Before his death, Duke Xiang of Jin made Xi Qi, the son of Li Ji, the crown prince and entrusted the crown prince to the doctor Xun Xi. After Xi Qi succeeded to the throne, he could not convince the public, so the doctor Rick contacted a group of ministers to kill Xi Qi, so Xun Xi appointed Li Ji's sister's son Zhuo Zi to succeed him. This time Rick not only killed Zhuo Zi, but also Xun Xi Also killed.
After killing Xi Qi and Zhuo Zi, Rick and others sent people to the Kingdom of Di to welcome the exiled young master Chong'er back to the country to succeed him. However, Chong'er believed that the situation was undecided at this time, and that Di State did not have enough strength to support him in returning to the country to take the throne, so he politely refused Rick and said: "I violated my father's order and escaped from Jin State. Even if my father dies, I cannot The gift of the son of man is to go back to the country for funeral, now how can I return to the country with my appearance? Please ask Dr. Rick to welcome other young masters."
The envoy went back and reported Chong'er's words to Rick, so Rick went to the Liang Kingdom to welcome the young master Yi Wu back to his country. Young Master Yiwu was very happy and planned to return to the Kingdom of Jin to succeed him, but the ministers around him persuaded him: "There are still young gentlemen in the country who can be established as kings, but Rick went abroad to find someone to succeed him. There must be fraud. Now the Qin Kingdom We are powerful and have great prestige among the border countries, so why not ask Qin to send troops to escort us back home?"
So the prince Yiwu sent people to Qin with generous gifts, and asked Duke Mu of Qin to send troops to escort him back to Jin. He promised Duke Mu of Qin: "If you are sincere, please cut the eight cities in Hexi of Jin from Qin." At the same time, he wrote to Li. Ke promised: "If you are sincere, please grant me the title of son in the city of Fenyang." After hearing the conditions of the young master Yiwu, Duke Mu of Qin felt that it was worth it, so he happily sent troops to send the young master Yiwu back to the state of Qin, and Rick received the gift. The promise of the fiefdom also means that he sincerely welcomes the young master Yi Wu. With the balance of the three forces of Qin, Qi, and Jin, Prince Yiwu successfully ascended the throne in Jin as Duke Hui of Jin.
However, after Duke Hui of Jin came to the throne, he crossed the river and demolished the bridge. Not only did he not grant Rick a fief, but he reduced his power. Later, he was worried that Rick would collude with the exiled prince Chong'er to seize the throne, so he simply killed Rick. At the same time, he refused to allocate the eight cities in Hexi to Qin as agreed before, so he sent the official Pi Zheng to Qin to apologize to Duke Mu of Qin: "The king promised you the land in Hexi. Now he is lucky enough to be established. I wanted to fulfill my promise as promised. But the ministers objected, saying that the land of Jin was left by the previous monarchs. The monarch was in exile, so how could he arbitrarily grant it to Qin? The monarch couldn't argue, so he had to send me to apologize, and he could not give the land to Qin. .”
Pi Zheng was originally a member of Rick's party. When he was on a mission to Qin, he heard the news that Duke Hui of Jin had killed Rick. On the one hand, he was glad that he had escaped, but on the other hand, he was worried that something would happen to him when he returned home, so he He wanted to use the hands of Qin to remove the wings of Duke Hui of Jin and get rid of his close ministers Lu Nephew and Qu Rui. Pi Zheng went to Duke Mu of Qin and said: "The people of the Jin State do not want to welcome the young master Yi Wu, but hope that the young master Chong'er will return to the country and become the king. Yiwu's accession to the throne is the protection of the Qin State. Now he has violated the agreement with the Qin State and killed Li. Ke, this is all the conspiracy of the treacherous ministers Lu Nephew and Cherui. You might as well use high-ranking officials and generous salaries to lure Lu Nephew and Cherui to the Qin State. When Yiwu loses his right and left hands, you can naturally help Chong'er return to the Jin State and ascend the throne."
