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如火如荼

春秋时代末期，吴国国王夫差连续征服了越国、鲁国和齐国，雄心勃勃，又继续向西北进军，打算一鼓作气征服晋国。

可正在这个时候，越王勾践抄了吴王的后路。他带领军队一直打到吴国的国都姑苏（苏州），又派人马占据淮河，把吴王的退路切断了。

这消息给吴王夫差当头泼了一盆冷水，他非常震惊，立即召集文臣武将商量对策。大家说，现在退回去等于两头打了败仗，还会两头挨打；如果能打败晋国，就等于在诸候国中当定了霸主，再回去收拾越王勾践也不算晚。

大主意已经拿定，当务之急是尽快征服晋国。考虑再三，决定出奇制胜。

一天傍晚，吴王下达了命令。全军将士吃得饱饱的，马也喂足了草料。从全军中挑出三万精兵强将。每一万人摆成一个方阵，共摆三个方阵。每个方阵横竖都是一百 人。每一行排头的都是军官司。每十行，也就是一千人，由一个大夫负责。每一个方阵由一名将军率领。中间的方阵白盔白甲，白衣服，白旗帜，白弓箭，由吴王自 己掌握，称为中军；左边的方阵，红盔红甲、红衣服；右边的方阵则一水儿黑色。半夜出发，黎明时分到达离晋军仅有一里路的地方。天色刚刚显出亮色，吴军鼓声 大作，欢呼之声震天动地。

晋军从梦中醒来，一看吴军那三个方阵和声威气势，简直都惊呆了：那白色方阵，“望之如荼”——像开满白花的茅草地；那红色方阵，“望之如火”——如熊熊燃烧的火焰；而那黑色的方阵，简直就像深不可测的大海。

故事出自《国语·吴语》。成语“如火如荼”，形容某种人群或事物阵容之大，气势之盛。

Massed Together in a Perfect Formation

The phrase “ru huo ru tu”, huo means fire and tu refers to white flowers in ancient China. So the literal meaning of the phrase is red as a raging fire and white as white flowers. But today it is often used to describe something that grows vigorously or an occasion when people or things are massed together in perfect formation. Here is the story behind the phrase.

The story dates back to days in late spring and autumn period more than two thousand years ago. At that time, China was divided into numerous small kingdom. The main character in our story is the King of the Wu Kingdom. At that time, Wu was mighty, and its King coveted the role of ruler of the central allied part of China. To realize his dream, he called the heads of other kingdoms to Wei to settle the issue of who should be leader of the alliance. To show the strength of his fief he took 30,000 soldiers with him. Soon after they arrived, he arranged his army into a three-square formation: left right and middle.
Each array consisted of a hundred lines, each containing a hundred soldiers. The soldiers in the middle array wore white battle gowns and armor with white flags held high. Looking from afar, the array seemed to be a plot of white flowers. The soldiers in the array on the left wore red gowns and armour and held red flags, giving the appearance of a raging fire. The soldiers on the right were clad all in black, looking like heavy thunderclouds.

The king of Wu commanded the army in person, leading them near to the place where the leaders gathered. To display the strength of the army, the king beat the drum himself, and 30 soldiers shouted in unison. Then sound like thunder and the leaders of other kingdoms were deeply moved and impressed. Seeing the Wu kingdom’s disciplined and grandiose army, the leaders at the meeting dare not compete. They selected him as the head of the alliance.

From this display, the phrase “ru huo ru tu” was drawn. Now it is often used to describe things on a grand and spectacular scale, or so fierce that it is like a raging fire.

(Source:english.cri.cn)