On a cloudy morning at the end of winter and December, the Qin army assembled outside the east gate of the capital. Qin Mugong and the doctors marched for the soldiers. Uncle Jian suddenly ran out of the ranks of the doctors and ran straight into the marching formation. He hugged Xi Qishu and cried: "Son! I can see you come out, but I can't see you come back! The sergeants all looked at the old doctor who was screaming for heaven and earth, and Xi Qishu was stunned, neither daring to hug him nor push him away.

Qin Mugong couldn't stand Uncle Jian looking for bad luck again and again, and couldn't help blurting out: "You old (and immortal) guy!" You know what! If you lived to the age of an ordinary person, the tree on the grave would be three feet thick! ”

Uncle Jian ignored Qin Mugong's scolding at all, and continued to cry: "The Jin army will definitely block the Qin division in the Kunshan area. There are two large tombs in Kunshan, the south tomb is the burial place of Xia Hougao (the fifteenth monarch of the Xia Dynasty), and the north tomb is the place where King Wen of Zhou took refuge from the wind and rain. You're going to die in the meantime, and I'll go there and collect your corpses. ”

Xi Qishu reluctantly broke free of his father's arms, and the soldiers of the Qin army marched east with complicated feelings and ominous cries of Uncle Jian.

The Qin army crossed Weishui in the south, passed through Taolinsai and Kunshan Pass, and reached the outskirts of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty sometime in the spring of the following year. The last time the royal family dealt with the Qin army was when King Zhou Ping moved east one hundred and forty years ago. For more than 100 years, the people of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty could only rely on various rumors to understand the customs of the Qin State.

According to rumors, the Eastern Zhou people imagined the Qin people as lion-faced, half-human, half-beast monsters; It was believed that only such an army could defeat the Jin army, which had the reputation of "Taihang Xiong".

With curiosity about that mysterious western power, King Xiang of Zhou led a large number of royal family members to the city wall of the North Gate of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (Qianximen), preparing to observe this spectacular scene that has not been seen in a century.

Towards noon, the shadow of the army was not yet visible to the west of the capital, but the rumble of chariots could already be heard. Then he saw an army rushing towards him with billowing smoke and dust.

The forward of the Qin army consisted of three hundred chariots. When passing through the city gate, the soldiers on the left and right sides of the chariot jumped down one after another, without looking to the right, and saluted in the direction of the city gate, but the speed of their feet did not decrease in the slightest; As soon as the sergeants passed through the city gates, they overtook them and roared away.

King Zhou Xiang couldn't help but sigh and admire: "The army of the Tiger Ben led by King Wu Keshang back then was nothing more than that!" With such a brave army, what kind of enemy could not be defeated? ”

King Xiang of Zhou's nephew, Wang Sunman, was still a teenager at the time, and he witnessed the whole process of the Qin army passing through the north gate of Zhou, and couldn't help but shake his head and said: "The Zhou rites stipulate that where the princes' armies pass through the Son of Heaven, the chariot should slow down, and the left and right sides of the chariot should pass slowly without walking; The same should be true of the infantry. The Qin army was contemptuous and rude, and it was bound to fail. Frivolity is unconscionable, and rudeness is negligence. How can you not suffer defeat if you enter a dangerous situation and neglect it, and you can't plan? ”

After passing through Chengzhou, the Qin army turned southeast, and two days later marched to the east of Huaguo. As mentioned earlier, Huaguo is a small country surnamed Ji, and it used to swing left and right between Zheng Wei. After Wei Guo lost his influence on the Slippery Kingdom, the Slippery Kingdom fell to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

Zheng had a merchant named "Xiangao", who was driving a herd of cattle to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to sell, and he received news of the eastward advance of the Qin army while passing through the country. He immediately sent people back to Zheng State to report the emergency, and he himself took four cooked cowhides and twelve cows to meet the generals of the Qin army.

