[1] In 597 BC, the third year of Duke Jing's rule, King Zhuang of Chu attacked the State of Zheng, then a Jin ally.
Duke Jing dispatched an army led by Xun Linfu (荀林父), Sui Hui (隨會), and Zhao Shuo (趙朔) to help Zheng.
Xun Linfu wanted to return to Jin, but general Xian Hu (先縠) persuaded him to attack Chu.
[1] Xian Hu, who was partly responsible for Jin's defeat at the Battle of Bi, escaped to the Red Di tribes for fear of punishment.
[2] Duke Jing's elder sister Bo Ji was the wife of Ying'er (嬰兒), the ruler of Lushi (潞氏), a major Red Di state.
In retaliation, general Xun Linfu attacked Lushi, conquering the state and capturing its ruler Ying'er.
In response, Duke Jing dispatched the Jin army led by generals Xi Ke, Shi Xie, Luan Shu, and Han Jue to help his allies.
[a] This vivid account has given rise to a chengyu (four-character classical idiom), 病入膏肓 ('the disease has entered the gaohuang'), used to describe an incurable illness, or more broadly, a situation beyond remediation.