Chapter 9 Chapter 8 It's You Who Hit

Song Guo knew that Qi Guo and Zheng Guo had just formed an alliance and were in the honeymoon period.Now that Qi State is asking for an international peace conference, it must be inclined to Zheng State.In order to avoid being single and alone during the talks, Song Guo wanted to hold an informal meeting with Wei Guo in advance, so as to unify the caliber and form an offensive and defensive alliance. In the spring of 715 BC, Song Shanggong and Wei Xuangong held a preparatory meeting for the four-nation summit in Quanqiu, and the two sides agreed to take concerted action on major issues. In April of this year, the summit of the four nations of Qi, Zheng, Song, and Wei was held in Wendi.The results of this meeting are encouraging enough, but it is hard to say what the actual effect will be. It seems a bit difficult to expect peace in the Central Plains with a single meeting.

Qi Xigong, who planned this alliance, naturally deserved the greatest credit.Zheng Bo decided to take Duke Xi of Qi to meet with the Emperor Zhou, to ask for credit for Duke Xi of Qi, and to further consolidate the relationship between Qi State and himself. King Huan of Zhou was very happy about Qi Xigong's court meeting.Because there have been very unpleasant things between Qi State and Zhou royal family.In the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Zhou Yi, the ninth emperor, once listened to the slander of Ji Hou (Ji State is a small country near Qi State, also in the territory of Shandong today), and deceived Qi Aigong, the then king of Qi State, to Haojing and threw him to Dazhou. Cooked in the pot.How about calling it "Ai Gong"?Of course it's sad to be boiled.Since then, the relationship between the Qi State and the Zhou royal family has been very wrong.Now Qi Xigong has not only settled the conflict between Song Wei and Zheng Guo, but also came to meet the emperor, which is naturally a grand event.So even though King Huan of Zhou hated Wujiwudi and instinctively disliked the people brought by Zheng Bo, he still held back his unhappiness and received Qi Xigong kindly.

Since then, Qi Xigong's reputation among the princes has gradually increased, and the relationship between Zheng State and Qi State has also become stronger.Wendi's alliance can be said to be a major victory in Qi's diplomacy.Even the State of Lu, which has always been an alliance with the State of Song, praised the Qixi Guild for its work.For Zheng Guo, which is allied with Qi State, this result is still reasonable.However, Zheng Zhuanggong is a person who never wants to suffer. The state of Song has not avenged Zheng Guo for occupying Changge. It is Zheng Zhuanggong's established policy to teach Song Guo a lesson, but judging from the records of Zheng and Song's fights in recent years, Zheng Guo can barely say that he has not lost and has not taken advantage of it.If you want to convince Song Guo, I'm afraid you don't have the qualifications.

Now that the covenant has been concluded, it will not be very nice to say it if it is broken casually.Fortunately, Qi State is on his side now, and the relationship between Zhou Tianzi and himself has improved a little.To repair Song State, just find any reason. Just at Zhou Tianzi's place, Zheng Zhuanggong got a message.It turns out that the most self-respecting King Huan of Zhou has done the most since he came to power. Ruthless words like general ledger.Although he knew that this kind of venting would not solve the problem, King Huan still enjoyed being caught up in sexual fantasies.One day, the count reached the state of Song.

Zheng Zhuanggong had dozed off during King Huan's nagging, but when he heard King Huan criticize Song, his energy suddenly rose: "Song is so disrespectful to the royal family, I will relieve the king's worries and lead the army to attack." Of course King Huan of Zhou wanted to teach the disobedient princes a lesson, but Duke Zhuang Zheng, an old fox, came out to invite Ying, so King Huan felt awkward no matter what.This guy may have something bad in his stomach, so let him be honest.He said: "It's commendable that Aiqing is loyal to the royal family, but the Song Dynasty is after the Yin and Shang Dynasties. As a guest in our Great Zhou Dynasty, we should first honor the soldiers and send troops to crusade. We have to think long-term. Aiqing, go back first."

