After Zizhong's death, Prince He Ji was promoted to the rank of Grand Sima, but Wang Zizhen's position did not change. Prince He Ji is an official of the Benge faction, he is proficient in military affairs but never gangs up, neither clings to the powerful nor offends the powerful, he can just be sandwiched between Renfu and Wang Zizhen as a buffer.

After Chen's betrayal, the doctors of Chu finally met the king of Chu Gong who had not met for a long time in the court. At this time, the king of Chu Gong had become bloated and sluggish, his hair was thin, his skin was greasy, his eyes were full of decadence, and he had to gasp for breath several times when he said a word. Ling Yin Zixin introduced him to the false situation of Chen Guo's betrayal, and put all the blame on the Jin State and Chen Chenggong.

The King of Chu Gong yawned, rubbed his one-eyed eyes full of secretions, and said, "The betrayal of the Chen people must be carried out without a crusade, and the crusade is decided by Doctor Ling Yin. ”

At the end of this year, Ling Yin Zixin ordered Prince He Ji to attack Chen State. At that time, the Jin army was still in Xuguo, and Zhi Gang led the army to rescue Chen. Unwilling to confront the Jin army, the prince He Ji crossed Yingshui south and retreated to Fanyang (present-day Xincaibei, Henan).

In the spring of the fourth year of Lu Xianggong (BC569), the Jin army withdrew and returned to China, but the Chu army was stationed in Fanyang; Prince He Ji requisitioned an army from Xixian as a supplement, preparing to attack Chen in a big way.

Han Ju was very worried about the current situation, and he said at the court meeting: "Before King Wen of Zhou became king, two-thirds of the princes in the world had already betrayed the Shang Dynasty and joined the Western Zhou Dynasty, but King Wen still led the princes to serve the king of Zhou. Later generations praised King Wen: 'Know the time. Now we are doing the opposite, and it is so difficult to keep the state of Chen. ”

After the Chu army was assembled in Fanyang, when the prince He Ji was full of ambition and preparing to force Chen Guoren to submit, Chen Chenggong died in time.

Zhou Li stipulated that he should not attack the country that had suffered great mourning, and the prince He Ji had no choice but to bring the army back to Chu, and he suggested that the king of Chu Gong take this opportunity to use Huairou means to pull Chen back into the arms of Chu.

The king of Chu then sent Wu Ju to Chen to mourn Chen Chenggong, and Wu Ju held talks with his successor Chen Aigong after the ceremony. When the two talked about how to restore relations, Chen Aigong said: "I really don't know what the big people think, it was the big people who forced Chen Guo away, and the big people now turned around and said: 'Come back, so that we can continue to exploit you!'" It's okay to come back, but only if you send Renfu here as a hostage. ”

Wu Ju said: "Zixin is the beloved brother of the widow and the consul of the Chu State. The secretary of a big country is equivalent to the king of a small country, if you take Zixin as a hostage, I'm afraid he will really have to sit on your side! After Wu Ju finished speaking, he said goodbye very graciously.

The doctors advised Chen Aigong not to anger the people of Chu and to leave a buffer zone for negotiations between the two sides.

Chen Aigong said: "The whole of China has returned to the Jin Kingdom, why doesn't the Chen Kingdom conform to the times and appear different?" ”

The doctors said, "But those countries are behind Chen's back!" The state of Chu attacked the Central Plains, how dare the country be the first to be attacked? It was precisely when the first monarch saw this that he turned to the state of Chu, but the state of Jin was unable to provide effective protection. ”

But the doctors' words did not penetrate his stubborn ears at all. Soon after, the people of the state of Dun (northwest of present-day Xiangcheng, Henan) were instructed by the Chu people to sweep away a border town of the state of Chen, located southwest of Yingshui.

Lu Dafu Zang Wuzhong (Zang Wenzhong's son) said: "If the state of Chen is not subject to Chu, it will inevitably perish." If a large country does not obey morality, it will be punished in a large country, let alone a small country. ”

In the summer, Peng Ming, a general of Chu, led an army to attack Chen and captured two border towns of Chen. "The fact that the Chu people did not directly attack the capital shows that they still hope to resolve the dispute between the two countries through negotiations," said the Chen doctors. Please don't refuse the wishes of the Chu people anymore, the first Jun Huan Gong refused the kindness of Zheng Zhuang Gong by virtue of his identity as the head of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, so that the two countries fought and suffered a crushing defeat at Zheng State, and finally had to establish diplomatic relations with Zheng State. If the prince doesn't express his position, Chen Guo will be quite passive! ”

Chen Aigong said: "There is no dispute between the two countries, only hatred. Chu people want to crush the widow by force! ”

After Peng Ming withdrew from the army, Chen Guo sent his army to take revenge on Don Guo.

