Duke Zhuang of Zheng became famous among the princes of the Central Plains, which angered King Huan of Zhou, the emperor of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He believed that the reason why the world was in such chaos was because of princes like Duke Zhuang of Zheng. The reason why Duke Zhuang of Zheng appeared was because the royal family had not
Exercising the power of the emperor. King Huan of Zhou thought that as the emperor, he should turn things around and do something that the emperor should do.
At that time, Duke Ji's father had retired, and Duke Lin's father succeeded him as the minister. Lin's father, Duke of Guo, was similar in age to King Huan of Zhou. He also belonged to the young man faction and was also a man of great ambition. He and King Huan of Zhou
The two sides hit it off immediately. With King Huan of Zhou surrounded by people like Guo Gong and Lin Fu, it was difficult not to have a fit.
In 703 BC, in the 13th year of King Huan of Zhou and the 41st year of Duke Zheng Zhuang, King Huan of Zhou, who was in his prime, could not resist the urge to rise to glory and prepared to rectify the world. Naturally, the first target he chose was Duke Zheng Zhuang.
King Huan of Zhou knew that the power of the Zhou royal family alone could not defeat the State of Zheng. Therefore, he followed the advice of Guo Gong Lin's father and prepared to contact several princes to attack the Zheng State together. Guo Gong Lin's father volunteered to take up the task.
accomplished this task.
Linfu, the Duke of Guo, was very capable. He went out to lobby and brought in a three-nation coalition composed of Wei, Chen, and Cai. Each of these three small princes brought a hundred military chariots. Although the number was not large,
But adding the royal family's 100 chariots, there are also 400 chariots. When everyone comes together, it can be considered a huge force.
It was autumn at this time, and the ancients often hunted in this season. King Huan of Zhou decided to go hunting in Zheng himself.
Before setting off for the expedition, King Huan of Zhou held a military parade. The armies of Wei, Chen, and Cai formed three neat square formations, carrying flags and hunting, and their soldiers and horses were solemn for review. King Huan of Zhou rode a chariot with eight white horses.
The chariot was equipped with a canopy specially designed for the emperor. Under the golden sunshine of autumn, he marched majestically in front of the battle formation and inspected the armies of the princes.
The armies of the Three Kingdoms had never seen the Emperor before. They also heard that the Emperor was going to lead a personal expedition, and their blood boiled with excitement. King Huan of Zhou was greatly inspired. He gave a mobilization speech, and the armies of the princes responded with a hundred responses. The momentum was overwhelming and huge. As soon as the military parade ended, Zhou Huan
King Huan then marched toward the State of Zheng with this enthusiastic and high-spirited United Nations army.
The news reached the State of Zheng. Duke Zhuang of Zheng was greatly shocked. He asked Jizu to find out why the Emperor of Zhou came to beat him.
Jizu smiled and said: "No need to check, which of the things we did is not a sin in the eyes of the King of Heaven? I will ask the same question, my lord, how long has it been since you went to Luoyi to see the King of Heaven?"
Duke Zhuang of Zheng stared and said, "Didn't I go to court to see him ten years ago?" As soon as he said this, he laughed. I went to worship him ten years ago. When is it now? It is now ten years later.
Shouldn't the crime be punished?
Ji Zu said: "The King of Heaven will not attack us any more than the princes will attack us. Should we go to war? It is still a question worth considering."
Duke Zhuang of Zheng said: "Three generations of my family have been officials in the imperial court and have made great achievements. He doesn't care about our merits, but he still uses troops against me. It's unreasonable. If I give in, not only will I be ridiculed by the princes of the world, but the country will also be in danger."
No need to think about it. No matter who he is, if he comes to knock on your door, we have to fight him. Young Master Lu, you go and gather the troops and go out for battle tomorrow."
On the second day, Zheng's army marched out of Xingyang and arrived at Suige near Changge (20 miles northeast of today's Changge City, Henan Province). This place guarded the main road, which was the only way from the northeast to the southwest.
The Zheng army marched down to the stronghold, where they waited for King Huan of Zhou's army.
