Idiom Explanation:
Ride a laboring horse to great deeds, refers to the establishment of battle success in the battlefield. Now it mostly describes hard work to make contributions.
Pronunciation:
汗马功劳
hàn mǎ gōng láo
Origin:
战国·韩非《韩非子·五蠹》：弃私家之事，而必汗马之劳。家困而上弗论则穷矣。
Story:
Xiao Xiangguo, or Xiao He, was the first minister who assisted Liu Bang to become the emperor. After Liu Bang pacified the world, he rewarded his ministers according to their merits. He considered Xiao He to be the most meritorious, so he made him the Marquis of 100 families and gave him a generous salary. However, other officials did not think Xiao He’s merits were enough to be rewarded with a marquis and they protested to Liu Bang, “We have followed you to the battlefield and died. Some of us have fought more than a hundred times, and some of us have fought a few dozen battles. We can say that we are highly meritorious and hardworking as we have attacked the cities and killed countless enemies. But what about Xiao He? He only held a pen and ink empty speech, never personally participated in the battle, which has ‘sweat and horse labor’ can be said. But he was rewarded above us, why?”
Liu Bang explained, “You all know about hunting, right?” The generals said with one voice, “Yes.”
Liu Bang said, “Then you know about hunting dogs, right?” The generals nodded, but they could not guess what Liu Bang was selling in his gourd.
Liu Bang went on to say, “When hunting, the hounds are responsible for hunting down the prey, and they act according to the hunter’s instructions. You guys, it’s true that you have merit in attacking the city, but you are just merit dogs. Xiao He, who is the hunter who gives instructions to the hunting dogs, is the meritorious man. And you are mostly single to follow me, there are two or three people of the same clan even rare, but Xiao He called the entire family of dozens of men have joined my team, follow me together to contribute. His merits should not be forgotten! So I will give him a heavier reward than what I gave you.”
When the “merit dogs” heard Liu Bang’s speech, they had nothing to say. They had to resign themselves to Xiao He, the “meritorious man”, and stopped arguing.
Similar Idioms:
- 丰功伟绩
- 劳苦功高