Duke Mu of Qin was deeply dissatisfied with Duke Hui of Jin for breaking his promise and enriching himself. He also saw that the Jin State ruled by Duke Hui of Jin would not be close to Qin State. At this time, after hearing what Pi Zheng said, he felt that it was reasonable, and he sent people to accompany Pi Zheng. When he returned home, he invited his nephew Lu and Cherui to come to Qin. However, Lu's nephew and Que Rui were keenly aware of the deception and did not fall for it easily. They suspected that there was something wrong with Pi Zheng, so they asked Duke Hui of Jin to kill him. Pi Bao, the son of Pi Zheng, fled to Qin and asked Duke Mu of Qin to send troops to attack Jin. Duke Mu of Qin knew that Pi Bao only wanted to avenge his father, so he did not agree to his request, but secretly kept him in Qin.
Soon after, Jin State encountered a severe drought and sent people to Qin State to borrow grain. Pi Bao persuaded Duke Mu of Qin not to lend grain to Jin, but to take advantage of this opportunity to attack Jin. However, Baili Xi pointed out that the people were innocent and should not be offended by Jin Hui Gong's rudeness and the Jin people had no food to eat, so Qin Mugong decided to lend grain to Jin. A few years later, Qin also encountered a famine and borrowed grain from Jin. Unexpectedly, Jin State not only refused to borrow food, but took advantage of Qin State's crisis to raise troops to invade. In anger, Duke Mu of Qin appointed Pi Bao as general and personally led the troops to fight back.
The armies of Duke Mugong of Qin and Duke Hui of Jin met in Han Dynasty. Duke Hui of Jin took the lead and rushed to the front of the battle formation to fight against Qin. Unexpectedly, when he came back, his horse fell into a pit. Seeing this God-given opportunity, Duke Mu of Qin quickly led his entourage to catch Duke Hui of Jin. However, it was too late and he was besieged by the Jin army. Thanks to the three hundred warriors loyal to Duke Mu of Qin who fought their way into the siege, they not only rescued Duke Mu of Qin, but also captured Duke Hui of Jin.
Duke Mu of Qin took Duke Hui of Jin back to his country, and declared along the way that he would use Duke Hui of Jin as a sacrifice to heaven. When the Emperor of Zhou heard about this, he felt very uneasy. He thought that Duke Hui of Jin and he were from the same clan as Ji and should help each other, so he interceded with Duke Mu of Qin on behalf of Duke Hui of Jin.
Mu Ji, the wife of Duke Mu of Qin, was the daughter of Duke Xian of Jin and the sister of Duke Hui of Jin. She was very worried when she heard that her husband had captured her younger brother and was escorting him back to his country as a sacrifice. So Mu Ji broke the boat and took the prince Fenghong and his daughter Jian Bi to the high platform, with firewood spread under their feet. He also sent people dressed in mourning clothes to greet Duke Mu of Qin and told him: "The disaster from heaven has forced Qin and Jin to fight each other. If you bring the king of Jin back to Qin, then I can only commit suicide to thank you. Please decide." Bar."
Duke Mu of Qin originally hated Duke Hui of Jin and was unwilling to let him go back to his country easily. However, Emperor Zhou personally sent someone to intercede for him, and his wife threatened her with death, which made him feel very embarrassed. A minister advised Duke Mu of Qin: "The king of Jin who has been captured can only benefit Qin by treating him kindly and sending him back in glory. If we kill him, what good will it do to us?" Others objected, thinking that Duke Hui of Jin was unfaithful and letting him go would still be a disaster to Qin. Finally, Zi Sang said: "We are unable to destroy the Jin State now. If we kill its king at will, it will only deepen the hatred between the two countries and make them at odds with each other. For now, it is better to put the Jin king back and let their prince come." Qin will serve as a hostage." Duke Mu of Qin agreed.
After this turmoil, Duke Hui of Jin no longer dared to break his agreement with Qin. After returning home, he quickly sent the prince Yu to Qin as a hostage, and he did not dare to provoke Qin easily again.