Zheng Zhuanggong saw that the emperor didn't catch a cold, so he had no choice but to retreat.Going back to discuss with Jizuyi, Jizu said: "This is not easy to deal with. Let's fight first. As a courtier, you should share the worries of the emperor. Since the emperor has expressed dissatisfaction with the Song State, we will use the Song State repeatedly. Not coming to the court is an excuse to fight. As long as we win the battle, are you afraid that the emperor will not recognize us?" Zheng Zhuanggong thought it was reasonable, so he took a leave of absence with King Zhou Huan, saying that there was something in the country and he wanted to go back.King Huan's attitude towards Zheng Zhuanggong has always been out of sight and out of mind, so he naturally agreed.

After Zheng Zhuanggong returned to his country, he issued a call to arms everywhere, pretending to get the order of King Huan of Zhou, and asked all the vassal states to send troops to cooperate in the crusade against Song.In March 714 BC, the army of the State of Zheng went straight to the border of the State of Song. It is not surprising that Song State has always been at war with Zheng State these years.But this time attacking Song State, it is no longer Zheng Guo's family.Qi State, as an ally of Zheng State, also sent troops together.The State of Lu, which had always had a good relationship with the State of Song, was also drawn over by the State of Zheng.Duke Yin of Lu and Duke Xi of Qi also met on the defense line, and agreed to help Zheng Guo start a war against Song Guo who did not obey the king's order.

However, in the winter of this year, due to the invasion of the border of Zheng State by the Rong people from the north, the day of conquest of Song Dynasty was forced to be postponed. It should be said that the history of China is a history of ethnic conflicts and integration alternately.Even when the Zhou Dynasty was relatively strong, there was still the land of Jingchu in the south who was not convinced by the Emperor Zhou.After King Ping moved to the east, the royal family declined, the melee among the vassal states of the Central Plains intensified, and the invasion of the vassal states of the Central Plains by ethnic minorities gradually increased.The army of Bei Rong was able to invade Zheng Guo, a central country in the Central Plains, and it can also be seen that the power of ethnic minorities was already very strong at that time.

Zheng Zhuanggong naturally wanted to send troops to resist, but he had some concerns.As we said earlier, the main form of warfare in the Spring and Autumn Period was still a decisive battle between the two armies in the plain area, with chariots and infantry forming a square formation and attacking each other.This form of warfare was stipulated by the "Military Rituals (that is, the regulations on the military part of the 'Zhou Ritual')" at that time. For the vassal states of the Central Plains, it is legally binding. Enemy of princes.But the ethnic minorities don't care what you say, they fight as long as it is beneficial for them to fight.If it is a frontal battle, the Bei Rong, which is mainly infantry, will definitely not be able to compete with Zheng Guo's chariot troops.However, the infantry has the advantage of maneuverability. It would be dangerous to go around behind Zheng Jun and attack.

Gong Zitu, the second son of Zheng Zhuanggong, said: "Although soldiers are relatively powerful in combat, they have no discipline. Send a part of the troops to meet the enemy head-on, and pretend to be defeated as soon as they come into contact with the soldiers, and then throw some small coins. The soldiers are greedy for looting property, and they will definitely follow. Our main force set up three layers of ambushes, waiting for the soldiers to come If you kill him by surprise, are you afraid that you won't be able to win?" Zheng Zhuanggong felt that it made sense, so he arranged to meet the enemy according to the method of Prince Tu.

