Hosts

The Duke of Jin was so bent on serving Chu for the sake of Xu Xi, the king of Xu, that he did not even come to see the King of Heaven when he arrived at Heyang, but led the lords of Qi, Song, Lu, Chen, Qin, Zheng, Cai, Qi, and Ju to attack the capital of Xu, Yinyang [in Xuchang, Henan Province]. The Duke of Zheng came, but he did not dare to offend Chu. He said that there was a plague in his country and went back with his chariot. But behind his back, he sent a gift to Chu and told King Cheng of Chu that all the lords were going to fight against Xu. Xu asked for help from Chu. King Cheng of Chu did not send troops because he had lost the battle in Cheng Pu and had to deal with many tribes in the south, so he did not want to fight with Jin again. The soldiers and horses of various vassals besieged Yingyang.

The Duke of Zheng was afraid of Chu, so he did not attack Xu, but the Duke of Cao came with his men. The Duke of Cao was in custody at Wulu, right? How could he bring his troops to meet the Duke of Jin? It turns out that when he was in custody at Wulu, he sent someone to bribe the Duke of Jin's men. It happened that the Duke of Jin was sick and had a dream that a well-dressed ghost asked him for food. The Duke of Jin refused to give him the meal and threw him out. The next day, the Duke of Jin asked an official who specializes in fortune-telling to tell his dreams. That dream teller, who had long been bribed by the Gong Gong of Cao to "make people's money, and eliminate disasters with them," said, "That well-dressed ghost must be the ancestor of the state of Cao, and to ask for rice is to ask for the restoration of the state, and to be able to have the meaning of sacrifice." The Duke of Jin felt that this made sense and was half cured of his illness. He immediately ordered Duke Cao Gong Gong to go back and be the king of the state again. The Duke of Cao was so grateful that he shed tears, and as soon as he returned to Cao, he followed the Duke of Jin with his troops to attack the state of Xu.

The Duke of Xu did not see any rescue from Chu, so he surrendered and took out a lot of gold and silk to give to the lords as a token of comfort. The vassals went back separately.

When Duke Wen of Jin left Xu, he heard halfway that Duke Wen of Zheng was not going back because of the plague, but to make an alliance with Chu. Then he said to Zhao Xiao, "Zheng is abominable! When we were fleeing, Cao, Wei, and Zheng did not treat us with any courtesy. Cao and Wei have already been punished, but Zheng has not yet been avenged, and Zheng Bo still favors Chu. Zhao Wei stopped him and said, "My lord has been too tired lately and his body is not well, let him rest first.

He listened to Zhao Xie's words and went back to take a rest. Because of his old age and his recent health, he always believed in gods and ghosts. The Duke of Jin believed in ghosts and dreams, and even Ning Yu knew about the release of Cao Gong Gong. He wanted to take advantage of the Duke of Jin's belief in ghosts to save Wei Cheng Gong.

At first, Duke Wen of Jin sent Xian to escort Wei Cheng Gong to Luoyang and instructed the doctor to poison him. However, Ning Yu followed Wei Cheng Gong so closely that he even tasted his food and medicine first, making it impossible for the doctor to do so. Then the doctor had to tell Ning Yu honestly and asked him to think of a way to make the best of both worlds. Ning Yu asked the doctor to give Wei Cheng Gong a little light poisoned wine and pretended that their ancestors of Wei had saved him from death. The Duke of Jin was half convinced. At the same time, Lu interceded in front of the King of Heaven and the Duke of Jin and gave him ten pairs of white jade each. The Duke of Jin believed in ghosts and had ten pairs of white jade, so he asked the King of Heaven to release Wei Cheng Gong and Ning Yu back to Wei. The Duke of Wei sent his men to kill Yuan. and Yuan? He went back to the new ruler he had made. The Duke of Wei became the king again. This was in 630 B.C. (the 22nd year of King Xiang of Zhou). In this year, Duke Wen of Jin wanted to join the vassals to conquer Zheng again.

The Lord said, "We have already joined the lords several times, but this time we want them to fight Zheng again as if we want them to have a restless life. We already have enough troops to fight Zheng, so why bother others?" Duke Wen of Jin said, "No matter, but last time when Bo Qin was leaving, he agreed with me that we would send troops together. I can't help inviting him this time." So he sent an envoy to ask Duke Mu of Qin to send troops.