Chapter 31 Chapter 30 Xiao Mian, don’t think you can’t be cured

When Duke Huan of Qi rescued Xing Cunwei, he took Di from the north away.However, the barbarians in the south, that is, Jingchu, were not intimidated by Duke Huan of Qi's righteous deed to fight the barbarians at all, and they still resolutely expanded their power to the north. Since Duke Huan of Qi became the overlord of the Central Plains, all the vassal states in the Central Plains have attached themselves to Qi State.The princes felt that they had a backbone, so they became more stubborn in the face of the threat of Chu State. At this time, the head of the state of Chu was King Cheng of Chu.Those small countries in the Central Plains that are close to Chu State originally respected Chu State.But in the past few years, the situation has suddenly changed.King Cheng of Chu clearly felt that the attitude of those small countries in the southern part of the Central Plains towards him had changed.After careful inquiry, it turns out that these small countries have backing. Qi, the great eastern country, is now the overlord of the Central Plains, covering these small countries.

King Chu Cheng was very unhappy.Duke Huan of Qi, the overlord, is still not in his eyes.Do you think that the state of Chu didn’t even take the emperor of Zhou seriously, and dared to proclaim himself king and sit on an equal footing with the emperor, would he still be afraid of a prince (of course, the Chu Congress will realize later that this prince is much more arrogant than the emperor)?King Chu Cheng felt that I have no control over you being your overlord in the Central Plains.I want to expand my sphere of influence, so leave me alone.Let's say that the well water does not violate the river water. Anyway, I didn't hit the border of your Qi country.

But Duke Huan of Qi, the overlord, is not just for show.The three kingdoms of Yan, Wei, and Xing in the north were invaded by Rong and Di. Duke Huan of Qi carried forward the spirit of internationalism and tried his best to rescue them, which played a good role model among the princes.Since you want to take care of the troubles of the princes in the north, can you not care about the south? In this way, the small countries sandwiched between the Central Plains and Chu State turned their backs on Chu State one after another, and threw themselves into the embrace of Duke Huan of Qi.Among them, the most typical one is Zheng Guo.

The State of Zheng was no longer the powerful country it was in the time of Duke Zheng Zhuang, but Duke Huan’s worries about the geographical location of the State of Zheng became more and more real (see Chapter 2).After the state of Chu occupied the Han River Basin, it continued to go north, and the unlucky one who bore the brunt was the state of Zheng.At the beginning, Zheng Guo was not convinced by Chu State, and Chu State's way to convince Zheng State was just one word - fight.When Zheng Guo was beaten too weak to fight, he had no choice but to show his obedience to Chu State, and has since become part of Chu State's sphere of influence.

However, for a barbarian like Chu State, Zheng State was not convinced after all.After the rise of Duke Huan of Qi, the state of Zheng quickly fell into the arms of the state of Qi and resolutely drew a clear line with the barbarian state of Chu.Now, King Chu Cheng quit. In the autumn of 659 BC, Duke Huan of Qi had just helped Xing and Wei to drive away Beidi, and was helping Xing to rebuild. King Cheng of Chu sent troops to attack Zheng.The reason is that Zheng Guo betrayed Chu State and lost his sincerity to Qi State, and Chu State gave a punitive military blow to this. Zheng Wengong was unlucky, and he didn't expect that the disaster of Xing and Wei would be his turn again.He had no choice but to ask Duke Huan of Qi for help.

As a matter of fact, Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong had long realized that Chu State was a great threat to the Central Plains, so they both took precautions.It's just that Chu's move to the north was so fast, it really surprised them. It's time to curb Chu's northward momentum. So the first thing to do is to rescue Zheng Guo who was bullied by Chu State. Duke Huan of Qi still used his usual method of gathering princes and organizing coalition forces to frighten Chu.It should be said that Duke Huan of Qi has been running around for the princes all these years, and he has suffered a lot, and the princes still support him very much.So when it was said to organize a coalition force, all countries responded one after another.

Considering the principle of proximity, Duke Huan of Qi called the monarchs of Lu, Song and Zhu first.When the armies of the four countries arrived at Tamandi, Zheng Wengong also came here to meet with the princes, and they discussed how to repel the invasion of Chu. So, there is no record in the history books whether the allied forces of the princes fought against Chu.But we can see from the history books that Zheng Guo's crisis has been temporarily lifted.Then we can think that the state of Chu was scared back by Duke Huan of Qi. After all, the title of overlord of the Central Plains was not given for nothing.

