A taste of courage(cháng dǎn wò xīn)

A taste of courage

It is used to describe people's hard work and self-reliance. It is also known as "suffering from hardships and suffering from hardships".

Explanation of words

Explanation: firewood. Sleep on firewood, eat and sleep with a taste of gall. To describe a person's hard work and self motivation. It's from Sima Qian's "historical records · the family of Goujian king of Yue" in the Western Han Dynasty: "the king of Yue's rebellion against the country was painstakingly thinking about it. He had the courage to sit down. When he sat down, he looked up at it and tasted it." For example, I am a humble official with a poor diet. I have the spirit of gathering wisdom, and I have to rest on my laurels. I have the material resources of the six states. I am afraid that I will not be able to save anything. (Shi Kefa's book of asking for thieves in Ming Dynasty). I'm willing to work hard, and I'm willing to work together. I'll take my blood as an oath. The story of yuytterbium terrace, the flowing tears in the new pavilion by Zhu Ding in Ming Dynasty

Word allusion

In 497 B.C., the two countries fought in Fujiao, and the state of Wu won a great victory. Gou Jian, king of Yue, was forced to retire to Kuaiji. The king of Wu sent troops to pursue Gou Jian and besieged him on Kuaiji mountain. The situation was very critical. At this time, Gou Jian listened to the doctor's advice, prepared some gold and silver treasures and some beautiful women, sent someone to secretly send them to Wu taizai, and through the taizai, he pleaded with the king of Wu, who finally agreed to the peace of Yue King Gou Jian. But Wu Zixu of the state of Wu thought that he could not make peace with the state of Yue, otherwise it would be like letting the tiger go back to the mountain, but the king of Wu would not listen. After King Gou Jian surrendered, he and his wife went to the state of Wu. They lived in the stone house next to Fu Chai's father's tomb to guard the tomb and raise horses. Every time Fu Chai travels, Gou Jian always follows respectfully with a whip. Later, King Wu Fu Chai was ill. To show his loyalty to Fu Chai, Gou Jian went to taste Fu Chai's stool in order to judge the date of his recovery. The date of Fu Chai's recovery coincided with Gou Jian's prediction. Fu Chai thought that Gou Jian was loyal to him, so he put them back to Yue. After he returned to China, Gou Jian, king of Yue, was determined to avenge himself. In order not to forget the national humiliation, he sleeps on firewood, and there is gall hanging on the place where he sits, which means he does not forget the national humiliation and hardship. After ten years of accumulation, Yue finally turned from a weak country into a powerful country, and finally defeated Wu. King Wu was ashamed and committed suicide.

source

From Wang Goujian's family in historical records

Textual research on history

The story of Gou Jian's conquering Wu has been spreading all the time. However, some people ask: is there really such a thing as "lying on salary and tasting courage" in history? In the history of the two kings of "Dinggong" and "aigong" in Zuozhuan, there are a lot of records about the state affairs of King Gou Jian of Yue, but there is no mention about his conquering Wu. In Guoyu, Wu Yu and Yue Yu record it The struggle between Wu and Yue was not narrated by Gou Jian. In historical records, the family of Goujian, the king of Yue, only records that Goujian could see the gall hanging in front of his bed, and he could see it sitting and lying down, and he could taste the gall when he ate. Sima Qian believed that Gou Jian had tasted courage, but he didn't mention lying salary. When did the idiom "sleeping on fuel and tasting gall" appear? Su Shi, a litterateur of the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote an essay "imitating Sun Quan to answer Cao Cao's book". Su Shi of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote a virtual letter to Cao Cao for Sun Quan of the Three Kingdoms. In the letter, Su Shi used his imagination and joked about Sun Quan's "lying on fuel and tasting gall". This is nothing to do with Gou Jian. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Lu Zuqian talked about the Wu King Fu Chai's "eating gall on the back of a firewood" in Zuo's legend. Zhang Pu of the Ming Dynasty said in the spring and Autumn Annals of the kingdoms that the husband's position was to avenge his father's revenge, and he encouraged himself by lying down on fuel and tasting courage. This kind of view raises Fu Chai, does not have Gou Jian what matter. However, the books of the Southern Song Dynasty repeatedly mentioned that King Gou Jian of Yue lived on the grass and tasted the gall, and Liang Yu's play huanxisha in the late Ming Dynasty also played up the heroic deeds of Gou Jian. In his historical novels, Feng Menglong, a writer in the late Ming Dynasty, also mentioned the story of Gou Jian's suffering from hardships many times. In the spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue, the biography of Gou Jian's return to his country records that after his return to his country, Wang honed his body and mind and worked hard day and night. At the time of extreme difficulty, "attacking Polygonum". Polygonum is a very bitter dish. If there are too many Polygonum vegetables, it means Polygonum salary. When Gou Jian was sleepy, he used bitter herbs to stimulate his eyes and nose to dispel drowsiness. "Taste the gall" is the bitter taste of mouth and body, "lie salary" is "lie eyes attack with Polygonum salary", don't let eyes close to sleep. It is a misunderstanding of the spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue that later generations say "lying down on firewood".

Chinese PinYin : cháng dǎn wò xīn