Only one day later, King Zhou Huan's coalition forces arrived.
Before the battle, Duke Zhuang of Zheng held a pre-battle military meeting. Jizu said: "Although they are called a coalition, once they fight, they will definitely form separate battles. We should attack separately and treat them differently."
Duke Zhuang of Zheng asked: "How to divide the troops to attack?"
Jizu said: "We divide our troops into three phalanxes. Use the left phalanx to attack Cai and Wei, the right phalanx to attack Chen, and the center phalanx to attack the royal army." Jizu further explained: "The Chen state is at the right time.
There is civil strife and the army has no fighting spirit. Our right formation is the first to attack. The Chen people will definitely be defeated and flee first. When the royal troops see Chen's defeat and flee, they will definitely be confused. As long as the king's army is in chaos, the troops of Cai and Wei will follow.
Escape. Next, we must concentrate our forces to deal with Emperor Zhou's army, and we can win in one battle."
Duke Zhuang of Zheng accepted this suggestion. He ordered his son Lu to lead the right square formation to attack Chen Guo; Jizu led the left square formation to attack Cai and Wei; he ordered two generals, Yuan Fan and Gao Qumi, to lead the central army and follow Duke Zhuang Zhuang to attack King Zhou Huan.
Wang Shi attacked.
After deciding on the battle plan, Jizu made another suggestion. He said: "This is a war with the Emperor of Zhou. It is best for the Lord not to show his face. Let's hide behind and ask the soldiers to fight." Zheng Zhuanggong also felt that it was really inconvenient to fight with the Emperor.
When they met, he smiled and said: "Doctor Ji is very careful. You are right, we will fight you without meeting."
On the third day, it was noon on an autumn day, and the two armies took up positions in an open field east of Suige.
King Huan of Zhou ordered Duke Linfu of Guo to command the right army and the attached Cai and Wei armies; Duke Heijian of Zhou commanded the left army and the attached Chen army. King Zhou Huan personally commanded the central army, which was mainly composed of Wang Shi. He commanded the three princes
Said: "Uncle Zheng has made the world uneasy, and he is really a black sheep. You princes should move forward bravely. Whoever catches this thief will be the first to win, and I will receive a great reward."
On the side of Zheng State, Ji Zuzu mobilized loudly in front of the battle and said: "Soldiers, the opposite side is the Emperor of Zhou. This battle can only be won, not lost. If defeated, Zheng State will be destroyed. We all have to go to Luo
I will be a slave in this city. Life or death depends on you."
The soldiers of Zheng State shouted: "Fight it. Fight it." The sound was like waves of the sea. Duke Zhuang of Zheng ordered an attack, and Prince Lu drew his sword and shouted: "The whole army attacks."
The drums were beating loudly in the Zheng army formation, and Prince Lu's chariot was speeding all the way. The Zheng army followed him and charged towards the enemy formation like a tide.
King Huan of Zhou ordered the army to stabilize its position and asked the archers to release arrows in the formation. For a moment, the arrows were like locusts, overwhelming the sky and raining down. Prince Lu ignored the flying arrows and galloped to the death. His car was injured, but the car with him
Catching arrows, they continued to hit their horses and run wildly. Seeing that Master Lu was risking his life along the way, Chen's army retreated as soon as the battle began. Seeing Chen's army retreating, Cai's and Wei's soldiers and horses also ran back, and the formation of the coalition forces immediately became chaotic.
.
The royal army has not fought for many years, and its combat effectiveness is inherently poor. When they saw the armies of Chen, Cai, and Wei retreating, they also ran away. King Huan of Zhou was furious and ordered the generals to move forward bravely. But the generals, especially the princes,
Most of the generals were disobedient because the princes knew that they were here to deal with errands.
King Huan of Zhou was still brave, but when he saw that he could no longer hold on, he asked the princes of the Three Kingdoms to retreat first, and led the royal troops and horses to the rear. King Huan of Zhou had a chariot with a special cover for the emperor, which was very conspicuous, and ordinary soldiers did not dare to
He fired an arrow at him. But Zhu Dan, the general of Zheng State, didn't care so much. He drew his bow and shot an arrow. The arrow hit King Huan of Zhou on the shoulder. King Huan of Zhou screamed, and his chariots followed him.