Chu State sent troops to the Central Plains this time, but it was only a tentative attack, and it was not well prepared.King Chu Cheng didn't think much of the princes in the Central Plains at first, so he didn't think it was a big deal for Duke Huan of Qi who was tossing around in the Central Plains. After a real fight and a trick, King Chu Cheng understood: the overlord is genuine, much more bullish than the titular Son of Heaven.It seems that it is better not to provoke Duke Huan of Qi too early.Is it over if the Chu State withdraws?How can it be so cheap.As the old saying goes, it is indecent to come and not to go. Since Chu State can fight over, Duke Huan of Qi can fight over.

In 658 BC, Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Huan of Song marched southward with the armies of the two countries.Those small countries in the Han River Basin that were originally conquered by Chu State were all frightened enough. Jiang Guo and Huang Guo are two small countries in the Han River Basin.As mentioned above, these two small countries were conquered by King Wu of Chu Xiong Tong, and they have been the sphere of influence of Chu State for more than 40 years. Originally, Jiang and Huang, who followed Chu with all their heart, were also intimidated by Duke Huan of Qi's military force at this time.Under the coercion of the army of Qi State (and of course Song State) with bayonets, in the autumn of this year, the monarchs of Jiang and Huang came to Guandi (belonging to Song State, in the south of Caoxian County, Shandong Province today) to fight with Qi and Song. The two countries sign a peace agreement.That means, I’m convinced, little brother, and from then on I’ll hang out with the Marquis of Qi, so what’s the state of Chu?Compared with you, the overlord, what kind of onion is it?

This is a great blow to Chu State.It has always been the state of Chu that has continuously accepted the small neighboring countries as its little brothers, and no one else has ever poached the corner of the state of Chu.These two little brothers are also the ones who see the wind, you are attached to the Qi State, do you think that the Chu State dare not beat you? King Cheng of Chu always thought that he was so good that even Emperor Zhou didn't pay attention to him.You see, our state of Chu dares to be king and sit on an equal footing with the emperor of Zhou, who of you princes in the Central Plains would dare?But there happened to be Duke Huan of Qi in the Central Plains, who was better than Chu.Can King Chu Cheng be convinced?

If you poach my corner, I will bully your allies.In the winter of this year, King Chu Cheng, who was furious, sent troops to attack Zheng Guo again to demonstrate against Duke Huan of Qi.This time the state of Chu came aggressively, fought a battle with the state of Zheng, and captured a doctor named Uncle Dan of the state of Zheng.It may be because Qi's rescue arrived in time, so Chu did not take further military actions. Duke Huan of Qi responded that in the autumn of 657 BC, he once again convened a meeting of princes in Yanggu (north of Yanggu County, Shandong Province) to discuss a plan to crusade against Chu.This time, the newly attached monarchs of Jiang and Huang also came to participate.These two monarchs regarded the meeting of princes as a meeting of memory of bitterness, and complained tearfully of Chu's arrogance.Then, resolutely support the overlord's crusade against Chu. Any small country that betrays one power and attaches itself to another power is generally the most active in attacking its original master.It is impossible for it not to be active. If the original master reacts, the first ones to suffer must be these traitors.King Cheng of Chu was determined to break arms with Duke Huan of Qi.In the winter of 657 BC, just after the Yanggu Conference organized by the State of Qi was successfully concluded, King Chu Cheng's army against Zheng came.The army of Chu State came to harass Zheng State every year, which annoyed Zheng Wengong so much that he almost had a nervous breakdown.Prepare for war and famine every year, can't you get by?When will this be the end!Zheng Wengong thought, simply, ask Chu for peace.At worst, let's send some money to buy a safe place. As long as the Chu country doesn't come to harass me again, I will recognize it as a younger brother. Zheng Wengong was shaken, and the doctor Kong Shu (who didn't know how this person was related to Confucius) hurriedly persuaded him.Uncle Kong is a sensible person. He said: "Every time Chu invades, Qi comes to help us fight. This is a kindness to us. If we make peace with Chu, it will be too meaningless. I think Qi Hou also We cannot tolerate Chu State continuing to invade the Central Plains, and the war against Chu State is already under planning. Let's endure it for a few more days, there will always be times when Chu State people will cry." Zheng Wengong weighed the stakes, and finally decided to stick to it and fight Chu Guo to the end. After several rounds of fighting between Qi and Chu, the result of the arm wrestling is already clear: Although Chu State has been attacking the Central Plains, Zheng State, which bears the brunt, finally withstood the pressure of Chu State with the support of Duke Huan of Qi; However, Chu’s little brothers, Jiang and Huang, defected to Duke Huan of Qi, and Chu suffered a great loss. Such a result also somewhat reflects the comparison of the strengths of the two sides: Duke Huan of Qi, who united the princes of the Central Plains and is just like the sky, still has certain advantages over Chu, which is regarded as a barbarian by the Central Plains. After clarifying that he has a strategic advantage, Duke Huan of Qi's next arrangement is to fight Chu State with real swords and guns, so that the people of Chu State can understand who is the boss among the princes.