Due to the efforts of the Duke of Qi and the cooperation of the princes, a rare peaceful situation appeared in the Central Plains for the time being. However, war and development (annexation) were the main themes of the Spring and Autumn Period, and as a result, a Great War of the Central Plains broke out in the ninth year of the reign of Duke Lu Yin (BC714). The flames of war were ignited from the Song Kingdom, and the more they burned, the war lasted for three years. Zheng, Song, Qi, Lu, Wei, Cai, Dai, Xun, Xu and other princes were all involved in the war; The capitals of three countries were captured, two countries were destroyed, and the Song state was greatly weakened; The war ended in a complete victory for the Zheng military group.

The war was still caused by the open-mouthed Song Yangong.

It turned out that King Zhou Huan liked to take advantage of small advantages very much, and when he felt that something was missing, he sent someone to the ministers and princes to draw a circle. Because the Song people behaved extremely rude in the action to aid Zhou, King Huan of Zhou wanted to teach the "remnants of Yin Shang" a good lesson. But the doctors generally opposed his proposal, and the Duke of Zhou said: "The only one who can defeat the Song is Zheng Guo, and the Heavenly King has just humiliated Zheng Bo, where can he immediately give him an order?" The minister thought that it was better to give the Song State another chance, if the Song people could change their ways, they would not have to mobilize the people; If it is not changed, it will not be too late to use troops against the Song State. ”

King Zhou Huan said: "Then look at the performance of the Song people!" Then he sent messengers to Song to ask for some animal skins. Song Yangong laughed at Zhou Tianzi's greed in his heart, he did not give the envoy a good face, and planned to take the opportunity to humiliate King Zhou Huan.

Song Yangong then threw some goods covered with small mushrooms to the messenger. Not only that, Song Yangong also said in private that Zhou Tianzi was like a banner, he only took it out to beat him when he was at the funeral, and threw it on the side of the road for others to step on when he was done; Where is such a petty "Banner King" worthy of the respect of the princes?

King Huan of Zhou was furious and immediately ordered Song Yangong to come to Beijing to face the king. Song Yan was always arrogant and didn't care about anything when he was fair, but when the catastrophe came, he was terrified; He kept asking the doctors if he would die worse if he went or not.

Kong Fujia said: "You might as well send an envoy to the royal city to ask for guilt first, and at the same time vigorously bribe the royal ministers." With the mediation of the minister, the Son of Heaven will not be guilty. Then you go to the Son of Heaven to resolve the matter. ”

But no matter how he advised, Song Yangong's stubborn head just refused to click it. Kong Fujia walked out of the court gate and sighed and said, "How lucky are the doctors of the previous Song dynasty! ”

Since the Duke of Song refused to express his position, King Huan of Zhou ordered the Duke of Zheng Zhuang to lead his army to attack the Song State.

For everything that is detrimental to the Song Kingdom, Zheng Zhuanggong is very willing to do it, even if Zheng Guo can't get any benefits from it, it doesn't matter.

When Zheng Zhuanggong and his doctors formulated the battle plan, they believed that the war should be delayed as long as possible, because this opportunity to start a war was very rare, and the strength of the Song State must be weakened as much as possible. In order to achieve the above goals, the Zheng people decided to start with small-scale provocations, stir up the anger of the Song people, and make the Song people willingly expand the scale of the war.

Therefore, Zheng Zhuang Gong did not convey the king's order to the princes at first, he just gathered an army to crusade against the Song state; He also sent a particularly sinister emissary to the Song kingdom to accuse Song of his disrespectful behavior, in order to provoke his anger as much as possible.

Song Yangong was already preparing to sue for peace with Zheng Guoren, but when he saw that the number of enemies was small and the envoy spoke very harshly, his self-confidence and bad temper returned to his side.

The Duke of Song sent an envoy to tell Zheng Guoren that he did not make up those cool words about Zhou Tianzi, and that all the words he said were heard from Zheng people, and that they were being passed on in every vassal state; Zheng Guoren has done more bad things to the royal family, and the collective suicide of Zheng Guogong is almost the same, where is the qualification to crusade against others? Zheng Guo deserves to be punished! If Zheng Ren wants to pretend to be righteous and prepare for war, then let the descendants of Shang Tang teach Zheng Guoren a good lesson, and let the victory or defeat determine which side justice is on!

