While the war between Wu State and Chu State was underway, Jin State began preparing to claim hegemony. Chong'er chose this moment because, in the first month, the Son of Heaven of Zhou had performed a divination and received the omen, "Great good fortune, harmony."
It was a good year, yet reality plainly fell far short of that.
Wu State, the rising hegemon of the southeast, and Chu State, the established hegemon of the south, fought everywhere across the Yangtze-Huai basin, upon the Great River, and over the Hanyang Plain.
The two states had been locked in a struggle since the Battle of Yanling. This was a continuation of the great war more than a decade earlier, only this time it was exceptionally brutal.
Across a territory spanning more than a thousand li, most of the Fang States and tribes had been dragged into it. Even the Barbarian tribes could not escape the whirlpool of war.
They could either join this great melee or lead their tribes farther south into the hundred thousand mountains.
But to the lords of the Central Plains, these matters were far too distant. What concerned them most was that, after his crushing defeat at the Battle of Yi-Luo, Marquis Chong'er of Jin had once again embarked on his path toward convening alliances and becoming Hegemon.
After so many years of recuperation, Jin State's strength had largely recovered. But the influence of the Truce Alliance constrained it-Luo State had to be shown respect, after all-so Jin State now chiefly pursued the path of winning others over through virtue.
Chong'er was, after all, still a Regional Earl invested by the Son of Heaven. With most of its strength restored, Jin State remained the strongest state under heaven, so Luo Yan chose to give him his full support