《擒贼擒王》出处、故事、英文翻译、注释

23.擒贼擒王

Qín zéi qín wáng

【出处】《三十六计》第十八计：摧其坚^[1]，夺其魁^[2]，以解其体^[3]；龙战于野^[4]，其道穷也。唐代杜甫《前出塞》：“射人先射马，擒贼先擒王。” 清代李伯元《文明小史》：“所谓擒贼擒王，这就是办事的诀窍。”

【成语故事】唐朝安史之乱年间，安禄山的军事实力日益强大，打一次仗就胜一次，使得他气焰越来越嚣张。有一次，安禄山派其手下将领尹子奇率领十万人去进攻睢阳。当时，唐朝御史张巡负责驻守睢阳，他看到敌军来势这么凶猛，心想无论如何也要守住这个城。当时，敌兵总共攻城二十多次，但都被张巡的军队给击退了。尹子奇看手下的士兵这么疲惫，只好先收兵。晚上，正当军队刚刚准备休息时，忽然听到城头上响起了隆隆的鼓声，尹子奇连忙命令军队准备和冲出城来的唐军展开战斗。但张巡“只是干打雷偏不下雨”，他们时不时地敲鼓，好像要杀出城来，但城门却一直紧闭。尹子奇的军队被唐军折腾了整整一个晚上，一下也没有休息，便都倒在地上呼呼大睡起来。这时，城中又一声炮响，突然之间，张巡率领守兵冲杀出来，敌兵从梦中惊醒，乱作一团。张巡一鼓作气，接连杀了五十多名敌军的将领，顿时，敌军大乱。然后，张巡又命令手下拿下尹子奇。但是，张巡从没有见过尹子奇，敌军那么多人，哪一个才是尹子奇呢？现在他混在乱军之中，更是难以辨认了。于是，张巡想到了一个办法：他让士兵们用秸秆削尖用做箭，射向敌军。敌军中不少人中箭，他们以为这下完了，没有命了。但是发现，自己中的是秸秆箭，心中大喜，以为张巡军中已经没有箭了。他们争先恐后地向尹子奇报告这个好消息。张巡见状，立刻辨认出了哪个是尹子奇，马上命令神箭手南霁云向尹子奇放箭。尹于奇左眼被射中，鲜血淋漓，仓皇逃走。敌军一片混乱，大败而逃。

【寓意】该成语原意是指在两军对垒遭遇强敌时，制造声势使敌人紧张，造成敌人体力上的消耗和精神上的麻痹，然后突然出击，擒获或者击毙敌人的主帅，使其失去指挥能力而溃散自败。现喻指在解决问题时抓住关键，解决主要矛盾，使得问题迎刃而解。

擒贼擒王
To Defeat the Enemy by Capturing the Ringleader First

23.To Defeat the Enemy by Capturing the Ringleader First

【Idiomatic Story】In the years of An-Shi Rebellion wars of the Tang Dynasty，AN Lu-shan became increasingly powerful in the military strength.He won the battles one after another and thus it led to the growth of his arrogance.Once AN Lu-shan ordered his subordinate officer YING Zi-qi to attack Sui-yang with a troop of about 100，000 men.At that time，Sui-yang was under the guard of ZHANG Xun，the general of the Tang Empire.Facing the knockdown-and-dragout attack of the enemy，ZHANG Xun made up his mind to maintain the city of Sui-yang.

YING Zi-qi had organized more than twenty attacks onto the Sui-yang city，but he was beaten back by ZHANG Xun.YING Zi-qi had to withdraw his troops because he found his soldiers were almost exhausted.At that night，there suddenly came the aggregative drumming sounds from the city of Sui-yang when YING Zi-qi and his troops prepared to rest.YING Zi-qi immediately ordered his troops to make preparation for meeting the enemy.However，they found ZHANG Xun and his garrison troops did not rush out of the city，but the aggregative drumming sounds could be heard now and then.It seemed a sudden charge would be done but the city gate kept closed.

YING Zi-qi and his troops were troubled by the aggregative drumming all night long without any relaxation.Many soldiers could not help felling asleep on the ground.Suddenly there came the sound of a Cannon，ZHANG Xun commanded his soldiers charged out from the city for the camps of the enemy.The soldiers of YING Zi-qi were shocked awake and the whole camp became confused in a short time.ZHANG Xun killed about 50 generals and officers successively.The enemy became disordered.ZHANG Xun ordered to capture the commander YING Zi-qi alive，but they had not seen YING Zi-qi before.How could they found YING Zi-qi? An idea came to ZHANG Xun.He ordered his men to make arrows with the sharpened straws，and shot them onto the enemy soldiers.When the enemy soldiers found they were not hurt by the straw arrows，they became excited because they thought the troops of ZHANG Xun must have run out of arrows.So they were eagerly to report YING Zi-qi about the news.ZHANG Xun soon detected and spotted the commander YING Zi-qi through this way.He ordered his sharpshooter named NAN Ji-yun to shoot at YING Zi-qi，and YING Zi-qi was hit on his left eye.Startled into a panic，YING Zi-qi escaped from the disordered situation.The enemy were completely defeated and scattered in all directions.

【Implied Meaning】It originally means to make an impressive display of power or tense atmosphere in order to consume the physical energy of the enemy and to make them off guard，then launch a raid to capture or kill the ringleader for producing the disorder and leading to the final failure of the enemy.Now it is used to refer to grasping the essential and key factors of the problem to make it solved easily.

【注释】

[1]坚：牢固结实的事物或者强大的核心力量。

[2]魁：核心场所或者组织的首领。

[3]体：机构或者组织结构。

[4]龙战于野：让猛龙脱离水而去陆地山野进行战斗，其威猛、强势的力量将难以施展。