He screamed and ran away wildly. The royal troops and horses ran after him, but they were quickly defeated.
When Prince Lu saw that the king's army was retreating, he was about to pursue him. Duke Zhuang of Zheng hurriedly sounded the gong and retreated his troops. Zhu Dan's chariot ran back from the front of the formation, and he shouted angrily: "My lord, I shot the emperor in the shoulder, and I was about to pursue him.
Why did you withdraw your troops?"
Duke Zhuang of Zheng said: "We cannot bear the crime of killing the King of Heaven."
Zhu Dan shouted: "If we don't kill him, how can we continue to fight this battle?"
Zheng Zhuanggong said: "The king of heaven repays kindness with evil, forcing us to have no choice, so we have to deal with it. Now the king's army has been defeated. I think the king of heaven should wake up."
Jizu said: "My lord is absolutely right. Defeating the king's master is enough. We just want to remind the king not to bully us casually." He then said to Zheng Zhuanggong: "I think that when the time is right, we have to find someone for the king.
At the bottom of the steps, this is the perfect moment."
Duke Zhuang of Zheng smiled and said to Young Master Lu: "It makes sense to sacrifice to the official. Young Master Lu, let's return to the court with our troops."
The Zheng army swept the battlefield, collected the materials and flags discarded by King Huan of Zhou's coalition, and then withdrew to Xingyang.
Jizu once again brought up the matter of descending the steps for the King of Heaven. Zheng Zhuanggong thought about it and said: "No one else can handle this matter, so I'd better ask Dr. Ji to do the hard work."
Jizu took twelve cows, one hundred sheep, some grain, and the flags, weapons, items, etc. of the king's division that they had captured from the battlefield, and rushed to King Huan of Zhou's camp overnight.
When he saw King Huan of Zhou, he knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly and said: "Zheng Bosheng failed to restrain his soldiers, causing them to act recklessly, which offended His Majesty the King of Heaven. Now Yisheng was panic-stricken and deeply regretful. He specially sent his ministers to apologize to the King of Heaven.
, Wensheng also sent some gifts to express his condolences to Master Wang. I kowtow to the King of Heaven to forgive Wensheng’s sins.”
King Huan of Zhou did not expect that Duke Zheng Zhuang would do such a thing to him, and felt very embarrassed. He was very angry, but could not vent it.
Guo Gong Lin's father quickly came out to smooth things over and said: "The King of Heaven has always been merciful. Since Uncle Zheng has been convicted of his crime, let him be spared." He turned back to Jizu and said, "Why don't you thank the King of Heaven quickly?"
Jizu quickly kowtowed to King Huan of Zhou and thanked him loudly. After a performance, he bowed his waist and exited the tent as if trembling.
After coming out, he went to visit the three kings Wei, Chen and Cai respectively with gifts. He also apologized and showed false feelings. He made the three princes dumbfounded.
The next day, King Huan of Zhou sent away the princes of the Three Kingdoms, and then returned to Luoyi with his few dozen remaining chariots. From then on, the Zhou royal family never dared to trouble the princes again.
The arrow shot by King Huan of Zhou only penetrated the armor and injured his shoulder, which was not serious. But for the Zhou royal family, this arrow was fatal. Because this arrow not only killed the emperor's majesty, but also
King Huan of Zhou Dynasty realized clearly that the shoulders of the Emperor of Eastern Zhou Dynasty were no longer able to shoulder the great responsibilities of the world.
Duke Zhuang of Zheng fought beautifully in this battle. The victory was not military, but political. Before him, no prince in the world dared to take action against the emperor, but he did so. Not only did he move, but he also shot the emperor in the shoulder.
From then on, all the princes in the world were afraid of him, especially the small countries, who treated him as an overlord. Everyone wanted to form an alliance with Zheng Guo.