After getting rid of the Zhao family, Jin Jinggong had constant nightmares. He often dreamed of long-haired ghosts demanding his life. This fierce ghost was tall and mighty, and he swore eloquently: "You are ignorant and unethical. I, the Zhao family, have been loyal and loyal for generations. In order to achieve the hegemony of your Jin family, I have worked hard to achieve the hegemony of your Jin family. You did not bother to work hard and actually slaughtered all my innocent descendants. You are really worse than a beast! I have reported it to the Emperor of Heaven, and you will soon have to pay for this evil deed with your life!" After saying this, he waved his sharp claws like iron thorns, broke open the door of the house and the door of Jin Jinggong's dormitory, and rushed in. Jinggong was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground and couldn't move. Just when he was about to be killed by the ghost at close range, he suddenly woke up and realized that he was dreaming. He was broken out in a cold sweat. From then on, he couldn't afford to get sick again, and this nightmare also haunted him day and night, and Jinggong's illness became more and more serious day by day.
Jinggong knew that this was not a simple nightmare, but was haunted by evil spirits, so he sought a trick in the hope of getting rid of the evil spirits. It happened that at that time there lived a magical wizard in a place called Sangtian. His reputation was far and wide, so he was summoned to the palace by Duke Jing. The shaman divined and made predictions, and told Jinggong exactly what he had dreamed about, leaving Jinggong stunned. As if grasping the last straw, Jinggong, who had been tortured by nightmares for a long time, asked anxiously: "What should I do?" However, he heard the wizard shaking his head and sighing: "This evil ghost was a hero of the previous dynasty and possessed great supernatural powers. , great power, and at this time, he was aroused by the anger of his descendants who were unjustly killed, and he vowed not to give up until he achieved his goal. I am a humble person and can't subdue him." Jin Jinggong was stunned after hearing this, and asked again: "What about this little man? Is the illness good or bad?" The wizard fell to the ground and said, "Please forgive me for speaking bluntly, but I'm afraid you, the monarch, won't be able to eat this year's new wheat." Wheat is ripe for harvest in June. What the wizard means is that Jinggong is already alive. But it’s June.
I heard that a famous doctor named Xu appeared in Qin, and he could cure all difficult and complicated diseases with medicine. So Jinggong sent someone to the west to Qin to ask Xu to come over and see the doctor. When the waiter didn't arrive, Jinggong began to dream again, but this time he didn't dream about ghosts haunting him and threatening his life. Instead, he dreamed about two little people talking and laughing.
One of them said: "Xu's medical skills are very good. I'm afraid he will find us and get rid of us. Where should we hide?"
The other one replied with a smile: "As long as he hides under the anointing and is above the dead body, no matter how smart he is ten times, he can only do nothing to us." The so-called anointing is what is now called the apex fat area, and the so-called dead body is The place between the heart and diaphragm. After saying that, the two little men shrank down to a smaller size and got in through Jinggong's nostrils. Jinggong was so frightened that he woke up.
After he was relieved, he diagnosed and treated Jinggong and said: "The disease is under the ointment and above death. Acupuncture and moxibustion drugs can't cure it, and there is nothing I can do." Jinggong sighed: "Your diagnosis is exactly the same as the dream I had. , It seems that the destiny is such that you cannot force it." So he was given a generous gift and sent him back to Qin.
By Bingwu day in June, the new wheat harvest had begun. Jin Jinggong, who had been ill for a long time, suddenly wanted to eat wheat porridge. In fact, Jinggong's psychology was very subtle. He was angry with the witch who had asserted that he could not eat new wheat. Jinggong summoned the wizard into the palace. The bowl of porridge made from new wheat was placed on Jinggong's table, slowly steaming. Jinggong smelled the aroma of wheat porridge, pointed at the witch who was kneeling below and cursed: "Aren't you cursing me for not being able to eat new wheat? Look what this is!" Then he ordered his men to pull the witch out and chop him down.
