As soon as Duke Mourning came to the throne, he devoted himself to sorting out the internal affairs from various aspects such as selecting talents, developing the economy, reducing and reducing taxes, etc. In just a few months, he managed the chaotic situation of the Jin Kingdom in an orderly manner, which showed his outstanding political talent and ability. A master's hand.
But for the talented and ambitious Duke of Jin, he would naturally not be satisfied with the Qingming situation in the country where "he will not fail in his duties, his position will not be changed, his rank will not exceed his virtue, and his people will not slander him". After the country's strength increased, Duke Miao began to plan outward expansion with important ministers.
The political environment of the Jin State at that time was very dangerous. On the one hand, the old overlords were eyeing it and plotting to make a comeback; on the other hand, the small countries around the Jin State also had their own attachments and were unwilling to fully serve the Jin State.
The first is the State of Chu. Since Duke Wen of Jin came to the throne, the struggle for hegemony between the two countries has almost never stopped. In the Battle of Chengpu, Jin defeated the many with fewer troops and seized the hegemonic position. During the Battle of Bi, King Zhuang of Chu became famous, and the country gradually prospered, while the state of Jin gradually declined. However, King Zhuang of Chu died soon after, and the King of Chu who came to the throne was unable to continue his hegemony. As for the Jin State, during the Jinggong period and the early Ligong period, although there were conflicts between the monarch and his ministers, they were generally harmonious, so they gradually regained their advantage in the struggle for hegemony with Chu. After the Battle of Yanling, the Chu State became increasingly declining, but the power accumulated over the years still allowed it to enjoy a high reputation among the princes.
Next is the state of Qi. Qi has always had the ambition to dominate the Central Plains since Duke Huan united the nine princes. After the Jin-Chu-Bi War, Qi took advantage of Jin's weakened strength to unite with Chu and gradually encroached on Jin's land. The Jin State was caught between Qi and Chu and was in a very dangerous situation. In the Battle of Qi, Jin and Qi, Jin's commander-in-chief Choke defeated Qi Qinggong's conspiracy. After that, Qi's actions on the eastern border of Jin were slightly restrained. However, judging from the performance of Meng Xianzi of the state of Lu in Chu at the time of the alliance between the duke and the princes, it was already very obvious that Qi Linggong's actions to force small countries and seek hegemony in the Central Plains.
Finally, there is the Qin State. The Qin State has gradually weakened since Duke Mu expanded its territory thousands of miles away and dominated Xirong, but it still poses a threat to the Jin State's rear. Moreover, although there was a honeymoon period between Qin and Jin between the two countries, after the Qin State experienced the defeats of Xiaoshan and Linghu, it always held a grudge against the Jin State and repeatedly invaded the Jin State. It can be said that the tug of war with the Qin State restricted a large amount of the Jin State's military resources and greatly weakened its ability to fight for supremacy in the south.
After carefully analyzing the surrounding situation with his close ministers, Duke Dao of Jin began step by step to restore the hegemony of Wen and Xiang:
1. Appease the Song Dynasty and consolidate the Jin-Song alliance.
During the conflict between Jin and Chu, the Song and Zheng states served as buffers and lookout zones. Among these two countries, Zheng's attitude has always been hesitant; the same cannot be said for Song. Since Jin Wengong, Song has always adhered to a pro-Jin policy and established a solid alliance with Jin, which greatly helped Jin The country cut off the channel connecting Qi and Chu, reducing the risk of being flanked on both sides. Therefore, the Jin State attaches great importance to its alliance with the Song State. After Duke Mourning came to the throne, he helped the Song Dynasty quell the Dangze Rebellion and resisted the attacks of Chu and Zheng abroad. This was a decision made to consolidate the alliance between the Jin and Song Dynasties.
After the death of Duke Gong of the Song Dynasty, the Huan clan wanted to weaken the power of the government. Dangze, the Sima of his family, took advantage of the chaos and killed Gongzi Fei. The right master Hua Yuan had to flee Jin because of his family's weakness. Zuo Shi Yushi, who also belonged to the Huan family, was worried that Hua Yuan, who had made outstanding contributions in the Song Dynasty and was deeply popular among the people, would cause domestic turmoil if he fled, so he sent people to recover him. After Hua Yuan returned to the Song Dynasty, he immediately tried every means to unite Situ Huaxi, Sicheng Gongsunshi and others to jointly attack the Huan people. The Huan people were afraid, so Yu Shi, Xiang Weiren and five other people went to Chu to ask for help.
