In 685 BC, Qi Xianggong died, Huan Gong ascended the throne, and Guan Zhong was appointed to govern Qi, which made the social economy of Qi develop rapidly.

Guan zhong (? In 645 BC), the name was Yi Wu, the word Zhong, or Qi Yingnan, and Huan Gong called it Guan Zhong. One is to ask Guan Zhong to assist Gong Zijiu to correct the defeat and call him sudden death. However, Guan Zhong was recommended to Qi Huangong by his good friend Bao Shu and implemented a series of reform policies.

In the face of the mess left by Qi Xianggong, Guan Zhong first put forward the system of "three countries despise each other" (Mandarin), that is, "three countries think of the three armed forces and five people think of the five genera" ("Zhao Wei's Note on Mandarin"). Its content is "Governing the country is twenty-one townships: six townships for industry and commerce and fifteen townships for scholars." The Tenth Five-Year Scholar Town is divided into three parts, named "Participating in the Country"; Divide the original "customs" into five genera, which are called "Wu Qibi"; There are four levels under "township" and "genus", all of which are governed by officials respectively, so that they can "live in peace" and "accomplish things for the people" (the country is in danger). The so-called "permanent residence of the people" means that all farmers in the commune have their own fixed residential areas and cannot move and flow at will. The so-called "becoming a citizen" means that scholars, farmers, workers and businessmen "don't do miscellaneous things" and "make (scholars) do nothing, work in the government, work in the market and work in the fields". Because only in this way can farmers in the commune do their own things well and make their children become "unchangeable scholars", "unchangeable workers", "unchangeable businessmen" and "unchangeable farmers". In this way, Guan Zhong gave full play to his principle of "repairing the old law, choosing the good law and using it" (see "Guoyu Qiyu" for all the above), corrected the confusion of the four people caused by social changes, re-fixed production activities to ensure the development of social production, made the commune continue to be a grass-roots organization, and strengthened the control over farmers in the commune.

On this basis, Guan Zhong adopted the measure of "issuing a written pledge to internal affairs", that is, every five townships in the fifteen townships were regarded as a handsome 10,000 people, Qi Jun led the five townships as the Central Army, and the two ministers led the five townships as the left and right armies and the three armed forces. At the same time, political organizations such as "railway", "Li", "company" and "township" are unified with military organizations such as "military", "filial piety", "pawn" and "brigade", which strengthens the state's control over the standing army. In this form of military and political integration, the five families in the "track" have lived together for generations, and the vitality of the commune continues, that is, "fighting at night and hearing each other's voices is enough to be naughty; Fighting day and night, seeing each other late, is enough to know each other. " Because the pros and cons are the same, "the rules are the same, and so is the war." In such an organizational situation, "spring is to search for travel, and autumn is to rule the army." Therefore, the soldiers are in the army and the army is in the suburbs. "Guan Zhong made use of the power of the blood clan relationship left by the commune to realize the construction of the armed forces of" running the world "and" resisting Mo "(for details, see Guoyu Strange Language), which prepared for the later hegemony.

Politically, Guan Zhong also asked Qi Huangong to "repair the old and use the waste". The so-called "revision of the old law" is the renovation of the old system. "Industry", as Zhao Wei pointed out, "It is still creative", which is quite correct. It refers to injecting new content that conforms to the new era. In this way, Guan Zhong provided a theoretical basis for breaking the shackles of the old system and taking a gratifying first step towards the rule of law. Therefore, he should "use its six handles carefully" (Strange Language of Mandarin), namely "life, killing, poverty, wealth, expensive and base" (Zhao Wei's Note on Strange Language of Mandarin). "Choose the good and use it", of course, is not blindly accepted, but selective. Therefore, he "likes bad customs" and "does what the customs want, so he does it; What is vulgar, so go "(Biography of Historical Records and Yan Guan). "Handle" is a very important concept of legalist centralization in later generations. "Six handles", in a word, is to reward and punish "two handles", that is, to be born with them, and to be rich and expensive is to be rewarded; Killing, being poor and being cheap are punishments, and "doing everything wrong" has a "second-in-command". The strengthening of "six handles", that is, the strengthening of monarchical power, began the prelude of centralization. Guan Zhong's choice of the old method and careful use of the six handles are not recorded in the history books or "Qi Yu of Mandarin", but Jiang Qi once relayed Guan Zhong's words: "Fear of power is like a disease, and the people are on it; From the bosom, such as flow, people also; See "In times of danger, even among the people", and say that "the reason why the doctor Guan Zhong just started the country, restored the sage, and became a tyrant" ("Mandarin is now thinking"). It can be seen that although Guan Zhong can't formulate or promulgate the "severe punishment and severe law" yet, it can make the people "fear power like a disease", which is the result of Guan Zhong's "severe punishment and severe law". If we admit that "severe punishment and severe law" began with Guan Zhong, then the so-called "legalist" should also see its clue from Guan Zhong.

