Prince as collateral

When Duke Zheng Zhuang arrived at Luoyang, he met with King Ping of Zhou and resigned, saying, "I am grateful to the King of Heaven for his kindness in making my father a minister, and now that my father is dead, the King of Heaven has taken me into the court. But I have no ability, so I am not worthy to occupy such a high position.

King Ping of Zhou did not expect that the Duke of Zheng Zhuang had this trick. He had secretly discussed with Duke Guo JiFu, asking him to become a minister. Duke Guo Jifu knew how powerful Zheng Bo was and did not dare to agree. He said, "I don't know how this kind of private talk is known to Zheng Bo. He couldn't bear to look at his face. He could only say: "I haven't seen you for some days, and I've been thinking about you. This time you came, I was so happy with the fish to see the water. Why do you say you want to quit?"

Duke Zheng Zhuang said, "Because my ability is not as good as Duke Guo's."

When King Zhou Ping heard him mention Duke Guo, his face turned red and he said, "I was afraid you would be too busy at that time, and when Duke Guo came, I wanted to ask him to act for a few days. But the Duke of Guo refused to agree, so I told him to go back. Don't worry about this matter." The more the King of Heaven bowed down, the more the Duke of Zheng Zhuang became arrogant and refused to do anything, so that King Ping of Zhou almost kowtowed to him. He said, "Your family has served the court, which is why you are called to be the secretary in the court, from Duke Huan, Duke Wu, to you, it has been more than 40 years. Now you are suspicious that I don't use you, how can I make you understand my heart? If you don't believe me again, I will send the prince to Zheng, okay?"

Duke Zheng excused himself and said, "I can't do that. It is up to the King of Heaven to use or not to use people, how can I send the Crown Prince to me as collateral?"

King Ping of Zhou said, "That's not true. Because you have managed the affairs of state very well, I asked the prince to go to you to study and learn, so that you can rest assured. What's wrong with that?" The ministers of the court, hearing the two of them, had to take care of the face of King Ping of Zhou and did not dare to offend Duke Zheng, so they said, "In our opinion, if the prince does not go, it will not dispel the suspicion of Bo Zheng; if the prince goes alone, there is no reason to do so. It would be better to send the prince to Zheng to learn how to manage the state, and to ask Zheng Bo to send his son here as collateral." Both King Ping of Zhou and Duke Zhuang of Zheng agreed. From then on, Prince Fox lived in Zheng and Duke Khu lived in Luoyang.

In 720 B.C. (51 years of King Ping of Zhou and 24 years of Duke Zheng Zhuang), King Ping of Zhou died. Duke Zheng Zhuang and Duke Zhou Hei shoulder together to manage the state affairs. They told Duke Khu to go back to Zheng and sent someone to fetch Prince Fox back. Dazi Xu had been in Zheng as a mortgage, but he had not even seen how his father was sick and how he died. He was already sick, and this time he was so sad that he died once he arrived in Luoyang. Prince Fox had already had a son, so the ministers made Prince Fox's son, the grandson of King Ping of Zhou, the King of Heaven, King Huan of Zhou (719-796 B.C.).

King Huan of Zhou was already humiliated because his father was a mortgagee in Zheng, and this time he died of grief because he was in mourning, so he hated Zheng Zhuang Gong to the bone. He discussed with Duke Hei-shoulder of Zhou that he should use Duke Ji-fu of Guo as a minister instead of Duke Zheng. He said, "Now Zheng is a powerful state and Zheng Bo is very powerful. If the King of Heaven does not use him, he will hate you. If he doesn't obey, I'm afraid something will happen. We have to think about this." King Huan of Zhou said angrily, "I don't want to use him, what would he dare to do?"