In May of the 11th year of King Jian of Zhou (575 BC), because of Zheng's betrayal of the alliance and annexation of Chu, the angry Duke of Jin Li issued an emergency mobilization order, announcing that he would send troops to attack Zheng, and he would personally lead the army to the battle; In the Eight Secretaries of the Jin Dynasty, the lower army Zuo Xun Fu was left in the country to supervise the spring ploughing and stabilize the rear, and the new army generals Yin Li and Dafu Luan Wei were ordered to go to the allies Qi, Wei, and Lu, and invited the three countries to send troops to participate in the attack on Zheng State. The remaining six Qings: the Chinese army general Luan Shu, the Chinese army Zuo Shixie, the upper army general Xun Qi, the upper army Zuo Zhongxingyan, the lower army general Han Ju, and the new army Zuo Zhi all led the army to attack Zheng with the monarch.

When the Jin army rumbled and killed, Zheng Chenggong, who was panicked, hurriedly sent people to his new ally Chu to move rescue troops, and asked the Chu army to hurry north to rescue Zheng. And the king of Chu, who got the news of Zheng Guo's request for help, was also determined to go north and fight for hegemony with the Jin State again, striving to defeat the Jin army again in the battle, stabilize the hegemony created by the former monarch Zhuangwang, and sit firmly in the position of overlord.

In June, the prince of Chu led the army of Chu to the territory of Zheng. When Duke Li of Jin, who had already arrived in Zheng, learned that the Chu army had arrived, he immediately ordered the position of the Jin army to move forward, looking for and engaging in a battle with the main force of the Chu army in the field; In the vicinity of Yanling (Yanling County, Xuchang, Henan), the advance of the Jin and Chu armies encountered, and then the main forces of the two armies also approached in the direction of Yanling, and the battle was about to break out.

Before the start of the war, Jin Li Gong convened the six secretaries of the army - Luan Shu, Zuo Shixie, Zuo Shixie, Xunyan, Hanju, and Xinjun, and Zuo Zhi of the New Army (among the eight secretaries of the Jin State, the lower army Zuo Xun Gang stayed in the country, and the new army sent Yin Lu to envoy Qi, Lu, and Wei), and held a pre-war military meeting to discuss the specific battle plan against Chu.

Before sending troops, Zuo Shixie of the Chinese army had persuaded the monarch and the ministers not to start an immediate war with the Chu State, but to maintain the stability of the situation inside and outside the Jin Dynasty; However, Jin Ligong and the ruling Luan Shu simply rejected Shi Xie's suggestion, indicating the attitude of the high-level Jin State towards this matter.

In this pre-war military meeting, Shi Xie still wanted to stop the outbreak of war, so he proposed to Jin Ligong that he should be the envoy and go to the Chu army camp to negotiate, first stabilize the actions of the Chu army, and wait for Yin and Luan Wei to 'invite' to the arrival of the armies of Qi, Lu, and Wei, and then use strong military strength to force Chu to conduct peace talks, that is, to obtain the greatest benefits at the lowest cost.

But for Shi Xie's idea of preserving his strength and avoiding the war for a while, Jin Ligong and the ruling Luan Shu rejected it again, but they did not blame Shi Xie too much (to give face to the old minister); Ke Xin's members and new army Zuo Xie were young and vigorous, and relied on the power of the Xin family, and looked down on Shi Xie's attitude of "showing weakness and admitting cowardice", so he indignantly refuted Shi Xie, and also used the defeat of the Jin army commander in the Battle of Hanyuan, the Battle of Ji, and the Battle of Yi to ridicule Shi Xie; At the same time, he claimed that he would rather die in battle than withdraw his troops, so that the shame would be added to the head of the Jin Kingdom again!

Yi Zhi's domineering rebuttal and rebuke made Shi Xie very helpless, but for the unity of the Jin State, he still patiently explained to Xin Zhi that in order to prevent the internal worries of the Jin State (that is, the Zhuqingshi family once again launched internal strife within the Jin State in order to fight for power) from coming in advance, the external threat of the Chu State should be left), so as to always alert the monarchs and ministers of the Jin State, maintain a high degree of vigilance to maintain a high degree of external vigilance, and avoid internal strife at home again.

And if the Jin State defeats the last foreign enemy, the Chu State, this time, then the external threat will be completely eliminated; After the external troubles disappear, the extravagant families in the Jin State will inevitably launch internal strife and armed battles within the Jin State because of the power, status and interests brought by the increasingly strong Jin hegemony, so as to weaken the strength of the political opponent family and expand the sphere of influence and power of their own family.

Therefore, in Shi Xie's view, it is necessary for the Jin State to deliberately leave some threats from the outside, so as to always alert the ministers to cooperate and unite with the outside world, and assist the monarch to always put the target of the attack abroad, and always maintain a certain pressure; Under such circumstances, the Jin State will not intensify the internal power struggle due to the removal of external troubles, and the interests and vitality of the country will also be exhausted in the struggle.

The reason why Jin Ligong did not oppose Shi Xie's opinion with great fanfare, but simply ignored it, in fact, he understood Shi Xie's inner intention of suggesting 'temporarily stop the war with Chu State', but from his own selfishness, Jin Li Gong must use this successful military operation to defeat Chu State, establish a prominent cause that is completely his own, enhance his prestige and status in the country, grasp the hard-won monarchy, and suppress the domineering Zhuqing.

