spend months and years
Poverty is a Chinese idiom, pronounced Qi ó ngni á NL ě ISH ì, which describes a long time. From Xunzi, honor and disgrace.
explain
It's a long time.
source
"Xunzi · honor and Disgrace": "however, it is human's feeling that we have been living in poverty for many years, and we don't know what we are short of."
spend months and years
with both civil and military ability - jīng wén wěi wǔ
particles of sand accumulated will form a towering pile - jī shā chéng tǎ
leave evil unchecked spells ruin - yǎng yōng yí huàn