After Confucius returned from the Qi Kingdom, he reopened the school and devoted himself to teaching. His students come from all over the world, "Mengsun's teacher" is a golden sign hanging over his head, and there is an endless stream of children sent by noble doctors to study; Civilians are also accepted when they come to study. As a result, Confucius gathered many famous people around him: among them were the arrogant and chivalrous Zhongyou (Zilu), the wealthy and bright-minded Duanmu Ci (Zigong), the poor and studious Yan Hui (Ziyuan), and the unrestrained Bu Shang (Zixia, who later became the teacher of Wei Wenhou, Wu Qi and Li Kui) and so on.

At that time, some good people said that Confucius's power would definitely surpass that of Yang Hu, because Yang Hu only relied on the Ji family, while Confucius had the successor of all the ministers of the Lu State.

For such a big man with hands and eyes, Yang Hu will inevitably pull him into his circle.

However, as an ultra-conservative, the old master Kong, who once angrily shouted "Eight dances in the court, is it tolerable or unbearable", and who was once humiliated by him, whether public or private, Du Yanghu felt deeply disgusted.

Yang Hu took a roast suckling pig to visit Confucius, but Confucius avoided it under the pretext that he was suffering from malaria. Yang Hu expressed his intention to Confucius's retainers (asked Confucius to come out), left a gift and left.

Confucius was eager to enter the government, eager to realize his ideals and ambitions in the political arena, and sent the state of Lu back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. But the one who came to persuade him to go out of the mountain turned out to be Yang Hu, whose ruling philosophy was contrary to him, and he couldn't agree to it anyway.

Yang Hu gave Confucius a difficult problem, as the old saying goes: "Come and don't be rude." According to the weekly etiquette, Confucius not only had to return the courtesy, but also took the initiative to bring the gift to meet the enemy, otherwise he would be caught by Yang Hu - the people of the world will soon know that the old Confucius who was full of benevolence and morality turned out to be a "non-rude" person.

Confucius prepared gifts and sent spies to monitor Yang Hu's movements. One day, the spies came back and reported that Yang Hu had gone out of the city with his entourage. Confucius was overjoyed and hurriedly went to visit Yanghu with gifts. Confucius left the gift and walked out of Yang Hu's house, but as soon as he turned the street, he was blocked by Yang Hu. It seems that Yang Hu has already seen through the old master's tricks, and specially created the illusion of leaving the city to lure Confucius into taking the bait.

Confucius had a ghost in his heart, and he was embarrassed to look at him. Yang Hu asked him angrily: "I asked the master to come out of the office, how did the master think about it?" ”

Confucius replied, "My condition has just improved, and I haven't had time to think about it yet. ”

Yang Hu raised his eyebrows and said, "You stand closer!" I won't eat you again! Let me ask you, if he has all the skills, but sits back and watches the country's political system is in chaos, can he be called 'benevolent'? Of course not! Can a person who wants to enter politics but repeatedly gives up opportunities be called 'wise'? Of course not! Time is gone, time is running out! ”

Confucius felt that he was about to use force if he didn't express his position, so he replied in a low voice: "Okay, I'm going to go out!" ”

Yang Hu left satisfied.

Confucius returned home, told Zigong what had happened, and finally said, "Let's leave Lu quickly!" Through Yang Hu's recommendation to serve in an official position, I will not be listed in the hall of fame after I die! ”

Zigong prides himself on being the wisest man in the whole country. He asked the teacher to calm down, claiming that he could make Yang Hu change his mind.

Early the next morning, Zigong swaggered into Meng Yizi's house, and did not come out complacent until noon. This was the case for days on end.

Yang Hu received a tip. The informant said that Zigong had always stayed alone with Meng Yizi since he entered the Meng family, and no one knew what conspiracy the two were planning. Yang Hu finally started fidgeting, suspecting that the two sides were making a shady deal, so he had to re-evaluate his previous decision. The assessment concluded that "the risk is uncontrollable", and as a result, Yang Hu dismissed the idea of inviting Confucius to become an official.

Yang Hu abandoned Confucius and recommended several reliable henchmen to serve as doctors (all of whom were undesirable in large families). He also held a blood ceremony with Lu Dinggong and Sanhuan in the Zhou Society, and issued a curse at the Qu of the Five Fathers.

"Gentlemen are repeatedly allied, and chaos is long." Although Yang Hu has adopted a series of measures to try to morally kidnap the monarch and ministers of the Lu State, who will abide by the poisonous oath he was forced to make? The conflict of interest between Yang Hu and the office is fundamental and irreconcilable, and this conflict will only deepen over time; But Yang Hu may not have realized this, so every time the rift deepens, he has to hold an alliance to mend it; It turned out to be getting deeper and deeper.

In the seventh year of the reign of Lu Ding Gong (BC503), the people of Qi returned the two cities of Yuncheng and Yangguan to the Lu State, and Yanghu generously divided the two cities into his own name.

This gift was not given for nothing.

It turned out that as early as when the Chu State was crippled by the Wu State, the Qi people were keenly aware that the Jin State, which had lost its opponent, would soon lose its allies. The signing of the "Song Alliance" was due to the fact that Jin and Chu had been fighting for 80 years, and it was also the result of mutual compromise between the princes of various countries. Once the Chu State lost the power to control the princes, the title of the leader of the Jin State would lose its meaning of existence, and the Song League would naturally disintegrate.

Sure enough, Zheng Guo took the opportunity to destroy Xu Guo, who was also a member of the "Song Alliance", and the battle marked a split in the alliance. After that, Lu was ordered to attack Zheng State, and the disintegration of the alliance was in the middle of the day.

In the eyes of the Qi people, who have never really regarded the Jin State as the leader of the alliance, the great moment of overthrowing the hegemony of the Jin State and reviving the hegemony of the Qi State has come.

The Qi people formulated a grand plan for hegemony, hoping to use this plan to draw Lu, Wei, Zheng, Song and other countries into the anti-Jin alliance. Based on the above reasons, the Qi State returned the two cities to the Lu State as a meeting gift for the conclusion of the alliance.

However, Yang Hu had just won the trust of the Jin people, and he still had to use the power of the Jin people to consolidate his position, so it was impossible to betray the Jin State immediately.

The people of Qi were not in a hurry to ask the people of Lu to express their position, in the eyes of Qi Jinggong, those two cities were like Qi in Lu, and they could be taken back if necessary.

In order to realize the plan, Qi Jinggong sent an envoy to Zheng Guo, hoping to hold talks with Zheng Xiangong in Chengdi. He also sent an envoy to Wei Guo and invited Wei Linggong to participate in the Chengzhi meeting.

The Patriots have never been good partners of the Jin people, and the feud between the two countries began when the Jin Wen Gong tried Wei Chenggong - before that, the Patriots had never encountered the humiliation of their own monarch being judged by the monarch of another country. Since then, the relationship between the two countries has been stumbling and disputed (the Jin people forced the famous minister Kong Da to death, and helped Sun Lin's father deal with Wei Dinggong and Wei Xiangong). Although the patriots are not as rebellious as the Zheng people, they will never be as loyal as the Song people.

Facing Qi Jinggong's invitation letter, Wei Linggong was alive. He consulted his ministers for advice, but the results were far from satisfactory - most of them were inextricably linked to the Jin people, and they all wanted to live in peace rather than invite war by changing their positions.

Wei Linggong was a little discouraged. Doctor Beigong Jie is an out-and-out anti-Jin faction, and he said to Wei Linggong in private: "Send the minister to reply to the Marquis of Qi, and the minister has a way to satisfy the wishes of the marquis." ”