The Jin state's victory in the War of Alignment was undoubtedly a manifesto of its return as an old power. On the other hand, the state of Chu, which was quiet in the Qi-Jin war, also completed its strategic layout and decided to use the new Central Plains pattern to make some fuss and seek some war benefits for its country on the premise of ensuring that the balance between Jin and Qi was not broken.

So in the winter of the Battle of Qi and Jin, the State of Chu successively attacked the State of Wei and the State of Lu, and invaded the Shu of the State of Lu. The state of Lu was forced to sue for peace with the state of Chu, presented a large number of handicraftsmen to the state of Chu, and sent Gongzi Heng to the state of Chu as a hostage. The state of Chu then held an alliance in Shuyi with the participation of 13 vassal states, effectively offsetting the favorable influence of the Battle of Qi on the Jin state.

Naturally, the Jin State would not sit idly by and watch the Chu State challenge the hegemony of the Jin State, so it was convenient to unite with Lu, Wei, Song and other countries again in the second year to jointly attack Zheng. Although he was defeated by Zheng Guo at first, the national strength of the Jin State was much stronger than that of Zheng State on the one hand, and on the other hand, Zheng Miangong was slandered by the latter in front of the King of Chu Gong because of his discord with Xu Linggong, so he also decided to obey the Jin State again. As a retaliation to the Chu State, the Jin State took advantage of the situation to hold an alliance. During this period, the Jin State and the Chu State were basically on parity, and neither side had the strength to completely defeat the other, so they could only hide behind the scenes, and you came and went to maintain a stalemate situation.

Despite this, the behavior of Jin Jinggong relying on national strength to invade the vassal states caused the princes to gradually deviate from morality. Although Qi and Jin fought in the Battle of Qi, Qi was a great power in the east after all, and it was the object of the Jin State's efforts to win over, especially in the situation that the Qin State and the Jin State were always hostile. So the Jin State actually forced the Lu State to return the Wenyang Zhitian returned by the Qi State after the Battle of Qi to the Qi State. This piece of Wenyang field is sandwiched between Qilu and has been contested many times. Earlier, it was taken away when Qi Huan was the hegemon, and later Cao Mo, the doctor of Lu State, made a small trick and took back this land; Later, the state of Qi seized this place again, but was forced to retreat to the state of Lu after the Battle of Qi. Now in order to make friends with the Qi State, the Jin State let the Lu State give it up. Jin Jinggong's move not only made the Lu State quite angry, but also made the other vassal states feel cold. The hegemony of the Jin state gradually declined.

However, during this period, a turmoil in the Chu State also led to a change in the Jin State's strategy for hegemony, which made the influence of the Jin State decline at the same time, and the Chu State was also difficult to protect itself. This is the vote of Shen Gong Wuchen, the doctor of Chu State.

Shen Gong Wuchen was originally the prefect of Shen Land in Chu State. When the king of Chu Zhuang pacified the civil strife in the state of Chen, Xia Zhengshu, he took his mother Xia Ji back to the state of Chu. Xia Ji is the princess of Zheng Guo, a famous beauty in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Shen Gong Wuchen fell in love at first sight. But with such a beauty, the king of Chuzhuang naturally wanted to take the lead, and the Wuchen of Shengong used his incorruptible tongue for his own selfish desires, saying that Xia Ji caused the civil strife of the Chen State, which was a bad omen, and the princes would also suspect the motives of the King of Chuzhuang to crusade against the Chen State. Shen Gong Wuchen said it wildly, and King Chuzhuang dispelled this idea. However, Sima Zi of Chu saw that King Chu Zhuang did not marry Xia Ji, and also expressed his hope to get the latter. In the end, the king of Chu Zhuang gave Xia Ji to Lian Yin Xianglao, the general of Chu State.

Who knew that even Yin Xianglao would die in the battle of Yi soon after, which gave Shen Gong Wuchen a chance to lure Xia Ji. On the one hand, he secretly instigated Xia Ji to return to Zheng Guo, and on the other hand, he openly falsely claimed that Lian Yin Xianglao's body was in the hands of Zheng Ren and needed Xia Ji to retrieve it personally. The king of Chu Zhuang was bewitched by the trickery of Shen Gong Wuchen, so he ordered Xia Ji to return to Zheng State.

