Toward the end of his more than 40-year-long reign, however, Duke Huan's power began to decline as he grew ill and the Qi state came to be embroiled in factional strife.

Prince Jiu, by then also in exile, managed to gain the support of several high-ranking officials in Qi, his tutor Guan Zhong and Duke Zhuang of Lu.

Bao Shuya asked his newly crowned ruler to not just spare Guan Zhong, but to even employ him as chief minister due to his great talents.

[3] Eventually Duke Huan invited the rulers of Lu, Song, Chen, and Zheng to a conference in 667 BC, where they elected him as their leader.

After hearing of this, King Hui of Zhou appointed Duke Huan hegemon (ba) with the authority to operate militarily in the name of the royal court.

Duke Huan and Guan Zhong envisioned the office of "hegemon" not just as mere position of military power, but rather as one that was supposed to "restore the authority of the Son of Heaven" or, more practically, restabilize the old realm of the Zhou dynasty under the leadership of Qi.

[4] Consequently, Duke Huan intervened in matters that concerned the interstate relationships of the Zhou polities, both on behalf of King Hui as well as to assert his own position as hegemon.

Historian Cho-yun Hsu summarizes that Duke Huan "used his Ba [hegemon] leadership to set up a new order for an interstate community that was to be guarded by consensus rather than authority.

The last major anti-Chu military alliance assembled by Duke Huan failed to stop this development, and was even defeated during the Battle of Loulin in 645 BC.

Having grown ill, Duke Huan was increasingly ignored by the leaders of other states, and even his authority over Qi itself declined as various political factions began to vie for power.

These six, namely Zhao, Wukui, Pan, Shangren, Yuan, and Yong, were all the children of different concubines, as Duke Huan's three main wives bore him no sons.

Though Qi's ruler had designated Prince Zhao as his heir and even charged Duke Xiang of Song with ensuring that he would ascend the throne, this did not stop the other five from plotting their own rise to power.