The Chinese army general Luan Shu, the Shangjun general Xun Qian, the Shangjun Zuo Xunyan and other secretaries also had the intention of defeating the Chu State in one fell swoop, so as to obtain greater military merits, so as to improve their own and their family's capital, expand their power position and sphere of influence within the Jin State, and rely on the expanded strength to better seize greater benefits in the future; Therefore, Luan Shu, Xun Qi, and Xun Yan also came forward to support Jin Ligong's decision to start a war with the Chu army immediately, and they could not avoid war and negotiate peace.

In the end, Shi Xie's good intentions were not understood by everyone, and the final result of the pre-war military meeting of the Jin State was that no longer waiting for Yin Li and Luan Wei to come to the rendezvous with the armies of their allies 'Qi, Lu, and Wei', the Jin army should immediately send troops to attack the Chu and Zheng coalition forces lined up in front of them, so as to maintain the hegemony of the Jin State and the position of the monarch as the 'overlord of the princes'.

The monarchs and ministers of the Jin State here have reached an agreement and are ready to send troops to attack Chu and Zheng; The state of Chu over there also reacted at the same time - the king of Chu wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Jin army to fight alone, and united with the Zheng army to quickly send troops to attack the camp of the Jin army, and use the fog in the early morning as a cover to launch a surprise attack to 'attack the Jin army without preparation'.

June 29 of the eleventh year of King Jian of Zhou (575 years ago), this day is the end of the month, that is, the calendar of the 'obscure day' (no moonlight day), the most taboo of using troops at that time is to launch a battle on the 'obscure day'; but in order to take advantage of the dark night and fog before the dawn, the king of Chu Gong disregarded the taboo and issued an order to attack before dawn, and all the three armies of Chu were dispatched, and the Zheng army also participated in the attack as an auxiliary force; Defeat the Jin army, seize a dominant position in the war for hegemony, and maintain the stability and solidity of the Chu and Zheng alliances.

When the Chu army came to attack, Jin Ligong also led his ministers to prepare for battle, and was ready to send troops to counterattack at any time; At this time, the new army Zuo Hezhi issued a proposal of 'six defeats of the Chu army' in front of the Duke of Jin Li and the secretaries, and analyzed in detail the six operational weaknesses of the Chu army, believing that the Jin army could not avoid the war conservatively, and must seize the initiative on the battlefield, attack first, and go all out to attack the Chu army, and will definitely be able to defeat the Chu army, which is strong and middle-class.

When Yin Zhi faced Jin Ligong and Luan Shu and other ministers in the big tent to make a generous statement and ask to go to war, the son of the Chinese army Zuo Shixie, who advocated 'avoiding the war', accompanied his father to the battle, and served as the young man Shi Kuo (the future ruler of the Jin State, the fourteenth general of the Jin State and the ruling doctor of the Jin State) also couldn't hold back, and in the case of young impulsiveness and enthusiasm, he also took the initiative to stand up and offer advice to Jin Li Gong and Luan Shu, requesting that the wells in the military camp be filled and the stoves bulldozed to expand the combat area of their own military vehicles, and the car formation was lined up in the military camp. confronting the confrontation with the Chu army; Shi Kuo also threatened that the Jin State and the Chu State were both favored by Haotian, and they were both upright powers, so there was no need to retreat and fear the Chu army!

Seeing that his son was clever and jumped out to offer advice for this crucial battle without his consent, Shi Xie, who was on the sidelines, was immediately furious, worried that the Shi Kuo, who had nothing to do and no city government, would be so clever and strong in front of the monarch and the ministers, and that some people with ulterior motives (political enemies) would take the opportunity to make trouble, frame him, and eventually bring disaster to the Shi (Fan) family.

Therefore, in order to teach the rash and impulsive Shilu a profound lesson and let him stop doing such stupid things in the future, Shixie suddenly burst out, made a 'furious' appearance, copied the ceremonial bronze that was erected next to him and stood in the big tent as a guard of honor for the king's travel, turned the spearhead, and used a wooden pole to smoke the Shilu standing in the big tent, and scolded Shilu as a milky little rabbit cub while smoking, don't talk nonsense here, get out immediately!

Although he was very aggrieved, he never dared to openly disagree with his father, nor did he dare to talk back, so he could only run away from the big tent in embarrassment, and never dared to talk more.

And Shi Xie's public trouble, it relieved Shi Kuo's hidden calamity - even if the Jin army and the Chu army lost the battle today, the monarch and other secretaries could not blame the young Shi Kuo for the defeat on the grounds that 'it was Shi Lu's idea', and the Shi family would not be implicated; this is Shi Xie's political wisdom, as a junior Shi Lu, Shi Lu must study hard.

Although Shi Xie drove Shi Kuo out of the big tent and tried to eliminate the hidden dangers of evil in him, Shi Kui's previous advice to the monarch was indeed a good way; Therefore, Jin Ligong still adopted the strategy of Shilu, and ordered the wells and stoves in the camp to be filled with earth and stones, clear out a large area of open space, and then line up the military vehicles on the spot, so that the Chu army had no chance to take advantage of it.

