📖 Meaning
The sounding of horns throughout an entire military camp, signaling the order to attack. It evokes the stirring atmosphere of a vast army mobilizing for battle. The idiom conveys a powerful martial scene of war drums and bugle calls echoing across connected encampments.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Song dynasty poet Xin Qiji's ci poem 'Pozhenzi: Written for Chen Tongfu as Heroic Words to Send,' in which he recalls a vivid dream of military life: 'Drunk, I trimmed the lamp and examined my sword; in my dream I returned to the camps where horns blared throughout.' Xin Qiji (1140-1207) was a celebrated patriotic general-poet of the Southern Song dynasty who longed to recover lost northern territories from the Jurchen Jin dynasty. The line powerfully conveys his longing for battlefield glory and unfulfilled patriotic ambition.
💡 Example Usage
将士们梦回吹角连营的岁月，无不热血沸腾。
As the soldiers dreamed of returning to the camps where horns blared throughout, their blood boiled with fighting spirit.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 吹角连营
- Pinyin: chuī jiǎo lián yíng
- Literal Translation: blow, horn, connected, camps
- Category: Power
- Characters: 4