In June of the tenth year of Lu Xianggong, the state of Chu and the state of Zheng united to take revenge on the destruction of the Chinese princes in the state of Song. The Chu army arrived at Ziwu (present-day Luyinan, Henan) under the leadership of Wang Zizhen, and the Zheng army led by Gongsun Yu had been waiting here for a long time.

The two armies marched towards the Song state together, destroying a number of small cities along the way, and then besieging Shangqiu. The Song people carried out the idea of defense and held out. On 14 June, the coalition forces began to attack the north gate of Shangqiu, Tongmen.

Wei Xiangong was instructed by the Duke of Jin to begin to recruit troops from various cities, and the recruits continued to rush to Xiangniu (in the south of the Wei Kingdom, the city where Wei Chenggong lived after his abdication) to assemble.

The arrival of reinforcements doubled the pressure on the combined forces of Chu and Zheng. Wang Zizhen expressed a little dissatisfaction with the "laziness and slackness" of the new policy to Gongsun Yu. He said that the Zheng people saw that the enemy was increasing their troops but did not react in the slightest, should the Zheng people make some trouble for the defense of the country? Gongsun Yu did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent the news back to Zheng Guo, asking Gongzi to take countermeasures against the patriots.

Gongzi reported the news to the ministers and doctors and asked them for advice. The ministers all felt very helpless, because the years of war had almost emptied Zheng Guo's family funds, and the war had caused great damage to the agriculture on which the country depended, and the people's food had become a problem, but they could not help but give a satisfactory answer to the people of Chu.

Gongsun Shezhi said: "We must crusade against the country, otherwise we will not be able to explain to the state of Chu." ”

Gongzi sighed: "The country is exhausted! It's already reluctant, let alone Vawei? The country no longer has the strength to fight two wars! ”

Gongsun Yu said: "If you offend both the Jin State and the Chu State, the Zheng State will inevitably perish; Although the country is tired, it is still acceptable compared to the dead country. ”

Although the doctors were helpless, they had to support Gongsun Xu. The Zheng people then recruited an army led by Huang'er's son, Huang'er, to invade the country.

Zheng's army invaded the border of Weiguo from the southwest and marched towards Chuqiu. Sun Lin's father was carrying out the last work before the expedition in Xiangniu at this time, and he had to lead the troops back to rescue him after receiving an urgent report. Huang Er has been bluffing under Chuqiu City, wantonly doing all kinds of sabotage, and later heard that Sun Lin's father had led an army to come; Seeing that the purpose of the division had been achieved, he ordered the withdrawal of troops and returned home.

Sun Lin's father pounced, he felt that he was being played by the enemy, and he couldn't help but be furious when he saw that the houses and farmland outside the city were ruined. He had wanted to pursue the enemy, but intelligence showed that the enemy army was much larger than his own army. He left his army on the outskirts and then eagerly entered the capital.

Sun Lin's father first went to the harem to visit his old lover Ding Jiang (Duchess of Weiding), and told her about his troubles: "I can't make up my mind, I don't know whether I should pursue the enemy."

Ding Jiang said: "If you are in a dilemma, then do divination!" ”

Sun Lin's father then conducted divination himself. He showed the results to Ding Jiang, and Ding Jiang asked, "What do you say?" ”

Sun Lin's father said: "Zhao is like a mountain mausoleum, and a husband goes out to fight, and he loses his hero." ”

Ding Jiang said: "The person who set out on the expedition refers to the Zheng people; To lose a male soldier is to suffer a great defeat. This is the great benefit of the pursuers, and the doctor should seize this opportunity! ”

Sun Lin's father was overjoyed, and immediately summoned his son Sun Kuai, handed over the command of the army to him, and ordered him to immediately pursue the enemy army.

Huang Er led a tired, war-weary, and disheartened army. The Zheng army dragged its feet during the invasion and withdraws (because there are also a lot of worries waiting for them at home, so the sergeants would rather waste their time on the idle journey to escape the status quo).

