春秋时期，郑国夹在晋国和楚国之间，晋楚争霸经常打击和拉拢郑国。一次，晋灵公召集小国开会，郑穆公没有去，晋灵公想出兵威胁，郑公子归生知道后给晋灵公写信劝止，说：“畏首畏尾，身其余几”，如果被逼无奈就投降楚国，两国和谈。
chun qiu shi qi, zheng guo jia zai jin guo he chu guo zhi jian, jin chu zheng ba jing chang da ji he la long zheng guo. yi ci, jin ling gong zhao ji xiao guo kai hui, zheng mu gong mei you qu, jin ling gong xiang chu bing wei xie, zheng gong zi gui sheng zhi dao hou gei jin ling gong xie xin quan zhi, shuo: "wei shou wei wei, shen yu qi ji", ru guo bei bi wu nai jiu tou xiang chu guo, liang guo he tan.