However, Uncle Kong and other doctors denied Zheng Wengong's idea, and Uncle Kong said: "Qi Hou does like to boast about himself, but no one dares to point out that he is talking big, which is enough to prove that he is qualified to talk big." In turn, if there is no hegemonic status, how dare he talk nonsense?

"In order to maintain his position, Qi Hou will definitely not give up Zheng Guo. Moreover, the Qi people have great favors to the princes, but they do not ask for anything in return; And the Chu people are insatiable and can never be satisfied. The concubines of Handong have been destroyed by the Chu State, and the Chu State categorically cannot love the Zheng State alone. Zheng Guo's abandonment of Qi's kindness is ominous; It is unwise to turn to the enemies of Zhu Ji. If Zheng Guo wants not to be destroyed, he must not betray Qi Guo. ”

These words caused a chorus of approval from the doctors, and Zheng Wengong had to temporarily give up his previous thoughts. Two days later, reinforcements from the princes arrived in an overwhelming manner, and the Chu army did not dare to confront the coalition forces, so they withdrew after plundering the surrounding Zheng State.

After the Chu army retreated, the coalition forces did not return to the division, but were stationed on the outskirts of Xinzheng on standby. Duke Huan of Qi soon gave the order to the coalition forces to attack the state of Cai.

It turned out that Qi Huan Gong had a very favored wife "Cai Ji". One day, Cai Ji dragged Qi Huan Gong to the pond in the garden to swing a boat. Cai Ji grew up on the shore of Rushui since she was a child, and she is familiar with water and is lively and active; Qi Huan Gong is a master who stands up when he sees water, and in order to make his beloved wife happy, he had to come to the pond and clumsily climb the boat.

The boat rowed across the lotus lake and reached the middle of the pond. Cai Ji had a good time and couldn't help jumping around on the boat, and the boat swayed from side to side. Qi Huan's face was like a zombie, cold sweat flowed, his whole body was attached to the bottom plate, and a strange breaking sound came out of his throat, he scolded Cai Ji loudly and ordered her to stop immediately.

Cai Ji smiled when she saw Qi Huangong's exaggerated performance, and as a result, she danced more vigorously - she wanted to see what kind of ugliness this king of China could make in front of her. Several attendants rowed a big boat up, and people dragged up the paralyzed Qi Huan Gong with all hands and feet, and finally rescued him from the humiliating situation.

Cai Ji's naughty actions angered Qi Huangong; An awe-inspiring and inviolable overlord of China, but he was tormented by the naughty and active little Cai Ji, so how could he raise his head in front of the princes?

Qi Huan Gong felt that all his face had been torn off, so he simply sent her back to her parents' house. But Qi Huan Gong really couldn't let go of his love for Cai Ji, so he didn't mean to cut off relations with her; He said that when Cai Ji repented and repented, he would take her back.

But this Cai Ji has been spoiled since she was a child, and her little temper is also very short-tempered. She doesn't care what the other party is "the king of a country" and "the overlord of China"; Qi Huan Gong only has one role as a husband in her eyes, and men should spoil women and please women; Because of this little thing, he lost his temper, proving that he didn't care about himself anymore.

Cai Ji felt that she had been insulted intolerably, and despite her father Cai Mugong's persuasion, she just didn't want to return to Qi again. At this time, the Chu people came to propose, and Cai Mugong married her to the Chu State after obtaining her consent.

In the eyes of the people of Qi, Cai Mugong is equivalent to helping the hostile forces of the Huaxia princes to put on a crystal clear green hat for Qi Huangong, and then Cai Mugong was charged by the Qi people with "maliciously blackening the highest dignity of Huaxia". Duke Qi Huan decided to teach Cai Guo a hard lesson, and took the opportunity to lure the Chu army out.

In the spring of the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Lu (656 BC), the allied armies of the six kingdoms of Qi, Song, Zheng, Wei, Xu, and Cao invaded the state of Cai under the leadership of their respective monarchs. Cai Guoren had never seen such a huge formation, and he was immediately frightened, Cai Hou hurriedly sent an envoy to sue for peace, and Qi Huan Gong donated a large amount of property and promised to give him a younger and more beautiful son-in-law.

