The defeat in the Battle of Iron dealt a heavy blow to the optimism of the anti-Jin alliance, and also angered Qi Jinggong, who hated the immortality of the Jin state. And Wei Jugong's natural weakness and cowardice and incompetence in dealing with the Qi Yi issue particularly annoyed Qi Jinggong.

Qi Jinggong decided to teach Wei Zhugong how to fight the "traitors" (even if the traitor was Wei Zhugong's father), and he issued an order to Wei Zhugong to gather his army and prepare to attack his relatives.

In the spring of the third year of Lu Aigong (BC492), Qi Guoxia and Wei Shi Mangu led an army to jointly attack Qiyi. Zhao Ying hurriedly transferred part of the troops monitoring Handan to strengthen the defense. The Qi people summoned the Zhongshan people (Xianyu had changed their name to Zhongshan at this time), and the Jin army set up an ambush on the way of the Zhongshan army, and cleanly defeated the Bai Di reinforcements. When Guoxia and Shi Mangu were annoyed, Qiyi's Jin army attacked the baggage camp of the coalition army and burned the grain and grass in the camp. Before the coalition army could launch a general offensive, it suffered two defeats, so it had to be released from the siege and returned home.

This defeat was an extremely heavy psychological blow to the anti-Jin alliance. Qi Jinggong was in a hurry, and he suddenly suffered a stroke; Fortunately, the situation was not very serious, he only felt some numbness in one limb, and the functions of his body were not fundamentally affected.

Bao Mu, Chen Qi and other doctors all advised Qi Jinggong not to worry about the useless heart of the Fan family and the Zhongxing family anymore, and they said: "The affairs of the Jin people will be solved by the Jin people themselves!" ”

Qi Jinggong gathered the doctors together and said: "What the widow did was not for Jin Erqing, but for the Qi country. During the reign of the first monarch Zhuang Gong (the father of the Duke of Qi, not the elder brother of the Duke of Qi Jing), the Jin Kingdom was divided, and Quwo had the momentum to destroy Jiang and replace it. At that time, Zheng Wugong warned Zheng Zhuanggong before he died: 'Jiang can't die, Jin can't be unified!' Zhuang Gong obeyed his father's last words all his life, and always restrained the forces of both sides, so that neither side could be in a clear advantage.

"It's a pity that after the death of Zheng Zhuanggong, Zheng Guogong's office was in chaos. Ziyi and Saizu were incompetent, the two only sought self-preservation, did not try to do anything, and wasted more than ten years of precious time in vain. After the restoration of Li Gong, it was impossible to prevent the unification of the Jin Kingdom. Zheng Ren could only watch as Jin Wugong captured Jiangcheng. As a result, in the 140 years from the beginning of the practice of the soil to the present, not only the Zheng State and even the princes of the Central Plains have been deeply affected by the Jin State, but even the Qi State has been hit twice.

It can be seen that Zheng Wugong's proverbs are still instructive to the current day. Qi and Jin are not mutually exclusive, and the Jin State is divided again, but it is an opportunity given to the Qi State by God, how dare the widow not firmly grasp it? Once the rebellion was quelled by the four Qings, the Qi State would probably have to spend five times more strength against the Jin State. Instead of being beaten in the future, why not solve the problem now? I'm afraid the widow will never be able to get on the chariot again! But the masters can, and this heavy responsibility can only be shouldered by you. ”

In terms of songs, the rebels and the people have begun to feel the taste of not being able to fill their stomachs. Shijishu was forced to abandon some of the surrounding small towns, shrink his strength to Chaoge, and ordered his men to collect food everywhere. At the critical moment, Chang Hong sent hundreds of truckloads of corn to the rebels, which can be regarded as helping the Chaoge people temporarily tide over the difficulties.

Zhao Ying couldn't sit still anymore. He thought that after he had gained an advantage over the rebels, Liu Huan Gong would be able to accept it when he saw it; But the cunning and stubborn guy not only did not know how to restrain himself, but instead intensified his opposition to himself. Zhao Ying was furious and decided to teach the guy who didn't have long eyes a good lesson.

