When a person rides on the back of a tiger,
he cannot rush off the tiger's back.(騎虎難下)
There was a famous general in the Jin
Dynasty of China. His name was Tao Kan. There is a story about him in the
history books.
He made great contributions to the Eastern
Jin Dynasty and put down many rebellions during the dynasty.
In 327 AD, a general named Su Jun of the
Eastern Jin Dynasty started a military rebellion. In 328 AD, Su Jun's army
captured the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and many central government
officials fled the capital.
Tao Kan's son was serving as an officer in
the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty at the time. Tao Kan's son died fighting
the rebels.
Since Tao Kan was an old general who was
respected by everyone, a general named Wen Qiao, who had fled from the central
government, went to find Tao Kan. (Wen Qiao) said to Tao Kan
As long as you are willing to come out and
fight against the rebels led by (Su Jun), we will all obey your command and
believe that you can lead us to victory.
While you lead your army to the front, my
troops will be ready to provide reserve support for the war.
Tao Kan later agreed to this request.
When Tao Kan led the army under his control
to join forces with (Wen Qiao's) army to fight against (Su Jun's) army, Tao Kan
felt that (Wen Qiao) did not provide timely support in terms of military force
and food, so he angrily told Wen Qiao that he wanted to withdraw from this
joint military operation.
Wen Qiao said to Tao Kan.
You must not leave our team. This is a
critical moment when the Eastern Jin Dynasty is facing destruction. We must
unite to overcome this great crisis.
As long as we continue, I believe we will
win this game.
Our situation is extremely critical and
time is of the essence.
Our current situation is like a man riding
on the back of a tiger. We already have the advantage. We are attacking while
sitting on the tiger's back and we will soon kill this ferocious tiger.
We must not jump off this tiger's back now.
If we do not persist and jump off the tiger's back, we will be bitten to death
by the tiger immediately.
You are our most important leader. All our
officers and men believe in you and support your leadership. If you leave now,
the morale of all our officers and soldiers will collapse and we will
definitely fail immediately.
If we fail, how will all the people judge
you? I think all the people will blame you and lay the responsibility for the
defeat on your head.
After listening to (Wen Qiao's) words, Tao
Kan was silent for a few minutes. He finally decided to continue leading the
government forces against the rebels.
At the end of 328 AD, after many fierce
battles, the government army led by him finally won the victory.
The literal translation of this idiom is
that when a person rides on the back of a tiger, he cannot rush off the tiger's
back.
It is used to describe a person who is
forced by circumstances to do something and cannot stop, so he has to keep
doing it.
Dear friends, what inspiration or thoughts
do you have after listening to this story?
Have you ever had the experience of being
forced to do something? Have you ever been forced to do something that you had
to do?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
騎虎難下(When a person rides on the back of a
tiger, he cannot rush off the tiger's back.)
中國的晉王朝時代有一個著名的將軍，他的名字叫做陶侃，歷史書上記載了一個他的故事。
他對於東晉王朝有很大的貢獻，他曾經平定了東晉王朝中的很多場的叛亂。
西元327年，東晉王朝一個名字叫做(蘇峻)的將軍發動軍事叛變，西元328年，(蘇峻)的軍隊攻下東晉王朝的首都，中央政府中的許多官員們逃離首都。
陶侃的兒子那時候正在東晉王朝的首都擔任軍官，陶侃的兒子死在在這場對抗叛軍的戰役中。
由於陶侃是一個年紀很大而且很受到所有人都尊敬的將軍，因此從中央政府逃亡出來的一個名字叫做(溫嶠)的將軍就去找陶侃。
(溫嶠)對陶侃說。
只要你願意出來一起對抗(蘇峻)領導的叛軍，那麼我們所有人都聽從你的指揮，我們相信你可以帶領我們贏得勝利。
你帶領你的軍隊在前方作戰時，我的部隊會做好提供戰爭後備支援的行動。
陶侃後來答應了這個請求。
陶侃帶領自己所掌控的軍隊聯合(溫嶠)的軍隊一起對抗(蘇峻)的軍隊的過程中，陶侃認為(溫嶠)沒有及時的提供軍力與糧食的支援，所以他很生氣的對溫嶠說，他要退出這場聯合軍事行動。
溫嶠對陶侃說。
你千萬不能離開我們的團隊，現在是東晉王朝面臨滅亡的重要時刻，我們必須要團結在一起才可能戰勝這個巨大的危機。
只要我們再繼續堅持下去，我相信我們一定會贏得這場勝利。
我們現在的情況非常的危急而且時間非常的關鍵。
我們現在的情況就好像一個人騎在一隻老虎的背上，我們已經掌握了優勢，我們坐在老虎的背上發動攻擊，我們很快就會打死這隻兇惡的老虎。
我們現在千萬不能夠跳下這隻老虎的背，如果我們現在沒有堅持下去而跳下這隻老虎的背，我們一定會立刻被這隻老虎咬死。
你是我們最重要的領袖，我們所有的軍官與士兵們都相信你也都支持你的領導，如果你現在離開，我們所有的軍官與士兵地的鬥志都會潰散，那麼我們一定會立刻失敗。
如果我們失敗了，那麼所有的百姓們都會怎樣評論你呢，我認為所有的百姓都會指責你，並且把戰敗的責任歸到你的頭上。
陶侃聽完(溫嶠)的話後沉默了幾分鐘。他最後決定繼續帶領政府軍對抗叛軍。
西年328年的年底，在經過許多場激烈的對戰後，他所領導的政府軍最終贏得勝利。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思一個人騎在老虎的背上，這個人不能夠莽撞地離開老虎的背。
這句成語被用來形容一個人在做一件事情的時候，這個人被情勢所迫所以無法中止，這個人只好繼續做這件事。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你曾經有過這種被迫做一件事情的經驗呢?你是否曾經被迫做一件你不得不做的事情呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為太平御覽-卷462-人事部130-游說下
https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%A4%AA%E5%B9%B3%E5%BE%A1%E8%A6%BD/0462
出處為晉書-列傳37-溫嶠傳
https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=387097