Zheng's army marched into the border of the Song Kingdom and arrived on the outskirts of Shangqiu a few days later. Shangqiu City is high and deep, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Zheng's army was neither large enough to siege the city nor to defend it, so it plundered the surrounding area and quickly retreated.

Lu Yingong crusaded against the State of Yi under the banner of revenge for the Song State the year before last, and he originally hoped to use this to show goodwill to the Song State, but his hot face was attached to Song Yinggong's cold ass. Song Yingong is still haunted by the old things, he did not send an envoy to inform Lu of the war this time, and Lu Yingong was angry and severed diplomatic relations with Song.

After Zheng withdrew his troops, Song Yangong thought that he had achieved a great victory, and he was almost about to float to the sky; He began to inquire about how the Shang king Wuding held a celebration ceremony after his victory over the ghost party, and even inquired about the differences between the data of the crown of the Son of Heaven and that of the princes.

But Kong Fatherjia saw the current situation very clearly. He reminded Song Gong: "The people of Zheng have always been immortal in the heart of the Song Kingdom, and they will never give up easily." Zheng Bo's purpose was clear, that is, to paralyze the Song people, and then unite the princes to launch a large-scale attack. It's not too late, you should immediately send an envoy to the capital to bribe the father of the prince and the close ministers of the Son of Heaven.

"Duke Yu has been favored by the Son of Heaven and is at odds with Uncle Zheng, so he will spare no effort to demolish Uncle Zheng's platform. After the Son of Heaven revokes the order to crusade against the Song Kingdom, you will personally go to Beijing to make a pilgrimage and pay more tribute. In this way, the Song Kingdom was spared the disaster of war. ”

But his golden words still couldn't penetrate Song Yangong's two stubborn ears.

Kong Fujia walked out of the court gate and sighed again and said: "It's going to be a useless war again, how happy the people of the previous dynasty are!" ”

Zheng Guoren's plan succeeded, and Song Yangong misjudged the situation, not only did he not turn back in time, but he was ready to fight Zheng Guoda. When the Song people went further and further down the wrong path, Zheng Zhuang Gong sent envoys to the six kingdoms of Qi, Lu, Wei, Cai, Yun, and Xu, and asked the monarchs of various countries to hold an alliance meeting to discuss the matter of defeating the Song Dynasty.

However, only the three monarchs of Zheng, Qi and Lu participated in the alliance, at which the monarchs studied and formulated a battle plan, and then held a bloody ceremony of "carrying out the war to the end".

The monarchs of the four kingdoms of Wei, Cai, Yu, and Xu did not attend the meeting. Wei Xuangong was absent because of his discord with the royal family—the Zhou people took in Zhou Hu's son and some exiled nobles who were hostile to the current regime; Cai Huanhou is because of his stupidity; Yu and Xu were very young, and they were afraid that Song Guo would retaliate against them in the future.

The news of the alliance between the three great powers made Song Yangong finally realize the seriousness of the situation, and he fell into depression and panic again. It was only at this time that the Duke of Song decided to send an envoy to the Jingshi. But Kong Fujia told him that it was too late, and what the Song people could think of, Zheng Guoren must have imagined, and he must have formulated countermeasures; The only way for the Song State at this time was to defend with all its might, and wait until the war was over before considering entering Beijing.

Song Yangong did not give up, and still sent a huge delegation to Cheng Zhou.

The mission planned to pass through the state of Chen in the south, then pass through the state of Cai in the west, and then reach Jingshi in the northwest. However, Chen refused to allow the embassy to enter the country, and the reason for the refusal was that Zheng Bo, the supreme commander of the Song coalition in this crusade, issued an order prohibiting any Song people from entering the borders of the vassal states.

Zheng Guo completely cut off the path of peace, and the two sides had no choice but to fight to the death.