Guan Zhong also stipulated that there are "those who honor their parents, those who are wise (benevolent) and those who are familiar with the countryside" and "those who have the courage to fight, follow the crowd" ("Mandarin Strange Language"), recommended by the township head, trying to be an official. Those who pass the probation period are officially appointed as officials. A competent official must go through the monarch's face-to-face inspection to assist Shangqing in managing political affairs. This is the "three-election system" (Zhao Wei's "Guoyu Qiyu" note). This three-selection system, to some extent, broke the past system of "learning from foreigners" and created conditions for lower-class scholars to enter the official career.

Economically, although the mining field system at that time did not disintegrate, it still implemented the production mode of "land equalization system", but it has adopted the policy of "decreasing the levy according to the land" (see Guoyu Qiyu), that is, collecting taxes according to the amount of land and the quality of soil. This is an important measure to promote the development of production.

For industry and commerce, Guan Zhong, while "the government handles the work and the market handles the business", also stipulated that "Li Ze has three educations and Shan Li has three constant" ("Chyi Yu"), which managed the country's mountains and rivers in a unified way, making almost all the economic lifelines in the hands of the state. He also advocated "attaching importance to the benefits of fish and salt to care for the poor" (Historical Records of Qi Taigong Family), or "connecting the strengths of light and heavy to boost the business between mountains and seas" (Historical Records of Ping Zhun), and even "accumulating money with coins to make Qiang Bing rich" (Historical Records of Yan Guan Biography). Whether "the benefits of light and heavy fish and salt" and "the industry of mountains and seas" are the origins of salt and iron officials in the Han Dynasty, although there is no credible material, from Guanzi's point of view, Guan Zhong opposes the taxation of "trees", "six animals" and population, and advocates that "mountains and seas are the ears of officials" are iron salts (. In addition, he established nine important governments and adopted measures such as minting coins, adjusting prices, and exempting the city-closing tax, which enabled Qi to accumulate strong economic strength and have the economic and military strength to dominate the world.

In the early years of the Spring and Autumn Period, the foreign politics of various countries can be roughly divided into three relationships: one is that China is against foreigners, the other is that princes are against Zhou, and the third is that princes are against princes. After stabilizing the domestic situation, Qi Huangong actively carried out foreign activities. He first wooed Song and Lu, and then won Zheng over to his sphere of influence. Rong Di is very strong at this time, which is a great threat to some small countries in Huaxia. Luming AD (66 BC1), Divaxing (now Xingtai, Hebei). In 660 years ago, wei ren abandoned the city and fled overnight, leaving only 730 people to escape from the Yellow River. Qi Huangong put them together, with * * * Iraq (now Huixian County, Henan Province) and Zaiwei and Weiguo (now southwest of Huaxian County, Henan Province), with a total of only 5,000 people. Qi sent troops to rescue Xing Cunwei and moved Xing (now Liaocheng, Shandong) and Wei to Chuqiu (now hua county, Henan). This was said in the second year of Zuo Zhuan, "Move home, defend the country and forget death". When the war against Xing broke out, Guan Zhong tried his best to remonstrate with Hua Yi and urged Qi to send troops to rescue him, saying, "The wolf of Rong Di is not to be hated; Relatives in summer cannot be abandoned. Eat enough poison, don't be pregnant. " "Poetry" said:' Don't you miss home and aren't afraid of this simple book.' Simple books are also called sympathy for evil. Please save Xing Yi from the bamboo slips. "("Zuo Zhuan "Min Gongyuan). In ancient times, the struggle between nations was a matter of life and death. At that time, the conflict of interests within the Huaxia nationality weakened the resistance to Rong Di. Faced with this crisis, Guan Zhong put forward the call of "sharing evil" and "pro-summer", which enabled Qi to unite with Han, repelled the attack of Rong Emperor, and also saved some small countries from the ravages of Rong Emperor, thus enhancing Qi's prestige in the Central Plains.

