【懸崖勒馬】
【 懸崖勒馬 】 [ reining in the horse at the edge of the cliff ] This phrase comes from the Yuan Dynasty play * 智勇定齊 * by Zheng Guangzu( 鄭光祖 ). In the third act, the protagonist, Zhongli Chun, sets up a complex " Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams "( 九宮八卦 ) formation, instructing her subordinate , Heyanhu( 合眼虎 ), to feign defeat and lure the Qin general Sun Cao( 孫操 ) into the trap . After Sun Cao is captured , Zhongli Chun( 鍾離春 ) mocks him for failing to recognize her trap, recklessly pursuing the feigning defeat and thus entering a perilous situation . She compares it to a boat reaching the middle of a river before patching leaks, or a horse reining in at the edge of a precipice —too late. Now, trapped in the formation, there is no turning back ! The phrase " pulling back from the edge of the precipice " means "to rein in one's horse at the edge of a cliff . "( 懸崖 ) ...