When the Zheng army entered the territory of Zheng State, the soldiers had completely lost their vigilance against the enemy. Seeing that the sun had sunk below the horizon, the emperor ordered to camp in the same place.

The pursuers also quietly crossed the border and laid an ambush five miles behind Zheng's army. The scouts of the guards were pleasantly surprised to find that the Zheng army not only did not dig trenches and set up fences, but even canceled the night patrol. After entering the watch, the guards took the ranks, the horses picked the bells, the flags died down, and the submerged divisions rose up, and suddenly attacked the sleeping Zheng army, killing and injuring countless people, and even captured the commander Huang'er.

In the autumn and July, the combined forces of Chu and Zheng achieved some success in the war against the Song, and the Zheng army looted a large amount of ripe wheat and transported the grain back to Xinzheng. After that, the coalition forces lifted the siege of Shangqiu and turned to invade the western border of the Lu State, still with the aim of grabbing grain. While the Lu people were busy dealing with the invading army, the Ju people caused a lot of trouble in the eastern part of the Lu country.

After plundering several border towns of the Lu State, the coalition army marched south and surrounded the Song vassal Xiaocheng. On 11 August, the allied forces captured Xiao City. The two armies divided the spoils of victory in Xiaocheng, and Wang Zizhen thought that the results obtained by this division were big enough, so he returned home with a proud division. Gongsun was still unsatisfied, and he made a detour to the northern part of the Song Kingdom, where he stirred up trouble and obtained a large amount of grain and livestock.

Meng Xianzi expressed shock at Zheng Guo's series of actions this year, saying: "Zheng Guo is afraid that there will be a disaster, right? The orders of the rulers can be described as reckless and frenzied! When the Western Zhou Dynasty was at its strongest, it wasn't so crazy, let alone Zheng Guo? If there is a disaster, it will happen to those in power, right? ”

Zheng Guoren's actions also angered the Jin Mourning Duke and the princes. The Duke of Jin soon gave the princes an order to attack Zheng. On August 25, the armies of the princes of the twelve kingdoms met at Niushou. Jin Mourning Gong released cruel words at the pre-war meeting, this time he did not clean up the Zheng Guoren obediently, and he would never return to the Jin Kingdom.

At the end of August, the 12-nation coalition army marched north and once again surrounded Xinzheng.

At the moment when the great enemy was present, there was a sudden and serious upheaval within Zheng Guo: the cause of this unrest was not due to a struggle for power, but to private hatred; Several obscure small families suddenly launched a rebellion, which resulted in the killing of three of Zheng Guo's secretaries (Gongzi Xuan, Gongzi Fa, and Gongsun Xuan) and several doctors, and Zheng Jiangong was also almost killed, and the country's political landscape also underwent drastic changes.

But in order not to interrupt the coherence of the narrative in this chapter, I will recount the details of the upheaval in the next chapter.

On the day of the unrest, the rebels seized the city gates, rushed out of the city and fled into the coalition camp. After receiving the news, Jin Mourning Gong was surprised, he immediately issued an order to stop the attack, and gathered the generals to study countermeasures.

Zhi Gang said: "As soon as Sanqing dies, Zheng Guo will not be able to continue to resist. Instead of continuing to storm Zheng Guo, it is better to wait for the new rulers to take the initiative to sue for peace. It was only a matter of time before Zheng Guo was obtained, so why give up a complete, friendly ally and lose both, and finally get a ruined enemy who hated Jin? Shi Kuo and Zhongxing Yan had enough of the hardships of attacking Fuyang, and they also echoed and agreed.

Jin Mourning was justified and decided to give Zheng Guoren a buffer time to wait for the decision to be made by the people who trusted the rulers. In order to express his intentions, the Duke of Jin ordered the withdrawal of the army to the Tiger Prison City, and strengthened the walls of the Tiger Prison, and let out the wind that as long as the Zheng people concluded an alliance with the Jin State, he would return the natural danger to the Zheng State.