According to archaeological data, the southern Chu culture is centered on Jianghan Plain in Hubei Province, extending to the south of Henan Province in the north, to the middle of Anhui Province in the east, and to Zixing and Chenxian County in Hunan Province in the south. At the beginning of the capital, a number of tombs of Chu nobles were found in Danyang (now Xichuan County, Henan Province) from Danshui Temple 1978 to 1979 in Xichuan County. Not far from the northeast of Sixia, there is an ancient city, Longcheng, which is 900 meters long and 400 meters wide. It may be Danyang, the original capital of Chu State. In the first year of King Wen of Chu (689 BC), he moved the capital to Ying (now Jinan City, jiangling county, Hubei Province). Its ancient city ruins are bigger than Danyang Longcheng, with a length of nine miles from east to west and seven miles from north to south, covering an area of 48 square miles. At the beginning of the week, Chu was not weak. After nearly 400 years of recuperation, he has accumulated abundant strength. Qunman, Baipu and Lurong in the west of Chu were conquered by her, and Shu (now Shucheng, Anhui Province), Liu (now Lu 'an, Anhui Province), Liao (now Huoqiu, Anhui Province) and Shu Yong in Huaishui Valley were also destroyed by Chu. The more powerful Xu (now Sixian County, Anhui Province) also worked for Chu. In the Zhou Dynasty, the north of Hanshui River (in the twenty-eighth year of Zuo Zhuan) was named "Hanyang's harem, all loyal to Chu". Therefore, when he moved eastward, he protected Shen, Lu and Xu to prevent Chu from invading the north. But in the period of King Wen of Chu, Chu destroyed Shen, Deng, invaded Cao, and cut Huang and Zheng, and its influence gradually expanded to the Yellow River basin. At this time, with the strength of Qi, small countries such as Jiang and Huang, which had always belonged to Chu, also turned to Qi. Chu certainly won't stop there, so he cut Zheng for many years to put pressure on him. In the fourth year (656 BC), Qi Huangong led the troops of Qi, Zhu, Chen, Wei, Xu, Cao and Lu to attack Cai, who followed Chu, and Cai was defeated, so Qi cut Chu. At that time, Chu was also very strong and refused to show weakness to Qi. Finally, the two sides formed an alliance in Zhaoling (now Qiu Cheng, Henan). Although the State of Qi failed to subdue Chu this time, it temporarily blocked the momentum of Chu's northward advance.

After Qi Huangong formed an alliance with Chu in Zhaoling, it was actually Chu that recognized the hegemony of Qi in the Central Plains. After the Zhou royal family was pacified, in order to consolidate this victory, in the ninth year (65 BC1), a meeting of Lu, Song, Wei, Zheng, Cao and other countries was convened in Queling. King Xiang of Zhou also sent the Duke of Zhou to slaughter Confucius and reward the Duke of Huan for offering meat, with an edict: "It's really self-abased." The monarch is the monarch, the minister is the minister, and the ceremony is the foundation. If Qi Huangong doesn't respect the provisions of the ceremony, so that the emperor doesn't respect the ceremony, and his ministers can follow suit without respecting the ceremony, it will be difficult to protect the status of Huan Gong. No wonder Huan Gong was scared when he heard Guan Zhong's words. As a result, he bowed down and accepted the sacrifice. Huan Gong respects the king, and the princes also have to respect the king, so Huan Gong can "hold the emperor to make the princes". Therefore, "Guoyu Qiyu" says: "The princes obey". Through this alliance, Qi Huangong became the overlord of the Central Plains. Tyrants are also scholars. Jia Kui's words are quoted in Volume II of the Classics: "Tyrants, tyrants also control the power of governors."

