Flies follow the tail of a steed and fly thousands of miles

Flies follow the tail of a steed and fly thousands of miles

Idiom explanation

The fly ran thousands of miles because it was attached to the tail of the horse. Ordinary people are famous for their exposure to the light of sages.

Pinyin

The fly is attached to the tail and leads to a thousand miles

Source of allusion

Sima Qian's biographies of Boyi in historical records: "although Boyi Shuqi was a wise man, he was named after his master. Although Yan Yuan was very studious, he was able to follow the tail of the steed

Introduction to the author

Sima Qian (145 BC or 135 BC-87 BC) Zichang, born in Xiayang of the Western Han Dynasty, is a great historian and litterateur in ancient China. He is regarded as the "sage of history" by later generations. His greatest contribution is the creation of the first biographical general history of China, Shiji (formerly known as taishigongshu). Shiji records a history of more than 3000 years from the time of Huangdi in ancient legend to the first year of Yuanshou, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. Sima Qian's great historical work "historical records" is the first of the "twenty five histories" and is praised by Lu Xun as "the best of historians and the last of no rhyme".

Introduction to historical records

Historical records is the first general history of biography in China written by Sima Qian and the first of the twenty-five histories. It records a history of more than 3000 years from the time of Yellow Emperor in ancient legend to the first year of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. At first, Shiji had no title, or "taishigongshu", "taishigongzhuan", or "Taishigong". "Historical records" was originally the general name of ancient historical books. From the Three Kingdoms period, "historical records" gradually evolved from the general name of historical books to the special name of "taishigongshu". Shiji, Hanshu (Ban Gu), Houhanshu (Fan Ye, Sima Biao) and the annals of the Three Kingdoms (Chen Shou) are collectively known as the "first four histories". Liu Xiang and others believe that this book is "good at order and reason, debate but not flowery, quality but not slang". Together with Zi Zhi Tong Jian compiled by Sima Guang in Song Dynasty, it is called "double Bi of historiography".