After I ride the war horse to the
battlefield, I will win quickly(馬到成功)
In China's Yuan Dynasty, there was a
mysterious playwright who wrote many plays. His name was Zheng Tingyu.
He wrote more than 23 plays, most of which
are lost.
Among his only five surviving plays, one is
based on a historical story between the Chu Kingdom and the Wu Kingdom in
China's Spring and Autumn Period.
The outline of the story in the second half
of the first act of the play is as follows.
In the Spring and Autumn Period of China,
the king of the Wu Kingdom had three swords. One day, the King of the Wu
Kingdom discovered that one of the three swords (Zhanlu) was missing.
After investigating, the King of Wu Kingdom
discovered that the sword was actually in the hands of the King of Chu Kingdom.
The King of Wu was very angry, so he wrote
a letter to the King of Chu asking him to return the sword.
The king of Chu Kingdom did not admit that
the sword was in his hand.
He was not willing to return the sword.
The King of Wu Kingdom made a decision
after calling a military meeting.
The King of Wu Kingdom said to a general
named Wu Zixu
I order you to lead an army of 400,000 men
to attack the Kingdom of Chu.
I will let the famous military strategist
who wrote Sun Tzu's Art of War be your military staff officer.
I have also asked a general who has fought
in many wars to be your deputy.
You must win this battle and take back the
sword that belongs to me from the hands of the King of Chu Kingdom.
Wu Zixu replied after hearing the king's
order.
I will definitely complete this task.
My father and brother were originally loyal
ministers of the Chu Kingdom. However, because the king of the Chu Kingdom was
very ignorant, he believed the lies of a very treacherous prime minister named
Fei Wuji of the Chu Kingdom.
He ordered my father and brother to be
killed.
Originally, I wanted to find a way to
avenge my father and brother, so I had a good understanding of the internal
military and political information of the Chu Kingdom.
You have given me this opportunity today,
and I will definitely take advantage of it.
I have made sufficient preparations, and I
believe that when I ride my horse into the battlefield, I will soon be
victorious.
A few days after receiving the order, Wu
Zixu set out with his army.
The king of the Chu Kingdom was in a state
of panic upon receiving this news, for he knew that the military strength of
the Chu Kingdom was no match for the 400,000-strong army of the Wu Kingdom.
So the king of the Chu Kingdom immediately
held an emergency session. After the meeting, he immediately sent an envoy to
the Qin Kingdom to ask for help.
The literal translation of this idiom is
that after I ride a war horse into the battlefield, I will soon win.
The idiom is used to describe a person who
completes a thing or task quickly and smoothly.
Dear friend, what inspirations or thoughts
do you have after listening to this story?
Have you ever held a grudge against
someone? Would you want revenge or have you already forgiven that person?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.