On the occasion of "the friendship with China is endless" (the story of the Ram was published for four years), it is a great event for the bully to come out of the mountain. But the original meaning of overlord is not limited to resisting Rongdi in the north and Chu in the south. The fundamental spirit of Qi Huangong's hegemony mainly lies in maintaining the past state system, that is, in order to prevent conflicts and crises within the client countries. During the Yanggu Conference in the third year of Lu Xigong (657 BC), the Biography of the Ram recorded the words of Huan Gong for three years: "There is no barrier valley, no millet storage, no easy tree." ("Biography of Gu Liang" and "Biography of Xi" were published for nine years. Fan: "Trees, sons." ), no concubine for his wife. "Obstacle valley or begging neighboring countries, or cutting off neighboring countries' water sources and storing millet, it is impossible to know whether it is most likely to endanger national security and survival. At that time, the country was small, and one water might flow to several countries. Upstream countries block the valley, and downstream countries will cut off the water source. On the contrary, upstream countries will accumulate water enough to affect production. In the Warring States Policy, "The Eastern Zhou Dynasty wants rice, the Western Zhou Dynasty does not enter the water, and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty suffers from it" is a concrete explanation of the barrier valley. Because the country is small, if there is a famine, we have to turn to neighboring countries for help. If the neighboring countries don't save it, there is a danger that there will be no cooking in the country. In order to maintain the existence of a country, Qi Huangong first mentioned "no valley, no millet storage", because this is a basic policy related to people's livelihood. As for the abolition of concubines, it is inconsistent with the etiquette of the Western Zhou Dynasty and is an important factor in civil strife, so it has to be banned. So six years later, at the meeting of Kwai Qiu, when Huan Gong banned tomorrow, he repeated "No spring, no tree, no concubine, no daughter, no state" (see "Biography of Gu Liang" for nine years). Three hundred years later, when Mencius described "five tyrants, Huan Gong prospered" ("Mencius under the high posture"), he quoted the five orders of the League of Kwai Qiu, which was consistent with Ram. This is Qi Huan's hegemonic spirit. Therefore, when Duke Huan died, he invaded Lu, and Zhan, the envoy of Lu, was his teacher. He replied that he was not afraid, and said, "Yesterday, Duke Zhou and Tai Gong joined hands to be king. The king worked hard to give the alliance, saying,' It will not harm the descendants of the world', which is included in the alliance government and is the post of the master. Duke Huan tried his best to reconcile the princes, seek their discord, close the gap to save their disasters, and show their old posts "("Zuo Zhuan "is 26 years old). The purpose of reconciliation between Huan Gong and princes is to inherit and develop the tradition of "the world does not harm each other" of the descendants of princes. Just Zhou Chengwang's oath, due to the weakness of the emperor after the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, this ban can only be "clarified" by the governors. "Zuo Zhuan" Fan Zixuan said in the eleventh year of "xianggong": "The book says:

All our allies have no time, no interests, no traitors, no worries ",and probably have inherited Qi Huan's hegemonic spirit.

After Guan Zhong became the Duke of Huan, he unified the vassal states in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, conquered the north, strengthened the Chu state in the south, reversed the crisis of invasion of the Central Plains by the "southern barbarians" and "northern barbarians", and defended the relatively progressive Central Plains culture. Therefore, Confucius once praised Guan Zhong's achievements and said, "If Guan Zhong is a little ignorant, I will fall behind" (The Analects of Confucius, Xian Wen). Guan Zhong paid attention to the social reality to a certain extent, "used its six handles carefully" and "feared power like a disease". He began to improve the centralization and authority of the monarch and attached importance to the development of industry and commerce, which not only played a huge role in the social and economic development of Qi at that time, but also had a far-reaching impact in the history after the Spring and Autumn Period. However, due to the limitation of the times, he adopted the principle of "repairing the old and making use of the waste", which made him politically conservative and economically innovative, so Guan Zhong's reform was dual. Guan Zhong is a transitional figure. Although his legalist tendency was limited by the times, he was an accomplished and knowledgeable politician in the ancient history of China.

Battle of Chengpu

The Battle of Chengpu was a decisive battle between Jin and Chu for the Central Plains in the Spring and Autumn Period. Jin State, which was at a disadvantage, correctly analyzed the objective situation at that time, properly chose the battlefield, adopted the political and diplomatic alliance, gained the advantage and initiative over Chu, and was in a rational and favorable strategic position. Then avoid the edge of Chu, retreat on three sides, lure the enemy deep, and make a joint assault to win the decisive battle. The policy of "avoiding three houses" in this war is an important development of China's ancient military thought.

The Battle of Chengpu was a decisive large-scale battle between Jin Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period. Through aggression and expansion, Chu basically conquered all the weak countries in the Central Plains, and the Central Plains has actually become the sphere of influence of Chu except Jin, Qi and Qin. When the State of Chu sent heavy troops to keep secret to prevent Qin from going south to Chu and sent heavy troops to Gu Yi to look after Qi, the State of Song betrayed Chu and turned to the State of Jin, which not only dealt a blow to Chu who wanted to dominate the world, but also encouraged Jin Wengong to drive Chu away and dominate the Central Plains. In this way, the battle of Chengpu became a multinational war with Jin in the north, Qi in the east, Qin in the west and Chu in the south, and all countries in the Central Plains were affected.

