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. The small countries of Zheng, Xu, Chen, and Cai in the Central Plains,

Most of the Lu, Wei, Cao, and Song dynasties 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 during the rebellion of the princes, stabilized the royal family, and actively strengthened ties with Qin and Qi. The power of Jin as a great power gradually

After recovering, they also had the intention 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 happen: "Jin and Chu will manage the army, but they 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 Xianggong's son Song Chenggong had a grudge against the Chu people for killing his father, and Song Xianggong once attacked Jin Wengong in exile.

Therefore, after the Jin State's national strength was restored, Song Chenggong decided to betray the Chu State and turn to the Jin State, which had old friends. At this time, the two countries of Jin and Chu were tit for tat, and the Chu State naturally could not tolerate such a blatant betrayal by the Song State, so he

He united Zheng, Xu, Chen, Cai and other countries to attack Song and surrounded the capital of Song. Song Chenggong sent Gongsun Gu to ask for help from Jin.

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

He further made suggestions: "The State of Chu has recently formed an alliance with the State of Cao and has been married to the State of Wei. If we want to rescue the State of Song, we do not 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 besieging Song State and go to rescue Cao State and defend the country."

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, Jin State

After expanding the original second army into a third army and selecting a marshal, Duke Wen of Jin 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. The Jin army finally besieged the capital of Cao State. However, the capital of Cao State was deep and difficult to conquer. The Jin army suffered numerous casualties. In order to undermine the morale of the Jin army, the Cao people

The corpses of the Jin soldiers were hung on the city wall for public display. Seeing that the comrades who were attacking the city could not live in peace after their death, the Jin army was really panicked. Jin Wengong was deeply worried. Someone suggested: "They treat our soldiers like this."

, we stationed ourselves next to their ancestral graves and harmed their ancestral graves.”

So Jin Wengong 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. They had to collect the corpses of the Jin soldiers who died in the battle in coffins and return them to the Jin army. Jin Wengong ordered the army to take advantage of the opportunity.

When the people of Cao State were in chaos, they attacked and indeed captured the capital of Cao State.

Although the Jin army conquered the State of Cao, the State of Chu did not withdraw its troops besieging the State of Song and come back to rescue the State of Cao as predicted. Instead, it attacked even more fiercely. The State of Song could not resist it and once again sent people to ask for help from the State of Jin. The Jin State

Duke Wen 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,

Qi and Qin will not support us in the war, 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 between Song State, Chu State and Cao State.

The country and Wei are allies, so they will definitely not agree to reconciliation. When the time comes, Qi and Qin accept gifts from Song and are angered by the Chu people's lack of face. How can they not go to war with Chu?" Jin Wengong thought it was reasonable.

Then act according to plan.

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 tell Ling Yin Ziyu who was leading the army on the front line. However, Ziyu was arrogant and arrogant because some people had criticized him.

He had no ability to lead troops, 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

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Not to achieve military exploits, but 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 from the Song Dynasty and dissolve the Song Dynasty."

Hu Yan wanted to refuse, but Xian Zhen saw the conspiracy. He said: "If the state of Chu said a word, it would be able to put down the dangers of Cao, Wei, and Song. But we refused with a word."

His request pushed the Three Kingdoms 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 Chu State.

The crime of starting the war belongs to Chu State." Duke Wen of Jin accepted Xian Zhen's suggestion, and Cao State and Wei State broke off diplomatic relations with Chu State.

When Ziyu learned about this, he was very angry and ordered an attack on Jin's army, but Jin's army retreated without fighting. The soldiers did not understand why the king did not dare to fight directly with Chu's Ling Yin, so Hu Yan stood up and explained: "The army is out

Only a well-known and confident army has combat effectiveness. Without the help of the Chu State, the monarch would not be where he is today. Back in the Chu State, the monarch had agreed with the King of Chu that the Jin army would retreat if the army met with each other. Now it is time to repay the Chu State with this

.If we give in and the Chu army is still aggressive, then it will be an unreasonable provocation by the other side."

The Jin army retreated all the way, and Ziyu led his troops to pursue them all the way to Chengpu (today's Linpu City, Fan County, Shandong). Song Chenggong and the general of Qi State returned the country to his father. The general of Qin State, Xiao Ziyi, led the army to station here. The Chu State army was backed by

Jin Wengong was stationed in the dangerous mountain. Jin Wengong was still hesitant about 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, we will not be able to control the country of Jin."

No damage.”

At this time, Ziyu sent someone to write a letter of war: "Please play with your friends, Lord Feng Shi will watch it, and your minister (Ziyu's name) will watch it!" Jin Wengong sent an envoy to reply, agreeing to start the war tomorrow:

"If you dare to annoy the doctor, I will tell you two or three sons: stay away from your carriage, respect your affairs, and ask the court to see you!"

