So for the rest of the year, Xu Guo had never suffered such a fierce and frequent attack from Zheng Guo.

The Xu people went to the state of Chu to ask for help, but the people of Chu persuaded them to negotiate peace with the Zheng people, because they did not want to affect the ongoing negotiations with the Zheng people; Xu Ren went to the Jin Kingdom to ask for help, but most of the Jin doctors were bought by the Zheng people.

The people of the Jin Kingdom said that Xu Ren's request was really incredible! Zheng Guo hated Chu precisely because of Xu Guo, so he fell to Jin; The Jin State could not push Zheng Guo into the arms of the Chu State again for the same reason. Moreover, the Jin State had no reason to offend its own allies in order to save the allies of the Chu State.

Just when the people of Xu Guo were anxious, a doctor of Xu Guo, who was bought by the prince, said to Xu Linggong: "Let's dedicate the land to the king of Chu and move the country to Chu State!" The land we can't get, Zheng Guoren can't even imagine. ”

Xu Linggong immediately went to the state of Chu and made a request to the king of Chu; The king of Chu pushed the boat down the river and moved the people of Xu to Ye County.

In the spring of the second year (BC575), the state of Chu used half of the land of the state of Xu (the other half was extorted by the quilt) and the land of Ruyin to ask Zheng for an alliance, and the whole country of Zheng rejoiced. Gongzi Wanzhi proudly went to Wucheng to meet the king of Chu Gong and signed an alliance with him. Zheng Guo then announced his official betrayal of the Jin Kingdom. At this time, the huge conspiracy to exchange Xu for Zheng was exposed to the eyes of the world.

Zheng's betrayal caused a great shock among the princes, and from this a variety of emotions arose: some angry, some panicked, and some excited. And the people of the Song Kingdom were undoubtedly depressed and panicked, because the short-lived peace was about to be broken again.

Sure enough, not long after Zheng Guo rebelled against Jin, Gongzixi led an army to invade the Song State with great ambition. This action was instigated by the Chu people behind the scenes, but the Zheng people were also very willing to do it.

The Song people of the Song Dynasty had long been prepared for this, and the general set up an encirclement on the way of Zheng Shi's march, and the unsuspecting Zheng Shi stepped into the trap and was beaten to the head of the rat, and he was crushed for several miles.

The Song people stopped the pursuit after expelling the enemy from the border, and the Song people thought that the Zheng army would not dare to come back, so they stopped guarding the camp that night - the Song army did not dig trenches, did not build fences, and did not even arrange sentries, and the army was drunk from top to bottom.

The Song army saw the battle as an isolated point, while the Zheng people saw the entire operation as a continuous line. Childe Xi was very depressed, and he decided to kill a horse gun to avenge his revenge.

That night, the Zheng army was ranked, the horses picked up the bells, the flags were silent, and quietly sneaked over, ravaging the Song army camp as lifeless as a cemetery in one fell swoop, and the soldiers were killed or captured in their sleep, and the two main generals were also captured.

Soon after, Wei Guo launched a small invasion of Zheng State, this military operation was instigated by the Jin people, but the Wei Guo people obviously did not want to settle too deep a grudge with Zheng State, they only symbolically plundered a few small border towns, and went back after a perfunctory experience.

All conflicts are a harbinger of a great war that is about to break out.

In the fourth month of Xia, the Duke of Jin Li convened a court meeting and prepared to wage war against Zheng State. But this seemingly reasonable motion was firmly opposed by Shi Xie, who put forward some extremely obscure and incomprehensible reasons.

Shi Xie said: "If the wishes of the princes are satisfied, all the princes of the world will betray, but the calamity of the Jin kingdom can be alleviated; At the moment, it is just Zheng Guo's betrayal, but once he is out of the army, the country's disaster will come soon. ”

Jin Ligong couldn't figure out the logic of this passage, and few of the doctors could comprehend the heavy sense of distress in Shi Xie's heart, because they didn't have Shi Xie's insight into the situation in the country and the world. People just thought that Shi Xie was cowardly, so they explained the reasons for being able to win.

Luan Shu knew Shi Xie best, he read Shi Xie's thoughts, but against Shi Xie's opinion, Luan Shu said in an unquestionable tone: "The princes cannot be lost from our hands, the alliance cannot be separated from our hands, and Zheng Guo must be severely punished." ”

Shi Xie stopped talking, and the bill passed. The Duke of Jin Li then sent Yin Li and Luan Huang to envoy Song, Wei, Qi, and Lu, asking the four countries to help each other.

