Duke Zhuang's 28th Year
In the twenty-eighth year, in spring, on the jiayin day of the third month by the Zhou calendar, the people of Qi attacked Wei. The people of Wei met them in battle, and the army of Wei was heavily defeated.
In summer, on the dingwei day of the fourth month, Zhu Zi Suo died.
In autumn, Chu attacked Zheng. Duke Zhuang of Lu, together with the people of Qi and Song, went to rescue Zheng.
In winter, a walled settlement was built at Mei.
There was a severe crop failure of wheat and millet. Zang Sunchen went to Qi to request permission to purchase grain.
In the twenty-eighth year, in spring, the Marquis of Qi attacked Wei. They joined battle and defeated the army of Wei. On the mandate of the Son of Heaven, he enumerated the crimes of Wei, accepted valuables, and then withdrew his army.
Duke Xian of Jin took a wife from the state of Jia, but she bore no son. He then committed adultery with his father's concubine, Qi Jiang, who gave birth to the future wife of Duke Mu of Qin and the heir-apparent, Shensheng. He also took two women of the Rong tribes. The elder one, from the Rong lineage of Hu, bore Chong'er, and the younger one, from the Rong lineage of Zi, bore Yiwu. When Jin attacked the Li Rong, the Viscount of Li Rong presented Li Ji to Duke Xian of Jin. After taking her back, she bore Xiqi, and her younger sister bore Zhuoxi. Li Ji gained favor and wished to establish her own son as heir-apparent. She bribed the favored ministers of Duke Xian, Liang Wu and Dongguan Bi Wu, and had them say to the duke: "Quwo is where your ancestral temple is located. Pu and the two Qu are your important border territories. These places cannot be without someone in charge. If the temple city has no one in charge, the people will lose their reverence. If the borders have no one in charge, it will stir up the ambitions of the Rong. If the Rong develop ambitions and the people become negligent of governmental orders, this is a calamity for the state. If you cause the heir-apparent to oversee Quwo, and Chong'er and Yiwu to oversee Pu and Qu, then you can make the people reverent and the Rong fearful, and at the same time manifest your achievements." They also had them say together: "If the vast wastelands of the Di are made into a capital belonging to Jin, then is it not also fitting that Jin should expand its territory?" Duke Xian was very pleased. In summer, he had the heir-apparent reside in Quwo, Chong'er in Pu, and Yiwu in Qu. All the other sons were settled on the borders. Only Li Ji and her sister's sons remained in Jiang. Liang Wu and Dongguan Bi Wu ultimately joined with Li Ji in slandering the various sons, and thus Xiqi was established as heir-apparent. The people of Jin called them the "two fives working as a pair."
The prime minister of Chu, Zi Yuan, wished to seduce Lady Wen, the widow of King Wen of Chu. He built a lodge next to her palace and performed the wan dance there. When Lady Wen heard of this, she wept and said: "The former lord used this dance for the practice of military preparations. Now the prime minister does not employ it against our enemies but performs it beside me, the 'surviving one'—is this not strange?" The attendants reported her words to Zi Yuan. Zi Yuan said: "A woman does not forget to attack our enemies, and I have forgotten!" In autumn, Zi Yuan led six hundred chariots to attack Zheng. They entered the Jiedie Gate. Zi Yuan, Dou Yujiang, Dou Wu, and Gengzhi Bubi led the vanguard, while Dou Ban, Wangsun You, and Wangsun Xi brought up the rear. The chariots entered through the Chun Gate and reached the market on the main road. The hanging gate of Zheng was not lowered. The Chu army withdrew, speaking in the Chu dialect. Zi Yuan said: "Zheng has capable men!" The various lords came to rescue Zheng, and the Chu army fled during the night. The people of Zheng were preparing to flee to Tongqiu, but scouts reported: "There are crows on the Chu army's tents." So they stopped their flight.
In winter, there was a famine. Zang Sunchen went to Qi to request permission to purchase grain. This was in accordance with ritual.
The walled settlement was built at Mei because Mei was not a capital. Whenever a settlement has an ancestral temple and the spirit tablets of former lords, it is called a "capital"; without these, it is called a "settlement." The construction of a settlement is called "building," while the construction of a capital is called "walling."