On June 29, the eleventh year of King Jian of Zhou (575 BC), when the sky was light, the armies of Chu and Zheng took advantage of the hazy fog to reach outside the camp of the Jin army and prepared to attack; The third field battle between Jin and Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Battle of Yanling, is about to kick off.

Before the start of the war, in order to better observe the movement in the Jin army camp, the king of Chu Gong boarded the nest car (lookout car) and looked at the inside of the Jin army camp from a high place, so as to make corresponding command orders.

In order to better help the monarch make a correct judgment, the former Jin doctor who fled from the Jin State to Chu, and the current Dazai Bozhou Plough of the Chu State (that is, the son of the Jin Dafu Bozong who was framed and committed suicide by Sanhe), was ordered by Yin Zizhong to also board the nest car and stand behind the King of Chu Gong to accept the consultation of the King of Chu and answer questions for the King of Chu at any time.

The king of Chu Gong on the nest car was carefully asking the Bozhou plough beside him about various military dispatches in the Jin army camp opposite, and in the Jin army camp and beside Jin Ligong, there was also a former Chu courtier, and the current Jin State doctor was providing information about the Chu army for Jin Ligong, he was the son of Yin Douyue Jiao, the former Chu State Commander - Miao Benhuang.

At the beginning, the head of the Ruo Ao clan in Chu raised troops to make a rebellion, but was quickly pacified by the king of Chu Zhuang, Dou Yuejiao died, and the Ruo Ao clan was almost wiped out. When the family collapsed, the young Emperor Douben took advantage of the chaos to flee the Chu State and took refuge in the Jin State; It was the Duke of Jin Jing who took in Emperor Douben and gave him the fief 'Miao Yi', so Emperor Douben changed his name to Emperor Miao Ben after he arrived in the Jin Kingdom.

Because of the deep blood feud between the family and the Chu royal family, Emperor Miao Ben has become inseparable from the original mother country of Chu; In order to achieve his desire for revenge, when Emperor Miao Ben came on the order of Jin Li Gong to introduce and analyze the military movements of the Chu army for Jin Li Gong, he explained in detail the military formation of the opposite Chu army, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, and the cooperation of the three armies according to his own experience and observations, and also told Jin Li Gong that the King of Chu personally observed the Jin army camp in the opposite nest car, and then pointed out the location of the attendants around the King of Chu Gong. Strongly request the Duke of Jin Li to send heavy troops to besiege the king of Chu (that is, to point out the location of the king of Chu Gong himself, so that the Jin army can focus on the king of Chu next to attack).

After listening to the analysis and suggestions on the prospects of the battle with the Chu army introduced by Emperor Miao Ben, the Duke of Jin Li ordered to come with the military Taishi to divinate the prospects of the battle and ask the good luck.

And Taishi was ordered by the prince of Jin Ligong, and after some calculations, he got the hexagram of 'compound hexagram' and 'Daji', and the remark was: "Nanguo Qi, shoot its Yuan Wang Zhongji." "That is to say, in this war, the territory of the hostile countries in the south will be reduced, and their kings will be wounded in the war and shot in the eye.

After listening to Taishi's explanation, Jin Ligong had no worries in his heart, so he confidently adopted the strategy offered by Shi Kuo and Emperor Miao Ben, and ordered the main force of the Jin Zhong army to make a detour out of the camp, avoid the swamp and mud in front of the camp, and attack the left and right armies of Chu and the attached Zheng army from the flank, and besiege the Chu Zhong army where the king of Chu Gong was located with the upper and lower armies of Jin.

When the main force of the Jin army was ordered to leave the camp and launch a battle against the Chu army from the direction of the two wings, the king of Chu Gong quickly discovered that the Jin army had begun to attack the two wings of his own army formation on top of the high nest car; Therefore, the prince of Chu led the king of the Chu army to attack the Jin army's camp, trying to take the lead in defeating the Jin army before the Jin army attacked the two wings of the Chu army, seized the initiative on the battlefield, and won the final victory.

In order to motivate the morale of the whole army, when the Chu army was outside the Jin army camp, Jin Ligong also personally went to battle, thinking that the generals of the army and the soldiers of the whole army were an example; Under the leadership of Jin Ligong, the private soldiers of the official family and the Luan family, the Fan family and other Qing families also went out with the monarch and launched a charge in the direction of the Chu Zhong army.

The subsequent war process, I have explained and introduced it many times in my previous articles - "Nanguo Qi, Shooting the Yuan King Zhongjimu - Wei Qi Yanling Arrow Shooting the Chu Gongwang" and "Horse Leather Shroud, Fierce Ambition - The Last Battle of the Old Minister Wei Qi", I have explained and introduced it to you many times, so I will not repeat it here.

In short, in the battle of Jin and Chu Yanling, the Jin army had a slight upper hand, and the new Jin army Zuo Hezhi and the lower army general Han Ju perfectly showed their aristocratic demeanor in the battle, and also won the praise of the opponent and established military achievements; On the side of the Chu and Zheng coalition armies, Zheng Cheng, who went into battle in person, was almost captured by Han Ju, and his chariot right Tang Gou died heroically in order to cover the monarch's escape; In addition, the king of Chu was shot in the eye by Wei Ji, and Gongzi Qi, the general of the right army of Chu and the son of the king of Chu Gong, was also captured by the Jin army, and the combined forces of Chu and Zheng suffered heavy losses.