Because Duke Hui of Jin and his son Duke Huai of Jin both betrayed Qin, Duke Mu of Qin supported Chong'er, who was in exile, to return home and ascend the throne as Duke Wen of Jin. With the support of the State of Qin, Duke Wen of Jin not only ascended the throne smoothly, but also implemented a series of policies that benefited the country and the people. Under the governance of Duke Wen of Jin, the State of Jin developed rapidly, and Duke Wen of Jin also became Duke Huan of Qi. The second overlord after that was recognized by the Emperor of Zhou and obeyed by the princes of various countries.
In the 29th year of Duke Xi of Lu (631 BC), Duke Wen of Jin planned to send troops to attack the Zheng State, which was disobedient to the Jin State, so he sent the official Hu Yanhui and the prince Hu sent by the Emperor of Zhou, the official Gongsun Gu of the Song State, and the Qi State. The doctor Gui's father, Chen Guo's official Yuan Taotu, and Qin's official Xiaozichou all met in Zhaiquan to discuss the crusade against Zheng. At the meeting, it was decided that the Jin army would send troops to attack Zheng alone the next year to test the situation. So Jin Wengong sent troops to station in Hanling, and invited Qin Mugong to send troops to besiege Zheng. As expected, Qin Mugong sent troops to attack Zheng. Stationed in Pannan.
When the people of the Zheng State saw Chen Bing outside the city of the two great powers of Qin and Jin, they were all horrified, thinking that the Zheng State was about to perish. At this time, Yi Zhihu, the official of the Zheng State, came to Zheng Wengong and said: "Now the country is in a critical moment. Please use Zhu Zhiwu to meet the King of Qin. This crisis will definitely be solved." Zheng Wengong was already in a state of despair. After hearing what Yi Zhihu said, he personally went to ask Zhu Zhiwu to come out. Unexpectedly, Zhu Zhiwu declined and said: "I was young and strong, but I was not as fashionable as others; now that I am old and weak, I can no longer do anything."
Zheng Wengong knew that Zhu Zhiwu was complaining that he had not appointed him earlier, so he sincerely apologized and said: "I failed to appoint you earlier, and it is really my fault that I asked for your help now that the situation is critical. However, if Zheng is destroyed, it will not be good for you, so I ask you to do whatever it takes and help me once." Seeing Zheng Wengong's sincere words and anxious expression, Zhu Zhiwu couldn't bear to see Zheng being attacked by Qin and Jin. After being killed, he agreed to Zheng Wengong's request.
Since Zheng Guozheng was under siege and did not dare to open the city gate easily, Zhu Zhiwu could only choose to tie a rope around his waist and slowly hang him from the top of the city to the outside of the city after nightfall. After landing safely, he quietly went to the Qin camp to ask for an audience with Qin. Mu Gong. After meeting Qin Mugong, Zhu Zhiwu said to him: "Qin and Jin are surrounding the State of Zheng. The destruction of the State of Zheng is imminent. If the destruction of the State of Zheng is good for you, then it is worthwhile for your army to mobilize your troops once. But You also understand that it is not easy to occupy distant lands as border towns across other countries for a long time. Your sending troops this time is just to destroy Zheng State and increase the land of neighboring countries. The strengthening of neighboring countries' power is equivalent to the weakening of your power. , is not something a gentleman can take. If you are willing to let Zheng go, in the future your envoys will travel to the east, and Zheng will definitely provide you with all their needs, and there will be no harm to you."
"What's more, you once gave a favor to the King of Jin. At that time, he promised to give you the lands of Jiao and Xia, but he crossed the river to return home in the morning and built a wall to defend you at night. How can a person like the King of Jin be satisfied? At that time, if the State of Zheng was successfully conquered in the east and expanded its territory, it would definitely expand its territory in the west. If it does not harm the State of Qin, where else can the State of Jin go to acquire land? Should it be for the State of Jin? If you do something that harms the interests of Qin, please think more about it."
After listening to Zhu Zhiwu's words, Duke Mu of Qin felt that attacking Zheng was indeed not a good idea from Qin's perspective, so he gave up the original battle plan and instead formed a private alliance with Zheng. In addition, the generals Qi Zi, Feng Sun, and Yang Sun were left to help Zheng strengthen the defense and defend against the Jin army's attack, while Qin Mu Gong himself led his troops back to Qin.
This is the famous Zhu Zhiwu who retreated from the Qin Dynasty.
