Duke Wen of Jin defeated the Chu army in the Battle of Chengpu, but he was not carried away by the victory, but became more strict in military discipline and clear rewards and punishments. In the Battle of Chengpu, the Jin army's Chinese army encountered a strong wind by the lake and lost the left banner of the banner, so the Jin army Sima executed the responsible person according to military law to warn the princes involved in the battle. After the victory, when the Jin army crossed the Yellow River, Zhou Zhiqiao violated the military order and took the lead in returning to the Jin State without authorization. After returning to China, Duke Wen of Jin first went to Taimiao to offer prisoners, and then feasted the ministers, rewarded the three armies, and finally publicly counted the trip of Zhou Zhiqiao's disobedience, and executed him to be vigilant.

After the rectification of military discipline, Jin Wengong reorganized the military system and expanded the military strength to prepare for future conquests. Before the Battle of Chengpu, the Jin State only had two armies, and in order to prepare for the Battle of Chengpu, Duke Wen of Jin ordered an additional army to be expanded into three armies. After the war, the strength of the Jin State increased greatly, and he got the right to crusade against the ministers on behalf of Zhou Tianzi, so he added two armies on the basis of the three armies, forming the unique strength of the five armies among the vassal states at that time.

According to the Zhou rites, among the princes, the large country has three armies, the sub-country has two armies, and the small country has one army. Before the Battle of Chengpu, Duke Wen of Jin expanded the Jin army into three armies, representing that the Jin State had stepped out of the shadow of civil strife and had the military strength to compete with the great power Chu State. The expansion from three armies to five armies this time means that the Jin State has surpassed the ordinary vassal states, and has become a "superpower" that can compete with the Zhou royal family, laying a solid foundation for the future Jin State's southern and northern wars.

A few months after the Jiantu League, the Duke of Wen of Jin gathered in Wendi, the feudal province of Zhao Yuan, the prince of Jin, and the kings of Lu, Qi, Cai, Zheng, Chen, Ju, Di, Qin and other countries gathered in Wendi to discuss a joint crusade against the disobedient vassal states. In order to show the authority of this alliance and show the prestige of the Jin state, Duke Wen of Jin once again sent King Xiang of Zhou to Wendi to participate in the alliance and accept the princes' visits. Because Duke Wen of Jin was a minister and King Xiang of Zhou was a king, Duke Wen of Jin did not conform to the courtesy of summoning the king with his ministers, so he only said that King Xiang of Zhou was here to hunt, and personally led the princes to the residence of King Xiang of Zhou to meet him. The book "Spring and Autumn" is subtle and righteous, and pays attention to the dignity, so this matter is recorded as "the Son of Heaven hunting in Heyang".

At this meeting, the princes of various countries first solved the problem of defending the country. Wei Guo is an ally of Chu State, once married to Chu State, and was a guide for the Chu army in the war, and Wei Chenggong once offended Jin Wengong. Upon learning the news of the defeat of the Chu army and the victory of the Jin army, Wei Chenggong was very frightened, so he fled from Wei Guo and went to Chen State to avoid the limelight. At this time, Duke Wen of Jin sent an invitation to the princes of various countries to participate in the alliance, Wei Chenggong was worried that the Jin State would retaliate against Wei Guo, and did not dare to refuse the invitation of the Jin State, but he was even more worried that he would be killed by the Duke of Jin Wen with an excuse as soon as he went, so he had to send the doctor Yuan Yu to assist his younger brother Shuwu to participate in the alliance, and Yuan Yu's son Jiao stayed by Wei Chenggong's side to serve.

But not long after, someone said to Wei Chenggong: "Yuan Yu has already set up Shuwu as the monarch, and you have been abandoned." When Wei Chenggong heard this, he immediately became furious, and he did not send anyone to investigate the truth and the merits of the matter, so he ordered someone to execute Jiao. When Yuan Yu heard that his son was killed, he was naturally very sad, and he was also very angry at Wei Chenggong's indiscriminate killing. However, at this time, the defense of the country was still in crisis, the Jin state was eyeing the tiger, and the Jin state might send a large army to destroy the defense of the country if there was a slight turmoil in the defense of the country, so Yuan Yu wiped away his tears, endured his grief, and continued to carry out his task. The patriots were already very dissatisfied with Wei Chenggong, and now they heard that he was still so obedient to slander and indiscriminately killed innocents in exile, and no one was willing to continue to serve him, and at this time, the Jin State also agreed to restore the title of Weiguo, so the patriots were ready to move and had the intention of establishing another monarch.