However, in the battle, the Jin army doctor and the old minister Wei Jian also shot and injured the queen of the Chu Gong, and then adopted the young general of the Chu army in the 'battle, to the battle', Yang Youji seized the opportunity and shot through the neck and died, so the morale of the Jin army was hit a little, and the sharpness of the battle was slightly frustrated. However, in terms of the overall combat situation, the Jin army was still superior to the Chu and Zheng coalition forces.

The battle began in the early morning of June 29 and lasted until dusk of the same day, until the sky was full of stars, and this unprecedentedly fierce battle for supremacy did not end; After a day of fierce fighting, the Jin army and the combined forces of Chu and Zheng all reached the point of exhaustion and were unable to fight again, and the casualties of the soldiers were very heavy.

When the night completely fell, because there was no moonlight (the day was the end of the month), the two sides could not fight again, the commanders of both sides, Jin Li Gong and Chu Gongwang, only then did they not want to give their respective orders, ordering the army to withdraw from the battlefield, withdraw to their own camp for a short rest, and wait for tomorrow after dawn, and then start the war.

However, after returning to the camp after the truce, the commander-in-chief of the Chuzhong Army, Sima Zi, performed his duties, sent a large number of military officials, medical officers, and logistics personnel to treat the wounded overnight, repair the damaged chariots, reorganize the disorganized soldiers who were disorganized due to excessive combat attrition, and feed the horses that had been fighting for a day.

On the Jin army's side, after the Jin Li Gong ordered a truce, he also seized the time to hold an emergency military meeting with the generals of the Jin State to prepare for the next day's battle. At that time, Luan Shujuan, the general of the Jin Central Army, asked the Duke of Jin Li to order that the Chu prisoners of war captured during the day be placed near the elite troops of the Jin army, which had been prepared for a long time, and then let the Jin soldiers speak loudly and pretend to 'discuss' the preparations for tomorrow's war;

When the king of Chu Gong received the "military information" that the prisoners of war of the Chu army who ran back reported to him that "the elite combat strength of the Jin army is high and will continue to launch a fierce attack tomorrow", the worried king of Chu Gong immediately sent people to summon the main generals of the three armies, such as Zizhong, Zianti, and Zixi, to come together to discuss countermeasures.

Coincidentally, at this time, Sima Zi began to fall asleep because he had already drunk, and when the envoy of the king of Chu Gong came to pass on Zi to go to the camp to discuss military affairs, Zi Zi was anti-Semitic and fell asleep soundly, and he couldn't wake up no matter how he shouted; In desperation, the envoy could only quickly return to the big tent and report the matter to the king of Chu Gong.

Originally, he wanted to convene an emergency military meeting to discuss how to deal with the attack of the Jin army tomorrow, but Sima Zi, as the commander of the Chinese army, was absent from the meeting due to drunkenness, resulting in the miscarriage of the military meeting. Faced with this unfavorable sign, the king of Chu Gong thought that this battle was not helped by Haotian, and the gods were going to let the Chu State suffer defeat, and he couldn't wait here any longer!

Therefore, the king of Chu Gong immediately made a decision, and before the Chu army suffered a heavy defeat, he immediately changed his plan to continue the battle with the Jin army, and ordered the whole army to immediately withdraw its camp and withdraw its troops back to China overnight, so as to avoid the aggressive offensive momentum of the Jin army.

The retreat of the Chu army was swift and covert, without alarming the Jin army on the opposite side; It wasn't until the early morning of the next day, when the Jin army was ready to go out into battle and opened the door to line up, that they were stunned to find that the Chu army on the opposite side had already retreated overnight, and even the original garrison camp was empty.

After learning the news that the Chu army had withdrawn, the surprised Jinzhong army general Luan Shu hurriedly reported to Jin Li Gong who had not been up for a long time, saying that the Chu army had somehow withdrawn; At first, Jin Ligong was still suspicious and did not dare to relax his vigilance, thinking that this was a suspicious plan deliberately used by the Chu State to lure the Jin army into being deceived; So, Duke Jin Li asked Luan Shu, Shi Xie, Xun Qian, Xun Yan and others to send military spies to distinguish the authenticity from the vicinity of the Chu army camp.

After the scouts who went out to investigate confirmed that the Chu army had really taken the initiative to break away from contact with the Jin army this time and had withdrawn from the army and returned to China, the nervous Jin Li Gong was overjoyed and immediately ordered Luan Shu to send troops to occupy the Chu army's camp; Subsequently, the prince of Jin Li led the main force of the Jin army to the camp of the Chu army, and also collected all the grain that the Chu army had no time to take away when retreating as his own spoils, and let the soldiers dig stoves in the Chu camp to make fires and eat the military rations left by the Chu army for three consecutive days, so as to celebrate the final and comprehensive victory of the battle against Chu.

