After Cai Guoren heard the situation, he also followed the example of Tang Guoren and rescued Cai Zhaohou. In the spring of the fourth year of Lu Dinggong (BC506), Cai Zhaohou finally left Yingdu. He crossed the Han River, set up a temporary altar on the east bank of the Han River, sank a piece of jade into the Han River, and said: "If the widow crosses the Han River and goes south in this life, let the god of the Han River punish me!" ”

Cai Zhaohou did not return to China, but came directly to the Jin Kingdom, he saw the Duke of Jin Ding, hoping to take the prince's and the prince's sons-in-law as hostages, and asked to attack Chu. At that time, Jin Dinggong was still a little doll about ten years old, and it was Zhongxingyin who was in charge of the country's foreign affairs.

Zhong Xingyin is also a guy who can't afford to make a big profit, he glanced at the gift list handed over by Cai Guoren, pouted and said: "I can't see the fox Qiu, can I look at Cai Hou's jade?" I want to see what kind of treasure is it that makes Nangwa lose his mind? ”

Zishan went back to report to Cai Zhaohou, and Cai Zhaohou was furious and said: "The Jin people and the Chu people are all virtuous!" Since the widow can't stand the Chu people, how can he put up with the Jin people? Cai Zhaohou didn't want to stay for a minute, and decided to leave this smoky city immediately. But Zishan asked him to get a reply from the Jin people before leaving, and not to offend the Jin people after offending the people of Chu.

Seeing that Cai Guoren did not react, Zhong Xingyin went to report the situation to Shi Ying. He concluded: "The country is in turmoil, and the princes are rebellious; Under these circumstances, it may be inappropriate to attack the state of Chu. The rainy season is coming, malaria is about to break out, and Zhongshan is not tamed. The Jin army had never entered Fangcheng Mountain, and even if it was to attack Chu, it would return in vain. Abandoning the Covenant (the alliance of soldiers to the army) could not cause damage to the Chu State, and on the other hand, it was necessary to lose the Zhongshan State. The gains do not make up for the losses. I might as well refuse Cai Hou. ”

Shi Yan agreed, and the Bank of China immediately sent someone to inform Cai Guoren of the results, and Cai Zhaohou left Xinjiang the next day full of disappointment.

Cai Zhaohou was still unwilling, and he went to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to see Liu Wengong.

In these years, the prince's dynasty was still making waves in the Chu State, and his henchmen had seized several border towns in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to echo him. Liu Wengong had always been worried that the prince dynasty would one day make a comeback, so he was in favor of cutting Chu.

Liu Wengong was below one person and above tens of thousands of people at this time. Believing that he still had some status in the eyes of the princes, he sent envoys to the nations and invited the monarchs of the countries to attend the assembly of the princes held at Zhaoling in the spring of the following year.

In March of the fourth year of Lu Ding Gong (BC506), Liu Wengong, Jin Dinggong, Lu Dinggong, Song Jinggong, Wei Linggong, Cai Zhaohou, Zheng Xiangong, Chen Huigong, Xu Nansi (Xu was destroyed by Zheng Guo two years later, and the monarch was speechless), Cao Yingong and Ju, Di, Xiao Di, Teng, Xue, Dun, Hu, Qi, Xue Jun, Qi Shangqing Guoxia and other monarchs and representatives met in Zhaoling, and the topic of the alliance was how to cut down Chu. Shen Zi also received a notice to participate in the meeting, but Shen State bordered Chu State, and Shen Zi was very afraid of Chu State, so he did not dare to attend the alliance meeting.

The site was carefully chosen by Duke Wengong Liu: one hundred and fifty years ago, Duke Huan of Qi convened a general meeting of princes here, and that alliance forced the Emperor of Chu to meet Zhou Tianzi again after an interruption of more than a hundred years.

