It's easy to hide an open gun, but hard to defend a hidden one(míng qiāng yì duǒ，àn jiàn nán fáng)

It's easy to hide an open gun, but hard to defend a hidden one

It's easy to avoid a gun in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark. It means that an open attack is easy to deal with, while an insidious slander is hard to distinguish.

Idioms and allusions

[source]: Yuan Wumingshi's one horned ox: "boy, it's easy to hide a gun, but it's hard to defend a hidden arrow." This idiom story first appeared in the spring and Autumn period, when Zheng zhuanggong attacked the state of Xu, and his grandchildren shot Ying Kao Shu behind his back. In the spring and Autumn period, Zheng zhuanggong of the state of Zheng was supported by the states of Lu and Qi and planned to attack the state of Xu. Xu is a small country in Xuchang, Henan Province. The state of Zheng is to the north of the state of Xu. Xinzheng in Henan Province is its capital at that time.) this event is recorded in Zuo Zhuan, the eleventh year of Yin Gong. That summer, in May, Zheng zhuanggong inspected the troops in front of the palace and sent out chariots. Kao Shu, an old general, and gongsundu, a young general, quarreled over the battle for the chariot. Uncle Yingkao was a brave general. He refused to accept his old age, pulled up his chariot, turned around and ran. Gongsunzi always looked down on people, but of course he refused to give in. He pulled up his halberd and ran after them. When he caught up with the main road, uncle Ying Kao had already disappeared. Both grandsons and grandsons hold grudges. In the autumn, in July, Zheng zhuanggong officially ordered to attack the state of Xu. When Zheng army approached the capital of Xu state, yingkaoshu took the lead, killed countless enemies and climbed to the top of the city. Seeing that Yingkao uncle was about to make a great contribution, gongsunzi was even more jealous. He drew an arrow to aim at Yingkao uncle and saw that the brave old general fell down in a fight. Another general, xiashuying, thought yingkaoshu had been killed by Xu guobing, so he picked up the flag and directed the soldiers to continue fighting, and finally broke the city. Zheng Jun all entered the city, and Xu zhuanggong, the king of Xu state, fled to Wei state. The land of Xu was incorporated into the territory of Zheng.

Discrimination of words

It's easy to dodge an open gun, but hard to defend a hidden one. It's better to jump into the water and float out. It is easy to avoid in the open, but hard to defend in the dark

Chinese PinYin : míng qiāng yì duǒ，àn jiàn nán fáng