people for killing his father, and Song Xianggong had treated Jin Wengong in exile with great courtesy. Therefore, after Jin's national strength was restored, Song Chenggong decided to betray Chu and turn to his old friend. Jin State. At this time, the two countries of Jin and Chu were facing each other tit for tat. Naturally, the Chu State could not tolerate such blatant betrayal by the Song State, so it united with Zheng, Xu, Chen, Cai and other countries to attack the Song State and surrounded the capital of the Song State. Song Chenggong sent Gongsun Gulai asked Jin for help.
After receiving the rescue, Duke Wen of Jin convened his ministers to discuss countermeasures. Jin's official Xian Zhen said: "This is the only way to repay Song's past favors, establish Jin's current prestige, and lay down its future hegemony!" Hu Yanze Further advice: "The State of Chu has recently formed an alliance with the State of Cao and is married to the State of Wei. If we want to rescue the State of Song, we don't have to confront the powerful Chu army. We can first attack the two small countries of Cao State and Wei State. Chu The state will definitely give up the siege of Song State and rescue Cao State and Wei State."
When Chong'er passed by Cao State in exile, Cao Gonggong once rudely watched him take a bath. Chong'er was always deeply humiliated and resented Cao Gonggong. Now he agreed to attack Cao State. In order to prepare for this war, the Jin State expanded the original second army into a third army and selected a marshal. Jin Wengong led the army to set off after reviewing the three armies in the house.
After some twists and turns, the Jin army conquered Wei State on the way, and the Jin army finally besieged the capital of Cao State. However, the capital of Cao State was deep and difficult to conquer, and the Jin army suffered numerous casualties. In order to undermine the morale of the Jin army, the Cao people hung the corpses of Jin soldiers on the city wall to show the public. Seeing that their comrades who were attacking the city could not rest in peace after their deaths, the Jin army was really panicked, and Jin Wengong was deeply worried. Someone suggested: "They treat our soldiers like this. We are stationed next to their ancestral graves and harming their ancestral graves."
So Duke Wen of Jin moved his army to the vicinity of the ancestral graves of the Cao people. When the Cao people saw it, everyone was frightened and the people's hearts were unstable, so they had to put the corpses of the Jin soldiers who died in the battle in coffins and return them to the Jin army. Duke Wen of Jin ordered the army to attack while the people of Cao State were in chaos, and indeed they captured the capital of Cao State.
Although the Jin army conquered the State of Cao, the State of Chu did not withdraw its troops that besieged the Song State and come back to rescue the State of Cao as predicted, but instead attacked more fiercely. The Song State could not resist, and once again sent people to ask the Jin State for help. Duke Wen of Jin said to Marshal Xian Zhen: "The Song people are in danger again. If we don't come to our rescue, Song will break off diplomatic relations with us and become completely dependent on Chu. We will negotiate peace with Chu, but Chu will not agree. But if we want to negotiate with Chu, We are fighting against each other, and Qi and Qin will not support us, so what should we do?"
Xian Zhen said: "It is better to let the envoys of Song State send gifts to Qi State and Qin State, and ask them to mediate on their behalf. We capture the king of Cao State, and then divide the land of Cao State and Wei State into Song State. Chu State and Cao State The state and the state of Wei are allies, so they will definitely not agree to reconciliation. When the time comes, the states of Qi and Qin have accepted the gifts from the state of Song and are angered by the Chu people's lack of face. How can they not go to war with the state of Chu?" Duke Wen of Jin felt that it was reasonable. Then act accordingly.
Jin State united Qi State and Qin State and gained a dominant position. Seeing that the situation was getting more and more serious, King Chu Cheng wanted to withdraw his troops, so he sent someone to inform Ling Yin Ziyu, who was leading the army at the front. But Ziyu was arrogant and arrogant. Because someone once criticized him for his inability to lead an army and could only command three hundred chariots at most, he refused to obey orders to withdraw his troops. He only sent people to ask King Chu Cheng for a battle and said: "I don't want to make military exploits." , just to silence the villain with facts." King Chu Cheng was very angry when he saw Ziyu disobeying orders, and only gave Ziyu a small number of troops and 180 chariots.
Ziyu was not an incompetent person. Before the war started, he first sent Wanchun to the Jin military camp to negotiate: "Please restore the position of the king of Wei and return the land of Cao to Cao. I will withdraw and liberate the Song Dynasty." Hu Yan wanted to refuse, but Xian Zhen saw the conspiracy. He said: "If Chu said a word, he could put down the danger of Cao, Wei, and Song. But we refused with a word." His request will push the three countries into the danger of national subjugation, which means that we are unruly and unpopular. We might as well negotiate with Cao and Wei privately, give them benefits, and then arrest Wanchun to anger the Chu State, and then provoke The crime of starting the war is Chu's." Duke Wen of Jin accepted Xian Zhen's suggestion, and Cao and Wei really broke off diplomatic relations with Chu.
