[Idiom]: Sing the amount of sand

Pinyin: chàng chóu liáng shā

[Explanation]: Treat sand as rice, and shout numbers when measuring it. It is a metaphor to calm the morale of the army and create a false image to confuse the enemy.

【Idiom Story】:

In November of the seventh year of Emperor Yuanjia of the Southern Song Dynasty (430 AD), Tan Daoji was awarded the title of Governor to conquer the military and was ordered to lead the people to attack the Northern Wei Dynasty.

In January of the following year, Daoji and others went from Qingshui (Qingshui is Jishui, located in the western part of present-day Shandong) to rescue Huatai (now Huaxian County, Henan).

The Northern Wei generals Shusun Jian and the eldest grandson Daosheng led the crowd to intercept.

On the 16th, the Daoji army arrived in Shouzhang, which coincided with the Northern Wei Dynasty's Anping Gongyi's family, and then led Ningshuo general Wang Zhongde and Xiaocai general Duan Hong to bravely rush and kill, and broke it.

Then he moved to Gaoliang Pavilion and beheaded the Northern Wei Dynasty Jeju Assassin Shi Xifu Kujie.

At the end of February, Daoji led his army to Jishui (the waterway of the Yellow River). In more than 20 days, more than 30 battles were fought with the Northern Wei army, and many of them were victorious.

Soon after, the Daoji army arrived at Licheng (now a suburb of Jinan, Shandong), but was intercepted by Shusun Jian and other cavalry troops, and the grain and straw they brought were also burned, so it was difficult to continue advancing.

At this time, the Northern Wei generals An Jie, Sima Chuzhi and others took the opportunity to specialize in the slip platform.

Zhu Xiuzhi, the defender of the slipway, held on for several months, but finally due to the lack of supply, he was in a difficult situation, and the slip was occupied by the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Xiuzhi was captured.

Daoji learned that the slip platform had fallen and there was no food to help, so he couldn't save it and prepared to retreat.

At this time, some soldiers under Daoji surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty, and after telling the truth about the lack of food in the Song army, the Wei army immediately chased after them, trying to annihilate the Daoji army in one fell swoop.

When Daoji led his army to retreat to the territory of Quzhou County, Handan City, he was surrounded by the pursuing Wei army.

Tan Daoji ordered his soldiers to sing a number of chips to measure the sand, and put the only grain on the sand, pretending that the food was sufficient, so as to confuse the Wei army.

The Wei army saw the piles of "grain" of the Song army, and thought that the Song army was not short of food, so they regarded the Song soldiers who surrendered as "spies" and killed them.

In order to reverse the situation, Dao Ji came up with another plan, and all the soldiers wore armor, and he was the only one wearing white clothes to lead the troops to leave calmly.

The Wei army believed that Daoji and his troops must have presupposed an ambush when they were surrounded and withdrew so unhurriedly, so they did not dare to gather close to annihilate. In this way, the Daoji army was able to return safely. "Singing and measuring sand" is likened to calming the morale of the army, creating illusions, and confusing the enemy.