Douluo: The Lower Realm of the Children of the King of God and the Lord God

Chapter 42: The origin of the idiom "shut away"

"Retreat three homes" refers to the fact that during the Spring and Autumn Period, when Jin Wengong Chong'er was in exile in Chu State, in order to thank the king of Chu for his kindness, he made a promise that if the two countries clashed on the battlefield in the future, Jin would retreat three homes.Later, Chong'er returned to Jin to inherit the throne, and a war really broke out between Jin and Chu. But Jin Wengong fulfilled his original promise, and the Jin army retreated ninety miles. In the end, Jin defeated the Chu army in Chengpu. In one fell swoop, he established the hegemony of Duke Wen of Jin.

The Exiled Prince's Promise

During the Spring and Autumn Period, civil strife broke out in the Jin State. Chong'er escaped from the Jin State and began his life in exile for nearly 20 years.Along the way, he went into exile in Zhai, Wei, Qi, Cao, Song, Zheng and other countries. Except for a few countries, most of the princes did not like this exiled prince of Jin.

Later, Chong'er came to the most powerful state of Chu at that time.Here he received a very grand reception. King Chu Cheng even treated Chong'er with the etiquette he treated the princes.This flattered Chong'er, who had been in exile for more than ten years at that time. At a banquet, King Chu Cheng half-joked and half-seriously asked how Chong'er would repay him if he returned to Jin to inherit the throne.Chong'er replied, "If one day, if we meet each other on the battlefield in the future, I will stay away from you." This is the origin of staying away.

At that time, Ziyu, the general of the Chu State, heard Chong'er's words. He thought that Chong'er's words were rude. We, the State of Chu, treated you so politely, but you were thinking about how to fight with us.So he asked King Chu Cheng to kill Chong'er, but King Chu Cheng refused.

Duke Wen of Jin fulfills his promise

In 636 BC, Chong'er, who had been in exile for nearly 20 years, returned to the Kingdom of Jin and ascended to the position of king. He was Duke Wen of Jin among the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period.After returning, Duke Wen of Jin worked hard to govern and followed Qi Huangong's old path of "respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians" to seek dominance in the Central Plains, which triggered a conflict with the Chu State.

Although Jin Wengong was very careful not to directly conflict with the Chu State, the small actions behind the scenes never stopped.Since both Jin and Chu aimed at the Central Plains, conflicts were inevitable.The two sides finally came to the point of fighting each other in 632 BC. Before the war, facing the aggressive Chu army, Duke Wen of Jin asked the Jin army to retreat ninety miles from Taoqiu on the pretext of fulfilling his promise (ancient march of three Ten miles is one house, so retreating three houses means retreating ninety miles).The Chu army, led by general Ziyu, continued to pursue him, and the two sides finally launched a decisive battle in Chengpu.

The Jin army, which was well-positioned in the city, first used its superior strength to defeat the right wing, which was mainly allies of the Chu state, and then showed weakness to lure the enemy to ambush the Chu army's left wing.With both wings defeated, the Chu army retreated from the battlefield in embarrassment under the leadership of general Ziyu, and the Jin army achieved a complete victory.This battle also established Jin Wengong's hegemony in one fell swoop. After the war, Jin Wengong did not take advantage of the victory to pursue the Chu army. Instead, he returned with his troops and made an alliance with the princes in Jiantu.

The strategy behind delivering on your promise

In the Battle of Chengpu, Duke Wen of Jin fulfilled his promise and took the initiative to retreat. On the surface, it was to repay the courtesy and kindness shown to him by the State of Chu and King Chu Cheng, but there were many plots hidden behind it.

Fulfilling the promise prevented Jin Wengong from falling into a moral trap.The battle between Jin and Chu is inevitable. If Jin Wengong ignores his promise and directly fights the Chu army in order to win, then the Jin state and the Jin army will fall into a moral trap.Although there were no righteous wars in the Spring and Autumn Period, Song Xianggong and Jin Wenggong, who believed in benevolence and righteousness, were still acquaintances, and it was King Chu Cheng himself who was competing with Song Xianggong for hegemony at that time.But it is obviously beneficial and harmless to have a rationale when doing things, especially when the strengths of both parties are relatively close.

Taking the initiative to retreat set a moral trap for the Chu army.The Jin army's active retreat maintained the reputation of Duke Wen of Jin for his loyalty, and at the same time, the retreat of the Jin army would not lower the morale of the Jin army, because it was a manifestation of loyalty and gratitude.The retreat of the Jin army set a trap for the Chu army. If the Chu army did not pursue it, the Jin and Chu armies would be tied. The retreat of the Jin army gained a good reputation for loyalty and maintained its previous loyalty. The diplomatic results achieved (the small countries that caused the war all turned to Jin, and the two powerful powers Qin and Qi also formed an alliance with Jin).If the Chu army continues to pursue, it will fall into the trap of "downward defeating the superior", because the Jin army has already retreated politely, and the Chu army will push forward if it pursues again. Moreover, according to the etiquette at that time, the king of Jin was on the battlefield in person, while the ministers of Chu led the troops. In the Jin State, the king gave courtesy to his ministers, and if the Chu army pursued them again, it was the ministers who pursued the king. This is the unreasonable saying of "the lower ones overcome the upper ones".

It can be seen from this that Duke Wen of Jin took the initiative to retreat and upheld the name of loyalty, while the Chu general Ziyu pursued him, which was to suppress the superior and not to be moral.In this way, Duke Wen of Jin's retreat allowed Jin to occupy the moral high ground in this war.

Battle and tactical level: The Jin army's retreat also had certain considerations from the battle and tactical level. The first step was to retreat proactively to avoid the Chu army's sharp edge, which made the Chu army underestimate the enemy, especially since the Chu army had been fighting for hegemony for many years. Hard to find an opponent.Secondly, taking the initiative to retreat is an established strategy. When retreating, a preset battlefield has been selected, so that the Jin army can wait for work and prepare for the battle.The Chu army, on the other hand, was led by the Jin army. The battlefield was pre-selected by the enemy and they were not familiar with the situation. As expected, they were ambushed.Moreover, underestimating the enemy caused the Chu army to respond slowly. After the allies with poor combat effectiveness were defeated, they did not provide timely support and instead attacked in the middle. As a result, they were defeated by the Jin army one by one, leading to a disastrous defeat.

(End of this chapter)