Due to the betrayal of the Song State, the King of Chu sent troops to attack the Song State, captured the city, and hit Suiyang all the way, and built a long wall of earth all around, hoping that Song Jun would be exhausted and hungry and forced to surrender. Suddenly I heard that Guo Wei sent a special envoy to ask for help in an emergency. Originally, Jin did not send troops to aid Song Dynasty, but adopted the strategy of attacking Cao from Wei, which was rejected by Wei, so Jin Jun diverted across the Yellow River and moved eastward. Captured and visited Wulong, an important town in Wei Dynasty (now south of Puyang, Henan Province), and stayed in the army to continue eastward, focusing on capturing strategic locations at the junction of Wei, Qi, Cao and Lu. Jin Jun soon occupied this place, which seriously threatened the safety of Chu Qiu, the capital of Wei State (now hua county, Henan Province).

Jin sent envoys to Qi State to repair friendly relations with Qi State. At this time, Wei successfully gave in and was willing to make peace with Jin, but Jin refused. Wei sent someone to Chu for help, but he was opposed by his own people and drove Wei Chenggong away. At this time, Jin Wengong made a friendly alliance with King Zhao Ji, which further strengthened the prestige of 8 Jin Army. Lu Xigong saw that the Jin army was powerful, and Qi made an alliance on its own border. The situation is very unfavorable. He wanted to ease the contradiction with Qi Jin, but he didn't dare to offend Chu. So Lu sent troops to kill Jia, the son of Dr. Chu, as a garrison country to please Jin. At the same time, he informed the king of Chu that his son Jia could not complete the task of defending the country and retreated without authorization, killing him for Chu to please Chu. Lou seems to be no threat to Kim. Then, 8 Jin Army attacked Tao Qiu, the capital of Cao (southwest of Dingtao County, Shandong Province). After more than a month of fighting, 8 jin j died a lot, but cao was forced by the situation, fighting alone, the capital fell, and cao * * * was captured.

The king of Chu heard that Wei was trapped and wanted to go to the rescue, so he sent troops from Shen and two towns, leaving Marshal as a minister, and a group of generals such as Dou Yuejiao, Dou Bo and Wan Chun to continue to encircle the Song Dynasty with various princes. Personally led by Chen and Dou Yishen to save Wei. Fearing that their country would be attacked by the state of Jin, all the princes of Route Four went home, and only their general remained in their army. Chen's generals are Yuan Xuan, Yin Gongzi, General and General Baiyu, all under Chu's command.

Jin attacked Wei and Cao. The original plan was to lure the Chu army to solve the encirclement of the Song Dynasty and fight against Jin in the north. However, Chu continued to besiege Song. Song was in a hurry again. If he can't be saved, he will not be able to repay his kindness in the past, and if he loses Song, it will not be conducive to the overall situation. However, sending troops directly to save Song Zhanchu violated the strategy of leading the Chu army to a decisive battle in the wilderness of Cao Wei. Moreover, United Chyi Chin has not succeeded, and it is not sure to defeat Chu. At this time, the second lieutenant died in the army, which made Jin Wengong more determined to save Song Zhanchu. At this time, Xian Zhen, the new marshal, put forward a good plan for Chu State: First, let Song State pay tribute to Chyi Chin, let them intervene in the battle between Song and Chu, and mediate from it; The second is to give the land of Cao Guo and Guo Wei to Guo Song, make up for the loss of Guo Song, inspire the fighting spirit of the Guo Song army and people, and continue to stand by and ask for help. Cao and Wei are Chu's sphere of influence, and Chu will never allow Chyi Chin to intervene. In this way, Chyi Chin will be annoyed, and Song will be friendly to Song, thus prompting Chyi Chin and Jin to form an anti-Chu military alliance, which will further isolate Chu. The development of the situation is as analyzed by Xian Zhen.

King Chu himself led the troops halfway. He heard that the Jin army had sent troops to attack Cao and was discussing how to save Cao. Soon, another news came: "Gold has broken Cao, take it." This shamed the king of Chu. Jin Jun invaded Cao Wei and made rapid progress, but Cao Wei was defeated. The situation in the Central Plains changed suddenly, and Chu lost reinforcements. If it continues, it will inevitably have a direct conflict with 8 jin j.. Chu originally didn't want to go to war directly with the Jin army, but when he was not ready, he heard the news of sending troops to help the Jin State. The king of Chu was worried that it would be unimaginable for Qin to attack Chu from behind, so he decided to stop the attack immediately and retreat strategically, waiting for the favorable opportunity to fight with Jin. So the whole army retreated, returned the land occupied by Qi to Qi, made peace with Qi, and ordered the Chu army and various governors to cancel the siege and return to their hometowns. In particular, I sent someone to warn Cheng not to be willful and not to advance toward the Jin army. The enemy and I are equal in strength, and they should retreat if they know they can't win. However, Cheng refused to carry out the withdrawal order. Although the soldiers of various vassals returned to their own countries, he still wanted to capture the Song State and asked him to send troops to fight for gold when necessary. He expressed dissatisfaction with Cheng's failure to carry out orders, and at the same time he was lucky. Therefore, he did not insist on withdrawing troops from Cheng, nor did he send reinforcements according to the number required by Cheng, but only sent nearly a thousand noble soldiers to him.