In order to appease the people's hearts and stabilize the situation, Ning Wuzi, the great doctor of the country, convened a meeting in Wanpu and said sincerely: "Heaven has sent disaster to the country, so there will be a disharmony between the monarch and the minister, which has led us to the worrying situation we are in today. But please ask yourself, if there is no one left in the country, who will guard the community? If there is no one to go abroad, who will stabilize the surrounding environment of our country? Now I swear to you that from now on those who go out will not have to worry about betrayal in the rear, and those who stay in the country do not have to worry about trumped-up charges, and if they violate this oath, the heavens will die! After listening to Ning Wuzi's oath, the patriots really let go of their worries and no longer considered betraying Wei Chenggong.

However, Wei Chenggong, who was in exile in the state of Chen, did not know all this, and when he heard about the usurpation of the throne by Yuan Yu's assistant Shuwu, he immediately hurried back to Wei Guo. Shu Wu was about to wash his hair at this time, and he was very happy to hear that the monarch was back, and he didn't even have time to tie his hair, so he casually ran out to greet him. The people around Wei Chenggong always thought that Shu Wu had usurped the throne of the monarch, and when they saw him come out, they indiscriminately raised their bows and arrows and shot Shu Wu to death.

After Shuwu's death, Wei Chenggong took a closer look and found that his younger brother had not usurped the throne, and he was very happy to run out to welcome him back to China. But at this time, the big mistake has been made, looking at the corpse of his younger brother who was still warm and bleeding all over the ground, thinking of his brother's happy smiling face just now, Wei Chenggong regretted that his liver and intestines were broken, and he could no longer suppress his grief, and fell on Shuwu's lap and cried loudly. Seeing this, the son of the son who mistakenly killed Shuwu, the dog also knew that he had killed the wrong person, at this time, the monarch was too sad to think of himself, how could he have a good end when he came back to his senses? So Gongzi Dog quickly escaped while people were unprepared, but he was later killed by Wei Chenggong.

Seeing that Shuwu was innocently killed, Yuan Yu was worried that the Weicheng Guild would come to kill him again, so he fled to the Jin Kingdom for help. At this time, Jin Wencheng was in the Wendi Assembly of the princes, so he sent someone to invite Wei Chenggong to confront Yuan Yu in front of the princes of various countries to solve the matter, Wei Guo's doctor Ning Wuzi, Needle Zhuangzi and Shi Rong on behalf of Wei Chenggong to defend, the history called "Wei Hou and Yuan Yu lawsuit, Ning Wuzi as a supplement, needle Zhuangzi as a sitting, Shi Rong as a scholar." Relevant scholars believe that Ning Wuzi, Needle Zhuangzi and Shirong are the earliest lawyers in ancient Chinese literature.

However, these three lawyers were unable to help Wei Chenggong win the case, and the public trial of the princes presided over by Duke Wen of Jin ruled that Wei Chenggong lost the case, so Duke Wen of Jin ordered Shi Rong to be killed, and sentenced to death by Zhuangzi, a slightly higher status, while Ning Wuzi was spared because of Duke Wen of Jin's appreciation of his loyalty. dealt with a cadre of ministers who defended the country, and Duke Wen of Jin took charge of arresting Wei Chenggong again, sent him to Jingshi to be imprisoned, and then released Yuan Yu to return to China and set up another son as the monarch.

The trial of this lawsuit of Weiguo made Jin Wengong out of the limelight of the overlord, and it was also the first time that Jin Wengong exercised the power of the overlord to "obey the king's order and appease the four kingdoms" in accordance with the order of King Zhou Xiang. After that, Duke Wen of Jin relied on his military strength to besiege Zheng State, forced Chu State to ask Jin State for peace, and supported Wei Guo to take advantage of Di's civil strife to crusade, so that Di State also formed an alliance with Wei State, and did not dare to invade the Central Plains at will. Although Duke Wen of Jin took advantage of his hegemonic position to wantonly conquer the vassal states that did not obey the Jin State, the Jin State appeared as the overlord, which freed the princes of the Central Plains from the chaos of the dragons without a leader after the death of Duke Huan of Qi, reversed the decline of the Central Plains, and the situation of the Di people and Chu people wantonly invaded the Central Plains, and contributed to the development of the Central Plains countries.

