Pull the Firewood from Under the Cauldron

Dōnghàn mònián, tiānxià dàluàn, qúnxióng-bìngqǐ, qízhōng shìlì zuì dà de, shì chūshēn gāomén de Yuán Shào.

At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty the realm was in chaos and warlords rose everywhere; the most powerful of them was Yuan Shao, born to a noble house.

Jiàn'ān wǔ nián, Yuán Shào shuàilǐng shí wàn dàjūn nánxià, yǔ Cáo Cāo zài Guāndù gé hé duìzhì, yì chǎng juédìng běifāng guīshǔ de dàzhàn yíchù-jífā.

In the fifth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao led a hundred thousand troops south to face Cao Cao across the river at Guandu, where a battle for the north was about to erupt.

Yuán Shào bīng duō liáng zú, ér Cáo Cāo bīng shǎo liáng quē, shuāngfāng xiāngchí rìjiǔ, Cáojūn liángcǎo jiāng jìn, xíngshì wànfēn wēijí.

Yuan Shao had more men and ample grain, while Cao Cao was short on both; as the stalemate dragged on, Cao's supplies neared exhaustion and his situation grew desperate.

Jiù zài Cáo Cāo jīhū yào chèjūn zhī jì, yuánlái Yuán Shào de móushì Xǔ Yōu yīn bù shòu zhòngyòng, fèn'ér qiánlái tóubèn, bìng tòulù le yí ge guānjiàn qíngbào.

Just as Cao Cao was about to withdraw, it turned out that Yuan Shao's adviser Xu You — feeling underappreciated — had angrily defected to his side and revealed a crucial piece of intelligence.

Xǔ Yōu gàosù Cáo Cāo, Yuán Shào bǎ quánjūn shàng wàn chē liángcǎo túnjī zài Wūcháo dàyíng, shǒubèi què shífēn sōngxiè.

Xu You told Cao Cao that Yuan Shao had stored tens of thousands of carts of grain at the Wuchao camp, yet its defenses were dangerously lax.

Cáo Cāo dāngjī-lìduàn, qīnzì shuàilǐng wǔ qiān jīngruì qíbīng, dǎ zhe Yuánjūn de qíhào liányè bēnxí Wūcháo.

Acting at once, Cao Cao personally led five thousand elite cavalry, marching under Yuan's own banners on a night raid against Wuchao.

Dàodá Wūcháo hòu, Cáojūn sìchù fànghuǒ, huǒguāng chōngtiān, shǒujūn cóng shuìmèng zhōng jīngxǐng, cānghuáng yìngzhàn, què yǐ wúlì-huítiān.

Reaching Wuchao, Cao's men set fires everywhere; flames lit the sky, and the defenders, roused from sleep, scrambled to fight back far too late.

Yíyè zhījiān, Yuán Shào làiyǐ zhīchēng dàjūn de liángcǎo bèi shāo de jīngguāng, zhè zhèng shì “Fǔdǐ-chōuxīn” de zhìmìng yí jī.

Over the course of one night, the grain that sustained Yuan Shao's entire army burned to ashes — the very mortal blow of “pulling the firewood from under the cauldron.”

Liángcǎo yí duàn, Yuánjūn jūnxīn dàluàn, fēnfēn kuìsàn, Zhāng Hé děng dàjiàng yě línzhèn-dǎogē, Yuán Shào zhǐ dài shǎoshù qīnsuí lángbèi táohuí Héběi.

With the grain gone, Yuan's army lost heart and scattered; generals like Zhang He even defected on the spot, and Yuan Shao fled back north with only a handful of attendants.

“Fǔdǐ-chōuxīn” de yàoyì, biàn shì bù zài guō shàng yǔ fèishuǐ yìng pèng, ér shì chōu qù guō dǐ de cháihuǒ, ràng zhěng guō shuǐ cónghcǐ zài yě shāo bù kāi.

The essence of “pulling the firewood from under the cauldron” is not to wrestle with the boiling water on top, but to remove the firewood beneath, so the whole pot can never boil again.

Shēnghuó lǐ yě shì rúcǐ: yǔqí měitiān kào kāfēi yìngchēng áoyè, bùrú gāncuì tiáozhěng zuòxī, cóng gēnyuán shàng xiāochú píbèi.

The same is true in daily life: rather than forcing yourself through late nights with coffee, it is better to fix your routine and remove the fatigue at its source.

Tā de zhìhuì zàiyú: zhìbiāo bùrú zhìběn, zhǎodào wèntí làiyǐ cúnzài de gēn, yí jī báchú, cái néng yìláo-yǒngyì.

Its wisdom: treating symptoms is never as good as treating the cause — find the root that keeps a problem alive, pull it out in one stroke, and you settle matters once and for all.