Cheng sent Wan Chun to Jinying and said, "Please restore Cao Cao, and our Chu army will also relieve the siege of Song Dynasty." Hu Yan scolded him for being rude. Xian Zhen saw Yu Zi's plot and said to Jin Wengong, "If we don't agree with this request of the Chu army, it will certainly offend the Three Kingdoms and the Chu army will gain a good reputation. Why not let Cao and Weiguo restore the country privately to alienate their relationship with Chu, and at the same time withhold Wan Chunlai from Chu to anger Chu, and adopt the strategy of "fighting first and seeking success later". " Xian Zhen's opinion was adopted. Cao and Wei restored the country and immediately broke off relations with Chu; Cheng is really angered. After he withdrew from the army that besieged the capital of song dynasty, he assembled the army and turned to Cao's territory, ready to attack the Jin army directly.

The withdrawal of the Chu army from the troops surrounding the Song Dynasty was in line with the strategic goal of the Jin side to save the Song Dynasty. Under the full attack of the Chu army, the Jin army made a promise to Chu in those days: if there was a war between the two countries, the Jin army would first give up three houses and retreat from them. In this way, the Jin army achieved the purpose of winning the trust of the princes. Practice Wen Gong's promise to take refuge in Chu, and inspire the morale of 8 Jin Army and allied forces. If Chu moves forward again, it will only be forced to fight; But also avoid the sharp front of the Chu army and choose the favorable opportunity and favorable terrain for decisive battle; You can also get close to the mainland and shorten the supply route. It can be said that it is a favorable factor to retreat from difficulties and make use of the favorable conditions of time, place and people.

On the verge of exploding, the State of Jin includes Jin, Qi and Qin and Song Bing, and the State of Chu includes Chu, Chen, Cai, Zheng and Xu. The two sides are arrayed in Chengpu.

After the Chu army arrived in Chengpu, it occupied a favorable terrain and sent Dou Bo to challenge the gauntlet, greatly despising the Jin army, saying, "Please invite the Jin soldiers to battle and invite the Jin army to watch by car. I will be accompanied by a minister. " It shows the arrogant attitude of the Chu army. Jin replied: the Jin army has retreated. Since Chu does not stop fighting, they will meet on the battlefield tomorrow.

On the morning of April 4, 632 BC, Marshal Cheng of the Chu army issued the order "No Jin today", ordering the left and right armies to attack the Jin army respectively. Luan Zhi, the general of Xia Jin, used the dust on the battlefield as a sand curtain to blind the enemy and cover up his own truth. Xu Chen clothed his horse with tiger skin to enhance his prestige. Chu's right army attacked, and Qin Jun engaged. After a little resistance, Qin Jun immediately retreated. Luan branch dragged branches behind the chariot, and the dust was flying, which made the Chu army unable to see the reality behind 8 Jin J. In addition, Chen and Cai Erjun were brave and aggressive, and the commander-in-chief of Xu Chen, the deputy governor of the Jin army, suddenly fought in the drums, and the horses were covered with tiger skins, which scared the horses on the chariots of Chen and Cai Erjun to panic and flee, and the lineup was in chaos. Jin Qin Jun took the opportunity to storm and killed Yin, the son of Cai, and Dou Bo escaped with an arrow. The right wing of the Chu army suffered heavy casualties and the attack was a complete failure, exposing China to 8 Jin Army. Luan Zhi dragged the branches north by car, raising dust. Chu Shuai became a minister. General Dou Yishen thought that the Jin army was really defeated and ordered Zuo Jun to attack. The Jin army took part in the battle. Then they retreated. ChuJun chasing 8 jin j command car under the banner. When it was discovered that there was a crisis in the retreat of the upper-level troops, it immediately changed its deployment: let Qi conceal the truth, raise the handsome flag, hold the position of the Chinese army, and turn right to attack the left-wing troops of Chu and Hebei. Jin's main force suddenly attacked from the flank and broke Chu in two. Kim immediately stopped retreating and went to war. Zhong Jun monk army echoed each other and fought side by side. After a fierce battle, the two armies of Zheng and Xu were defeated first, and the Chu army could not support it and fell into a tight encirclement. Dou Yishen led the troops to break through and was blocked again. Chu has fallen into the territory of the whole army. After the Chu army attacked the left and right armies, the China army immediately attacked Jin. Qi Biao, the general of the Jin Dynasty, panicked and his palm was unstable, which almost spread to the whole army. When Si Mazhao failed, he immediately killed Qi Biao and ordered the doctor to raise the flag on the Mao Raft to keep his feet steady. Jin defeated the right-wing army of Chu and went back to Li for help. At this time, the left and right armies of Chu failed, and the two wings of China's army were exposed. After the victory of Jin Fang's upper and lower armies, they also participated in the main battle respectively, forming an encirclement of the Chu army. Cheng saw that the tide was gone, and before the Jin army formed an encirclement, he sent his troops to retreat and get rid of the encirclement, and the Jin army won a great victory.