At this time, the King of the Chu Communist Party wanted to take advantage of the fact that Duke Mourning had just ascended the throne to go north to avenge Yanling, so he ordered Zheng Guo to attack Song State, Jin's ally. Later, the State of Chu personally joined the war, and together with the allied forces of the State of Zheng, they captured the four cities of Chaojia, Youqiu, Chenghao, and Pengcheng. They sent the five rebel ministers of the Song State, Yu Shi and Xiang Weiren, back to Pengcheng and gave them three hundred vehicles. The military chariots stayed behind. Hua Yuan and others took advantage of the retreat of the Chu-Zheng coalition and sent Lao Zuo and Hua Xi to lead troops to surround Pengcheng. However, after Lao Zuo died in battle, Hua Yuan's army still failed to capture Pengcheng. After that, the King of Chu sent Zizhong to lead troops to assist Yushi and attacked the Song mainland. The situation was very critical, so Hua Yuan asked Jin for help again.
Duke Dao of Jin sought advice from his ministers, and Han Jue, the minister, advocated rescuing the Song Dynasty, believing that this was the key to consolidating the alliance between Jin and Song Dynasty. Duke Dao of Jin then personally led his troops and stationed them in Taigu. The Jin and Chu armies encountered each other in Mijiao Valley, and the Chu army retreated without a fight.
The following year, under the auspices of the Jin State, the armies of the eight kingdoms of Jin, Song, Qi, Wei, and Cao jointly surrounded Pengcheng, and Han Jue led his army to directly attack the Zheng State. Soon, Zheng was defeated in Weishang, and Pengcheng could no longer hold on and surrendered to Jin. In this way, the Jin State led the princes to recapture the four cities for the Song State and defeated the rebels.
In order to further consolidate the alliance between Jin and Song, the Jin State spent several months to capture the small country surnamed Yu and gave it to Xiang Rong, the right commander of the Song State. This battle was very difficult, but Jin's behavior of doing its best for the allies at all costs not only consolidated the Jin-Song alliance, but also attracted other weak countries to join under its wing. It can be said that the battle to recapture Pengcheng for the Song Dynasty greatly enhanced the Jin Dynasty's prestige and became a precursor to its pursuit of regaining hegemony.
2. Win over Qi and eliminate the threat from the east.
The relationship between Qi and Jin has always been very delicate. In the Battle of An, Qi was defeated. After that, although it paid tribute to Jin for knowledge, it never truly surrendered. On the one hand, Qi had an arrogant attitude towards Jin in order to maintain the dignity of its former overlord, but on the other hand, it did not dare to really break the relationship between Qi and Jin. The plan of Qi and Chu to attack Jin could not be truly implemented because there were small countries such as Lu, Song, and Wei in the middle. Moreover, Qi, as a veteran overlord in the East, could not condescend to serve Chu and look up to others like Zheng.
When Duke Ao of Jin was discussing with the princes to save the Song Dynasty, the monarch of Qi State was very arrogant and only sent the official Cui Zhu to attend. When the official battle encircled Pengcheng the next year, Qi State did not send a single soldier. After the crisis in the Song Dynasty was resolved, the Marquis of Jin sent envoys to accuse Qi Linggong. Duke Linggong was afraid of Jin's crusade, so he sent Prince Guang to Jin as a hostage, and the matter was finally stopped.
But just two years later, the state of Qi returned to its old ways and ordered Teng, Xue, and Zhu not to participate in the alliance convened by Duke Ai of Jin in Qi. The Duke of Jin, Zhiyao, deliberately asked Meng Xianzi of Lu to send a message to Duke Linggong of Qi, threatening that if Qi still obstructed Jin's hegemony, he would surely burn himself on fire. As expected, Meng Xianzi conveyed these words to Qi Linggong, and in the winter of the same year when Duke Ai of Jin convened an alliance of princes again in Qi, Qi State official Cui Zhu and the surrounding small countries all attended on time.
In the second year of the alliance, Duke Dao of Jin took advantage of the order of Emperor Zhou to invite the princes to gather in Jize for an alliance. Also participating in the alliance this time was Dan Qing, a minister of Emperor Zhou. Duke Mourning sent Shi Gai to invite Qi Linggong to join the alliance. Qi Linggong intentionally refused to go, but he was afraid that Jin would attack Qi in this name, so he finally adopted a compromise strategy and made an alliance with Shi Gai in the suburbs of Qi. And sent Prince Guang to Jize to participate in the alliance.