Sure enough, the progress of the battle was similar to what Young Master Tu had predicted. The soldiers rushed forward greedily, and retreated when they encountered Zheng Guo's ambush.Zhu Dan, a doctor of the state of Zheng, led his army in pursuit, cut the army in two, and wiped out them all.The Beirong's invasion of Zheng State ended in failure. Don't underestimate this battle. The war between the countries of the Central Plains under the constraints of "military salute" is like a sports competition. Although there are no referees on the scene, there are rules.It's like boxing, no matter how hard you hit, even if you kill someone, you still can't kick. The existence of "military salute" plays such a role. However, this very rigid form of warfare is gradually changing with the development of the times.One is that wars are becoming more frequent and fierce, the second is that the prestige of Zhou Tianzi is declining step by step, and the third is that there are more and more invasions by ethnic minorities who do not follow the rules (that is, the so-called barbarians). When wars started, they became more and more disregarded.The principle of military salute is gradually losing its binding force, so the forms of war and military theories have become rich and colorful. The invading army was wiped out, and the time has come to the end of 714 BC.In the spring of the next year, in response to Zheng Guo's proposal, Qi Xigong, Lu Yingong and Zheng Zhuanggong held a meeting in Zhongqiu (near today's Linyi, Shandong), and agreed to send troops to attack the Song Dynasty in the summer of June this year. As soon as June arrived, the Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms entered the territory of Song State all the way and occupied Laotao.On the seventh day of the sixth month, the armies of the Three Kingdoms defeated the Song army who came to counterattack.Subsequently, Zheng Guo's army attacked on a large scale, and successively captured the high land and defense area of ​​Song State.Gaodi and Fangdi are both in Shandong today. Zheng Zhuanggong's eyes moved very fast. He knew that the Lu State in the coalition army was originally an ally of the Song State and needed to win over the most, so he handed over the occupied land and defense area to the State of Lu, which moved Lu Yingong. Unbelievable, this Uncle Zheng is too kind.Zheng Zhuanggong's move really won him a lot of popularity, the number of fans increased in a blink of an eye, and the click-through rate also increased.Everyone opened a post and left a message saying, look at Zheng Bo, some people say that he is using the public to benefit himself, but he took up the land of Song State and didn't keep it for himself, but gave it to his allies. Is there anything more selfless than this? Song Shanggong realized the seriousness of the situation, but he was helpless in the face of the attacks of the three powerful countries.Sima (equivalent to the Minister of National Defense) Kong Fujia of the Song State came up with an idea: "The army of the Zheng State is now in our country, and their country must be empty. Why don't we summon the troops of Cai and Wei to enter the territory of Zheng State together, and we will not be afraid of Zheng State. Uncle Bu returned his troops to rescue." So Duke Shang of Song hurriedly contacted Cai and Wei, and also formed a three-nation coalition to attack Zheng. The troops of Song and Wei entered the border of Zheng State all the way, and Cai Guo's army followed the two big countries to get some cheap, but the two big countries let Cai Guo's army go alone to attack Dai State (now Lankao, Henan), a small country on the border of Zheng State.Cai Guo's army was very dissatisfied, coupled with the fact that they were alone, so they failed to defeat Dai Guo.At this time, Zheng Zhuanggong returned to his teacher to rescue and surrounded Dai Guo all the way.Song Wei's army hurried back, but Zheng Zhuanggong waited for work with ease, and was defeated.Most of the armies of the three countries were captured by Zheng Guo.Zheng Zhuanggong simply took Dai Guo as his own because of the prestige of his victory. In September, Zheng Guo's army invaded the Song State again and returned to the country after looting.After this battle, Song State lost a lot of territory, and many troops were captured by Zheng State. It can be considered that Song State was cleaned up enough. In the winter of this year, because the small country of Yi (now Fan County, Henan) did not send troops to crusade against Song, which violated the order of the emperor, the armies of Zheng, Qi, and Lu invaded Yi as a punishment. Zheng Zhuanggong was so successful that he attacked several countries such as Song State one after another, but most of the vassal states in the Central Plains recognized his actions. This is of course because Zheng Zhuanggong always used the banner of the Son of Heaven.Zheng Zhuanggong's act of pulling a banner to make a tiger skin did not stop there. All disobedient princes and states were within the scope of his teaching. The next target is Xu Guo.How did Xu Guo offend Zheng Zhuanggong and cause such a disaster?