In the thirty-second year of the reign of Duke Lu (628 BC), a generation of overlords Wen Gong of Jin ended his life of ups and downs. Legend has it that when the monarch of the Jin Kingdom sent the coffin of the Duke of Jin Wen to leave the capital of Jiangcheng and go to Quwo, the birthplace of the Jin Kingdom, the coffin of the Duke of Jin suddenly made a sound like a cow's barking. A man in charge of divination listened carefully and announced to the bewildered ministers: "The king is issuing an order: an army will pass through our country from the west, and if it is encountered, it will be victorious!" ”

This bizarre story is seriously recorded in the "Zuo Biography", but whether it is true or not, the "testament" issued by the Duke of Jin Wen "after his death" seems to be prescient, foreseeing the situation that after the death of the Duke of Jin Wen, the Jin State will continue to fight in the south and the north, and kill the generals to seize the city.

After the death of Duke Wen of Jin, the crown prince he set up during his lifetime succeeded to the throne and was known as Xianggong of Jin. Although he did not reign for a long time, he inherited his father's ambition and carried out a series of foreign wars with great strategic vision, so that Duke Wen of Jin avoided the tragedy of Duke Huan of Qi and continued the hegemony of the Jin State.

At this time, Qin Mu was just leading the troops outside, and he ignored the advice of the old minister Uncle Jian not to attack far away, and insisted on leading the troops to set off to conquer Zheng Guo, and after being blocked on the road, he returned to the army to destroy the slippery country. After the doctor of the Jin State learned the news, he immediately found the Duke of Jin Xianggong and said: "The monarch of the Qin State did not listen to Uncle Jian's words, and went on an expedition in order to satisfy his ambitions, which is a good opportunity given to us by God. Against the sky, we must take this opportunity to defeat the Qin army. ”

But another doctor, Luan Zhi, questioned: "The Qin State has the grace to support the ancestors, and now that the bones of the ancestors are not cold, we are going to attack the Qin army, and doing so will put the ancestors where they are!" Xian Zhen explained: "Zheng Guo and Hua Guo are both of our Ji surname of the same clan, and our ancestor also had a great friendship with the monarch of Qin. But now that our ancestor has died, Qin Jun not only does not feel sad for us, but instead sends troops to attack the country with the same surname as us, since the Qin State has been so rude, what favor do we still have to worry about? I have heard: 'If you go against the enemy in one day, you will be in trouble for many generations.' Even in the face of the ancestors, we can confidently say that this is for the sake of future generations! ”

After listening to the debate between Xianzhen and Luan Zhi, two doctors with rich military experience, Jin Xianggong thought that what Xianzhen said was more reasonable, so he ordered Jiang Rong's army to be urgently mobilized to prepare for battle. Since Duke Wen of Jin had not had time to be buried at this time, Duke Xiang of Jin used ink to dye the mourning clothes black, and then led the army to the expedition.

The armies of the Qin and Jin dynasties fought a big battle in Yanshan, and the Jin army really won a complete victory, and also captured the three commanders of the Qin State, Meng Mingshi, Xi Qishu, and Bai Yibing, among which Meng Mingshi was the son of Baili Xi, an important minister of the Qin State. After the victory of Jin Xianggong, he wore the mourning clothes that had been dyed black to bury Jin Wengong, and since then the mourning clothes of the Jin Kingdom have been changed to black.

Jin Xianggong's mother, Wen Huan, was the daughter of Qin Mugong, and when she heard that the three generals of Qin had been captured, she persuaded Jin Xianggong to release them back. Xianzhen knew that he hurried to stop Jin Xianggong in the future, but it was too late, so he angrily scolded Jin Xianggong: "The military general tried his best to catch the enemy with blood and sweat, but you listened to the woman's words and easily let go, so reduce the achievements of the army, and help the enemy, and die in the future!" However, no matter how angry Xianzhen was, the three generals of the Qin State had already crossed the river, and Xianzhen lost his life soon after because of today's gaffe.

