Through a series of actions to respect the king, such as resisting Rong Di, rescuing Yan State, Wei State, and Xing State, and supporting the crown prince of Zhou to ascend the throne, the Duke of Qi improved the prestige of Qi among the vassal states and gradually gained the status of overlord. In order to further nominally confirm this de facto supremacy, in the ninth year of the reign of Duke Lu (651 BC), that is, the second year after the accession of King Xiang of Zhou, the Duke of Qi gathered the princes at Kuiqiu (near present-day Kaocheng, Henan) and summoned the states of Lu, Song, Wei, Zheng, Xu, and Cao to assemble here to form an alliance.

The kings of various countries arrived as promised, and the newly enthroned King Xiang of Zhou, in order to commend the great achievements made by the Duke of Qi Huan for the peace of the world, specially sent Dazai Zhou Gongkong (also known as Zai Kong) to attend the meeting in person, and gave the sacrificial meat used by Zhou Tianzi to sacrifice his ancestors to the Duke of Qi Huan. Due to the intermarriage between the surname Ji of the Zhou royal family and the surname Jiang of Qi State, Zai Kong honored the Duke of Qi Huan as his uncle in the name of Zhou Tianzi: "Zhou Tianzi has just sacrificed King Wen and King Wu, and specially ordered me to give sacrificial meat to my uncle." ”

Qi Huan Gong hurriedly bowed and saluted, and Zai Kong said, "Wait a minute, the Son of Heaven still has orders." When the Son of Heaven sent me, he said that my uncle was old and virtuous, and his hard work was high, and he was given a higher level, so there was no need to bow down. When Qi Huan Gong heard Zai Kong say this, he stopped saluting and planned to accept the sacrificial meat directly. Guan Zhong hurriedly stopped him, and asked Duke Qi Huan to show the greatest respect to Zhou Tianzi and not violate Zhou etiquette. So Qi Huan Gong said to Zai Kong with a respectful expression: "The majesty of the Son of Heaven cannot tolerate the slightest offense, how dare Xiao Bai obey the order and destroy the etiquette and disgrace the Son of Heaven?" Don't bow down today! So Duke Qi Huan calmly bowed, and then walked up to the altar to accept the reward of Zhou Tianzi.

According to the Zhou rites, the sacrificial meat used by Zhou Tianzi to sacrifice his ancestors can only be given to the princes surnamed Ji, and this time he specially sent Dazai to give the sacrificial meat to the Duke of Qi Huan surnamed Jiang at the princes' alliance, which expressed the honor and respect of the Duke of Qi Huan in front of the princes of various countries, and demonstrated the recognition of the hegemony of the Duke of Qi Huan with this move. And the Duke of Qi Huan insisted on kneeling and bowing under the persuasion of Guan Zhong, in order to continue to put on a posture of respecting the king, so as to achieve the effect of coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes.

In the autumn of that year, the Duke of Qi Huan once again issued an order in the tone of the leader of the alliance at the Kwaiqiu Conference: "All those who have made an alliance must reconcile after they have sworn an oath." Then he affirmed Zhou Tianzi's prohibition to the princes attending the meeting: "Do not block the spring water!" Don't hide too much grain! You can't change your heirs! You can't take a concubine as a wife! Don't let women participate in state affairs! "Unlike the previous meetings of the princes of Qi Huan in order to attack Rong Di and Chu, the theme of this Kwai Qiu meeting is to call for peace, so that the allied countries can stop the war and rebuild, and provide a stable external environment for all countries to recuperate and resume development. At the same time, it also represents that the State of Qi has assumed the responsibility and power to restrain the princes on behalf of Zhou Tianzi, at least nominally, marking the peak of the hegemony of the State of Qi.

The so-called "when the water is full, it overflows, and when the moon is full, it loses", the peak of Qi Huan's hegemony also represents the imminent decline of decay, and Zai Kong, who was sent by Zhou Tianzi to send sacrificial meat, saw this keenly. After Zai Kong completed the task, he went back to Zhou Tianzi to report his life, just when Jin Xiangong heard that the princes of Qi Huan Gong were in the Kwaiqiu Conference, and also rushed to participate, and met Zai Kong on the way back, so he asked him to come over to inquire about the situation.

Zai Kong said: "You don't have to go to the alliance, the Duke of Qi Huan does not pay attention to cultivating virtue and morality, but blindly conquers the south and the north, and expands the territory, so he crusades against Shanjung in the north, conquers the Chu State in the south, and convenes the princes in the west to meet in this alliance." I don't know how the effect of Qi's eastern policy is, but I don't think the effect of the Western alliance is good. There is civil strife in the Jin Kingdom now, you still have to concentrate on calming the civil strife, and you don't have to go out. After listening to Zai Kong's words, Jin Xiangong felt that it made sense, so he ordered someone to go home.