The next day, the largest war in the Spring and Autumn Period broke out. Jin Wengong ordered 700 Jin army chariots to form an array north of Xindi, and sent Xu Chen to lead the army to resist Chen Guo and Cai Guo. Ziyu ordered the Ruo Ao family to

One hundred and eighty chariots formed the central army, and Zixi was ordered 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 attacked first. 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 to pursue him. The pioneer of the Chinese army, Qu Qin, 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 unable to defeat it 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 the Chu army in defeat. .

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, causing Yin Ziyu to take the blame and commit suicide. From then on, Chu could only His energy was concentrated on running 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 ones who are safe and at ease are saints. Ziyu, the commander of Chu State, is still alive. I don’t know when he will come back. How can I be happy?" Unexpectedly, news came not long after that 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 strategists, so he did not blame himself too much, so he packed up the remaining troops and returned to Chu State. However, when he arrived at the Chu State, King Cheng of Chu was very angry that he did not obey orders and was greedy for war, which led to the defeat of the Chu army. He sent people to the army to blame Ziyu: "Sir, if you return to the country, what will happen to you?"

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How can I explain this to the elders in Shen and Xi, whose sons died fighting with you?"

Only then did Ziyu realize that the King of Chu had disliked him so much that he had no choice but to commit suicide. The news reached the Jin army camp, and Duke Wen of Jin was overjoyed and said: "I defeated the Chu army outside, and the King of Chu himself killed the capable ones inside." Minister, I can rest easy now that the strength of Chu State has been weakened both internally and externally!"

Seeing that the Chu State had nothing to worry about, Duke Wen of Jin stationed his army at Hengyong in the State of Zheng (today's Yuanyangxi, Henan Province), and then regarded himself as the overlord and gathered the princes. The kings of the princes saw that the Jin army had won a new victory over the powerful Chu, and they were in full swing. , no one dared to disobey his will, so they came one after another. Chen, an ally of Chu 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 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, after considering The Jin State had just recovered from the civil strife and had another war with the Chu State. Its strength was severely depleted. If so many people were to travel long distances to Luoyi, some people might take the opportunity to rebel. So Jin Wengong gave up the idea and sent People are building a palace on the ground, and are preparing 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 region. 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 Chu state was a vassal state with a different surname, and had always been regarded as barbarians by the Central Plains states. For the Zhou royal family and the various Central Plains vassal states, Duke Wen of Jin defeated the Chu army and stopped the Chu army. Chu's attempt to go north had made great contributions. What's more, at this time, the Zhou royal family was in decline, and Jin Wengong had made great contributions to King Zhou Xiang during the Prince Rebellion. So King Zhou Xiang readily agreed to Jin Wengong's invitation and agreed to personally Come 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. When Chong'er passed through the State of Zheng during his exile, he was rudely turned away by Zheng Wengong. At this time, Zheng Wengong saw that Chong'er not only became the king, but also became the king of the country.

He also personally led an army to defeat Chu, his backing state. He was worried that Duke Wen of Jin would remember what happened in the past and use the power of his army to attack Zheng, so he quickly sent people to sue for peace from Jin. Duke Wen of Jin had been in exile for many years and was used to favors.

Although the world was cold and warm, he did not make things difficult for Zheng Wengong and readily agreed to form an alliance with Zheng Guo.

After King Zhou Xiang arrived in Jiantu, Jin Wengong personally presented prisoners to King Zhou Xiang, including a hundred chariots and a thousand infantrymen from the Chu State. By offering prisoners, Duke Wen of Jin expressed Jin's loyalty to the Zhou royal family.

, so King Xiang of Zhou received Duke Wen of Jin with high standards, and ordered the ministers Yin, Wang Zihu and Shu Xingfu to appoint Duke Wen of Jin as Hou Bo in the name of the emperor of Zhou. Thus, the dominance of Duke Wen of Jin was achieved.

Approval from the Zhou royal family.

Afterwards, the three envoys, on behalf of King Zhou Xiang, gave various ceremonial items in line with the overlord's status to Duke Wen of Jin, including riding a large chariot and a rong chariot, two kinds of ceremonial clothes and clothes worn in battle, 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 subjects: "The emperor told his uncle: Please obey the emperor's orders respectfully, appease all countries in the four directions, and correct the mistakes of the emperor." 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: "Everyone will work hard to assist the royal family and 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 Jin Wengong to use his identity as "Hou Bo" to attack the vassal states that "disobeyed the king's orders" for the Emperor of Zhou. Not only did the hegemony of Jin pass

A series of etiquette was approved by the Emperor of Zhou, and prepared a banner of "respecting the king" for Jin's future conquests.
Chapter completed!