In this way, Duke Mourning adopted a coercive attitude when dealing with the relationship with Qi. On the one hand, he gave Qi some room to preserve its dignity as the overlord, but on the other hand, he absolutely did not allow it to make any mistakes in front of the princes. Any action that is not conducive to Jin's hegemony. The kings and ministers of Jin firmly controlled Qi in Jin's alliance through superb political skills.
3. Nab Wu to the south and contain Chu on the eastern front.
The first contact between Jin and Wu was when Wu Chen was envoy to Wu. During the mourning period, Wu gradually became stronger and became a large country that could rival Chu. The state of Chu once sent Zizhong to lead an army to invade Wu. However, the army was cut off by the Wu army and had to be defeated. The state of Chu's capital was also captured by the state of Wu. Zizhong died of illness soon after feeling worried, angry and ashamed. In the same year when Chu invaded Wu, the mourning guild allied the princes in Jize. King Shoumeng of Wu, who was originally scheduled to attend, was unable to attend the meeting due to road obstruction.
Three years later, the state of Wu took the initiative to send its official Shou Yue to the state of Jin to inquire about the alliance meeting. In order to show its respect for the state of Wu, the state of Jin first sent Lu and Wei to meet with King Wu at the Shandao alliance meeting. In September 568 BC, when Duke Yu held an alliance in Qi, Wu officially participated. This was the first time that Wu participated in an alliance in the Central Plains as a prince.
Wu's joining the alliance was also of great significance to the Jin State. From then on, the Jin State had more weight and chance of victory to contain the Chu State. Since Jinggong, the strategic plan to contain the Chu State from the east was implemented.
4. Subdue Zheng and tired Chu, mourn the Duke and revive his hegemony.
The rulers of Zheng State have always been very cunning. They hesitated and looked between Jin and Chu, looking for suitable converts in order to seek the greatest interests for their country. Although Jin wanted to compete with Chu, in order to avoid the situation where both sides were weakened by the conflict between the two tigers, they focused their attack on Zheng.
The ministers of Duke Mourning also formulated practical and effective strategies based on the actual situation of the Three Kingdoms: Zheng State was geographically close to Jin State, but far away from Chu State. The Jin State invaded the Zheng State many times, but as soon as the Chu Army came to rescue Zheng, the Jin Army dispersed on its own. After repeating this for many times, the morale of the Chu army was low, the army was exhausted, and the army's food and supplies were unsustainable. Wu, Jin's ally, cooperated with Jin's actions from the side. If things go on like this, Chu State has too much time to take care of itself, and naturally it is unable to strengthen its control over Zheng State. Zheng gradually breaks away from the Chu camp.
The war between Jin and Zheng began when Han Jue and Xun Yan defeated the Zheng soldiers in Weishang to save Song, and lasted for more than ten years. Duke Mou first held two alliance meetings in Qi and stationed heavy troops in Hulao, which acted as a deterrent to Zheng and forced him to negotiate peace. Zheng Guo suffered deeply during the struggle between Jin and Chu for hegemony. Later, he simply adopted the policy of submission to the strong and decided his ownership based on the strength of Jin and Chu.
In the eighth year when the Jin State besieged Zheng and rescued the Song Dynasty, Duke Ao of Jin convened twelve countries including Song, Wei, Lu, Qi, and Cao to make an alliance in Xi, forcing Zheng State to negotiate peace with Jin State again. Two years later, the state of Zheng completely surrendered to the state of Jin and sent envoys to bribe Duke Ao of Jin with three musicians, sixteen singing girls, and hundreds of military chariots. At this point, the struggle between Jin and Chu for the state of Zheng came to an end. Duke Mourning finally achieved his goal of restoring Wen and Xiang's hegemony.
In this way, the kings and ministers of the Jin State formulated different strategies for different vassal states. After years of conquests and other diplomatic means, they either further consolidated their center, or they were frightened by their own power and did not dare to act rashly, or they Fight against it through war so that it will eventually surrender to you. Duke Ao of Jin himself finally dominated the princes at the age of less than thirty and established a hegemony like Wen and Xiang.
