《调虎离山》出处、故事、英文翻译、注释

8.调虎离山

diào hǔ lí shān

【出处】《三十六计》第十五计：待天以困之，用人以诱之，往蹇来返。明代许仲琳《封神演义》第八十八回：“子牙公须是亲自用调虎离山计，一战成功。”

【成语故事】东汉末年，群雄并起，各据一方。当时，势力强大、野心勃勃的刘勋占据着卢江地区。而另一军阀孙策则准备攻占这块地方。刘勋有一致命的弱点，那就是贪财。针对他的这个弱点，孙策派人给他送了一份厚礼，并在信中把他大大吹捧了一番。信中说刘勋的功名令人仰慕，并表示自己想和刘勋成为好朋友。另外，孙策还以弱者的身份向刘勋求救，说自己的军队力量弱，不能远征，请求刘勋发兵征服正在侵略他们的上缭军队。刘勋看孙策如此努力讨好他，非常得意。他仔细一想，上缭是个十分富裕的地方，他很早就想夺取该地了，现在看到孙策软弱无能，自己免去了后顾之忧，于是决定向上缭发兵。当时，刘勋手下有个叫刘晔的部将极力劝阻他不要中了孙策的圈套，但是刘勋哪里听得进去？而此时，孙策早就时刻监视着刘勋的行动，他看到刘勋亲自率领几万兵马去攻打上缭，心想卢江城内兵力肯定十分空虚，于是对手下们说：“老虎已被我调出山了，我们赶快去占据它的老窝吧！”于是，他立即率领人马，袭击卢江，几乎没有遇到顽强抵抗，就顺利控制了卢江。

【寓意】该成语原意是指设法让威猛的老虎离开它居留的山冈老窝，以便安全行事而不受老虎的威胁与干扰。现常常用来喻指用计谋诱使敌人或者对手离开其势力雄厚的基地，以便乘机行事，达到自己预期的目的。

调虎离山
To Entice the Enemy Away from the Base

8.To Entice the Enemy Away from the Base

【Idiomatic Story】 During the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty，the warlords began to claimed their own domains or competed for spheres of influence one after another.At that time，LIU Xun had occupied the area of Lujiang and became one of the most prosperous and powerful warlords.Another powerful warlord SUN Ce also wanted to have Lujiang as his own domain.LIU Xun was a mammonist.He was so avaricious to material wealth that it was regarded as his weak point.Knowing about that，SUN Ce prepared a lavish gift for LIU Xun and sent someone to deliver the gift to LIU Xun with a letter attached to it.In the letter，SUN Ce highly commended LIU Xun about his achievements and fame earned in flattery words，and wanted to make good friends with him under full respect and admiration.SUN Ce also illustrated his smallness and weakness in the letter and asked LIU Xun for help to resist the invading troops of Shangliao Tribe.

LIU Xun was flattered to be confident by SUN Ce.He thought Shangliao was a rich place and it was also his dream to capture Shangliao Tribe.As SUN Ce was powerless enough to pose no threat to him.So he decided to send troops to attack the Shangliao Tribe.One of the subordinate officers named LIU Ye told LIU Xun that it might be a trap pre-designed by SUN Ce and tried to dissuade LIU Xun from walking into the trap，but LIU Xun completely ignored LIU Ye's suggestion.

SUN Ce was on the watch for LIU Xun's actions at moments.When he detected that LIU Xun himself had led thousands of his soldiers marching on for Shangliao，he thought the defense of Lujiang must have become weak.So he told his soldiers，“We have successfully tempted the tiger to leave its lair，it's time for us to take it up.Go!”Within expectation，SUN Ce and his troops met weak resistance，and they finally occupied Lujiang with little efforts.

【Implied Meaning】It originally means to lure the mighty tiger out of its lair for the safety in actions.Now it often used refer to enticing the enemy or opponent to leave his powerful base for the convenient actions to achieve the expected effect.