The number of participating countries is the largest since the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the leaders of each country have brought a large number of troops. Liu Wengong climbed up and looked at it, and saw that his line of sight was full of endless ** battalions, which were filled with all kinds of military flags, chariots and busy soldiers.

Seeing such a grand scene in front of him, Liu Wengong's heart was full of hope. However, the alliance did not go well: first, the Weiguo people expressed their dissatisfaction after learning of the order of the monarch's signing, and insisted that the name of the Weihou be written in front of the Marquis of Cai; The second is that the monarch of a small country does not take a position on the issue at all; Later, Zheng Guoren had a dispute with the Jin Guoren; Then it was the representative of the Qi State that Guoxia arrived a moment before the blood; But the most important thing was that the Jin State opposed Vachu.

In fact, when Cai Zhaohou refused to ask for a bribe, the attitude of the Jin people had already been determined. Moreover, since the Battle of Chengpu, there has always been only an alliance convened by the Jin people in the Huaxia region, and there is no precedent for other countries to convene. Therefore, the Jin people can come just to go through the motions, and they will never help the Eastern Zhou people to put gold on their faces.

The Jin people moved out of the "Song Alliance" and refused to go out to fight Chu. But in order to comfort Liu Wengong's unbalanced heart, Shi Ying promised to help the Eastern Zhou in the fight against the domestic rebels. After the meeting, the countries signed a dispensable pact, and the alliance ended in a hurry.

Uncle Zheng Zi died of a sudden serious illness on the way back to China, and Zhao Ying was sad when he heard the news; As an old friend and student, he went to Zheng Guo to pay his respects to the most prominent politician since his stepson.

Zhao Ying touched the coffin in the mourning hall and cried: "I think that at the meeting of the Yellow Father (the twenty-fifth year of Lu Zhaogong), the master taught me: 'Don't make trouble first, don't rely on power, don't be trusted, don't be arrogant, don't be arrogant, don't be angry repeatedly, don't plan evil things, don't do things that are not moral. These words still ring in my ears today, but the Master is no longer there! ”

The people of Chu were completely suppressed by the momentum of the Twenty-Nation Alliance, and the people exclaimed: "One Wu State is already enough, and now the Twenty Northern Kingdoms have popped up - and even the Eastern Zhou has been stirred in!" How many countries are there in the world? What did the state of Chu do wrong to attract so many enemies? ”

Nangwa was also frightened, and he asked the cities around Fangcheng Mountain and Shen and Xi to enter the first level of combat readiness. After the participating countries returned in vain, Nangwa finally breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately returned to his old invincible face, turning the serious crisis encountered by the country into a shameless reason to flaunt himself.

His henchmen preached everywhere: "It is precisely because of the foresight and foresight of Lord Yin that we have thwarted the crazy plan of the Chinese people to attack the country. ”

Someone asked, "What great things has Lord Ling Yin done?" Say it and let us be amazed. ”

The guys said, "Those are state secrets, I can't tell you." ”

In the summer, the Jin State ordered the Cai State to attack the Shen State, which could be regarded as a consolation prize for Cai Zhaohou. The Cai army broke through the capital of Shen in one fell swoop, destroying this short-lived small country with the same surname (Shen was founded in the early Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and the founding monarch was a descendant of Ji Danzai, the youngest son of King Wen of Zhou).

In the eyes of the people of Chu, Cai's actions were unforgivable. Nangwa decided to destroy Cai a second time, and the Chu army soon moved north to besiege Cai. However, a sudden incident on the Wu-Chu border caused the Chu army to immediately lift the encirclement of Cai and move eastward instead.

Since the Marquis of Cai Ai was captured by King Wen of Chu (the fourteenth year of the Duke of Lu Zhuang), the State of Cai has been suppressed and exploited by the State of Chu. Although Cai Guo had a short history of defecting to the Jin State, because Cai Guo was too far away from the Jin State and adjacent to the Chu State, he still had to obediently return to the arms of the bully in the end.