An incident that occurred in the following year (the fifth year of Lu Xianggong) greatly stimulated the nerves of the king of Chu Gong and made him reinvigorate, making him determined to revive the great Chu majesty.

It turned out that the King of Chu Gong had a concubine of Chen State, Chen Fei, and that beautiful and intelligent woman was deeply favored by the King of Chu Gong. But since Chen and Chu became evil, Chen Fei has become depressed: she is angry for the traitors of Chu State, and worried about the stubbornness of her father and brother. Later, when she became pregnant, King Chu Gongwang took out more time and energy to accompany her. But the favor that freed other women from jealousy did not make her happy, but only intensified her sorrow. So one night, with deep feelings for the motherland and the king of Chu, she committed suicide with her unborn child.

In the suicide note she left for the King of Chu Gong, she wrote: "Concubine Yu Chu cannot return to Ning's parents, and Yu Chen cannot serve the king; Instead of making our children participants and witnesses to the war between the two countries, let's end it all before the tragedy happens! ”

The king of Chu was greatly grieved, and his heartbroken cries echoed in the palace for several days. The doctors hid in the official office every day and did not come out, and the palace people did not even dare to come out.

A few days later, the king of Chu Gong wiped away his tears and summoned Wang Zizhen to say: "The woman still knows how to worry about state affairs, but she has fallen so far that she is not as good as a woman!" After speaking, he ordered him to thoroughly investigate the truth of Chen Guo's betrayal.

Wang Zizhen sent three of his most trusted officials to Chen Guo to investigate, and Chen Guoren had no intention of leaving Wang Ziren alive, and they brought out the extortion letters written by Renfu in the past few years and the gift list of Chen Guoren bribing him and piled them up in front of the investigators. It took the three Chu people a whole day to finish copying his incriminating evidence.

When the evidence of the crime was put in front of the people of Chu, the king of Chu Gong quickly announced the death sentence of the prince Renfu.

He said, "O king! It's not that you don't know me as a person, it's not that you don't know the source of the treasures I gave you, and it's not that you haven't received the incriminating evidence that Ying Qi gave you. Isn't it ridiculous that you're trying me now under the pretext of a woman, after all these years have passed? ”

Wang Zizhen said: "It is the first time I have seen someone who can say such righteous words about the shameless crime he has committed! Behead him quickly, and don't let him continue to talk nonsense! ”

After Prince Renfu was executed, the King of Chu Gong planned to appoint Prince He Ji as Ling Yin. But He Ji said: "Neither talent nor cultivation can compare with chastity; Zhen has the legacy of the first great doctor Ziwen, and he will definitely be able to lead the Chu State out of the predicament. ”

The king of Chu then ordered Prince Zhen to be Ling Yin, and the state of Chu embarked on a difficult road to rejuvenation.

After the news of Renfu's killing reached the Central Plains, someone said: "Chu Jun has lost his sentence." "Poetry" says: 'Zhou Dao is very strong, and my heart is open. Don't tell the matter, gather people to decide. '''Ren Fu is right, Chu Jun himself has no credit, but it is not too difficult to make up for his mistakes and achieve his goals by killing people? The Book of Summer says: 'Cheng Yun succeeded. 'How can you succeed without credit?' ”

Later, the news of Zi Nang (Wang Zizhen) being promoted to Ling Yin came again, and Shi Kuo sighed: "We are about to lose the Chen State!" The Chu people killed sinners and set up a sub-bag, and they would definitely change their previous strategy and step up their attack on Chen. Chen is close to Chu and far away from Jin, and the country is in danger day and night, can it not fall to Chu again? Protecting Chen Guo is not something we can do, let's wait until we lose Chen Guo and then make plans! ”

On the 23rd day of the ninth month of the autumn period, the monarchs of Jin, Song, Wei, Zheng, Cao, Ju, Teng, and Xue met with the princes of Qi and the people of Wu, and the Duke of Jin issued an order to the princes to defend the state of Chen.

In winter, Chu ordered Yin Zi to marshal Chen, and the princes rescued Chen. Seeing the huge disparity in strength between the enemy and us, Zinang took the initiative to retreat.