The king of Chu Gonggong was persuaded by Zi Zheng yesterday, and he was still asking for the opinions of the doctors on the surface, but some ministers who were good at observing words and emotions had already found out the king's intentions, so they changed their hearts and expressed their support for Zi Zheng; In the end, only Zizhong and Wang Zifu and Wang Zishen were still stubbornly persistent. As a result, the three were outnumbered, and the proposal was quickly adopted.

Uncle Shen, Doctor Chu, had already returned to his hometown at that time, and after hearing the news, he said: "I'm afraid that Zi will not have a good death!" Faith is used to protect the ritual system, the ritual system is used to shelter the body, and the son abandons faith and propriety, how can he get a good death? ”

In the summer of the fifteenth year of Lu Chenggong (BC576), the king of Chu Gong led his army north to invade Zheng.

According to the predetermined plan, the Chu army did not attack the capital of Zheng State, but avoided the important town of Dayi and headed north along the eastern border of Zheng State. The Chu army plundered a large number of rural and mountain villages along the way, and the sergeants behaved not at all like the regular army of a big country, but like poor and crazy bandits.

The Chu army marched until the storm. The storm was only a few miles away from Yi, and twenty-two years ago the king of Chuzhuang had broken the Jin army here. The king of Chu rebuilt the altar established by his father, held the sacrificial ceremony, and returned to his teacher after drinking the Yellow River. On the way back to the division, the Chu army destroyed the border town of Shouzhi (north of Sui County, Henan).

The envoys of Zheng and Wei went to the Jin State to complain about the atrocities of the Chu State, and Luan Shu wanted to strike at the Chu State, but Han Ju said: "There is no need for this, this is the evil of the Chu State that God wants to aggravate the Chu State." The state of Chu will lose the hearts and minds of the people, and without the hearts of the people, what will it use to fight? Luan Shu adopted Han Ju's opinion, and he politely rejected the envoys of the two countries, but did not object to the two countries taking revenge on Chu on their own.

In the autumn, Zheng Gongzixi led an army to invade the state of Chu, and the Zheng army captured Xinshicheng, an important town north of Fangcheng Mountain, and plundered the population and property of Xinshi.

Through two wars, the long-interrupted official exchanges between Chu and Zheng were miraculously restored. But at the beginning, the exchange of envoys was only for the purpose of mutual accusations: the people of Chu blamed the people of Zheng for having no conscience and betraying themselves without a valid reason, which seriously hurt the feelings of the people of Chu; Zheng Guoren complained that the people of Chu had harmed their own interests many times and favored Xu Guo in various matters, which seriously hurt the feelings of Zheng Guoren.

After all the nonsense was said and there was no more nonsense to be said, the two countries began to get down to business and negotiate how to resolve the dispute. With the gradual deepening of the topic, the level of talks between the two sides is getting higher and higher, from the lower doctor to the upper doctor, and finally to the Yaqing level - the prince and the prince finally sat face to face to negotiate.

The two have been dealing with each other for more than ten years and know each other very well; There is no friendship or hatred between the two, and the relationship is not close, but very close.

The prince said that the solution to the dispute was for the two countries to sign an alliance and then exchange prisoners and captures.

Gongzi said that there is no such truth in the world: if you rob other people's things, you have to force the victim to submit and obey; If we want to talk about how to exchange prisoners, we will talk about how to exchange prisoners, and we will talk about the signing of the contract after the other issues are resolved.

The two argued over this, and time passed quickly, from noon to evening in a blink of an eye. The prince then set up a banquet to entertain the prince. Problems that cannot be resolved at the negotiating table can be transferred to the wine table, which is a major feature of the early autumn era. The two of them tacitly waited for this moment.

The two chatted endlessly in the atmosphere of fine wine, food and Merlot, and reached a consensus while chatting. The two agreed that the two countries could achieve reconciliation by means that harmed the interests of a third country, and this third country was Xu Guo. The two agreed that Chu would help Zheng to seize Xu's land, and Zheng would abrogate the treaty with Jin and switch to Chu's side.

It was a happy but devastating agreement, which harmed not only the interests of the people of the Xu Kingdom, but also the interests of the prince Yingqi, who was the protector of the Xu Kingdom.

Therefore, when the prince reported the results of the negotiations to King Cheng of Chu, the prince Yingqi resolutely objected: "The state of Xu is not a vassal of the state of Chu, but an independent state; The land of the state of Xu does not belong to the Chu people but to the Xu people, how can you use someone else's land as a condition of exchange? ”

The prince said: "The state of Xu will soon become a vassal of the state of Chu, and its land will become the land of the state of Chu." ”

Wang Ziyingqi said: "If this is the case, you should not use the land of Chu to bribe Zheng Guo." ”

The prince said: "At that time, the entire Zheng State will belong to the Chu State, and Xu Zai Zheng and Chu will not be the same?" ”

The king of Chu was still hesitating, and the prince said: "If the state of Chu loses its credit again, the state of Zheng will never come back!" ”

The king of Chu Gong said to the prince: "If this matter is not successful, my uncle's sin will be great!" ”

On Zheng Guo's side, the ministers were also arguing.

The Huang family is a prestigious family for many generations, and the Huang Xu is an old minister of the Five Dynasties, and he and the new generation of "Seven Mu Doctors" are full of contradictions due to different governing concepts. Many years ago, Huang Xu blamed Dr. Qimu for being young and frivolous and not taking the old-timers seriously; Doctor Qimu complained that the emperor relied on the old and sold the old, and was proud of his achievements.

Huang Xu said: "It has been 140 years since the former monarch Zhuang Gong turned Xu Guo into a vassal. Although Zheng Guo has been fighting Xu, he has never been able to destroy it. Now that Chu Guo just gave a verbal promise, do you think Xu Guo has already arrived?

"Zi Anti has always been known for his ruthlessness and untrustworthiness - turning his back on the Jin League is the best proof of this; How can you trust his ramblings? If it doesn't work out and it reaches the Marquis of Jin, Zisi, how many heads do you have for people to cut off? Even if we succeed, isn't it enough for us to be driven by the Jin Kingdom, do we have to change another master to serve? ”

Gongzi said: "Uncle is really old and confused! If Xu Tian doesn't get his hands on it, will Zheng Guo form an alliance with the Chu State? Zheng Guo has been looking forward to the destruction of Xu Guo for more than a hundred years, what is the price paid? The first monarch Zhuang Gong attacked the state of Xu but could not keep it for a long time, and when we were able to annex the state of Xu, the state of Chu became its protector again! Now once you get your wish, isn't that a miracle? What could be more at stake?

"Although the Battle of New Stone City captured a lot of Chu people, who were important to the Chu State, they were nothing more than prisoners of war and slaves to us; What is the value of those people who can't be used to exchange prisoners of war with the Chu State? The Chu people have captured so many Zheng Guo's disciples, will the Jin people come back for us? Could it be that the Jin people will no longer drive the Zheng people from today onwards? Could it be that the people of the Jin Kingdom will tolerate our country's annexation of the Xu State? As for how many heads I have, you can see for yourself, so my uncle doesn't have to worry about me! ”

Zheng Chenggong is a person who is very happy with his achievements, and he is also very good at making peace between Shiqing and the upstarts. At this moment, he pretended to be majestic and fair, and skillfully covered up and expressed his ** in a high-sounding tone: "The widow attaches great importance to the community, as long as it is beneficial to the community, the widow's head can also be cut off." Besides, Xu Guoren supported Gongziban to carry out a coup d'état, and wanted to get rid of the widow with his hand, this mortal crime cannot be punished! ”