And with the initiative of the king of Chu Gong to withdraw his troops, and the 'great food of Chu Su' of Duke Li of Jin, the last field battle between Jin and Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period - the 'Battle of Yanling', came to an inexplicable and unfinished conclusion. In May of the 11th year of King Jian of Zhou (575 BC), because of Zheng's betrayal of the alliance and annexation of Chu, the angry Duke of Jin Li issued an emergency mobilization order, announcing that he would send troops to attack Zheng, and he would personally lead the army to the battle; In the Eight Secretaries of the Jin Dynasty, the lower army Zuo Xun Fu was left in the country to supervise the spring ploughing and stabilize the rear, and the new army generals Yin Li and Dafu Luan Wei were ordered to go to the allies Qi, Wei, and Lu, and invited the three countries to send troops to participate in the attack on Zheng State. The remaining six Qings: the Chinese army general Luan Shu, the Chinese army Zuo Shixie, the upper army general Xun Qi, the upper army Zuo Zhongxingyan, the lower army general Han Ju, and the new army Zuo Zhi all led the army to attack Zheng with the monarch.

When the Jin army rumbled and killed, Zheng Chenggong, who was panicked, hurriedly sent people to his new ally Chu to move rescue troops, and asked the Chu army to hurry north to rescue Zheng. And the king of Chu, who got the news of Zheng Guo's request for help, was also determined to go north and fight for hegemony with the Jin State again, striving to defeat the Jin army again in the battle, stabilize the hegemony created by the former monarch Zhuangwang, and sit firmly in the position of overlord.

In June, the prince of Chu led the army of Chu to the territory of Zheng. When Duke Li of Jin, who had already arrived in Zheng, learned that the Chu army had arrived, he immediately ordered the position of the Jin army to move forward, looking for and engaging in a battle with the main force of the Chu army in the field; In the vicinity of Yanling (Yanling County, Xuchang, Henan), the advance of the Jin and Chu armies encountered, and then the main forces of the two armies also approached in the direction of Yanling, and the battle was about to break out.

Before the start of the war, Jin Li Gong convened the six secretaries of the army - Luan Shu, Zuo Shixie, Zuo Shixie, Xunyan, Hanju, and Xinjun, and Zuo Zhi of the New Army (among the eight secretaries of the Jin State, the lower army Zuo Xun Gang stayed in the country, and the new army sent Yin Lu to envoy Qi, Lu, and Wei), and held a pre-war military meeting to discuss the specific battle plan against Chu.

Before sending troops, Zuo Shixie of the Chinese army had persuaded the monarch and the ministers not to start an immediate war with the Chu State, but to maintain the stability of the situation inside and outside the Jin Dynasty; However, Jin Ligong and the ruling Luan Shu simply rejected Shi Xie's suggestion, indicating the attitude of the high-level Jin State towards this matter.

In this pre-war military meeting, Shi Xie still wanted to stop the outbreak of war, so he proposed to Jin Ligong that he should be the envoy and go to the Chu army camp to negotiate, first stabilize the actions of the Chu army, and wait for Yin and Luan Wei to 'invite' to the arrival of the armies of Qi, Lu, and Wei, and then use strong military strength to force Chu to conduct peace talks, that is, to obtain the greatest benefits at the lowest cost.

But for Shi Xie's idea of preserving his strength and avoiding the war for a while, Jin Ligong and the ruling Luan Shu rejected it again, but they did not blame Shi Xie too much (to give face to the old minister); Ke Xin's members and new army Zuo Xie were young and vigorous, and relied on the power of the Xin family, and looked down on Shi Xie's attitude of "showing weakness and admitting cowardice", so he indignantly refuted Shi Xie, and also used the defeat of the Jin army commander in the Battle of Hanyuan, the Battle of Ji, and the Battle of Yi to ridicule Shi Xie; At the same time, he claimed that he would rather die in battle than withdraw his troops, so that the shame would be added to the head of the Jin Kingdom again!

Yi Zhi's domineering rebuttal and rebuke made Shi Xie very helpless, but for the unity of the Jin State, he still patiently explained to Xin Zhi that in order to prevent the internal worries of the Jin State (that is, the Zhuqingshi family once again launched internal strife within the Jin State in order to fight for power) from coming in advance, the external threat of the Chu State should be left), so as to always alert the monarchs and ministers of the Jin State, maintain a high degree of vigilance to maintain a high degree of external vigilance, and avoid internal strife at home again.

And if the Jin State defeats the last foreign enemy, the Chu State, this time, then the external threat will be completely eliminated; After the external troubles disappear, the extravagant families in the Jin State will inevitably launch internal strife and armed battles within the Jin State because of the power, status and interests brought by the increasingly strong Jin hegemony, so as to weaken the strength of the political opponent family and expand the sphere of influence and power of their own family.

Therefore, in Shi Xie's view, it is necessary for the Jin State to deliberately leave some threats from the outside, so as to always alert the ministers to cooperate and unite with the outside world, and assist the monarch to always put the target of the attack abroad, and always maintain a certain pressure; Under such circumstances, the Jin State will not intensify the internal power struggle due to the removal of external troubles, and the interests and vitality of the country will also be exhausted in the struggle.

The reason why Jin Ligong did not oppose Shi Xie's opinion with great fanfare, but simply ignored it, in fact, he understood Shi Xie's inner intention of suggesting 'temporarily stop the war with Chu State', but from his own selfishness, Jin Li Gong must use this successful military operation to defeat Chu State, establish a prominent cause that is completely his own, enhance his prestige and status in the country, grasp the hard-won monarchy, and suppress the domineering Zhuqing.