Cheng didn't go back to Chu, but he was reprimanded by the king of Chu on the way and committed suicide in shame. As a result of this war, the Chu-Han Alliance disintegrated, and Jin Wengong became a tyrant in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Wuyue strives for hegemony (Jiangnan strives for hegemony)

In the first year of King Jing of Zhou Dynasty (544 BC), the captured prisoners of war stabbed Yu when Wu invaded Vietnam. In the tenth year of the Zhou Dynasty (the first 5 10 year), before Wu attacked Chu on a large scale, in order to relieve worries, it once attacked Yue and occupied Li (now south of Jiaxing, Zhejiang). In fifteen years, when Wu Jun's main force was in Ying and Chu, the more he took the opportunity to occupy the territory of Wu, the contradictions between the two sides intensified. If Wu wants to dominate the Central Plains, it must first conquer the State of Yue to remove the threat from the rear. The more you want to go north into the Central Plains, the more you have to obey Wu, which led to the wuyue War that lasted for more than 20 years. Wuyue is located in a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, where "the boat is a car and the horse is a horse" (Biography of Yue Jue Ji Shu), and both sides fight on water. At this time, as the "boat division" of the water army, it has become a new arm and can independently complete strategic and campaign tasks. There are three main types of warships of wuyue Navy, namely, warships (command ships), large wings, medium wings and small wings, as well as warships such as native cats (bows with sharp angles) and bridge ships (light warships). The main warship has a wingspan of 20 meters and a width of 2.7 meters, carrying "26 soldiers, 50 men (hands), three men (hands), one man (each with a long hook, spear and axe), one officer, one servant and one gunner", together with the captain "9 1 man". The basic way of water warfare is to shoot with crossbows first, then dock, and finally board the ship to fight, sometimes hitting enemy ships with sudden bursts.

