《借刀杀人》出处、故事、英文翻译、注释

13.借刀杀人

jiè dāo shā rén

【出处】《三十六计》第三计：敌已明，友未定，引友杀敌，不出自力，以损推演。清代刘鹗《老残游记》第五回：“我当初恨他报案，毁了我两个弟兄，所以用个‘借刀杀人’的法子，让他家吃几个月官事，不怕不毁他一两千吊钱。”

【成语故事】战国时期，有一位著名的游说家名叫苏秦。他回到燕国后，年轻守寡的文夫人（也就是燕易王的母亲）偏偏看上了这位足智多谋的苏秦，后来，两人就开始私下密切交往。可是，苏秦很担心这件事最终会被燕王发觉，怕自己被燕王处死。于是，他决定到齐国去，只有离开了燕国，他才能真正摆脱文夫人。于是，有一天，他向燕王提出，自己要到齐国去行使反间计，报效燕国。燕王答应了，他便马上收拾好行李，匆匆地来到齐国。在齐国，苏秦受到了齐宣王、齐闵王的器重，但却引来了齐国一些大臣们的嫉妒，甚至有些大臣开始对他怀恨在心。有一次，齐闵王并没有采用苏秦的计谋，而是听从了孟尝君的建议，孟尝君的建议非常成功，因此孟尝君受到了齐闵王的器重。那些嫉恨苏秦的大臣们想，齐闵王从此以后应该不会再重用苏秦了吧，于是派了一个高手刺客在朝廷上刺杀苏秦。齐闵王当场下令捉拿凶手，但凶手早就已经逃走了。临死前，苏秦对齐闵王说：“大王，我不行了，但在我死之前，您能答应帮我做件事吗？在我死后，请你把我的头颅挂在城墙上，并对外宣称‘苏秦是为了燕国才来齐国实施反间计的，他死有余辜，杀他的人可以来朝廷领赏千两黄金’，到时，凶手肯定会来领赏的，到那时，您就把他当场抓住。”说完，苏秦就断了气。齐闵王按照苏秦说的去做了，凶手果然上当了，凶手被抓住后，齐闵王又审问出了杀苏秦的主谋，齐闵王一并把他们都杀了，以报答和感谢苏秦对齐国所作的贡献。在这个故事中，苏秦死后还“借”了齐闵王的手，为自己报了仇。

【寓意】该成语原意是指使用计谋让他人与自己的仇人结怨，从而利用他人的力量去除掉仇人，为自己报仇或者消除隐患和对手。现喻指在自己不出面的情况下，借助他人之力去伤害或除掉对手。

借刀杀人
To Get Rid of the Adversary by Others

13.To Get Rid of the Adversary by Others

【Idiomatic Story】During the Warring States period，there lived a famous lobbyist named SU Qin.He encountered the young widow Lady WEN^[1]after he returned to the Yan State.Lady WEN was much attracted by the masterminded SU Qin and fell in love with him.Afterwards，they began to meet secretly.However，SU Qin always worried to be detected by the king and to be punished to death at last.Therefore，he decided to leave the Yan State for the Qi State in order to break off relation with Lady WEN.One day，he told the King of the Yan State he was willing to go to the Qi State to sow discord among the officials in the Qi State.He was approved by the king soon.So he made preparation at once and left hurriedly for the Qi State.

SU Qin was much respected and appreciated for his talent by the King Xuan and King Min of in succession after he came to the Qi State.The king thought very high of him.However，he was much envied or even hated by some ministers and officials in the Qi State.One day，the king selected and adopted the proposal of MENG Chang-jun instead that of Su Qin.And the fact had proved that the proposal of MENG Chang-jun worked quite well.From then on，MENG Chang-jun was highly respected and valued by the king.Those ministers and officials who envied or even hated SU Qin thought that Su Qin would never be valued by the king.One day，they sent a professional assassin to kill SU Qin at the royal court.SU Qin was stabbed by the assassin and suffered serious injuries.The king ordered to catch the killer but the assassin had escaped.SU Qin was deadly wounded，and he knew he was dying，so he asked the king for a request in a very weak voice，“Your Majesty，I know I am dying.Can you give me a promise? After my death，please hang my head on the city wall and declare the news publicly that I came to the State Qi for sowing discord，and you will offer a reward with much money for the one who killed me.You can arrest the one who comes to get the reward.He must be the killer.” The king nodded for approval.After finishing these words，SU Qin died.

Within the consideration，the assassin was fooled to get the reward.He was arrested at once.The murderer confessed those masterminds who directed him behind the scene.The King of the Qi State finally killed those instigators with the murderer.In such a way，SU Qin had finally taken his revenge on the murderer by the hands of the King of the Qi State.

【Implied Meaning】 It originally means to make one's adversary become the enemy or adversary of others，and get rid of the adversary by others for the revenge or removing the obstacles of oneself.Now it is often used to refer to getting rid of the opponents by others without any efforts of himself as the front man.

【注释】

[1]Lady WEN：the mother of the King Yi of the Yan State.