On April 12, the Jin division was informed and the army marched eastward. Jin Li Gong Zheng, Bu Yi Yu Rong, Luan Gong is the right of the car; Luan Shu will be in the army, and Shixie will be the assistant; Yin Jian will go to the army, and the Bank of China will be the support; Han Ju will be sent to the army, and he will be in the new army; Zhi Gang defended the country, and Jiang Shi Rong and Hu Shi Rong also sent a large number of auxiliary troops to accompany the army.

When the Zheng people heard the news that the Jin State was preparing to send out their army, they immediately sent envoys to ask for help from the Chu State.

At the beginning of May, the Chu division was exhausted, and the army went north. The prince of Chu Gong, Peng Ming Yurong, Pan Dang is the right of the car; Prince Sima's flank general in the army; Order Prince Yin to infantly Qi to the left army; The right Yin prince Renfu (later Ling Yin Zixin) will be the right army; He was accompanied by a large number of auxiliary troops from Baipu, Qunshu and Lu Hun Rong.

When Master Chu passed by Shenyi, Zi Yan stopped by to visit Uncle Shen, the old doctor who had complained about what he had done and had been in hiding for a long time.

Zi asked rhetorically: "What do you think will be the result of this war?" ”

Shen Shushi said: "War relies on morality, punishment, auspiciousness, righteousness, courtesy, and faith. Virtue is used to bestow favors; Punishment is used to punish crimes; auspicious to serve ghosts and gods; Righteousness is used to build deeds; Rites are used to conform to the time of day; Credit to maintain the social security. These six points are indispensable.

"If the people live in abundance, they will be virtuous, and only when they are good for the country can they be done in moderation, and if they do not hinder the agricultural season, there will be no famine. In this way, the country will be in harmony from top to bottom, will act smoothly, will have all the necessary talents, and people will know the standards of behavior.

"Therefore, the poem says, 'Establish me as a people, and Mo Gang Erji,' which means that I am a people, and no one is not up to standard. Therefore, the heavens and gods are blessed, there are no disasters, the people are rich in goods, unite as one, and fight to the death on the battlefield, which is the key to victory.

"Now look at what you've done! not to give favors to the people, and to abandon the great powers; Blasphemy of oaths and forsaken faith; Regardless of the agricultural time, he fought brazenly. The people don't know the faith, it is wrong to advance, it is also wrong to retreat, and they are worried in their hearts, how can they be fatal? Lord Sima, do it yourself! The old man can only see you go out of school, but he can't see you return to China! ”

Zi retorted and quit, muttering to himself: "You can't see me return to China?" I don't think there's any problem with your old body living for another two months! ”

Zheng Guo's deputy envoy Yao Ju'er returned to China from Chu first, Zisi asked him about the state of the Chu army, Yao Ju'er said with a worried face: "The Chu division is too light and fast, and the formation is messy when passing through dangerous places. If you move lightly, there is no strategy, and if you are in a messy formation, you will be in an irregular ranks; Without strategy and ranks, what can an army rely on to fight? I'm afraid the Chu army is going to fail. ”

In mid-May, the Jin army crossed the Yellow River from Mengjin to the south, and the Jin people received the news of the Chu army's departure after crossing the river.

At the following military meeting, Shi Xie still stubbornly fought uselessly for his beliefs, saying: "Let's avoid confrontation with the Chu army, so as to alleviate the disaster at home." Leading the princes of the world is not something we can do, so leave it to those who are capable! It is enough for us to serve the monarch faithfully. ”

Luan Shu said: "If you would not have gone out to avoid the war, you still don't mention the retreat." ”

Yin Zhi said: "When the king of Chuzhuang attacked Xinzheng for three months, he did not achieve anything, and finally occupied Zheng under the advice of spies. If we directly besiege Xinzheng, we will also repeat the mistakes of the Chu army. If he is attacked by Zheng and Chu again, he will definitely be defeated. It is better for our army to pass through the pass between Fangcheng Mountain and Songshan Mountain, directly meet the Chu army, and order the Song army to be responsible for monitoring the movements of the Zheng army. If the Chu army is defeated, Zheng Guo cannot survive alone. ”

Luan Shu took this suggestion and turned to face the Chu army.