Not long after, King Chu Zhuang died, and King Chu Gong succeeded to the throne. Seeing that the king of Chu was young, Shen Gong Wuchen decided to flee from Chu and live happily with Xia Ji. He took advantage of the opportunity of the King of Chu Gong to send him an envoy to the State of Qi, fled to the State of Zheng halfway, and took Xia Ji to the State of Jin. The Jin State naturally welcomed talents from the enemy country, and not only made him a doctor, but also gave him Xing Land.

When the news reached the state of Chu, it was naturally a shock to the government and the opposition. Among them, he found that he was blinded, and he was naturally so angry that he gritted his teeth. So they jointly ordered Yin Zizhong to ask the king of Chu to kill all the clansmen of Shen Gong Wuchen. Zizhong also had conflicts with Shen Gong Wuchen. Earlier, in the war between Chu and Song, Zizhong made a lot of meritorious contributions, and once asked the king of Chu Zhuang for part of the land of Shenyi and Lüyi as a reward. However, Shen Gong Wuchen believed that Shen and Lü were strategic buffer zones in the north of Chu, and if they were given to their subordinates, they would be at a disadvantage in the face of Jin and Zheng attacks. Therefore, King Chuzhuang did not agree to Zizhong's request.

In order to vent their anger, Zianti and Zizhong, who had been resentful for a long time, killed Yan and Zidang, the clansmen of Shen Gong Wuchen, and divided his family property. In all fairness, although the actions of Shen Gong Wuchen were despicable, the actions of Zianti and Zizhong were also a bit excessive. What's more, although Shen Gong Wuchen is scheming, he can be civil and martial, he knew the destruction of his family in the Jin Kingdom, and he was heartbroken, and he hated Zi against Zi and Zi to the core. He wrote to the two of them that he must take revenge on the Chu State, so that the two of them would be exhausted and would not die well.

What was Shen Gongwuchen's idea? It is recommended that Jin Jinggong contact the state of Wu in the southeast to deal with the state of Chu together. Although Wu claimed to be a descendant of Wu Taibo, because it was far away from the Central Plains and its culture was relatively backward, it had always been regarded as a barbarian by the Central Plains countries and did not associate with it. Shen Gong Wuchen believed that if he could contact Wu and form a flanking attack on Chu, Chu would be overwhelmed and unable to compete with Jin in the Central Plains, and volunteered to send an envoy to Wu.

Jin Jinggong admired Shen Gong Wuchen's idea very much, so he agreed to his request. Prior to this, the Jin State had invited Wu in the Huimeng, but Wu did not respond. And Shen Gong Wuchen changed the situation of the Wu people resting on their laurels. After all, he was a famous general of the Chu State, able to write and martial arts, proficient in the art of war, he brought thirty military chariots from the Jin State, taught the Wu army how to use it, how to arrange the formation, and taught the Wu army the method of weapon manufacturing and use. After a period of training, Wu's military strength grew by leaps and bounds, and it was enough to compete with the Central Plains states. The efforts of Shen Gong Wuchen were also appreciated and loved by Wu Wang Shoumeng, who expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Jin State and attack the Chu State.

From then on, Wu began to frequently move north, attacking Chu and Chu's vassals, and actively expanding its power. This new situation made the state of Chu embarrassed, and the king of Chu Gong did not expect that the backyard would catch fire at all. Zianti and Zizhong had to lead the army to run east and west to resist the attack of the Wu army, and they actually ran to seven places within a year, and they were really "exhausted to death".

Since then, the state of Chu has been caught in a continuous war with the state of Wu, and has to spare a lot of energy to deal with the latter, which also laid the root of the decline of the state of Chu; With the help of the Jin State, Wu gradually came into contact with the countries of the Central Plains. In the end, under the mediation of the Duke of Jin, Wu Wang Shoumeng held an alliance. He officially became a member of the princes of the Central Plains, laying a solid foundation for the later hegemony of Wu.