At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou royal family declined, and only the states of Qi, Chu, Qin, and Jin were the great powers guarding the frontiers. The Jin State fell into civil strife in the later years of Jin Xiangong and was unable to operate the hegemony; Qin Mu Gongshang opened up territory in the west and did not participate in the alliance of the Central Plains; And King Cheng of Chu subdued the ethnic minorities in the land of Jing Chu, enjoyed a vast land, and established himself as king. Only the state of Qi has the ability and willingness to preside over the alliance in the Central Plains, and the Duke of Qi Huan can respect the king and preach the royal way, so the princes will obey his orders.

However, Duke Qi Huan did not recognize the important relationship between his achievements in hegemony and the timing and general trend, but only thought that he had fought in the south and the north, made outstanding achievements, had a rich country, and had strong soldiers and horses, so the princes did not dare to obey what Jianfeng pointed out. Duke Qi Huan thought that the merits of his Jiuhe princes were comparable to those of the Xia Shang Dynasty who were ordered by the heavens, so he planned to seal Mount Tai and Chan Liang's father, and Guan Zhong could not stop Duke Qi Huan by persuading him three times and twice. In desperation, he had no choice but to say to Qi Huan Gong: "The ancients sealed Zen, and there must be millet from the land, He from the north, the three-ridged thatch from the Jianghuai area, the flounder from the East China Sea, and the winged bird from the West Sea, and then the auspicious spiritual objects will not be summoned." Now the phoenix and the unicorn have not appeared, the grains of Jiamei have not grown, and the fields are overgrown with weeds and crows are flying. Qi Huan was speechless, so he had to give up. Who knows the helplessness in my heart?

Although Qi Huan Gong did not really put Feng Zen into practice, this incident shows that Qi Huan Gong's ambition has become bigger and bigger, and he is carried away by the results he has achieved. Under such circumstances, the hegemony of Qi went into decline.

After the meeting of Kwai Qiu, although the hegemony of Qi has gradually declined, it still maintained for a period of time. In September of the ninth year of the reign of Lu Xuan (651 B.C.) (because the "Spring and Autumn Period" is based on the Lu Gong year, the works on the history of the Spring and Autumn Period mostly use the Zhou King Era or the Lu Gong Year), Jin Xiangong died, and Jin Xiangong designated Xi Qi, the son of Li Ji, who was appointed as his wife because he was favored, to inherit the throne. The eldest Fu Rick of the Jin State thought that Xi Qi's throne was not right, and he was not convinced, so he gathered his henchmen to kill Xi Qi, and then Li Ji's sister's son and Xi Qi's younger brother Gongzi Zhuo ascended the throne as the monarch, and was killed by Rick and others. Several sons of Jin Xiangong died and fled, and the Jin Kingdom was leaderless and fell into civil strife.

Seeing this, Duke Huan of Qi summoned the princes of various countries to join forces to attack the Jin to quell the rebellion of the Jin Kingdom, and the army returned after reaching Gaoliang (now northeast of Linfen, Shanxi). After Rick killed Xi Qi and Gongzi Zhuo, he sent someone to welcome the exiled Gongzi Chong'er back to China and take the throne, Chong'er politely declined, and Rick turned to welcome Gongzi Yiwu, who was also in exile, back to China. On the one hand, Yiwu wanted to return to China, and on the other hand, he was worried about some conspiracy, so he sent people to Qin to ask for assistance, and exchanged the promise of ceding land to Qin after ascending the throne to Qin Mugong to send troops to send him back to China.

Later, Qin Mugong really sent an army to escort Yiwu back to China, and Qi Huangong, as the overlord, also sent Qi State Doctor Xi Peng to lead the troops to join the Qin army and jointly escort Gongzi Yiwu back to Jin. In April of the following year, Xi Peng and Zhou Gongji's father and prince's party sent by Zhou Tianzi jointly established Yiwu, the prince of the Jin State, as the Duke of Jin Hui. This was the first time that the Qin state in the upper reaches of the Yellow River had formal political contact with the vassal states in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and it can also be seen that the Qi state was still at its peak at this time and had the ability to participate in the abolition of the Jin state, which was comparable to it.

Soon after, the Di people attacked again and destroyed the Wen State, the king of the Wen State fled to the Wei State, and the Di people also continued to invade, attacking the Wei State and the Zheng State. At this time, Duke Huan of Qi did not gather the princes as usual and go to crusade against the Di people with great fanfare, but united with Xu Guo to crusade against Beirong in order to contain Rong Di's invasion.