When the news reached the Jin military camp, Hu Yan requested to send troops to pursue the Qin army. Jin Wengong rejected his request: "Without the power of Qin, we would not be where we are today. We relied on the power of others and turned against each other. This It's unkind; it's unwise to lose an allied friend; it's unwieldy to replace a unified plan with random attacks. We'd better withdraw our troops and return home." After the Jin army retreated, in order to ease relations with the Jin state, Zheng Wengong also appointed Lan, the prince of Jin Dynasty, as the prince to express his goodwill to Jin Dynasty. After this incident, the alliance between Qin and Jin began to have a gap.
The three Qin generals who stayed behind in Zheng were very angry when they heard that Zheng had defected to Jin instead. So Qizi sent someone back to tell Duke Mu of Qin: "Zheng Wengong asked me to take charge of the key to the north gate of the capital. Please quietly take it." When the soldiers come, I will open the north gate and let the Qin army in, so that they can definitely capture their capital." Duke Mu of Qin felt that the opportunity was too late to miss, so he went to ask his old minister Jian Shu for his opinion, but Jian Shu was opposed to this: " The country of Zheng has a long way to go. If we send an army to attack, the army will be exhausted and exhausted upon arrival. Moreover, after marching thousands of miles, the country of Zheng will definitely hear about this and take precautions. When the time comes, we will have to spend all our troops on the expedition and it will be thankless. The soldiers must be resistant. I'm afraid this won't work."
However, Duke Mu of Qin was so obsessed with the prospect of conquering the capital of Zheng that he refused to listen to Uncle Jian's advice and sent Meng Mingshi, Xiqishu, and Bai Yibing to lead the expedition. The Qin army marched eastward, borrowed the road from the Jin State, and then passed by the north gate of the Zhou capital. Wang Sunman stood on the tower and observed the Qin army for a while and then said: "The Qin army is reckless and does not understand etiquette. It is rash and reckless." If you advance rashly, you will be foolhardy, if you don't understand etiquette, you will be isolated and helpless, if you enter a dangerous situation and you will be helpless, and you will be foolhardy, how can such an army not fail?"
However, the three generals of the Qin army did not know what happened on the tower of Luoyi City. They were still marching all the way, and soon entered the Hua Kingdom. At this time, the merchant Xian Gao of the Zheng Kingdom was preparing to go there with twelve cows. The capital of the Zhou dynasty was sold, and the Qin army was encountered on the road. Hearing that such a strong army was about to attack the state of Zheng, Xian Gao was immediately worried. After repeated thinking, Xian Gao finally came up with an idea.
Xian Gao brought his twelve oxen to the camp of the Qin army and claimed to be the envoy of the king of Zheng. When the three generals of Qin heard this, they were shocked and doubtful: The Qin army was attacking Zheng this time to attack the people of Zheng. He sneaked into the capital of Zheng without knowing it, and then Qizi opened the north gate and let the Qin army enter the city. However, if Zheng already knew that the Qin army was coming to attack, how could he give the key to the north gate to Qizi? This will result in nothing but success.
So the three generals looked at each other, not knowing what to do. They could only invite Xian Gao into the camp to ask about the situation. Xian Gao met the three generals and bowed to them one by one without being humble or arrogant, and then said: "The king of our country heard that your country came thousands of miles to attack, so he sent me to bring twelve cows to comfort your soldiers. Although there are few people and the country is small, we have made serious preparations for defense and resistance."
After meeting the generals of the Qin army, Xian Gao quickly sent people back to Zheng to report the news. After Zheng Mugong received the news, he quickly mobilized his troops and made all defense preparations. He also sent the three generals Qi Zi and Feng who had stayed in Zheng to help defend Qin. Sun and Yangsun drove out of Zheng. When Meng Mingshi learned about it, he sighed and said: "Zheng Guo has already taken precautions. If we attack according to the original plan, we will definitely not be able to win. If we are surrounded and attacked without backup, we should withdraw our troops and go back." In this way, Zheng Guo merchant Xian Gao With his extraordinary wisdom and courage, he rescued Zheng Guo from another crisis of national subjugation.