When Ziyu learned about this, he was very angry and ordered an attack on the Jin army. However, the Jin army retreated without fighting. The soldiers didn't understand why the monarch did not dare to fight head-on with Chu's Ling Yin, so Hu Yan stood up and explained: "Only an army with well-known and confident troops can be effective. Without the help of Chu, the monarch would not be where he is today. Back then in Chu The king of our country had made an agreement with the King of Chu that the Jin army would retreat if there was a military confrontation. Now it is time to repay the Chu country. If we give in and the Chu army is still aggressive, then the other side is unreasonably provoking."
The Jin army retreated all the way, and Ziyu led his troops to pursue them all the way to Chengpu (now Linpu City, Fan County, Shandong Province). Song Chenggong, Qi General Guo Guifu, and Qin General Xiao Ziyi led their armies to station here, while the Chu army was backed by Stationed in dangerous mountains. Duke Wen of Jin was still hesitant because of King Chu Cheng's favor to him in the past. Hu Yan advised him: "Fight! If we win, we can dominate the princes. Even if we lose, our country of Jin will not be harmed."
At this time, Ziyu sent someone to write a letter of war: "Please play with your friends, Lord Feng Shi will watch it, and I will get your minister (Ziyu's name) to watch it!" Jin Wengong sent an envoy to send a reply, agreeing to start the war tomorrow: "If you dare to annoy the doctor, I will say to the second and third sons: Stay away from your carriage, respect your duties, and I will see you in court for questioning!"
The next day, the largest war in the Spring and Autumn Period broke out. Duke Wen of Jin ordered 700 Jin army chariots to form an array north of Xindi, and sent Xu Chen to lead the army to resist Chen and Cai. Ziyu ordered one hundred and eighty of Ruo Ao's chariots to form the central army, ordered Zixi to lead the left army, and Zishang to lead the right army, and threatened to destroy the Jin state.
After the war began, the Jin army launched the first attack. Xu Chen wrapped his war horses in tiger skins and launched a fierce attack on the armies of Chen and Cai. Chen and Cai's armies quickly retreated and fled, and Chu's right army was also defeated. In order to lure the enemy to advance lightly, Hu Mao set up two large flags to pretend to retreat. Luan Zhi also ordered his chariots to drag tree branches to pretend to escape. Ziyu fell into the trap and led his army in pursuit. Xian Zhen and Que Qin of the Chinese army led the army to attack horizontally, while Hu Mao and Hu Yan's father and son simultaneously led the upper army to attack the Chu army's left wing. The Chu army's left army was defeated and was quickly defeated. Only the main force of the Chinese army led by Ziyu was left to pick up the remaining soldiers and fled back to Chu.
Although the failure of the Battle of Chengpu did not cause serious losses to Chu's main force, Chu's plan to go north to the Central Plains to compete with Jin for hegemony suffered a serious blow, and Yin Ziyu also took the blame and committed suicide. From then on, Chu State could only focus on managing the south, and Jin Wengong's dominance was thus established.
After the Battle of Chengpu, Duke Wen of Jin did not look happy. Instead, he sighed worriedly from time to time. Someone asked him: "We have defeated Chu, so what do you have to worry about?" Duke Wen of Jin sighed and said, "I heard that after defeating others, you can The only one who is safe and at ease is the saint. Ziyu, the commander of the Chu Kingdom, is still alive. I don’t know when he will make a comeback. How can I be happy?" Unexpectedly, news came not long after that Ziyu was forced to commit suicide.
It turned out that after the defeat in the Battle of Chengpu, the Chinese army led by Ziyu did not suffer too much losses. Therefore, although he was in a low mood, after all, victory or defeat is a common thing for military officers, and he did not blame himself too much, so he packed up the remaining troops and returned to Chu State. . But all the way to Chu State, King Chu Cheng was very angry at Ziyu for disobeying orders and being greedy for war, which led to the Chu army's defeat. He sent people to the army to punish Ziyu: "Sir, if you return to the country, what will I do to my disciples?" Are you going to explain to the elders in Shen and Xi who died in the battle with you?"
Only then did Ziyu realize that King Chu had disliked him so much that he had no choice but to commit suicide. When the news reached the Jin military camp, Duke Wen of Jin was overjoyed and said: "I defeated Chu's army outside, and the King of Chu himself killed the capable ministers inside. The strength of Chu was accordingly weakened both internally and externally. I can rest easy!"
