Qiāo shān zhèn hǔ

【出处】清代文康《儿女英雄传》，第三十一回：“这要不用个敲山震虎的主意，怎的是个了当？”朱苏进、胡建新《康熙帝国》：“儿臣罢免明珠，其用意是断臂疗伤，敲山震虎，给太子和大阿哥一个警告。”

【成语故事】公元683年12月，唐高宗病逝，太子李显即位，史称唐中宗。武则天以皇太后的身份临朝执政。她不能容忍唐中宗重用皇后韦氏家族的人，于是她废了唐中宗，立李旦为帝，史称唐睿宗。睿宗时期，武则天亲理朝政，致使唐朝的一些元老重臣对此非常不满。徐敬业等人打着拥立唐中宗的旗号，在扬州起兵造反，武则天派出30万大军讨伐，平定了叛乱，杀了徐敬业以及支持徐敬业的宰相裴炎和大将程务挺。

叛乱平定后，武则天以胜利者的姿态召见群臣，她说：“你们这些人中间，有比裴炎更倔强的先朝老臣吗？有比徐敬业更亡命的将门贵族吗？有比程务挺更能征善战的大将吗？朕能杀他们，你们中间还有比这三个人更厉害的吗？”

朝堂之上，大臣们个个胆战心惊，面面相觑，没人敢出声。从此，唐朝在武则天的统治下，平安祥和。

【寓意】该成语的本义是通过敲山来震慑老虎，使老虎不敢发威。比喻制造攻击的声势，让敌人或对手惊恐，使其慑服，最终达到不战而屈人之兵的目的。

敲山震虎
To Drum the Mount for Shocking the Tiger

1.To Drum the Mount for Shocking the Tiger

【Idiomatic Story】 In December，683 AD，the Emperor of Tang Dynasty Gao-zong died.His son LI Xian as the crown prince succeeded to the throne，which was known as Tang Zhongzong in history.As Empress Dowager WU Ze-tian controlled the imperial power to deal with the affairs of state.She could not tolerate Zhong-zong on his appointing the relatives of his Queen's family as the leading officials.So she dethroned Emperor Zhong-zong，and made LI Dan succeed to the throne，which was known as Tang Rui-zong in history.In the period under the rule of Emperor Rui-zong，WU Ze-tian dealt with the state affairs herself without any disguise，which resulted in strong dissatisfaction and opposition from the veteran ministers and senior officials.For opposition，XU Jing-ye as the rebel leader with some other officers rose up in Yang-zhou in excuse of supporting Emperor Zhong-zong.WU Ze-tian sent 300，000 troops for a punitive expedition to put down the rebellion，and the rebel leader XU Jing-ye was captured and killed.The Prime Minister PEI Yan and the general CHENG Wu-ting who were in favor of XU Jing-ye were put to death，too.

After the rebellion，the ministers and senior officials were summoned to an interview in the court by WU Ze-tian.She said to the ministers and senior officials as the winner，“Is there anyone of you who is more stubborn than PEI Yan? Is there anyone of you who is nobler than XU Jing-ye?Is there anyone of you who is braver and more efficient than general CHENG Wu-ting? I can kill them easily.Is there anyone of you who is more powerful than these three people?”

All the present ministers and senior officials were shocked.They looked at each other timidly，and no one dared to say anything.From then on，the society was peaceful under the rule of WU Ze-tian of the Tang Dynasty.

【Implied Meaning】The original meaning of this idiom is to deter the tiger by knocking the mountain.It is often used to refer to forcing the enemy or opponent to yield under powerful frightening and panic in order to achieve the final victory.