The Chinese army general Luan Shu, the Shangjun general Xun Qian, the Shangjun Zuo Xunyan and other secretaries also had the intention of defeating the Chu State in one fell swoop, so as to obtain greater military merits, so as to improve their own and their family's capital, expand their power position and sphere of influence within the Jin State, and rely on the expanded strength to better seize greater benefits in the future; Therefore, Luan Shu, Xun Qi, and Xun Yan also came forward to support Jin Ligong's decision to start a war with the Chu army immediately, and they could not avoid war and negotiate peace.

In the end, Shi Xie's good intentions were not understood by everyone, and the final result of the pre-war military meeting of the Jin State was that no longer waiting for Yin Li and Luan Wei to come to the rendezvous with the armies of their allies 'Qi, Lu, and Wei', the Jin army should immediately send troops to attack the Chu and Zheng coalition forces lined up in front of them, so as to maintain the hegemony of the Jin State and the position of the monarch as the 'overlord of the princes'.

The monarchs and ministers of the Jin State here have reached an agreement and are ready to send troops to attack Chu and Zheng; The state of Chu over there also reacted at the same time - the king of Chu wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Jin army to fight alone, and united with the Zheng army to quickly send troops to attack the camp of the Jin army, and use the fog in the early morning as a cover to launch a surprise attack to 'attack the Jin army without preparation'.

June 29 of the eleventh year of King Jian of Zhou (575 years ago), this day is the end of the month, that is, the calendar of the 'obscure day' (no moonlight day), the most taboo of using troops at that time is to launch a battle on the 'obscure day'; but in order to take advantage of the dark night and fog before the dawn, the king of Chu Gong disregarded the taboo and issued an order to attack before dawn, and all the three armies of Chu were dispatched, and the Zheng army also participated in the attack as an auxiliary force; Defeat the Jin army, seize a dominant position in the war for hegemony, and maintain the stability and solidity of the Chu and Zheng alliances.

When the Chu army came to attack, Jin Ligong also led his ministers to prepare for battle, and was ready to send troops to counterattack at any time; At this time, the new army Zuo Hezhi issued a proposal of 'six defeats of the Chu army' in front of the Duke of Jin Li and the secretaries, and analyzed in detail the six operational weaknesses of the Chu army, believing that the Jin army could not avoid the war conservatively, and must seize the initiative on the battlefield, attack first, and go all out to attack the Chu army, and will definitely be able to defeat the Chu army, which is strong and middle-class.

When Yin Zhi faced Jin Ligong and Luan Shu and other ministers in the big tent to make a generous statement and ask to go to war, the son of the Chinese army Zuo Shixie, who advocated 'avoiding the war', accompanied his father to the battle, and served as the young man Shi Kuo (the future ruler of the Jin State, the fourteenth general of the Jin State and the ruling doctor of the Jin State) also couldn't hold back, and in the case of young impulsiveness and enthusiasm, he also took the initiative to stand up and offer advice to Jin Li Gong and Luan Shu, requesting that the wells in the military camp be filled and the stoves bulldozed to expand the combat area of their own military vehicles, and the car formation was lined up in the military camp. confronting the confrontation with the Chu army; Shi Kuo also threatened that the Jin State and the Chu State were both favored by Haotian, and they were both upright powers, so there was no need to retreat and fear the Chu army!

Seeing that his son was clever and jumped out to offer advice for this crucial battle without his consent, Shi Xie, who was on the sidelines, was immediately furious, worried that the Shi Kuo, who had nothing to do and no city government, would be so clever and strong in front of the monarch and the ministers, and that some people with ulterior motives (political enemies) would take the opportunity to make trouble, frame him, and eventually bring disaster to the Shi (Fan) family.

Therefore, in order to teach the rash and impulsive Shilu a profound lesson and let him stop doing such stupid things in the future, Shixie suddenly burst out, made a 'furious' appearance, copied the ceremonial bronze that was erected next to him and stood in the big tent as a guard of honor for the king's travel, turned the spearhead, and used a wooden pole to smoke the Shilu standing in the big tent, and scolded Shilu as a milky little rabbit cub while smoking, don't talk nonsense here, get out immediately!

Although he was very aggrieved, he never dared to openly disagree with his father, nor did he dare to talk back, so he could only run away from the big tent in embarrassment, and never dared to talk more.

And Shi Xie's public trouble, it relieved Shi Kuo's hidden calamity - even if the Jin army and the Chu army lost the battle today, the monarch and other secretaries could not blame the young Shi Kuo for the defeat on the grounds that 'it was Shi Lu's idea', and the Shi family would not be implicated; this is Shi Xie's political wisdom, as a junior Shi Lu, Shi Lu must study hard.

Although Shi Xie drove Shi Kuo out of the big tent and tried to eliminate the hidden dangers of evil in him, Shi Kui's previous advice to the monarch was indeed a good way; Therefore, Jin Ligong still adopted the strategy of Shilu, and ordered the wells and stoves in the camp to be filled with earth and stones, clear out a large area of open space, and then line up the military vehicles on the spot, so that the Chu army had no chance to take advantage of it.

