The "Battle of Qi" between Jin and Chu occurred, and the king of Chu Zhuang defeated the Jin army and became the hegemon.
In fact, the reason for the defeat of the Jin state in the "Battle of Wu" was not because their strength was inferior to that of the Chu state. Tracing back to the source, the reason for their failure was that "the generals were not harmonious." Dissecting the inside to analyze, the harm of the arrogance of the Jin Guoqing clan can be seen.
"Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, Spring and Autumn Chapter" Stills of King Zhuang of Chu
Before the "Battle of Wu", just when zheng guo was about to submit to the chu state, the jin state launched a large army and sent troops to save Zheng.
After hearing that Zheng Guo had turned his back on Jin and submitted to Chu, Father Xun Lin, the "General of the Chinese Army" of the Jin State, did not want to fight with the State of Chu again. At this time, the nobles appointed by the Duke of Jinjing were a group of people who had their hearts set on the monarch, including Xun Lin's father and Shi Ji. Shi Ji once pointed out that at this time, the State of Chu was strong and could not be contested for the time being.
It is conceivable that the momentum displayed by the State of Chu did make the monarchs of the Jin State have some scruples. At this time, the ministers of the Jin Dynasty were divided into two factions: one faction headed by Xun Linfu, Shi Ji, Luan Shu, and Zhao Shuo, who held the opinion of no war; the other faction, led by Xian Qi, Zhao Kuo and Zhao Tong, was the main war faction. It can be seen from this that the vast majority of people who do not want to fight the Chu army account for the vast majority. However, this state caused dissatisfaction and disobedience to lose in the "Zhongjun Zuo" Xianyi.
On the other hand, King Zhuang of Chu sent emissaries to make peace with the Jin army, but Xianyi changed the diplomatic documents privately, making his words fierce, expressing the intention of the Jin state to fight with Chu, and the envoys of the Jin state agreed to negotiate with Chu. King Zhuang of Chu was greatly dissatisfied with this capricious move of the Jin state, and immediately sent people to challenge the Jin state.
At such a critical moment, the Jin state was again in civil strife. The Jin generals Wei Kun and Zhao Xuan, who were reluctant to seek high-ranking officials, held a grudge and urged them to challenge the Chu state, but Xun Lin's father did not allow it; they also asked to go and talk about peace, but Xun Lin's father agreed. Unexpectedly, when the two went to the Chu camp, they provoked the Chu army. At the same time, Jin Guoxian was tough against the retreat and did not obey orders, leading his troops to forcibly march. So the Jin army crossed the Yellow River.
King Zhuang of Chu was stationed by the Yellow River, and had planned to return to the Chu State after "drinking the Yellow River". Hearing that the Jin army had crossed the river, it "rushed into the division" and finally defeated the Jin army.
When the Jin army returned to China, Xun Lin's father naturally wanted to plead guilty himself, and Shi Zhenbo advised him on the fact that chu had killed Ling Yin Ziyu after the "Battle of Chengpu", and Jin Jinggong obeyed his words, exempted Xun Lin's father from the death penalty, and restored him to his official post, which was actually expected by Jin Jinggong.
Earlier, when the State of Chu judged whether to launch an attack on the State of Jin, Wu Shan of the State of Chu had raised the weakness of the State of Jin and believed that it should be pursued by taking the opportunity: "Listen to the supreme, who is suitable for obedience?" Later, sure enough, he said it.
The Jin commander Xun Lin had just ascended to the throne, and it must be quite difficult for his orders to be carried out perfectly. Xun Lin's father's mistake was that he did not adhere to the correct combat policy and did not resist the wrong propositions. This led to the commanders of the three armies of the Jin Dynasty, who had their own opinions. It is precisely for this reason that two factions with different opinions have formed within the Jin army, "main battle" and "main peace", coupled with the fact that the "Chinese army" is self-conscious and brave, so that the army is alone; the generals Wei Kun and Zhao Xu each have ghost fetuses and harbor two hearts, so it is naturally not surprising that the Jin army has its own way of doing its own thing and deviating from morality, and the defeat is naturally nothing strange.
"Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, Spring and Autumn Chapter" Jin Jinggong stills
In addition to the failure of its own generals and commanders, which caused fatal mistakes, the external environment of the Jin state also had many unfavorable factors. The powerful Chi Di was looking at the Jin state behind the scenes, and coupled with the qin and Jin "battle of Kun", the Qin state turned to unite with the Chu state, posing a considerable threat to the Jin state; not only that, in the contradiction between Qi and Lu, the Jin state supported the State of Lu to resist Qi, so the State of Qi also became an enemy of the State of Jin; before the "Battle of Qi", the "Wall Head Grass" Zheng State had just attached itself to the State of Chu. It can be seen from this that the Jin Dynasty has made many enemies abroad. It can be said that the Jin state was not defeated at the hands of the Chu state, but actually self-defeated. However, just as the so-called "misfortune depends on blessings and blessings lie on, blessings and misfortunes lie down", this is also a great opportunity for Jin Jinggong to vigorously rectify internal affairs and eliminate political enemies. The following year, Jin killed XianQi to punish him for his adventurous behavior during the Battle of Wu.
On the one hand, the reason why the Chu state was able to win was because King Chu Zhuang had a long-term vision and made his strategic decisions correctly, such as ordering Sun Shu'ao to cultivate political affairs earlier; on the other hand, from a tactical point of view, the Chu army never relaxed its vigilance, and they made two-handed preparations for "talking peace" and "fighting.", and because of this, when the war suddenly broke out, the Chu army was of one heart and one mind, and the king of Chu Zhuang commanded properly, and it was natural to win a great victory like probing for things.
After the great victory at the Battle of Wu, King Zhuang of Chu opposed the construction of the "Jingguan"—a high tomb made of the corpses of the enemy army piled up to show off his martial arts, indicating that he was not a war maniac, but a far-sighted politician. During the reign of King Zhuang of Chu, although the State of Chu went out on expeditions for many years, he played the banner of "stopping the war for the sake of war" in the "Battle of Wu", which established his hegemonic status, and this kind of thinking and action was indeed different from that of ordinary overlords. King Zhuang of Chu's exposition of the "Seven Virtues of Wu" also shows that as early as the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, his understanding of the nature and role of war had been raised to a new realm. He understood that although war could seize the throne of the overlord, relying on poor soldiers and armed forces could not stabilize his hegemonic position.
King Zhuang of Chu was able to win victories on the battlefield with profound political vision. After the "Battle of Hao", he continued to besiege the Song state for eight months, and finally negotiated peace with the Song state, causing the Song state to completely sever relations with the Jin state.
After the "Battle of Qi", the Jin Jinggong carried out a series of fruitful work in destroying Di, Serving Qi, defeating Qin, and linking Wu, which shows that he was ready to concentrate on dealing with the Chu state.
The State of Chu, known as the "Barbarians", finally stood at the peak of its power after the "Battle of Wu", and King Zhuang of Chu has since gained the approval of the princes of the Central Plains and become one of the "Five Hegemons of spring and autumn".