In the summer of this year, the royal family encountered a rare drought in the land of Gyeonggi, looking up at the scorching sun and looking at the red land for thousands of miles; The water level of the big rivers has plummeted, the small rivers have been cut off, the land has cracked, the grass and trees have dried up, and in many places there is no groundwater. As a result, the grain was extinct on a large scale, and the cultivators wanted to cry without tears.

In winter, the grain reserves of the Jingshi were no longer enough to last until the next harvest season, the grain was hoarded in the hands of the nobles, the price continued to rise, and the Zhou people began to suffer from famine.

King Huan of Zhou asked the nobles to open the granary to stabilize the situation, and sent envoys to the state of Lu to ask for help, and Lu Yin Gong thought that this was a good opportunity to unite the princes in the name of King Qin and establish the prestige of the state of Lu; He immediately sent messengers to Song, Wei, Qi, and Zheng, asking them to deliver grain to Cheng Zhou.

Song Ren's reaction was very cold, because Song Yangong was originally a mean and stingy person. The Song people only symbolically transported dozens of truckloads of old grain – as if they were not helping the royal family, but fulfilling the task of poverty alleviation.

Wei, Qi, and Zheng were very active, and Zheng Guode was particularly prominent: the whole country was mobilized to provide donations, and a steady stream of grain wagons were assembled at the border and then driven to Chengzhou. When the Zhou people counted the aid of the countries, they learned that the Zheng people actually paid half of the share - these grains were actually gifts thrown by Zheng Zhuang Gong to meet King Zhou Huan.

As a result of the righteous actions of the princes, the food crisis in the market was resolved, the supply of food in the market was sufficient, the price returned to the level of a normal year, and the people's hearts were stabilized. King Huan became very happy under the flattery of the doctors, and continued to live a luxurious and depraved life.

Zheng Zhuang Gong took advantage of the fact that King Huan's cheerful energy had not disappeared and rushed to Chengzhou with sacrificial feet.

But Zheng Zhuanggong was too wishful thinking, and as a result, his hot face was attached to someone else's cold ass for the second time. When King Huan summoned him, he hardly looked at him directly.

King Huan arrogantly asked Zheng Zhuang Gong in a long voice, where did Chen Guoren offend Zheng Bo and make him fight Chen Guoda? Zheng Zhuang Gong said that the reason for attacking Zheng Guo was similar to that of Chen Guo.

King Zhou Huan asked Zheng Guo how this year's harvest was? Is there enough food to eat? Zhuang Gong said that it was a rare harvest year.

King Huan said, that's good, he can finally enjoy the grain of Chengzhou and Wendi, and he doesn't have to worry about being robbed by Zheng Guoren anymore. After the meeting, King Huan didn't even set up a banquet to entertain Zhuang Gong - he just transferred dozens of carts of old grain sent by the Song people to Zheng Zhuang Gong, and then stopped bothering him.

Zhuang Gong finally figured out one thing: all efforts were in vain, he had completely lost the trust of King Huan, and it was only a matter of time before he was stripped of all power. But after all, there is still a period of time, during which he can use the special status of the dynasty secretary to do a lot of fake public and personal things.

Zheng Zhuanggong stayed in Chengzhou for some time. During this time, he visited many royal officials, most of whom shunned him, and only hastily talked to him before sending them off; Only Zhou Huan Gong (Zhou Gong Black Shoulder) prepared a grand dinner for his arrival, and he did not hide it at all.

Zheng Zhuanggong said during the banquet that Zheng Guo is now in a stalemate over the Chen incident, and if it is not resolved as soon as possible, the country is likely to fall into an unknowable and uncontrollable danger.

Zhou Gong said: "Chen Hou is a person who is very unconfident in doing things, he is very timid, and his ears are soft. He relied on his marriage to maintain national security and personal status, but he exposed his cowardice and incompetence. He recently wanted to marry me, and since you are troubled by the relationship between the two countries, let me help you! ”

Zheng Zhuanggong knew that there must be a reason for Zhou Gong's dedication to him, but he really couldn't figure out what the reason was, so he pretended to be thoughtful and nodded, and then said that if Zhou Gong needed him, he would serve Zhou Gong without hesitation.

After leaving the Zhou Mansion, Zheng Zhuang asked Saizu: "What the hell is that old fox doing?" ”

Saizu said: "I heard that the Son of Heaven is going to appoint the Duke of Zhou as the teacher of Wang Zike. ”

Zheng Zhuanggong suddenly realized: "So that's the case!" But why didn't you know the news that the widow didn't get first? ”

Saizu said: "It was the Zhou family head (housekeeper) who told the minister. ”

It turned out that King Huan had a particularly favored son named Wang Zike, and Wang Zike's status could be compared to that of the prince, and he often wore clothes like the prince and walked side by side with the prince behind King Zhou Huan. Duke Zhou is an ambitious fellow, and if he becomes Wang Zike's teacher, he will definitely help his student to ascend to the throne. In order to achieve that ulterior purpose, Zhou Gong must expand his power. He actively bribed his henchmen inside Cheng Zhou and made friends with the princes outside, and Zheng Zhuang Gong was undoubtedly the person he wanted to win over the most.

After Zheng Zhuanggong left Cheng Zhou, King Huan of Zhou rebuked Zhou Gong and said that he should not be so courteous to Zheng Zhuanggong. Zhou Gong replied: "The Western Zhou Dynasty moved eastward, and the Jin State and Zheng Guoguo made great contributions; For more than 50 years since the founding of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Zheng Guo has always done his best to assist the royal family. Now the royal family is declining, and the princes are becoming disrespectful. Therefore, for the princes who made the pilgrimage to the Son of Heaven, it was too late for the royal family to treat each other with courtesy, so how could they repay virtue with grievances?

"Only by treating the Zheng people well can the Heavenly King show the favor of the dynasty to the princes and persuade those who come after him. I'm afraid Uncle Zheng won't come again! It's not Zheng Bo Jue Zhou, but the Heavenly King Jue Zheng. When the princes saw Uncle Zheng's treatment, they would no longer respect the Son of Heaven! What the minister did was just trying his best to balance the relationship between Zhou and Zheng and leave a channel for exchanges between the two countries! ”

A few days later, Duke Chen Huan came to Wangcheng, firstly to finalize matters related to the marriage with the Zhou family, and secondly, to find out what Duke Zheng Zhuang had done in Wangcheng.

Zhou Gong passed on some true and false news to him, and then said: "Song Guo may be unlucky this time, all the grain they sent is moldy, and they don't even eat pigs - Song Gong simply treats Cheng Zhou as a garbage dump." The Son of Heaven was furious and prepared to crusade against the Song State at the right time. I heard that Uncle Zheng took the initiative to befriend the prince, but you were very rude to the envoy of Zheng Guo. As an in-law, I want to advise you, don't offend other countries because you are afraid of the Song Kingdom, otherwise I won't be able to save you. ”