In AD 383, the king of Former Qin (qín cháo 秦朝), Fu Jian (fú jiān 苻堅(jiān)), led a huge army to attack Eastern Jin. After losing the first round of fighting, Fu Jian looked down from a city wall, and was terrified when he saw the formidable battle array of the Eastern Jin army. And then looking at the mountains around, he mistook the grass and trees for enemy soldiers. As a result, when the nervous Fu Jian led his army into battle, it suffered a crushing defeat.
This idiom describes how one can defeat oneself by imaging difficulties.
東晉時(shí)代,秦王苻堅(jiān)控制了北部中國(guó)。公元383年,苻堅(jiān)率領(lǐng)步兵、騎兵90萬(wàn),攻打江南的晉朝。在淝水一帶,被晉軍出奇擊敗,損失慘重,大將被殺,士兵死傷萬(wàn)余。秦軍的銳氣大挫,軍心動(dòng)搖,士兵驚恐萬(wàn)狀,紛紛逃跑。此時(shí),苻堅(jiān)在壽春城上望見晉軍隊(duì)伍嚴(yán)整,士氣高昂,再北望八公山,只見山上一草一木都像晉軍的士兵一樣,于是更加恐慌。后來(lái)苻堅(jiān)全軍覆沒(méi),帶著少數(shù)殘余的隊(duì)伍逃回去了。
這個(gè)成語(yǔ)后來(lái)形容人在極度驚恐時(shí),疑神疑鬼的心理狀態(tài)。
草木皆兵 【翻譯】Every bush and tree looks like an enemy.