After the death of Duke Qi Huan, if another strong leader could not emerge, the Huaxia Alliance would fall apart; And Qi Xiaogong has been ruled out due to his character and ability, and the other princes also seem to be "not in line with the will of heaven", so Song Xianggong is proud to prepare to carry the banner.

Song Xianggong said to the doctors: "If Qi Zhao loses the help of the widow, it is not good to say where to farm now!" He can't even handle his own brother, and can he still lead the Huaxia Alliance? But the alliance must have a leader! Qi Zhao is completely disqualified, so who will take on this heavy responsibility?

"Uncle Zheng is a thug, Lu Hou has no ambitions, and Wei, Chen, and Cai are not qualified at all. So the only candidate is, of course, a widow! Zhuxia Liehou, which country has a higher title than the Song State? Which monarch has more prestige than the widow? Do you still need to guess Qi Huan's intentions, in fact, he is designating a successor! Therefore, the widow cannot live up to the ardent expectations of Qi Huangong, Zhou Tianzi and the people of the world, and must bravely shoulder the heavy responsibility of the alliance leader! ”

Song Xianggong infiltrated himself with this kind of false argument, and at the same time instilled his thoughts into others. There was no shortage of sycophants and doctors who sincerely revived the Song Dynasty in the office, and they became resolute advocates of the "hegemony theory"; Some doctors take a perfunctory or wait-and-see attitude; However, Song Xianggong's elder brother Da Sima Ziyu resolutely opposed his remarks.

Ziyu said: "Xiangong Weizi once announced: 'Song Guo will never say hegemon! 'The monarchs of all generations have strictly obeyed the wishes of the microson, and only respected the heavens, the people, and the king. Although the first monarch Huan Gong had the idea of 'reviving' the Song Kingdom, he quickly gave up. In the 400 years since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, which generation of people has not held the view of revival and hegemony? But who has achieved it until today?

"The first prince once said to me: 'The reason why the widow signed the Ju Zhimeng was forced by the princes was only one of the reasons, and the other was because the widow figured it out, and it was the Shang Dynasty that perished, and it was the Song State that survived. Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the title is second only to the royal family, and the land has increased several times; Far from weakening, the Song Kingdom grew a lot. If there is no decline, how can there be revival? The princes saw it more thoroughly than the Song people, and the so-called revival of the Song Kingdom was actually the restoration of Yin Shang and the royal family! ’

Therefore, the revival and hegemony of the Song Kingdom is the untouchable bottom line in the hearts of the princes of the world. Moreover, it took three generations of monarchs for the hegemony of the Qi State: the Duke of Qi began to unite the princes, the Duke of Qi Xiang destroyed the State of Ji, and the Duke of Qi Huan was just on the foundation established by the previous monarchs, and used Guan Zhong to amplify the strength of the country. And the modern ancestors of the Song State have not made any achievements, and the Song State wants to dominate, isn't it too unrealistic?

"Jin and Chu have expanded through decades of mergers and acquisitions, with a vast land of thousands of miles and a population of one million, and have become the two heroes in the world; And Song Da is not Zheng and Qi is not strong, what qualifications do they have to compete for hegemony with the two countries? If the monarch insists on competing with the great powers, the Song State will inevitably suffer from war again, and the Song people may find it difficult to ask for a full mouthful! Therefore, I advise the monarch to continue the consistent national policy of the previous princes, rely on the big powers, and strengthen the garrison; Don't disturb people's livelihood anymore! ”

But these pertinent words could not be poured into the stubborn ears of Song Xianggong, he said: "Respecting the heavens, protecting the people, and serving the king are in harmony with the way of heaven, and of course the widow must implement the national policy of the ancestors." Since the princes have no way, and Song and Yu Tiandao, how can the widow not be hegemonic? ”

From then on, Song Xianggong embarked on a path of no return to destroy himself and lead the country into the quagmire of war.

In the summer and June of the 19th year of the reign of Duke Lu Xu, Duke Xiang of Song met with the monarchs of Cao and Di in Cao Nan, which opened the precedent of the first time that the Chinese countries were convened by non-Qi people after the accession of Qi Xiaogong. As a result, a small group without the participation of Qi was formed. At the meeting, Yi Zi proposed that if the Song State wanted to establish its own power, it must achieve the differentiation between the members of the new alliance and the original alliance. That is, the Song State should draw the non-Huaxia alliance of the Dongyi states into the new alliance. Song Xianggong agreed with his proposal.

