During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou royal family declined, and the princes competed for hegemony, of which the Jin state and the Chu state were two strong, and they were superpowers at that time. The Jin-Chu struggle for hegemony began with Duke Wen of Jin, who reformed internal affairs, expanded and strengthened the army in the Jin dynasty. These reforms made the Jin state rich in wealth and strong in national strength, laying the foundation for future hegemony with the Chu state.
The first confrontation between the Jin and Chu states was the Battle of Chengpu, which was won by the Jin state, but the Chu state did not lose its vitality. The Second Battle of Chu defeated the Jin state and then dominated the Central Plains. In the Third Battle of Yanling, the State of Jin captured the Prince of Chu, and the King of Chu was shot blind in one eye. Overall, Jin and Chu generally divided hegemony equally, and the Jin state occupied a certain advantage.
In 573 BC, the 13-year-old Duke of Jin ascended the throne. During his reign, he punished Ren Xian and rectified internal affairs. In order to push the hegemony of the Jin state to the peak, the Jin mourning duke began to plot to drag down the "superpower" Chu state in the south, and the strategic plan to drag down the Chu state was called "three driving fatigue Chu".
In 572 BC, the Duke of Jin sent an army to lead an army against the State of Zheng, which was dependent on the State of Chu. The State of Chu, fearful of the Jin State's military front, adopted the strategy of retreating when jin came and advanced when jin went. At this time, the Jin state implemented the strategy of fatigue, after defeating the Zheng state by force, the Jin, middle, lower, and new four armies were divided into the upper, lower, and new three armies, each army cooperated with a certain number of princely armies, taking turns to fight south, demanding a rapid advance and rapid retreat, not seeking victory, aiming to fatigue the Chu army.
Taking advantage of the favorable conditions of the Jin state's native neighboring the State of Zheng, and the native state of Chu being farther away from the State of Zheng, the Duke of Jin sent troops three times to attack the rebellious State of Zheng with the divisions of the princes, making the Chu army tired of running for its life to save the State of Zheng.
Zheng Guoqun consulted: "If you do not obey the Jin state, the country will almost perish. The State of Chu was weaker than the State of Jin, and the State of Jin was not in a hurry to compete for our country. If the Jin state was eager to compete for our country, the Chu state would avoid them. Therefore, the State of Zheng was annexed to the State of Jin, and the strength of both the Jin and Chu sides was reversed, and the Jin army even attacked the Chu State, and the Chu State was also dragged down by years of war.
In order to completely destroy the State of Chu, the State of Jin decided to support the emerging State of Wu in the south. The Jin dynasty taught the Wu people land warfare methods such as "vehicle warfare and infantry warfare", using horses, chariots, bows and arrows, and various tactics. In 563 BC, the Jin and Wu monarchs made contact for the first time, forming an encirclement network of the Chu state from the three sides of "north, northeast and east", which gave the chu state a great shock and threat.
In 506 BC, the Wu army, led by Wu Zixu and Sun Wu, defeated the main force of the Chu army at Baiju (present-day northeast of Macheng, Hubei), and then took advantage of the victory to pursue, five battles and five victories, and 10 days later the Wu army attacked the Chu capital Yingcheng, and the Chu state was destroyed. Jinguo's grand strategic plan was ultimately successful.