After Zheng Ligong's death, his son Duke Wen succeeded to the throne, and during the reign of Duke Wen of Qi huan and the rise of Duke Wen of Jin, what did Zheng Wengong do during his reign to put Zheng Guo in a passive situation between the princes?
In 656 BC, that is, in the 17th year of Duke Wen, Duke Huan of Qi led the Central Plains states, including Zheng Guo, to attack the southern state of Cai (Xincai, Henan), and then attacked the state of Chu, and the Duke of Qi Huan made an alliance with the Chu state at Zhaoling, which is known in history as a victory for the Duke of Qi Huan, and the hegemonic position of the Duke of Qi Huan was further consolidated.
19 years later, in 637 BC, the Duke of Jin's heavy ear was later the famous Duke Wen of Jin who wandered abroad due to civil strife and arrived in the State of Zheng, the Duke of Jin Wen did not treat him with courtesy, and was disrespectful to the prince's heavy ear, Shu Zhan Jin said: "The monarch you still have to treat the prince with courtesy, he has three points that are better than ordinary people." First, Zheng Guo and Jin Guo are both surnamed Ji, and he should be entertained when he wanders outside. Second, he wandered outside and the country was always in chaos, and it seemed that the heavens had arranged for him to return to china as a monarch. Third, Fox Yan, Zhao Wan, and Jia Tuo were all capable people who were willing to follow him. It can be seen that the prince must have great ambitions in his ears, and he should treat him with courtesy and reasonableness. Shu Zhan then said, "If you don't treat him with courtesy, you will kill him, and if you don't kill him, it will be Zheng Guo's trouble." "Wen Gong does not listen, that is, he does not treat him with courtesy and does not kill his ears." Heavy ear wandered to the Chu kingdom. It was later proved that Zheng Wengong's decision this time was punished.
In 636 BC, He returned to China and became the monarch of Jin Wengong. In 632 BC, Zheng Wengong, because he had been rude to Duke Wen of Jin and feared that the State of Jin was a threat, he fell to the State of Chu and made enemies of the State of Jin. Attacking the Jin state together with the Chu state was the famous Battle of Chengpu, which ended with the victory of the Jin state and established the hegemony of the Jin Wengong.
Two years later, the State of Jin joined forces with the State of Qin to jointly attack Zheng and besieged the State of Zheng, and there were two reasons for the crusade against him, one was that the State of Zheng fell to the State of Chu, and the other was that he had been rude to the Duke wen of Jin. Because Shu Zhan had advised Zheng Wengong to kill Jin Wengong, so Jin Wengong's first thought was to kill Shu Zhan, and Shu Zhan knew that he would say to Zheng Wengong later, "I advised you at the beginning, but you did not listen to the current calamity, and if I could use my human head to save Zheng Guo from this difficulty, I would be willing." "After saying that, Shu Zhan committed suicide." Then Zheng Guo sent Shu Zhan's corpse to the Jin Kingdom, Jin Wengong still did not spare, and still wanted to humiliate Zheng Guojun again, Zheng Wengong was very worried, so he sent The Wu of Candles to Qin Mugong's account privately to persuade Qin Mugong to retreat, what did he say? Can it shake the Qin-Jin Alliance? Candle Zhiwu said: "Defeating Zheng Guo can expand the territory of the Jin State, but it is not good for the Qin State at all, but it has a strong neighbor, and if the Qin State withdraws its troops and pardons Zheng Guo as the host, the envoys of the Qin State will get a lot of convenience on this road in the future." "This is the origin of the host, because Zheng Guo is in the east of the Qin State, pardoning Zheng Guo means that Zheng Guo is the master of the eastern road, and the Qin State sends emissaries to the East also has a convenient place to stay. After hearing these words, Qin Mugong thought it was very reasonable and then withdrew his troops.
Duke Wen of Jin did not expect it so he compromised a bit, and made Zheng Guoguo Zilan the crown prince, because many of Zheng Guo's sons died early due to crimes, Zheng Wengong was angry and drove all the princes out of the country, Zilan fled to the Jin state to be very respectful to the Jin Wengong, Jin Wengong thought that Zilan's future as a prince would be beneficial to the Jin state, Zheng Guo agreed to the request of the Jin Wengong, and li Zilan as the crown prince was the Zheng Mugong who was very famous later. Subsequently, Zheng Guo and Jin Guo were friendly. A battle of revenge is over.
Zheng Wengong was rude to Jin Wengong because of a momentary decision-making error, resulting in a disaster that almost destroyed the country, it can be said that the lesson is heavy, and he paid a huge price:
First: The loss of shu zhan Shu Zhan from advising Wen Gong and analyzing the three advantages of heavy ears, and later committing suicide to save the country, shows that Shu Zhan is a loyal and righteous man with great strategy and ability, which is a great loss for Zheng Guo.
Second, the loss of strategic initiative at this time the Jin state and the Chu state are competing for hegemony. Zheng Guo was sandwiched in the middle, because of his rudeness to the Jin Wengong, Zheng Guo lost his strategic choice, and could only fall to the Chu state and failed, and later was surrounded by the Qin and Jin combined forces, and the gains were not worth the losses.
Third, the loss of part of its sovereignty although it dissuaded the Qin state from avoiding the disaster of destroying the country, but as the host of the Qin state to facilitate, lost part of the sovereignty.