Participants in the Occupy movement are struggling to convince themselves that they have achieved “something” as the tents are dismantled and the brollies put away. The government’s strategy of doing little and letting the movement implode seems to be working.
In 721BC, Zhouxu, of the state of Wei, murdered his older brother and usurped the lordship of Wei.
On the pretext of avenging a previous slight, Zhouxu got the states of Song, Lu, Chen and Cai to form a military alliance against Zheng. There was panic in Zheng, but the shrewd lord of the state read the situation well.
The states of Lu, Chen and Cai didn’t have a bone to pick with Zheng and were united only because of Wei’s bribes. They would be bystanders in the fight.
The lord of Song, however, wanted to capture a claimant to his duchy who was seeking refuge in Zheng. If the state of Zheng removed that claimant to another state, the Song troops would be diverted in pursuit of that claimant.