Liu Huangong's family business is very large, and his customers are all over the north and south of the Yellow River, inside and outside Taihang. So Zhao Ying first blocked the road of Liu's caravan west to the Jin Kingdom, and later simply confiscated a large number of goods from the Qi State that passed through Qiyi; Not only that, Zhao also imposed heavy taxes on the salt sold by Qi to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

There are two kinds of salt eaten by the people of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty: one is the sea salt of the Qi country; The second is the mineral salt of the Jin Kingdom. The Zhou people were not allowed to purchase mineral salt from the Jin state, but the Jin people raised the export price of salt.

After such a toss by Zhao Ying, the price of salt in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty has increased more than tenfold. The people of the country complained, but Liu Huan Gong mistakenly thought that he could take this opportunity to provoke the hatred of the people against Zhao Ying. He sent Chang Hong to give a public speech to incite the emotions of the people, but the Chinese people did not buy it at all, and expressed their position with the actual actions of shouting and throwing vegetable leaves and stones.

The Chinese people said: "The powerful and the old men are all scoundrels who are prone to lying, and whatever they do is for themselves, but they pretend to be righteous and awe-inspiring to the outside world." Shi Ji and Zhao Ying, who dies and who lives has nothing to do with us? If they are all dead, the world will be peaceful! Liu Fuzi has always flaunted himself as loyal and patriotic, but Shi Jishu attacked the Marquis of Jin in a frenzy, and he was an out-and-out rebellious minister and thief. Liu Fuzi is full of loyalty and morality, but his heart is depraved. How can such a person achieve the position of the third public? How can such a person persuade the countrymen to be good? Does it make the whole world laugh and say that the Eastern Zhou Dynasty is a country ruled by hypocrites? ”

Liu Huangong was so anxious that he knew that his reputation had plummeted. In order to recover the decline, he had to use his own money to subsidize the price of salt, and ordered the caravan to avoid Qiyi and make a detour to trade with the state of Qi, which reduced the price of salt to the previous level.

Zhao Ying saw that Liu Huan Gong was almost tossed, so he led his army to borrow from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty again. This time, Liu Wengong had to agree to allow the Jin army to travel back and forth between the Jin state and the Central Plains through the territory of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. But Zhao Ying drove the army directly outside the city of Jingshi, he stood under the city, pointed to the city, and demanded that the Zhou people give an explanation for their support for the Jin rebels, otherwise he would personally "enter the city and ask Zhou Tianzi about it".

Liu Huan Gong was helpless, so he had to sell his closest friend and subordinate, Chang Hong. Liu Huan Gong denounced Chang Hong to King Jing of Zhou, saying that he was the culprit who supported the Fan family and the Zhongxing family, and he was just confused by him.

King Zhou Jing knew that the dangerous situation was caused by Liu Huangong, but the real ruler of the dynasty that was as weak as his body was the thick-eyed and sanctimonious Liu Huangong in front of him. In the face of such a difficult situation, what else can he say, a puppet emperor? And what is a noble gentleman in the eyes of a dirty politician? If you do, you can only count as a scapegoat, right? So at the instigation of Liu Huangong, King Zhou Jing ordered Si Kou to arrest Chang Hong and put him on trial for his "crimes".

Chang Hong was a famous university scholar in the Spring and Autumn Period, he was well-read and memorized, and had a wide range of knowledge. He has deep attainments in astronomy, mathematics, music and rhythm, etc., and even Confucius has to call him a "teacher". His loyalty to the royal family and Duke Liu Huan is also well-known and impeccable. Such a pillar of the country, who is outstanding in all aspects, has now suffered a huge injustice, and even the right to defend himself has been deprived.

The most tragic thing was his death. In order to appease Zhao Ying's anger, Liu Huangong did not give the old friend the "favor" of suicide, but disemboweled him and tortured him with "gut-outing". You know, this kind of punishment was originally customized for heinous traitors, and it has not been used since the Western Zhou Dynasty moved eastward.

The old doctor died a painful and tragic death. Although the Chinese people just angrily drove Chang Hong off the pulpit a few days ago, many people couldn't help but burst into tears when they heard the bad news - Zhou people's feelings for Chang Hong were as changeable and complicated as Zheng people's feelings for children.

Legend has it that his blood was collected and stored in a box. Three years later, the man opened the box and found that his blood had been turned into pure jasper.

The rebels had an arm cut off, and the Jin people could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Zhao Ying lifted the siege of the Jing division and turned to attack Chaoge.