At that time, Xianzhen was leading the army of the Jin State to fight against the Di people. Di Ren knew that Duke Wen of Jin had died, and thought that the Jin State would decline like the Qi State after the death of Duke Huan of Qi, and the princes of the Central Plains would also be leaderless and become a plate of scattered sand, so they sent troops to invade the State of Qi, and then attacked the State of Jin. Can Jin Xianggong let Di people be so rampant? He immediately led a large army to the expedition, and defeated the Di army in Jidi (now northeast of Puzhou, Shanxi), and the commander of the Jin army, Yin Que, also captured the leader of Bai Di.

Seeing that the Jin army was about to win a complete victory, everyone rejoiced, but Xianzhen remembered that he had spoken wildly in front of the monarch last time, saying that "there is no day to die", and he suddenly felt ashamed and landless, so he said: "I was presumptuous in front of the monarch that day, and the monarch Kuanren did not punish me, do I dare not punish myself?" So he took off his helmet and rushed madly into the Di army, and after a burst of killing, he died under the rebellion. After the end of the war, Di Ren returned the head of the ancestors, he was full of relief, his face was like life, and Jin Xianggong was very sorry when he saw it.

After returning from Jidi, Jin Xianggong put all his guilt for Xianzhen on Xianzhen's son Xianjiju. He appointed the official position of marshal of the Central Army of his father with the highest order, and then rewarded Xu Que who recommended Xu Que, and finally appointed Xu Que, who captured the leader of Bai Di in this battle and made great contributions, as the secretary, and gave him the land of Ji, but did not grant him the military position.

After defeating the close and threatening states of Qin and Di, the Jin state challenged the state of Chu, which had always had the intention of competing for hegemony with the Jin state. Of course, the Jin State did not go all the way to attack the Chu State, but attacked the Xu State that was attached to the Chu State, and the Chu State immediately sent troops to rescue Xu, and the Chu army did not go to the Xu State to fight directly with the Jin State, but instead attacked the Chen and Cai Kingdoms, who betrayed the Chu State and defected to the Jin State after the Battle of Chengpu, forcing the Jin army to return to the army to rescue. After some scuffle, both the Jin State and the Chu State withdrew their armies, and neither side took advantage, but Yin Zishang, the commander of the Chu State, was framed by the prince of Chu and the merchant ministers of Chu because he was defeated by the Jin State in this battle, and was "bribed by the Jin Dynasty and dismissed it, and the shame of Chu was also", so he was executed by the King of Chu.

After winning three wars with the western, northern, and southern powers, Xianggong of Jin turned his spearhead to the defense of the country in the east. In the later years of Jin Wengong, Wei Chenggong, who was imprisoned in Luoyi, was released, and returned to China to reinstate, and Wei Chenggong, who re-became the monarch, hated Jin Wengong deeply, and he believed that he had formed an alliance with Di Guo, so he refused to go to the Jin court to meet, and sent the general Kong Da to attack Zheng Guo, an ally of Jin.

When Jin Xianggong first ascended the throne, he was busy attacking Qin and resisting Di, and only after everything was calmed down did he remember the rudeness of defending the country. At this time, the funeral of his father Jin Wengong had passed, and after the Jin Xianggong held a sacrificial ceremony, he sent someone to inform the princes and sent troops to defend the country. Soon after, he captured the land of Qidi (present-day Puyangbei, Henan) and captured the defender Sun Zhaozi. Wei Chenggong knew that Jin Xianggong's strength was not inferior to his father's, so he had to ask Chen Guojun to take care of him, and handed over Kong Da to Chen Guojun and asked him to send him to Jin Xianggong to ask for guilt, which solved the matter.

After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the competition for the throne of the five sons caused chaos in the Qi State, not only the country's strength declined, but even the hard-won hegemony was lost. is also the overlord, after the death of Jin Wengong, Jin Xianggong not only succeeded to the throne smoothly, but also quickly mastered all domestic forces, and used the strong military power of the Jin State to make the Quartet subdue, and maintained the hegemony of the Jin State, which shows that Jin Xianggong is indeed a promising king.