Xiangao said: "The widow has heard that you will soon lead your division through the city, so he has ordered me to come and reward you. Although we are not rich, if you stay for a day, the widow will provide you with a day's grain and grass; If traveling, an overnight escort is provided. ”

Zheng Mugong received an urgent report from Xiangao, and immediately sent people to the post house where the Qin people lived to check the situation. The Zheng people found that the Qin people had begun to assemble the equipment and fight the horses. They waited for the Qin army to arrive, and then joined forces with friendly troops to capture Xinzheng and overthrow the regime of Zheng Mugong.

Zheng Mugong was shocked, but he was unwilling to force both sides into a desperate situation with no way out; On the one hand, he strengthened his vigilance, and on the other hand, he sent Huang Wuzi to issue an order to expel guests.

Huang Wuzi said to the three commanders of the Qin army: "You have been staying in Yiyi for too long, and we are short of supplies and can no longer provide for them. Therefore, the widow sent me to see you off, Zheng Guo's garden is the same as that of Qin, there are many wild beasts in it, you can go there to get prey, so as to reduce the burden of the city, what do you think? ”

The three of them were red-faced, bowing their heads and saying nothing. After Huang Wuzi left, the guards of the Zheng Guogong Office quickly drove to the vicinity of the post house, preparing to use force against the Qin people if necessary.

The Qin people cleaned the inn (back to the way it was before they moved in), and then walked out of the inn in a neat formation. Qizi handed over the key to the city gate to the Zheng people and led the army through the city gate. The three did not dare to return to China, so they had to flee to other countries.

On the other hand, Meng Ming did not dare to continue to advance eastward, he said: "Zheng Guo has already taken precautions, and he can no longer have hope of a successful sneak attack." Our army was too weak to take the city; I want to surround Zheng Guo, but there are no reinforcements, so let's go back! ”

However, the generals were unwilling to return in vain, so they easily destroyed the unsuspecting Slippery State (the Slippery people had always thought that the Qin army's target was Zheng State), capturing a large number of people and property. After the Qin army rested for a while, they turned around and headed west.

According to the weekly rites, the princes were buried seven months after their deaths, so the coffin of Duke Wen of Jin was still in the mourning hall of Quwo Palace at this time, accepting the condolences of the envoys of the princes. In fact, Qin could have taken the opportunity of condolences to restore relations with Jin; However, as the old father-in-law of the five wives and concubines of Duke Wen of Jin, Qin Mugong did not send a messenger to come. This situation cannot but be said to be a major mistake in Qin's diplomatic strategy, which completely severed the last trace of the remaining peaceful bond between the two countries.

News related to the actions of the Qin army was constantly sent to Quwo. The new monarchs and the doctors began to discuss how to deal with the current situation.

Jin Xianggong was a cowardly person with no opinions; He referred the issue to the ministers for discussion, saying that he only had to listen to the results.

Shangqing Xianzhen was the first to speak: "Qin Jun went against Uncle Jian's wishes and attacked the people with his greed, this is an opportunity given by God to the Jin Kingdom. Opportunities must not be lost, and strong enemies must not be indulged; Indulging the enemy endangers national security, and if you lose the opportunity, you can no longer receive the gift from God. Therefore, it is necessary to crusade against Qin Shi. ”

Xianzhen's old superior, Luan Zhi, disagreed, saying: "When the Jin army had a chance to defeat the Qin army when it united with the Qin state to besiege Zheng, the Xianjun could not bear to hurt the Qin people and let the Qin people go. To this day, the Jin State still has not repaid Qin Bo's kindness in supporting Duke Wen, and now he still wants to attack Qin's ** team, where does the master want to put the words of the ancestors? ”

Xian Zhen said: "The Qin people don't come to mourn, and take advantage of the mourning to destroy the country with the same surname, the Qin State is rude first, what favor does it have for the Jin State?" I have heard: 'One day of the enemy, several generations of trouble', this is a major matter for the benefit of the descendants, will the ancestors ignore the interests of the descendants for the sake of small favors? ”

Luan Zhi still said something, but Xianzhen didn't want to continue the debate, so he forcibly used Shangqing's supreme military regime to reject Luan Zhi's opinion.

Xianzhen reported the results to Jin Xianggong, and Jin Xianggong issued a battle order.