Construction of Hujuan Pass

After Duke Li of Jin killed Boing Trent, Boing? After the death of Luan Shu and Xun Yan, the grandson of Xun Lin Bu, the ministers of Jin was afraid that the fate of the "Three Wings" would befall them, so they all joined forces and killed the Duke of Jin. They also contacted Han Zhe, Tu Xian Jia, Xun Yan, and Fan Zhaoge. The two of them were the first to kill the Duke of Jin. [Fan Xuanzi, who was the grandson of Shihui, and Shihui was feuded with Fan, so he took the feudal place as his surname and was also called Fanhui; so Shi? also known as Fan? These people, together, made Sun Zhou the ruler of the country, and that was the Duke of Jin. The Duke of Jin was a talented ruler who investigated rebellious officials and promoted good people. He trusted Han Han and made him the general of his army. Han Han seized the opportunity to mention the merits of Zhao Zhan and Zhao Dun and the injustice suffered by the Zhao family later. The Duke of Jin was worried that Tu Ganjia was too powerful, so he planned to suppress him in the name of redressing the grievances of the Zhao family. He said, "I have thought about this, but I wonder if there are any descendants of the Zhao family?" Han Zhe said, "When Tu Shi Jia was searching for the orphan, it was very urgent, and two of the Zhao family's vassals, Gongsun Pestle and Cheng Ying, thought of a way to save the orphan Zhao Wu. Now Zhao Wu is fifteen years old." The Duke of Jin said, "Oh, so he has grown up too! Go and get him." Han Zhe personally went to fetch Zhao Wu and Cheng Ying. The Duke of Jin hid them in the palace and pretended to be sick and did not attend the court. When the ministers heard that the ruler was not feeling well, they all went to the palace to visit him, and Tu An Jia was also there. When he saw that all the ministers were present, he said, "Perhaps you do not know what kind of illness I am suffering from. There is one thing I don't understand, and I feel very uncomfortable in my heart. In the beginning, Zhao Wei and Zhao Dun had done great merit for the country. Everyone knew that their family was loyal and virtuous. How could a loyal minister not have a successor?" When they heard this, they all sighed and said, "The Zhao family was exterminated more than ten years ago, so where are the descendants?" The Duke of Jin called Zhao Wu to come out and bowed to the ministers. The group asked, "Who is this young man?" Han Gu replied, "He is Zhao Wu, the orphan of the Zhao family. The child who was killed in the beginning was the son of Cheng Ying, a minister of the Zhao family." Hearing this, Tu Shi Jia was so frightened that his soul was lost and he fell to the ground, shivering. The Duke of Jin said, "How can I face the souls of the Zhao family if I don't kill him?" He immediately ordered his warriors to chop up Tuan Jia, and ordered Han Zhe and Zhao Wu to take their soldiers to kill Tuan Jia's whole family. Zhao Wu took Tu An Jia's head to his father Zhao Shuo to pay tribute to him.

When the people of Jin heard that the ruler had convicted Tu Anja and appointed Zhao Wu, they said that the new ruler was a wise one. In fact, Sun Zhou, the Duke of Jin, had not only avenged the injustice of the Zhao family, but he had also made a great effort to reorganize state affairs. He made some concessions to the people in order to make them follow his orders and go out to war to revive their hegemony. He ordered to reduce labor, reduce taxes, forgive the debts of the people to the public, provide relief to the poor, and release a large number of prisoners. At the same time, he developed rich resources and trained soldiers and horses. All these things were done well. The neighboring vassals all submitted to him. As a result, the state of Jin became strong again.

At this time, only Zheng and Chen were still allied with Chu because they were too far away from Jin. Chu intended to use Zheng as a springboard to attack the Central Plains. Jin was trying to use Zheng as the first line of defense against Chu. Zheng was caught in the middle.

In 571 BC (the first year of King Ling of Zhou, the son of King Jane of Zhou, 2 years of Duke Xiang of Lu, 2 years of Duke Dao of Jin, 11 years of Duke Ling of Qi, 14 years of Duke Cheng of Zheng, 6 years of Duke Xian of Wei, 20 years of King Gong of Chu, and 15 years of Shoumeng of Wu), Duke Dao of Jin sent Xun? The Duke of Jin sent Xun? to unite the great officials of Song, Qi, Lu, Wei, Cao, Ju, Qi, Teng [in Teng County, Shandong Province], and Xue [in the southwest of Teng County, Shandong Province] to conquer the state of Zheng. The great minister of the state of Lu, Zhongsun Contempt, said, "The most important gate of the state of Zheng is Hujuan Pass. If we can build a fortress there and station some elite soldiers to guard the pass, we can not only prevent the revolt of Zheng but also deal with the invasion of Chu." Shen Gong Wuchen [the Qu Wu who fled to Jin with Xia Ji] then said, "I have another idea. The State of Wu [Wu started in Meili, Wuxi County, Jiangsu Province, but later became powerful and occupied the area south of Huai Si to Jiaxing and Huzhou in Zhejiang Province] is next to the State of Chu, let us contact Wu and ask them to disturb the borders of Chu so that Chu can not live in peace. In this way, Chu could not come to fight with us for Zheng again." The Jin people thought that both of them had a good idea, so they sent their ambassadors to Wu while they deployed soldiers from all the vassals to build the Hu Jun Pass.