However, Duke Qi Huan's goal was not in Chu, and he hoped to force Chu to send troops to rescue by attacking Cai, and then crush the reinforcements in one fell swoop; He sent Zhongsun Yun to the envoy and said, "Is it for the sake of wealth and women that the widow and the princes of the princes have come to the Cai State? Cai Hou's collusion with Jing Man, endangering the security of China, has been a big mistake; Now they are trying to win over and bribe the widow, so that the widow will be notorious for being greedy for money and lustful, which is a mistake on top of a mistake. Please send the messenger back and tell Cai Hou: Sharpen your weapons, feed your war horses, and see you in the future! ”

Cai Mugong was shocked, he didn't expect that his unconsidered move would cause such a catastrophe; Dazai said: "Cai Guo is just the reason why Qi Guo led the Chu army out. Once Qi and Chu fight in our country, half the country will be reduced to ruins. In the opinion of the ministers, it is better to abandon the city and go south and lead the coalition army to the state of Chu. The sins of the prince will not destroy the country, and the marquis of Qi will not destroy the Cai country; After the two armies divided the victory and defeat, the prince and the prince formed an alliance with the victor to ensure that the society was unharmed. ”

Cai Mugong then fled overnight with the members of the office and the countrymen.

The premature rout of the Cai people made the coalition's intention to meet the Chu army come to naught, and the coalition army had to follow the fleeing south. The refugees broke into the border of the Chu State, and the coalition forces followed; The envoy of Chu soon came to Qi **, and Duke Huan of Qi specially arranged for Guan Yiwu to receive the envoy of Chu.

The two sides first exchanged courtesy greetings, and then the envoy said in a Chinese dialect with a strong Chu national accent: "The widow ordered the ministers to come and ask the lord a question: 'The prince is in the North Sea, and the widow is in the South China Sea; Even if the cow and horse are in heat, they will not run here from the North Sea; But I didn't expect the prince to trek here, what is the reason? ’”

Guan Yiwu replied: "Back then, Duke Zhaokang ordered my ancestor Taigong to say: 'Regardless of the five marquis and nine uncles, you can carry out a conquest to assist the Zhou room!'" He also set aside an area for Taigong to conquer: east to the sea, west to the Yellow River, south to Muling, and north to Wudi. Jing Chu did not respect the king's position and did not pay tribute to Bao Mao, so that the winemakers of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty could not filter the liquor; The royal family had no choice but to use turbid wine for sacrifices, and was disrespectful to the ghosts and gods of heaven and earth. Moreover, King Zhao went south and did not return to China, so the widow came here to ask what was going on. ”

The envoy responded: "Our country did not pay tribute according to the requirements of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, it is the fault of the widow, and the widow does not dare to disobey again. However, as for the fact that King Zhao did not return to the south, the widow did not know; The prince should go to the shore of the Han River to seek answers! ”

The first meeting ended in nothing. Since nothing came of it, the coalition forces continued their southward march and soon reached Shendi (present-day Yingshan, Hubei). Fifty miles west of Shaanxi is Qingfa Shui, and the Chu army led by Yin Ziwen has lined up on the west bank of Qingfa Shui.

The idea of the Qi people was to try to avoid an all-out war with the Chu army; Because even if you win, you can't get an inch of land, let alone anything to bring the state of Chu to its knees. And if it is defeated, the foundation that the Qi State has spent more than 20 years of hard work to build will be completely destroyed.

But the coalition forces still put on the posture of an all-out offensive: the generals kept moving their troops; The soldiers cut down trees, built fortifications and ships day and night, and gathered grain and forage for heavy baggage, and levy civil service; No matter whether it is dark or day, the camp shows a scene of hot preparations.

The views of the people of Chu on the current situation were very different: the Shaozhuang faction led by Ziyu (Cheng Dechen), Zishang (Dou Bo), and Zixi (Dou Yishen) took the initiative to attack and fought a bloody battle with the invaders to the end; However, the old factions such as Yin Ziwen, Dou Ban, and Ying Zhang hope to put diplomatic means in the first place, and resort to force if negotiations fail.