Two of the three surviving commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Zuo Zhuan and the Guliang Zhuan, describe the event that led to the battle as an insult that Xi Ke [zh], an emissary of Jin, suffered at the court of Qi in 592 BC,[1] but the two accounts differ on the nature of the insult.

[1][2] The Guliang Zhuan claims that the Duke of Qi insulted the emissaries of four visiting states (Jin, Wey, Lu, and Cao) by assigning each of them a servant who shared their respective physical defects.

They came to notify us: ‘That great domain had been day and night relieving its rancor in the territories of our humble settlements.’ Our unworthy ruler could not bear their distress and sent a group of his subjects to plead with your great domain, charging that we should not let our chariots and troops remain long in your territory.

The Duke of Qi, refusing to shoot him on the grounds of ritual propriety, shot the two men to the sides of Han Jue instead.

Then, the Duke of Qi, in an attempt to confuse the pursuers, switched places with Feng Choufu (逢丑父), his chariot's spearman who stood to his right while Han Jue bent over to adjust the corpse of his attendant to his right.

Han Jue captured who he thought was the Duke of Qi, but not before bowing to him twice and presenting to him a wine cup and a jade disk.

Feng Choufu then ordered the real Duke of Qi to fetch water from the Springs of Hua, allowing him to escape.

The Duke later found out that the woman was the wife of the "leader of fortifications," and granted her a settlement named Shiliu (石窌).

The Jin leaders demanded that Duke Qing of Qi send Xiao Tongshu Zi [zh], his mother and one of the women who laughed at Xi Ke during his prior visit, as hostage.

In regards to the demand of the hostage, Guo Zuo appealed to filial piety by saying, Xiao Tongshu Zi is none other than our unworthy ruler's mother.

If, as you lay your great command upon the princes, sir, you must make hostages of their mothers to secure a pledge, how can you answer to the Zhou king's charge?

[3]In regards to the demand of the land division, Guo Zuo appealed to loyalty to the Son of Heaven and to the examples of the sagacious rulers in prior history such as Yao and King Wen of Zhou.

On 4 July, 589 BC, the Jin representatives swore a covenant with Guo Zuo at Yuanlou (爰婁), with Qi ceding some land to the north of the Wen River to Lu.