The Battle of Jin and Qi dealt a heavy blow to the Qi State, which wanted to compete with the Jin State for a short time, and strengthened the dominant position of the Jin State in the Central Plains; The strategy of uniting Wu to contain Chu also effectively diverted the attention of Chu, so that it no longer had time to compete with Jin for hegemony in the Central Plains. It seems that the hegemony of the Jin State seems to have been revived again in the hands of Jin Jinggong. However, as the saying goes, people have no long-term concerns, but they must have near-term worries, and behind the strength and prosperity of the Jin State for a while, there is an increasingly fierce political struggle among the secretaries and doctors.

Speaking of the difficulty of the lower palace, it may not be well known, but if you talk about the orphans of the Zhao family, it is undoubtedly a well-known historical story of the Chinese family. "Historical Records of the Zhao Family" records that during the reign of Jin Linggong, Zhao Dun of the Zhao family was in charge of the Jin Kingdom. Because of the absurdity of Jin Linggong's behavior, Zhao Dun had repeatedly admonished, but Jin Linggong actually held a grudge because of this, conspired with the traitor Tu Anjia, and repeatedly assassinated Zhao Dun. Zhao Dun couldn't, so he had to run. However, before he left the country, his brother Zhao Chuan had already killed Jin Linggong in Taoyuan, and Zhao Dun was able to regain power.

After Zhao Dun's death, the Zhao family continued to rule by his son Zhao Shuo. At this time, the monarch of the Jin State had been replaced by the Duke of Jin Jing, and Tu Anjia, who had lost power during this period, was also reinstated and was quite favored. Tu Anjia hated the Zhao family because of Zhao Dun's matter. So he claimed that the Zhao family had killed the monarch and should be punished. Although Sima Han Ju of the three armies strongly opposed, under the acquiescence of Jin Jinggong, Tu Anjia still privately led his troops to attack the lower palace where the Zhao family was located, and killed Zhao Shuo and Zhao Dun's younger brothers Zhao Tong, Zhao Kuo (not the one who talked about the war on paper in later generations), Zhao Yingqi, etc., and the Zhao clan was wiped out. Only Zhao Shuo's wife, who is also the sister of Jin Jinggong, Zhao Zhuangji, escaped to the palace in advance under Han Ju's prior warning and survived.

Because Zhao Zhuangji was pregnant at this time, she gave birth to a baby boy soon. When Tu Anjia learned the news, he repeatedly came to search, in a vain attempt to cut down the grass and eradicate the roots. In order to preserve Zhao Shuo's bloodline, Zhao Shuo's two disciples Cheng Ying and Gongsun Pestle made a plan, Cheng Ying replaced his newborn child with Zhao Shuo's child, and pretended to betray Gongsun Pestle, Tu'an Jia mistakenly killed Cheng Ying's son, thinking that he would sit back and relax. And Cheng Ying took the real Zhao orphan to live in seclusion.

Fifteen years later, Jin Jinggong fell ill by chance, and the result of the divination was the unjust soul of the Zhao family, who had died of death. Jin Jinggong, who was ashamed, asked Han Ju what to do. Han Ju, who knew that the Zhao orphan was still in the world, took the opportunity to tell the truth. Jin Jinggong then changed his mind, summoned the Zhao orphans into the palace, and ordered him to destroy Tu Anjia to avenge the Zhao family, and restored the status of the Zhao family. And Cheng Ying, who had already accomplished a big thing, finally committed suicide to thank Gongsun Jiujiu.

This legendary story has been repeatedly adapted and interpreted by later generations, and has now become a historical story with international influence. However, few people know that the truth behind history may not be as recorded by Taishi Gong. In fact, the history of the difficulty of the lower palace is not the same in different historical records, and even the records of the "Historical Records" itself are inconsistent. Not only are the relevant plots in "Historical Records: The Jin Family" quite different from those in "The Zhao Family", but the records in "Zuo Biography" are also very different from "The Zhao Family".

First of all, the identity of Tu Anjia is extremely suspicious, except for "Zhao Shijia", this person is not recorded in any historical books. Historiography pays attention to isolated evidence, so the existence of Tu Anjia has become questionable. Secondly, Zhao Wu's age is inconsistent. According to the "Zuo Biography", when Xiang Xu killed the soldiers, Sun Bao, the uncle of Lu Guofu, once mentioned that Zhao Wu was not yet 50 years old at that time, so it is estimated that Zhao Wu should have been born in 592 BC at the earliest, but according to "Zhao Shijia", Zhao Shuo died in 597 BC.