In the 24th year (496 BC), He Lv, the king of Wu, led an army to attack Vietnam, and both sides were mainly against Li. The more he committed suicide, he took advantage of Wu Jun's distraction, launched a storm, defeated Wu Jun, and He Lu was injured and died. Fu Cha succeeded him as king. In twenty-six years, the more the water army attacked Wu, the more it fell (now Dongting Mountain in Taihu Lake, Jiangsu Province). When the Vietnamese army was defeated, the main force was wiped out. Wu Jun pursued the attack and occupied Du Yue (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang). More than 5,000 people led by Gou Jian, King of Yue, were surrounded on Huiji Mountain. Gou Jian asked him to surrender, but was persuaded by Minister Wu, saying, "If you don't destroy Yue today, you will regret it later.". Fu Cha, eager to dominate the Central Plains in the north, did not adopt Wu Zixu's suggestion and proposed withdrawing troops on the condition that the king of Yue was the king of Wu (see the article "The Battle of Fujiao"). Mr. and Mrs. Gou Jian worked for the prince of Wu for three years, won the trust of Fu Cha, and were released back to China. In order to prosper, Gou Jian destroyed Wu, "tried his best" and worked hard to be strong. With the help of counselors Wen Zi and Fan Li, he formulated the long-term strategy of "ten-year reunion" and "ten-year lessons": to implement policies such as developing production, rewarding childbearing and respecting talents internally, so as to stabilize people's livelihood, enrich the source of soldiers, win the hearts of the people, consolidate unity, and thus enhance comprehensive national strength; Militarily, the policy of elite soldiers should be implemented, training should be strengthened, discipline should be strict, and combat effectiveness should be improved. At that time, the war was fought with a crossbow. Chariots and warships are "the end of the war", and the key to a battle depends on the final charge. Gou Jian hired Professor Chen Yin, who is good at crossbow shooting, to use crossbow skills, including aiming, repeating and mastering the best ratio of crossbow force to arrow weight (pulling a stone, the arrow weighs one or two), so that "all sergeants can use crossbow skills", and also hired Professor Yue Nv, who is good at "Sword and halberd skills", to use "hand-to-hand combat skills" to make sergeants "one person is a hundred, and one million people are ten thousand". The folk custom of crossing the border is that "soldiers dare to die" and are used to fighting alone. To this end, Gou Jian opposed "men are men of courage", emphasized discipline, and asked the combat troops to unify their operations under unified orders and give full play to their overall combat capability. It is stipulated that those who obey orders will be rewarded, and those who violate them will be beheaded and separated. "In diplomacy, in view of the situation that" Wu is attached to Qi and Jin, and resentment is attached to Chu ",the policy of" being close to Qi, deeply attached to Jin, strengthening Chu, and being kind to Wu "was adopted (Biography of Gou Jian's Return to China in the Spring and Autumn Period). Being kind to Wu means imitating the strategy of "attacking" and disintegrating and weakening the enemy by non-war means. The main measures are: pretending to be loyal, making the king of Wu relax his guard against Vietnam, letting him go north to dominate the Central Plains and do whatever he wants, encouraging the king of Wu to love the palace and women, making it large-scale and consuming national strength; And bribery, which expanded the internal contradictions of the Wu ruling clique and undermined its unity. After ten years of implementation, the more "an inch of land and gold, the people are close to each other", and the national strength is revived. The Vietnamese army has also become a well-equipped, well-trained and "deadly" elite force.

Fu Cha, the king of Wu, actively prepared for the Northern Expedition after conquering Yue. Wu Yuan once again put forward that "the more certain, the better", thinking that the more "the disease of the abdomen and the heart", the more "Qilu princes are just scabies". The prince of Wu still has not adopted it. In the thirty-first year (489 BC), when Wu Xian moved to the north, he attacked Chen (now Huaiyang, Henan) in order to relieve the flank threat. In thirty-three years, Wu attacked Lu and opened the door to the Central Plains. In order to establish a strategic base and get through the military traffic arteries, Wu Wei built Hanjiang City (now Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province) on a large scale on the north bank of the Yangtze River in 34 years, and dug a gully from Yangzhou to Huai 'an via Sheyang Lake to connect the waters of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, and then connected with Si, Yi and Jishui. In thirty-five years, Wu led the allied forces of Lu, Yong and Yong to attack Qi by land; The doctor program was sent to lead the water army from the Yangtze River into the sea, detour to the Shandong Peninsula, and attack him. Wu Shuijun lost the battle at sea, so the allied forces on the land retreated (see Attack Qi). In thirty-six years, Zai Wu attacked Qi and wiped out the elite of Qi in Aileen (now northeast of Laiwu, Shandong) (see the Battle of Aileen). In the thirty-eighth year (482 BC), Fu Cha led Wu Jun's main force into Huangchi (now southwest of Fengqiu, Henan Province) and formed an alliance with the governors of Jin and Central Plains, "seeking to dominate China". At this time, the hegemony of Wu reached its peak.

When Fu Cha, the king of Wu, competed with Jin Dinggong for leadership in Huangchi, Gou Jian, the king of Yue, divided his forces and attacked Wu. An army entered the Huaihe River from the sea, breaking the road of Wu's main force's Huiyuan and covering the main force's operations; Its self-directed main force went straight to Wudu, flooded the suburbs and annihilated Wu Jun, taking advantage of the situation to attack Wudu. Fu Cha returned to the south, fearing that he would run back for a long distance because of the loss of the capital, and his troops would be exhausted, so he sent someone to make peace. Gou Jian didn't want to have an uncertain decisive battle with Wu Jun's main force intact, so he reached a peace agreement with Wu and withdrew. In forty-two years, there was a famine in Wu. The more the opportunity to attack, the more Li Ze (in Wujiang, Jiangsu) confronted Wu Jun across the river. Using the darkness of night, the Vietnamese army lured Wu Jun to divide his troops by feinting with two wings, then concentrated the elite, made a breakthrough in front of the enemy and in the middle, continued to attack, and expanded the results, thus creating a successful example of the earlier river-crossing attack in the history of China War (see the Battle of Li Ze). After the Li Ze War, there was a power contrast between wuyue.