Seeing that Chu State had nothing to worry about, Duke Wen of Jin stationed his army in Hengyong of Zheng State (today's Yuanyangxi, Henan Province), and then regarded himself as the overlord and gathered the princes. Seeing the Jin army's new victory over the powerful Chu army, the princes of the princes and states came to see the Jin army's new victory over the powerful Chu army. No one dared to disobey their wishes, so they came one after another. Even Chen, an ally of the Chu state who assisted the Chu army in attacking the Jin army during the Battle of Chengpu, also came to the alliance meeting. .
When Duke Wen of Jin saw the princes gathered together, he was very satisfied with his current prestige. However, after all, his overlord status had not yet been recognized by the Zhou royal family. He was suspected of being unfair, so he planned to lead the princes to Luoyi to meet King Zhou Xiang. However, considering that the Jin State had just recovered from the civil strife and had another war with the Chu State, and its strength was severely depleted, if it took so many people to travel long distances to Luoyi, some people might take the opportunity to rebel, so Jin Wengong gave up this idea. , sent people to build a palace in Jiantu, and prepared to invite King Zhou Xiang here to hold a ceremony to confirm his overlord status.
Before the Battle of Chengpu, Chu's power penetrated almost the entire Central Plains. Even large countries like Qi were invaded by the Chu people. Small countries such as Lu, Wei, Zheng, Chen, and Cai had to surrender to Chu. At that time, all the vassal states in the Central Plains were brothers with the surname Ji, while the state of Chu was a vassal state with different surnames, and had always been regarded as barbarians by all the states in the Central Plains. For the Zhou royal family and the vassal states of the Central Plains, Duke Wen of Jin achieved great success by defeating the Chu army and stopping Chu's attempt to move north. What's more, the Zhou royal family was in decline at this time, and Jin Wengong had made great contributions to King Zhou Xiang in the Prince Rebellion. Therefore, King Zhou Xiang readily agreed to Jin Wengong's invitation and promised to come in person to reward the Jin army and reward Jin Wengong.
The State of Zheng was originally an ally of the State of Chu. It served as a guide for the Chu army in the war. Chong'er also passed by the State of Zheng when he was in exile, but was rudely turned away by Zheng Wengong. At this time, Zheng Wengong saw that Chong'er not only became the king, but also personally led an army to defeat his patron Chu State. He was deeply afraid that Jin Wengong would remember what happened back then and use the power of his army to attack Zheng State, so he quickly sent people to ask for help from Jin State. and. Jin Wengong had been in exile for many years and was used to seeing the warmth and coldness of people and the harsh conditions of the world. He did not make things difficult for Zheng Wengong and readily agreed to form an alliance with Zheng.
After King Zhou Xiang arrived at Jiantu, Duke Wen of Jin personally presented prisoners to King Zhou Xiang, including a hundred chariots and a thousand infantrymen from the Chu State. Duke Wen of Jin expressed Jin's loyalty to the Zhou royal family by offering prisoners, so King Zhou Xiang received Duke Wen of Jin with high standards, and ordered the ministers Yin Shi, Wang Zihu and Nei Shi Shuxingfu to make plans in the name of Emperor Zhou. Duke Wen of Jin was named Hou Bo, and thus Jin Wen Gong's dominance was recognized by the Zhou royal family.
After that, the three envoys, on behalf of King Zhou Xiang, gave various ceremonial items in line with the status of the overlord to Duke Wen of Jin, including two types of ceremonial items, including large chariots and military chariots, worn in sacrifices and battles, a red bow, and a red bow. One hundred arrows, ten black bows, one thousand black arrows, a pot of wine for worshiping the gods, and three hundred tiger guards of the emperor.
After the rewards were given, the three envoys, on behalf of King Zhou Xiang, granted Duke Wen of Jin the power to control various countries and attack disloyal ministers: "The emperor told his uncle: Please obey the emperor's orders respectfully, appease all countries in the four directions, and correct the emperor's mistakes." According to Duke Wen of Jin, He bowed down three times before expressing his obedience to the order, then accepted the policy document, and went in and out to see King Zhou Xiang three times in a row. This set of red tape in which the Emperor of Zhou recognized Duke Wen of Jin as his dominant position came to an end.
Soon after, the Emperor of Zhou ordered his minister Wang Zihu to summon the princes of various countries for an alliance at the palace in Jiantu, and asked everyone to make an oath: "Each of us will work hard to assist the royal family, and do not harm each other. Anyone who violates this oath will be killed by the gods!" Through this time! The alliance, on the one hand, emphasized that countries should not conquer each other at will, and on the other hand, it allowed Duke Wen of Jin to use his status as "Uncle Hou" to attack the vassal states that "disobeyed the king's orders" for the emperor of Zhou. Not only did Jin's hegemonic status be recognized by Emperor Zhou through a series of etiquette, but it also prepared a banner of "respecting the king" for Jin's future conquests.