Thirdly, there is also a contradiction about the whereabouts of the other members of the Zhao family, according to the records of the Zhao family, Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo had died at the hands of Tu Anjia in 597 BC, but in the "Zuo Chuan", both of them have activity records since then; However, it is recorded in "Zuo Biography" that Zhao Yingqi and Zhao Zhuangji had committed adultery, so they were sent to Qi State, but there is no record in "Zhao Shijia".

According to the conclusions of later research, the records of the difficulties in the lower palace in the "Zhao Shijia" are not credible, but the records of the "Jin Shijia" and "Zuo Chuan" are closer to history. The reason for this is probably that when Taishi Gong wrote "The Zhao Family", he used the official historical materials of Zhao State. And the historian of Zhao rewrote a disgraceful history out of the consideration of "being ashamed of His Holiness", and was written into the "Historical Records" by Taishi Gong, which gave rise to the legend of the Zhao orphan.

The history that the historian of Zhao wanted to hide was actually the adultery between Zhao Yingqi and Zhao Zhuangji mentioned above. And the difficulty of going to the palace is not a face-painted confrontation between loyalty and treachery, but a concrete manifestation of the outbreak of contradictions in the struggle of the secretary and doctor at that time.

After Zhao Dun took control of the Jin Kingdom, the Zhao family became the most powerful family in the Jin Kingdom. However, after Zhao Dun's death, there were differences in policy guidelines between Zhao Shuo, Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo. Zhao Shuo saw the rise of the Xun clan and the Fan clan, and advocated to be close to them; However, Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo insisted on making friends with the Xun family and the Xian family, alienating and attacking the Xun family, Paradigm, Luan family and other families.

The differences between the Zhao clans were most obvious in the battle of Jin and Chuyi: in the military meeting before the war, Zhao Shuo and Xun Ke agreed with Xun Lin's father, Shihui, Luan Shu and others to withdraw their troops to avoid the battle, while Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo, together with Xian Zhen, insisted on fighting the Chu army, and ignored Xun Lin's father's orders and privately led troops to fight the Chu state. In the Battle of Yi, the Jin State suffered a crushing defeat, which was directly related to the contradictions and divisions between the Qing doctors.

The authority of the Jin State was later transferred to the hands of Xun Ke, who originally had a similar political position and close relationship with Zhao Shuo, but at this time Zhao Shuo unfortunately died early. After that, the relationship between the Xun family and the Zhao family gradually became estranged, and they turned to the emerging Xun family, Fan family, and Luan family. This led to the isolation of the Zhao family in the court.

As the so-called house leak coincided with overnight rain. After Zhao Shuo's death, Zhao Zhuangji and his uncle Zhao Yingqi had an adultery scandal. After the East Window Incident, Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo decided to exile Zhao Yingqi to the Qi State. This is undoubtedly a rather unwise decision. After Zhao Yingqi left, the power of the Zhao family was further weakened. And this incident also deeply angered Zhao Zhuangji. As Jin Jinggong's sister, Zhao Zhuangji's influence on the former is also obvious. In a fit of rage, she accused Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo of plotting a rebellion.

The suspicious Jin Jinggong immediately summoned the doctor to discuss the matter. At this time, the Zhengqing of the Jin State was Luan Shu. The Luan family, which had been beaten and excluded by the Zhao family for a long time, finally waited for the day when it came out, and Luan Shu took the opportunity to join forces with Hao Qi to add fuel to the fire, insisting that what Zhao Zhuangji said was true. So the Zhao family's charge of rebellion was confirmed. Zhao Tong, Zhao Kuo and others were slaughtered, and only the young Zhao Wu survived.

Looking at the ins and outs of the difficulty of the lower palace, it can be seen that the downward trend of the Jin State at this time became more and more intense. As the princes attacked each other, the state of the Jin Kingdom gradually declined, and finally ended up with three separate Jin.