But the Song people said that every country has the right to defend its own country, and no one can pin their hopes on the allies (this is the lesson that the Song State summed up with blood and defeat); The Song State will not take the initiative to invade other countries, but it must maintain its own security. Even a small earl state (referring to Zheng State) has three armies, and Song is a big country, and of course it needs more troops to defend itself.

The envoy of Qi said that the recent defeats of the Song army were not due to the lack of troops, and the number of troops was still superior, so the defeat was not an excuse for expanding the army; "Every country should maintain peace around it", this agreement is written in the alliance of the North Apricot Alliance; If the Song State broke the alliance, it would trigger a chain reaction among the princes, thus making the regional situation uncontrollable; Therefore, the Song State must stop expanding its army.

But Song Huan Gong just kept shaking his stubborn head, and the messengers returned to Linzi in a huff.

Duke Qi Huan felt particularly annoyed: because compared to open confrontation, it was even more intolerable for him to make small moves in secret, "Duke Song Huan deceived all the princes at the Beixing Meeting!" Thinking so, Duke Qi Huan gathered his ministers and declared war against the Song State. He asked the doctors to quickly formulate a battle plan, and he was in a great mood to destroy the Song Dynasty as soon as possible.

But Guan Zhong held a different view, he said that Song Gong said some big things that were not marginal at the beginning of his reign, and now he has been caught by the tail of the countrymen and cannot be recovered; He was difficult to ride a tiger, and in order to consolidate the throne, he had to make a gesture to look at the countrymen. But this was not his original intention, so the Qi State should not regard the Song State as a stubborn enemy, but as long as the Song State was strongly deterred, the Song Gong could retreat down the steps in front of the countrymen, and instead abide by the Beixing Alliance, and the purpose of the Qi State would be achieved.

In the spring of the fourteenth year of the reign of Duke Lu Zhuang (680 BC), Duke Huan of Qi mobilized a large army to fight the Song Dynasty with Wang Shi, Chen Jun, and Cao Jun. The coalition army first occupied the two great cities of the Song Kingdom, imprisoned the noble figures in the city, and marched towards Shangqiu with those people. The coalition forces surrounded Shangqiu, and Duke Qi Huan sent several of his captives to meet Duke Huan of Song with his handwritten letters.

The letter first recalled the scene of the bloody ceremony in the Beixing Alliance, and the oath made by the princes in the face of heaven, and then expressed his and the princes' disappointment and anger at the treachery of the Song people, and finally wrote: "The Yin Shang dynasty was established for more than 600 years by Zhou. At that time, King Wu carried out divination, and knew that the foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty would last for 800 years. Keshang has not been more than 300 years ago, although the Western Zhou Dynasty is dead, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty still exists; The royal family is declining, and the mandate of heaven has not changed. Moreover, since Heaven has abandoned Yin Shang, it will no longer help it to revive; The one who prospers on behalf of Zhou will never be Song. If Song Jun insisted on making enemies of the princes of the world, then the Song people who had already been captured would be sold into slavery, and the other Song Jun would immediately see them in the same capacity; If the Song monarch could give up his claims and reconcile with the widows and princes, they would have gained freedom and deprived property. Since the widow can mobilize the army of the royal family and the princes to crusade against the Song State, he can also gather an equally large army to protect the Song State. ”

Song Huan Gong gathered the people in the square in front of the Taimiao, and he and several important ministers entered the Taimiao and asked a loud official to read the letter aloud to the people. After hearing this, the Song people made a chaotic noise. Most people were at a loss and kept asking the people next to them what to do, and then the Hua family came out of the Taimiao (Song Huan Gong calculated like this: if the Hua family can't hold down the scene, and the order is not too chaotic, he can come forward to resolve it; If the scene is too dangerous and causes the Hua family to encounter an accident, he can escape in time).

The Hua family stretched out his hand to signal the people to be quiet and said, "Every monarch has the ambition to revitalize the country, but only my monarch has been misunderstood. You must know that the monarch wants to become Yao and Shun, but he will not claim to be Tang and Wu. Because Tang and Wu were the destroyers of the previous dynasty.

"The new monarch wants to revive the Great Song Dynasty, which was originally done by Yao and Shun, and he never wanted to confront the royal family, but he was preached by a group of evil people in the country to become a soup and reborn Wu, and engage in 'restoration of Yin Shang'! They instigated and incited the people of the country who did not know the truth, and they received widespread support; When they felt that their power was strong, they coerced the monarch and ministers with the will of the people, and caused trouble to the country according to their will. Now it's okay, the whole world regards my Great Song as an evil enemy.

"Let's climb the city wall and take a look, one Qi country is enough, not to mention the royal family and princes involved. Is this what you need? The Great Song Dynasty is facing destruction, who will save the country? Where are the revivals who swagger all day long? Why are they invisible, when the country needs it most? However, at present, the great enemy is war or peace, and the lord of the country still has to follow the will of the people; Those who want to fight stand on the left-hand side, and those who want peace stand on the right-hand side. ”

At this time, the inner staff of the office, which had been placed in the crowd beforehand, first crowded to the right, followed by some of the wavering people, and then almost all of them went to the right; However, there are still some righteous people who cannot bear the shame of being wronged and seeking peace, so they draw their swords and commit suicide in anger.

Song Huan Gong successfully defused the domestic crisis, and then sent an envoy to ask for peace talks. Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Qi Huan made another alliance with the Song State and returned the prisoners and property to the Song State.