State relocation

Due to the instability during the rule of King You of Zhou, Duke Huan of Zheng consulted Taishi Bo (太史伯) on his opinions on state relocation. Duke Huan expressed that he wished to move the country to the west or to the Yangtze River Basin. Taishi Bo indicated that establishing a country in the west would not last long since the people of the west were avaricious and greedy, and that establishing a country in the Yangtze River Basin would be unfavourable for the country since the state of Chu was expanding in the south. In the end, Duke Huan listened to the advice of Taishi Bo and moved the country to the east of Luoyang, south of the Yellow River and the Ji River (濟水), and named it New Zheng (新鄭).

After relocating the country, other nearby states such as the state of Kuai (鄶) and Guo offered Duke Huan ten cities, which were incorporated into the land of his country.

Death

In 771 BC, the 45th of his reign, the Quanrong attacked the Zhou capital Haojing and killed both King You of Zhou and Duke Huan of Zheng. His son, Juetu (掘突) assumed the throne as Duke Wu of Zheng.

遷國

周幽王時期，周朝局勢不穩定。鄭桓公詢問周太史伯有關遷國的意見。

鄭桓公表示欲把封國遷至西方或長江流域，太史伯指西方的人民性格貪婪，在那裏立國難以長久；又指楚國將於南方興起，遷至長江附近會使國家處於不利之地。最後桓公聽從太史的建議，把國家遷到洛陽以東、黃河和濟水以南的土地，稱為新鄭。

一般說法，鄭桓公以財物向虢、鄶等國買得了十個邑作為新鄭國的領土。

被殺

前771年，犬戎攻陷鎬京，殺周幽王，鄭桓公因勤王被殺。其子掘突繼位，是為鄭武公。