On June 29, the eleventh year of King Jian of Zhou (575 BC), when the sky was light, the armies of Chu and Zheng took advantage of the hazy fog to reach outside the camp of the Jin army and prepared to attack; The third field battle between Jin and Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Battle of Yanling, is about to kick off.

Before the start of the war, in order to better observe the movement in the Jin army camp, the king of Chu Gong boarded the nest car (lookout car) and looked at the inside of the Jin army camp from a high place, so as to make corresponding command orders.

In order to better help the monarch make a correct judgment, the former Jin doctor who fled from the Jin State to Chu, and the current Dazai Bozhou Plough of the Chu State (that is, the son of the Jin Dafu Bozong who was framed and committed suicide by Sanhe), was ordered by Yin Zizhong to also board the nest car and stand behind the King of Chu Gong to accept the consultation of the King of Chu and answer questions for the King of Chu at any time.

The king of Chu Gong on the nest car was carefully asking the Bozhou plough beside him about various military dispatches in the Jin army camp opposite, and in the Jin army camp and beside Jin Ligong, there was also a former Chu courtier, and the current Jin State doctor was providing information about the Chu army for Jin Ligong, he was the son of Yin Douyue Jiao, the former Chu State Commander - Miao Benhuang.

At the beginning, the head of the Ruo Ao clan in Chu raised troops to make a rebellion, but was quickly pacified by the king of Chu Zhuang, Dou Yuejiao died, and the Ruo Ao clan was almost wiped out. When the family collapsed, the young Emperor Douben took advantage of the chaos to flee the Chu State and took refuge in the Jin State; It was the Duke of Jin Jing who took in Emperor Douben and gave him the fief 'Miao Yi', so Emperor Douben changed his name to Emperor Miao Ben after he arrived in the Jin Kingdom.

Because of the deep blood feud between the family and the Chu royal family, Emperor Miao Ben has become inseparable from the original mother country of Chu; In order to achieve his desire for revenge, when Emperor Miao Ben came on the order of Jin Li Gong to introduce and analyze the military movements of the Chu army for Jin Li Gong, he explained in detail the military formation of the opposite Chu army, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, and the cooperation of the three armies according to his own experience and observations, and also told Jin Li Gong that the King of Chu personally observed the Jin army camp in the opposite nest car, and then pointed out the location of the attendants around the King of Chu Gong. Strongly request the Duke of Jin Li to send heavy troops to besiege the king of Chu (that is, to point out the location of the king of Chu Gong himself, so that the Jin army can focus on the king of Chu next to attack).

After listening to the analysis and suggestions on the prospects of the battle with the Chu army introduced by Emperor Miao Ben, the Duke of Jin Li ordered to come with the military Taishi to divinate the prospects of the battle and ask the good luck.

And Taishi was ordered by the prince of Jin Ligong, and after some calculations, he got the hexagram of 'compound hexagram' and 'Daji', and the remark was: "Nanguo Qi, shoot its Yuan Wang Zhongji." "That is to say, in this war, the territory of the hostile countries in the south will be reduced, and their kings will be wounded in the war and shot in the eye.

After listening to Taishi's explanation, Jin Ligong had no worries in his heart, so he confidently adopted the strategy offered by Shi Kuo and Emperor Miao Ben, and ordered the main force of the Jin Zhong army to make a detour out of the camp, avoid the swamp and mud in front of the camp, and attack the left and right armies of Chu and the attached Zheng army from the flank, and besiege the Chu Zhong army where the king of Chu Gong was located with the upper and lower armies of Jin.

When the main force of the Jin army was ordered to leave the camp and launch a battle against the Chu army from the direction of the two wings, the king of Chu Gong quickly discovered that the Jin army had begun to attack the two wings of his own army formation on top of the high nest car; Therefore, the prince of Chu led the king of the Chu army to attack the Jin army's camp, trying to take the lead in defeating the Jin army before the Jin army attacked the two wings of the Chu army, seized the initiative on the battlefield, and won the final victory.

In order to motivate the morale of the whole army, when the Chu army was outside the Jin army camp, Jin Ligong also personally went to battle, thinking that the generals of the army and the soldiers of the whole army were an example; Under the leadership of Jin Ligong, the private soldiers of the official family and the Luan family, the Fan family and other Qing families also went out with the monarch and launched a charge in the direction of the Chu Zhong army.

The subsequent war process, I have explained and introduced it many times in my previous articles - "Nanguo Qi, Shooting the Yuan King Zhongjimu - Wei Qi Yanling Arrow Shooting the Chu Gongwang" and "Horse Leather Shroud, Fierce Ambition - The Last Battle of the Old Minister Wei Qi", I have explained and introduced it to you many times, so I will not repeat it here.

In short, in the battle of Jin and Chu Yanling, the Jin army had a slight upper hand, and the new Jin army Zuo Hezhi and the lower army general Han Ju perfectly showed their aristocratic demeanor in the battle, and also won the praise of the opponent and established military achievements; On the side of the Chu and Zheng coalition armies, Zheng Cheng, who went into battle in person, was almost captured by Han Ju, and his chariot right Tang Gou died heroically in order to cover the monarch's escape; In addition, the king of Chu was shot in the eye by Wei Ji, and Gongzi Qi, the general of the right army of Chu and the son of the king of Chu Gong, was also captured by the Jin army, and the combined forces of Chu and Zheng suffered heavy losses.