In the summer of the eleventh year of the reign of Duke Lu (649 B.C.), the prince who had failed to compete for the throne with King Xiang of Zhou was unwilling to accept the outcome of defeat, so he colluded with Yangyi, Zhuyi, Quanyi, Gaoyi, and the Rong people of the Yi and Yu generations to attack the capital of King Zhou and burn the east gate of the royal city. When Qin Mugong heard the news, he quickly gathered his army and united with Jin Huigong to lead the army to rescue Zhou Tianzi, and Duke Qi Huan also sent Guan Zhong and Xi Peng to negotiate peace with the Rong people on behalf of the Zhou royal family and the Jin State.

Because of the previous support of the Qi State, King Zhou Xiang had a good impression of the Qi State, and now Guan Zhong has made great contributions in pacifying the chaos, so King Zhou Xiang gratefully set up a banquet to entertain Guan Zhong with the gift of the Emperor. Guan Zhong was very frightened and excused himself and said: "The minister is a junior minister of the Qi State, and he is not qualified to enjoy the etiquette of the secretary. King Zhou Xiang said: "I am here to reward your merits and virtues, there is no need to shirk, do not disobey my orders!" Guan Zhong couldn't refuse, but after all, he didn't dare to violate the etiquette too much, so he took a compromise approach and participated in the banquet according to the etiquette of Xia Qing. Later, someone praised Guan Zhong and said: "Guan Zhong is so humble and resigned, and he does not despise the king after making great contributions, and it is really natural that he can enjoy the sacrifice of generations of cigarettes." ”

However, the crisis of the Zhou royal family was not resolved, and the Yi people in the Huai River area continued to invade the Qi Kingdom, which also posed a threat to the Zhou royal family, and although the Rong people retreated, they always eyed the Central Plains. In order to protect the safety of the Zhou royal family, the Duke of Qi Huan sent Zhongsun Yu to Zhou to take up his post to deal with related matters in a timely manner, and invited the princes to gather in the land of the salt, and summoned the princes' armies to Zhou Wangji to defend the defense.

While the crisis of the Zhou royal family continued, the state of Chu in the south was also ready to move. With the gradual rise of the Chu State, it has a strong power in the south, and all the small vassal states around it must be respected, but once the Chu State convened a gathering of the princes and monarchs, the Huang State was unwilling to obey the Chu State, so he participated in the Qi State for defense and crusade against the Chu State The four national alliances of the Qi State, the Song State, the Jiang State, and the Huang State were held. Later, the power of Qi became stronger and stronger, and the vassal states that were originally dependent on Chu turned against Qi, and the monarch of Huang also thought: "The Yingdu of Chu is nine hundred miles away from me, how can it endanger me?" So he betrayed the state of Chu, which already had the intention of competing with the state of Qi, and at the same time in order to make an example of the chickens and monkeys, and warn the vassal states in the south, so he sent troops to destroy the yellow state on the grounds that "the yellow people do not return to Chu Gong".

A few years later, the state of Chu sent troops to crusade against the state of Xu, and in accordance with the spirit of the meeting of Kwai Qiu, the vassal states met in Muqiu to plan the rescue of the state of Xu. After the armies of the vassal states gathered, they did not directly go to the rescue of Xu, but directly attacked the state of Chu and the state of Li, forcing the state of Chu to withdraw troops to save the state of Li, in order to solve the crisis of the state of Xu. However, this strategy failed, and Xu's army was defeated by Chu at Loulin (present-day northeast of Sizhou, Anhui), and Duke Huan of Qi had to personally send troops to attack Li in the following year, although he did not conquer it, but successfully rescued Xu.

In the face of such a chaotic and insoluble situation, Duke Huan of Qi did not seem to realize that the Qi State was no longer invincible in the past and invincible, and had not been able to suppress the threat of the Rong and Chu States, and pointed the finger at Dongyi. In the sixteenth year of the reign of Duke Lu (644 B.C.), Duke Huan of Qi met with the princes of Huaishui to solve the problem of the state of Yan (near present-day Yi County, Shandong), and at the same time demonstrated to Dongyi. So with the help of the power of the princes, he built a city for the Yan Kingdom, but unfortunately, many of the servants who participated in the construction of the city were sick, and some people climbed the high hill at night and shouted loudly: "There is chaos!" Not only were the monarchs and ministers of Qi panicked, but even the vassal states were worried, so Duke Huan of Qi withdrew his troops back to Qi without waiting for the completion of the city of Yan.

In the face of the continuous attacks of Rong Di and Chu State, Duke Qi Huan has lost the pride of personally leading the army to pursue thousands of miles, and there is no longer "Who can resist it with this public battle?" With this confidence, he did not dare to directly confront the armies of Rong Di and Chu, so he could only exchange peace for peace talks, and rescue friendly countries with the means of encircling Wei and saving Zhao. In October of the seventeenth year of Lu Xuan Gong (643 BC), Jiang Xiaobai, the Duke of Qi Huan, ended his legendary life, and at the same time drew an end to the hegemony of Qi.