In the first year of the reign of Lu Min (661 BC), the Jin Kingdom began to defeat the surrounding hostile countries. These countries were Geng (southeast of present-day Hejin, south bank of Fenshui), Huo (west of present-day Huo County, west bank of Fenshui), and Wei (near present-day Ruicheng).

The reason why the Jin people chose this point in time to use troops abroad was because of the serious civil strife that occurred in the Wei state. It turned out that Wei Bo's younger brother Xi Zhong had always coveted his brother's throne. Xi Zhong used his sanctimony and hypocrisy to win over a large number of henchmen, and when he had the strength to fight against the crown prince, he was ready to move and prepare to seize the throne by force.

Now that Weber is old, he knows that he will die soon, so he wants to get rid of his restless brother before he dies. But the conspiracy was revealed, and Xi Zhong preemptively drove his brother and the crown prince out of the palace. Wei Bo wanted to go to the state of Yu through the state of Yu, but Duke Yu had a deep personal grudge with the exiled monarch, and as a result, he was sent back to the state of Wei. The crown prince escaped because he did not travel with his father.

Xi Zhong was afraid that the prince would counterattack, so he imprisoned Wei Bo as a hostage. But the crown prince no longer cared about his father's safety, and he gathered a large army to wage war against his uncle. The two sides were evenly matched and stalemate, and the Wei state was plunged into protracted civil strife.

The doctors persuaded Jin Xiangong to take advantage of the chaos to attack Wei, but Xiangong said: "Wei is big, the road is difficult and close to Qiu, if Wei is defeated, the Yu division will inevitably participate in the war, and our country has no certainty of victory." If Wei can't come to the rescue, it can destroy the two countries in one fell swoop, and after the two countries are destroyed, Wei can't exist alone. ”

The idea was unbelievably mad, but the doctors were very excited—the Jin Kingdom had always been a country that admired force and adventurousness. The martial spirit is determined by the geographical location and living environment of the Jin Kingdom; The Jin people are accustomed to using high risks to win high profits, which is not due to the greed of the Jin people, but the habit formed by living in a specific environment for a long time. With the unanimous approval of the doctors, the plan for the destruction of the two countries was quickly formulated.

In autumn and September, Jin Xiangong held a military ceremony in Taimiao. He decided to personally lead the upper army to the expedition and handed over the supreme command of the lower army to Shen Sheng. After the ceremony, the doctors did not leave, but gathered outside the temple to discuss.

Shi Ping said: "The crown prince is the assistant to the lord, and he should serve the lord respectfully to wait for the succession, and not lead the army into battle." Now the lord has given Qu Wo to him, and ordered him to lead the army, which is to treat him as a secretary! I should advise the monarch to change his mind. ”

At this time, Xiangong was already on his way back to the palace, and Shi Ping quickly caught up with him and said, "The prince is your deputy, now let him lead the army, I'm afraid it's not appropriate, right?" ”

Xiangong said: "The lower army is the assistant of the upper army, and the prince is the prince of the widow; The widow leads the army, and the prince leads the army, what's inappropriate? ”

Shi Chuan said: "How can the lower army be the assistant of the upper army? The upper and lower armies are inherently equal, so how can there be a question of who assists whom? The armies are like a man's limbs, hands and feet, each of which is divided into upper and lower sides, and works in harmony with each other to support the heart and eyes. Rotate your hands so that you don't get tired; Alternate feet to land on the ground to move forward. Now you have your hands commanding your feet or your feet commanding your hands; How do you cut off one arm and foot to lengthen the other?

"In ancient times, the country established two armies, and the two sides fought together, and whichever army appeared in a situation was aided by the other army: odd or positive, positive or strange; There is no distinction between priority and priority, no distinction between high and low, so if the tactics are right, there are few failures. And now if you let the lower army assist the upper army, it is equivalent to reducing the lower army to the auxiliary position of the Jin Rong cavalry; This shows the enemy the weakness of the Jin army, once the enemy army takes advantage of the weakness to enter, the lower army is defeated and the upper army is not saved, can the upper army survive alone? ”

Xiangong said: "The widow will correct the position of his son, so he will not bother with his son." ”

Shi Ping finally understood the intention of Xiangong: it turned out that this tyrant no longer regarded Shen Sheng as the crown prince! Xiangong has been fighting for more than 20 years, how can he not understand the truth that the two armies cooperate with each other? All he is doing now is to pave the way for the dethronement of Shen Sheng.

The fact that the Jin State was crowned the crown prince has been told to the princes by the envoys, and the historians of various countries have recorded it and hidden the simple books in the treasury, and the deposition of them for no reason will inevitably attract a large number of doubts, and it is likely that there will be princes who will take the opportunity to make trouble, not to mention that Shen Sheng is still the grandson of Qi Huangong, the overlord of Zhuxia. Maybe Jin Xiangong didn't want to kill Shen Sheng yet, but how could Li Ji and his comrades tolerate Shen living?!

But Shi Bao is still extremely unwilling, and he is still making a final effort to try to save the impossible situation. He said: "The crown prince is the pillar of the country, and it is not too dangerous to make it crooked when the pillar has been decided?" Isn't the prince afraid of the house collapsing? ”

Xiangong said: "What does it matter if it is a little dangerous to reduce the weight of the pillars (depriving them of the right to inherit the rule) so that it is a little dangerous? ”

Shi Bao sighed and turned back. Seeing that the doctors were still in place, anxiously awaiting the results, he said, "I am afraid that the prince will be deposed." The prince lowered the status of the crown prince without considering his difficulties; If the crown prince is relieved of his responsibilities without worrying about his danger, where will the throne be passed to him? The prince already has other ideas, so you can do it yourself! ”

In the winter of October, the Jin army surrounded Geng, and Geng Hou immediately asked Wei and Huo for help.

The target of the Xia army's attack was Huo Guo, and the army marched north along the Fendong Pass, secretly entered Kundu, and waited in the city for the order to act.

Soon, Huo Guo received an urgent report, and Huo Bo immediately ordered the eldest doctor, Gongzi Nan, to lead the division to rescue the victims. Huo and Geng were on the west side of Fenshui, and Huo Jun needed to go down Fenshui and pass through the fox kitchen to reach Geng. Fox Kitchen and Yang Cheng confronted each other. Yangcheng has now become a settlement of the Fox Rong (Da Rong). Huo Jun didn't want to provoke Da Rong, so he died down and quietly marched along the west bank of Fenshui.

Hutu still has some close clansmen in Darong, and he still maintains close contact with Darong. Hutu, through a prominent clansman in Yangcheng (who was also an insider of the Jin state), instigated the local Rong lord to ambush the Huo army in order to obtain the spoils of war.

Yang Cheng's Da Rong was completely unaware that the Jin army was hiding in Kundu, and was closely watching his actions; Tempted by the abundant booty, the lord recklessly gave the order. The Rong army quickly assembled and crossed the Fenshui, preparing to rob the passing soldiers of the Huo State.

Seeing that the Rong army was pouring out, the Jin army immediately launched a surprise attack and rushed into the empty and unprepared Yang City. On the other hand, Huo Jun's scouts detected the movements of the Rong army, and Huo Jun prepared for battle. As a result, the Rong army's plan to loot was aborted. When the Rong army returned to Yangcheng dejectedly, they were surprised to find that their lair had been occupied by the Jin.

The army obtained a large number of hostages (men, women, and children all over the city), and Shen Sheng ordered the most noble of them to be sent back to Kundu, and then forced Da Rong to sign an alliance under the city.