However, in the battle, the Jin army doctor and the old minister Wei Jian also shot and injured the queen of the Chu Gong, and then adopted the young general of the Chu army in the 'battle, to the battle', Yang Youji seized the opportunity and shot through the neck and died, so the morale of the Jin army was hit a little, and the sharpness of the battle was slightly frustrated. However, in terms of the overall combat situation, the Jin army was still superior to the Chu and Zheng coalition forces.

The battle began in the early morning of June 29 and lasted until dusk of the same day, until the sky was full of stars, and this unprecedentedly fierce battle for supremacy did not end; After a day of fierce fighting, the Jin army and the combined forces of Chu and Zheng all reached the point of exhaustion and were unable to fight again, and the casualties of the soldiers were very heavy.

When the night completely fell, because there was no moonlight (the day was the end of the month), the two sides could not fight again, the commanders of both sides, Jin Li Gong and Chu Gongwang, only then did they not want to give their respective orders, ordering the army to withdraw from the battlefield, withdraw to their own camp for a short rest, and wait for tomorrow after dawn, and then start the war.

However, after returning to the camp after the truce, the commander-in-chief of the Chuzhong Army, Sima Zi, performed his duties, sent a large number of military officials, medical officers, and logistics personnel to treat the wounded overnight, repair the damaged chariots, reorganize the disorganized soldiers who were disorganized due to excessive combat attrition, and feed the horses that had been fighting for a day.

On the Jin army's side, after the Jin Li Gong ordered a truce, he also seized the time to hold an emergency military meeting with the generals of the Jin State to prepare for the next day's battle. At that time, Luan Shujuan, the general of the Jin Central Army, asked the Duke of Jin Li to order that the Chu prisoners of war captured during the day be placed near the elite troops of the Jin army, which had been prepared for a long time, and then let the Jin soldiers speak loudly and pretend to 'discuss' the preparations for tomorrow's war;

When the king of Chu Gong received the "military information" that the prisoners of war of the Chu army who ran back reported to him that "the elite combat strength of the Jin army is high and will continue to launch a fierce attack tomorrow", the worried king of Chu Gong immediately sent people to summon the main generals of the three armies, such as Zizhong, Zianti, and Zixi, to come together to discuss countermeasures.

Coincidentally, at this time, Sima Zi began to fall asleep because he had already drunk, and when the envoy of the king of Chu Gong came to pass on Zi to go to the camp to discuss military affairs, Zi Zi was anti-Semitic and fell asleep soundly, and he couldn't wake up no matter how he shouted; In desperation, the envoy could only quickly return to the big tent and report the matter to the king of Chu Gong.

Originally, he wanted to convene an emergency military meeting to discuss how to deal with the attack of the Jin army tomorrow, but Sima Zi, as the commander of the Chinese army, was absent from the meeting due to drunkenness, resulting in the miscarriage of the military meeting. Faced with this unfavorable sign, the king of Chu Gong thought that this battle was not helped by Haotian, and the gods were going to let the Chu State suffer defeat, and he couldn't wait here any longer!

Therefore, the king of Chu Gong immediately made a decision, and before the Chu army suffered a heavy defeat, he immediately changed his plan to continue the battle with the Jin army, and ordered the whole army to immediately withdraw its camp and withdraw its troops back to China overnight, so as to avoid the aggressive offensive momentum of the Jin army.

The retreat of the Chu army was swift and covert, without alarming the Jin army on the opposite side; It wasn't until the early morning of the next day, when the Jin army was ready to go out into battle and opened the door to line up, that they were stunned to find that the Chu army on the opposite side had already retreated overnight, and even the original garrison camp was empty.

After learning the news that the Chu army had withdrawn, the surprised Jinzhong army general Luan Shu hurriedly reported to Jin Li Gong who had not been up for a long time, saying that the Chu army had somehow withdrawn; At first, Jin Ligong was still suspicious and did not dare to relax his vigilance, thinking that this was a suspicious plan deliberately used by the Chu State to lure the Jin army into being deceived; So, Duke Jin Li asked Luan Shu, Shi Xie, Xun Qian, Xun Yan and others to send military spies to distinguish the authenticity from the vicinity of the Chu army camp.

After the scouts who went out to investigate confirmed that the Chu army had really taken the initiative to break away from contact with the Jin army this time and had withdrawn from the army and returned to China, the nervous Jin Li Gong was overjoyed and immediately ordered Luan Shu to send troops to occupy the Chu army's camp; Subsequently, the prince of Jin Li led the main force of the Jin army to the camp of the Chu army, and also collected all the grain that the Chu army had no time to take away when retreating as his own spoils, and let the soldiers dig stoves in the Chu camp to make fires and eat the military rations left by the Chu army for three consecutive days, so as to celebrate the final and comprehensive victory of the battle against Chu.

And with the initiative of the king of Chu Gong to withdraw his troops, and the 'great food of Chu Su' of Duke Li of Jin, the last field battle between Jin and Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period - the 'Battle of Yanling', came to an inexplicable and unfinished conclusion.