Jingzheng, who thought that the witch's prediction was inaccurate and that he had escaped death, was about to eat wheat porridge, but suddenly he suffered from unbearable abdominal pain and had to go to the toilet quickly. However, Jinggong, who had been ill and weak for a long time, had weak legs and could not stand in the toilet, so he fell into the cesspool and drowned in it. A generation of heroes ended their lives in such a ridiculous and tragic way. According to "Zuo Zhuan", no one knew about Jin Jinggong after his death. It was an eunuch next to him who dreamed that he was carrying Jin Jinggong on his back the next morning. Stepping up to the sky, he woke up and searched for Jin Jinggong's whereabouts. Only then did he know that the king had drowned, so he carried Jin Jinggong out of the toilet and buried him.
Let’s not mention the situation of the Jin Kingdom after the death of Jin Jinggong, but turn our attention to a more macro perspective and analyze the overall situation. After the Battle of Jin-Chu Bi, King Chuzhuang finally removed the Jin Kingdom that had dominated the Central Plains for more than ten years. The overlord was pulled from his throne and replaced with his wish. However, although the Jin State failed for a while, its status as a great power did not shake. Therefore, in the next few decades, the two countries of Jin and Chu fought fiercely in the Central Plains, one moving south and the other moving north. The turbulent situation brought about by the long years of war and chaos has seriously damaged the vitality of all the vassal states.
When Jin and Chu fought for hegemony in the Central Plains, the first to bear the brunt were the second-class vassal states of Zheng, Song, and Wei in the Central Plains. According to historians' statistics, in the seventy-eighty years of the mid-Spring and Autumn Period, more than seventy wars broke out in the territory of Zheng, more than forty in the Song, and many other small countries. Not only that, because both sides took turns to dominate the Central Plains, the kings of these small countries had to succumb to power. They "sacrificed their treasures and stayed in the second border" towards Qin, Mu and Chu, taking turns to be subordinates to the two big countries, and at the same time they had to suffer from the other side. attack. If things go on like this, all countries are exhausted and war-weary.
This is not only the case for small countries, Jin and Chu also have their own internal and external troubles. Since the death of Duke Wen of Jin, the succession of kings in the Jin State has been weak, and military and political power has gradually been concentrated in the hands of a few powerful officials. They competed with each other for power and internal strife, which greatly consumed Jin's national power. At the same time, the rise of Qin also made Jin feel a crisis. After Duke Mu of Qin came to dominate, Qin suddenly became an important vassal state, and there were frequent conflicts with Jin. Although Duke Li of Jin formed an alliance with Qin, Qin did not take it seriously and instead contacted Bai Di to attack Jin.
The Jin State's foreign troubles did not stop there. The Jin State relied on its advantageous position to exert excessive power on the countries in the Central Plains. In the seventeenth year of Jin Jinggong (583 BC), in order to have good relations with Qi, the Jin State forced the Lu State to hand over the land of Wenyang to the Qi State. Later, Lu Chenggong went to see the Jin State, but Jin regarded it as "connecting with Chu". For this reason, he was forcibly detained and forced Duke Cheng of Lu to accept the covenant before letting him return home. This kind of behavior of Jin naturally made all the countries in the Central Plains very dissatisfied, and they all "went to Jin" and made good friends with Chu.
Although the Chu State occupies the dominant position and does not have as bad diplomatic problems as the Jin State, it also has many internal contradictions. After the death of King Zhuang of Chu, King Chu Cong succeeded to the throne at a young age, and his power was no more than before. Zi Fan, Zi Zhong and others had conflicts with Shen Gong Wuchen one after another because of the issue of Xia Ji and Shang Tian. After Shen Gong Wuchen fled to Jin, Zifan and Zizhong massacred the family of Shen Gong Wuchen and divided their wealth. After learning about this, Duke Shen and his ministers suggested to Jin that they should form an alliance with Wu, which was not yet recognized by the Central Plains vassal states at the time, and attack Chu from the flanks. Since Shen Gong Wuchen was also a famous general of the Chu State and was well versed in the Chu army's military technology, the Wu State learned a large number of advanced tactics and began to use chariots in combat, and its military strength increased by leaps and bounds. Subsequently, the State of Wu attacked Chao, Xu and other places of the State of Chu and won successively, posing a great threat to the State of Chu.