After the meeting, the monarchs returned to their respective countries. Yan Zi delayed his trip because of domestic affairs, so he came to the country to inquire about the content of the alliance. But Song Xianggong had already made a conspiracy with Mi Zi, and he ordered Di Zi to sacrifice Yan Zi as a sacrifice to the Suishui Demon.

The upstream of the ancient Sui water is called "Qishui"; Qishui originated in the north of Xinzheng and was renamed Suishui after flowing through the country; Suishui flows all the way to the southeast through Shangqiu, and flows into Surabaya in the east of Suining, Jiangsu Province. Legend has it that the water is inhabited by terrible river demons, who cause trouble and cause disasters to the people along the river from time to time.

The Dongyi countries along the Suishui have built the "Suishe" by the river, and people sacrifice living people to win the favor of the river demons; They thought that if the river demon enjoyed the sacrifice, it would not bring misfortune to others.

Song Xianggong sacrificed his son to win over the Dongyi princes as part of his plan to establish a new alliance. Ziyu sighed: "In ancient times, sacrifices did not replace one sacrifice for another, and small sacrifices did not need big sacrifices, so who would dare to use people as sacrifices?" The people are God's masters, and what god would dare to enjoy the sacrifices made by man? When the Duke of Qi Huan saved the Three Kingdoms (Lu, Xing, and Wei) in danger, and relied on this merit to seek the support of the princes, there were still righteous people who thought that he was unvirtuous and unrighteous; And how can today's monarch vainly try to use the means of sacrificing obscene ghosts and gods to seek hegemony over the princes? The monarch was lucky to have a good death! ”

Before attending the meeting, Cao Gonggong did not know about Song Xianggong's vain attempt to set up another mountain. After the meeting, Cao Gonggong was terrified of his great ambition and cruelty. He decided to get out of that evil gang as soon as possible. Cao Gonggong immediately rushed to the state of Qi and confessed everything that happened in the alliance to Qi Xiaogong.

When Song Xianggong learned of Cao Gonggong's betrayal of the alliance, he gathered an army in the autumn and besieged the capital of Cao. Ziyu said: "Back then, King Wen of Zhou heard that Chongguo's political affairs were in a coma, so he sent out to attack Chongguo, but thirty days have passed, and Chongguo still does not surrender; King Wen retired and returned to China to strengthen education. When he attacked Chong again, Chongguo quickly surrendered. Now the monarch has no virtue, and the hearts of the people in the country are scattered, but the crusade against the virtuous country will inevitably not be able to achieve his wish. It's better to retire and cultivate morality. Song Xianggong didn't listen and insisted on attacking the city. However, due to Cao's tight defense, the Song army attacked the city in vain and had to return in vain.

An incident occurred in the winter that brought about a new change in the political situation in China. It turned out that although Chen and Cai had been married for several generations, the two countries belonged to different alliances. After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, Chen Mugong was keenly aware that he should take the opportunity to ease the relationship between the two giants of Qi and Chu; He believes that only when relations between major countries are normalized can small countries be secured.

Chen Mugong immediately wrote to Cai Zhuanggong, and the two hit it off and acted separately, Cai Hou went to Yingdu, and Chen Hou went to Linzi, which led to an alliance between Qi and Chu.

The alliance meeting was held in the country of Qi, and the six countries of Qi, Chu, Lu, Chen, Cai, and Zheng participated in the meeting. Qi Xiaogong resented Song Xianggong, and in retaliation, he did not notify Song to participate in the cooperation.

The two major factions present at the meeting tested each other at the meeting. The people of Chu were happy to see that the status of Qi, which had lost the support of Zheng and Song, had plummeted, and its confidence was obviously insufficient. However, the Chu people didn't want to stimulate the Qi people, and they didn't want to cause a backlash from the other party. The Chu people only recalled the demeanor of the Duke of Qi Huan in the Zhaoling Alliance, expressing their expectations for the peace of the world and the desire to join hands with Qi to maintain world order; Then the alliance ended in a state of harmony.

Song Xianggong later said: "The princes of the north and south actually held an alliance meeting without the participation of the Song state, what is the point of such an alliance even if it signs an alliance?" ”