After the death of Duke Mo of Jin, duke Ping of Jin ascended the throne, and the following year Duke Jinping took advantage of the yu wei of the hegemony of the Jin state established by the Duke of Jin to meet the princes of Huangliang (湨梁, in present-day Jiyuanbei, Shanxi), luxiang, Song Ping, Zheng Jian and other monarchs of the ten kingdoms, while the state of Qi assigned the doctor Gao Hou to attend. The Duke of Jinping first demanded that the countries return the lands they had usurped each other, and then feasted on the princes of various countries in Wendi.
Jinguo hegemony
In the same year of this alliance, the Jin state sent troops to cut down Chu in retaliation for the Chu state and song. The Jin and Chu armies fought a major battle at Zhanshan, and the Chu army led by Gongzi Ge of Chu was defeated and chased by the Jin army all the way to fangcheng in the chu state (northeast of present-day henan city). Jinguo once again showed its extraordinary strength.
Because of the previous state of Qi's disparity with the State of Jin in the Tangliang Alliance and the subsequent act of the State of Qi, in the eighteenth year of Lu Xianggong (555 BC), the armies of the States of Jin, Lu, Song, and Wei joined forces to attack the State of Qi, and Qi Linggong organized the Qi army to block the attack at Pingyin (present-day northeast of Pingyin, Shandong). Since there was no danger to defend this place, the Qi army was defeated and suffered many casualties.
The Marshal of the Jin Army, Fan Zhao, used a suspicious tactic against Qi Linggong, who heard the news that the Jin state had a large army to suppress the territory, and after entering the city and seeing the "momentum" of the Jin people, he was very frightened, so he led the Qi army to flee Pingyin at night. Taking advantage of the victory, the Jin army successively captured Jingzi and Yiyi (present-day PingyinXi, Shandong) of the State of Qi, and besieged Luyi (present-day southwest of Changqing, Shandong). Subsequently, the Jin and Lu armies attacked Linyi again and surrounded Linyi. Qi Linggong feared that Qi Du was losing Linzi and prepared to flee to Youtang, but was eventually stopped by Crown Prince Guang and his master Guo Rong. After that, the Jin army returned to China after plundering the territory of the State of Qi.
The Jin Dynasty organized alliances between the princes of various countries
In the spring of the following year, the Jin state also organized an alliance between the princes of various countries at Zhuke (in present-day northeast Changqing, Shandong), and the oath of alliance was "big countries should not invade small countries", especially referring to the invasion of the State of Lu by the State of Qi. At this meeting, the Jin people also punished the Yi people and allocated the land north of the Yi state to the State of Lu, and the reason was that the Yi people did it when the Qi state was in The State of Qi
accomplice. On the way back to the Jin army, when passing through the State of Lu, Lu Xianggong specially invited the six secretaries of the State of Jin. In the 20th year of the Duke of Luxiang (553 BC), the thirteen princely states of Jin, Qi, and Lu held a covenant at Weiyuan (澶元, northwest of present-day Puyang, Henan), at which point the State of Qi and the State of Jin were finally reconciled, and the struggle between the two sides was temporarily over.
In the early days of the reign of the Duke of Jinping, the State of Jin still had a considerable strength and was still able to dominate among the princes. However, after the victory of the Jin state over the State of Qi, the situation of hegemony gradually changed, and the internal struggle of the Jin State made the Jin State no longer have the ambition of large-scale conquest of the outside world, and this was already evident in the late period of the Jin Pinggong. At the same time, some unpopular things done by the Duke of Jinping accelerated the decline of the Jin state.
The Duke of Jinping was in power
The mother of the Duke of Jinping was a native of the State of Qi, so the Duke of Ping often took care of the State of Qi, and even called on the princes to build walls for the State of Qi. In the twenty-ninth year of the Duke of Luxiang (544 BC), the Duke of Jinping asked the grand master Xun Ying, that is, zhi mourning, to summon the princes of various countries to discuss the construction of a city wall for the state of Qi, but the state of Qi was a small country, and no one in the other princely states wanted to do such a thing that was in vain to pay manpower and material resources but could not receive anything in return.
Therefore, the princes and doctors vigorously attacked the jin pinggong's false public and private behavior, and Zheng Zishu also gave a high-sounding reason for refusal: Now that the Zhou royal family is in decline, the Jin state is a prince with the surname of Ji, but instead he goes to defend the Qiguo of the descendants of the Xia Dynasty, and questions the Jin state: "It can also be known that it has abandoned Zhu Ji, and zhu Ji is abandoned, who belongs to him?" After that, the prestige of the Jin state among the various princely states was greatly reduced, and the Duke of Jinping let the State of Lu return the land of the State of Qi, which further stimulated the dissatisfaction of the State of Lu with the Jin.
Duke Jinping married a concubine
A few years later, Duke Jinping married Shao Jiang, a woman of the State of Qi, as a concubine, and Chen Wuyu, the Grand Master of the State of Qi, escorted Shao Jiang to the State of Jin. After Shao Jiang arrived in the Jin Dynasty, he was favored by the Duke of Jinping, but because Chen Wuyu was not a secretary, it was not in line with the etiquette system for him to send relatives, so the Duke of Jinping rebuked Chen Wuyu and arrested him. Shao Jiang interceded with Jin Pinggong for Chen Wuyu, but Jin Pinggong ignored him and did not release him. Until Shu Xiang persuaded, "The king has already done a good job, why should he be an ally?" Jin Pinggongcai slightly relented and released Chen Wuyu. After Shao Jiang's death, the princes of various countries sent envoys to send a funeral for the favored concubine of the Duke of Jinping, and the Jin dynasty doctors felt that this was too much.
In the second year of Shao Jiang's death, the State of Qi sent Yan Bao to the State of Jin to request that another daughter be sent to the Duke of Jinping to make up for Shao Jiang's lack. After Yan Bao came to jinguo to deal with the dowry, he was invited to a banquet by uncle Xiang, the minister of Jinguo. Between the two men's banquet, they talked about the national conditions of the two countries, and Yan Bao said that the State of Qi is now: "The public abandoned its people, but returned to the Chen clan." Shu Xiang said that the Jin Dynasty is now: "The government is at home, the people have nothing to rely on, the king does not have the day, and he is happy to worry." When is the humility of the office? ”
The corruption and degeneration of the Duke of Jinping
Yan Bao spoke of the rise of the Tian clan of Qi Guo and the fact that the country would also belong to the Tian clan; Shu Xiang said that the corruption and degeneration of the Duke of Jinping and the strength of Qing Dafu's power had tended to decline. Later, Xun Ying, the secretary of the Jin Dynasty, died, and the Duke of Jinping only cared about drinking and having fun, pretending not to know. Although Duke Jinping wanted to take this opportunity to establish another crony, he was forced by the powerful forces of the Qing clan doctors to accept Xun Ying's son Xun Ying as a secretary.
At this time, the monarch of the Jin Dynasty could no longer influence the major affairs of the country, and he began to be unable to handle the affairs between the princes. In the eleventh year of Lu Zhaogong (531 BC), King Chu Ling killed Cai Linghou and sent troops to surround Cai. The State of Jin invited the princes and doctors of various countries to meet and conspire to save Cai Zhizhi, but never dared to send troops to confront Chu. In the end, the State of Jin only sent envoys to the State of Chu to ask for forgiveness of the State of Cai, but the King of Chu Ling did not agree, and attacked the State of Cai, killing Prince Yin.
In the same year, Duke Ping of Jin died and Duke Zhao of Jin took the throne. The Jin dynasty was on the verge of disintegration, and its hegemony was waning.