In this case, temporary peace becomes the only option. Under this situation, both Jin and Chu sent envoys to contact each other, intending to seek peace through alliances.
In the eighteenth year of Jin Jinggong (582 BC), Jin Jinggong inspected the army and met Zhong Yi, a Chu native who was captured by Zheng and presented to Jin. Since Zhong Yi was an upright man and played the piano well, Fan Wenzi took advantage of the situation and suggested that Jin Jinggong release him to the Chu State to ease the relationship between Jin and Chu. Chu State also responded positively to this overture of goodwill, and sent Gongzi Chen to return to Jin State in the winter of that year. The State of Jin immediately sent its official Bian Zao to pay a return visit. For a time, the diplomatic activities between the two sides were very close, and the smoke of war seemed to be fading away.
The easing of relations between Jin and Chu was sensed by the sensitive princes of the Central Plains. For their own benefit, they naturally tried their best to promote peace between the two sides. Although Hua Yuan, a senior official in the Song Dynasty, had a low status, he had good personal relationships with the people in power on both sides of Jin and Chu. He not only had a close relationship with Luan Shu, the chief minister of Jin, but also had a good relationship with Yin Zi, the Ling of Chu. This favorable condition made it easier for Hua Yuan to mediate between the two countries of Jin and Chu. In the first year of Jin Li (580 BC), Hua Yuan visited Chu and Jin successively, creating conditions for the meeting between the two sides. The next year, Jin sent Shi Xie, and Chu sent Gongzi Ba and Xu Yan. The two sides met outside the west gate of the capital of Song. Under the auspices of Hua Yuan, the two sides concluded an armistice agreement. The agreement is as follows:
"Jin and Chu do not join each other in fighting each other. They share their likes and dislikes, share disasters, and prepare for disasters. If it harms Chu, Jin will attack it. In Jin and Chu, it is the same. When they go back and forth, there will be no obstructions on the road; they will plan for it. If they don't cooperate, they won't be able to seek justice. If there is an alliance between Chongqing and Chongqing, the Ming Dynasty will kill them, and they will fall to their masters, and they will not be able to defeat the country of Xu."
This was the diplomatic incident known as the "Hua Yuan Annihilation" by later historians.
In order to implement the results of Hua Yuan's annihilation of troops, Jin and Chu conducted a series of follow-up diplomatic activities. Lu, Wei, Zheng and other vassal states that had already had good relations with Chu once again went to Jin to meet Duke Li of Jin and reaffirmed their vassal relationship. Jin and Chu also sent envoys to visit each other again, and Duke Li of Jin personally made an alliance with the prince to strengthen the alliance to eliminate troops.
Despite this, the decades-long hostility between Jin and Chu was not so easy to resolve. Just after the meeting to eliminate the troops, the State of Jin sent an envoy to Chu, and the State of Chu prepared a full set of rituals and music to welcome him. According to Zhou rites, such treatment can only be enjoyed when the monarchs of the two countries meet. Therefore, he expressed his shame and asked: If the monarchs of the two countries meet in the future, what kind of rituals and music will be used to entertain them? Unexpectedly, he replied that when the monarchs of the two countries met, all they had to do was send an arrow to each other, and no music was needed. Zifan's words undoubtedly implied that the two countries were about to meet at war, and Shixie also expected that Chu would break the treaty. Sure enough, Hua Yuan's army was defeated soon after due to the outbreak of the Battle of Yanling between Jin and Chu.
Huayuan's war-removal was not so much a long-term national policy of Jin and Chu, but rather a temporary expedient that both sides had to adopt in an increasingly difficult situation. After a little analysis, we can find that the number of participants in this annihilation was extremely limited, and the covenant was also vague. Therefore, its failure is understandable.
