劳师袭远 — “To launch a military expedition against a distant enemy”

劳师袭远 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to launch a military expedition against a distant enemy”. Often implying a risky or ill-advised military adventure that exhausts one's own forces and is likely to fail. Literally, “Wear out the troops by attacking afar”.

Frequency

劳师袭远 Pronunciation and Pinyin

劳师袭远 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
劳	láo	8	work, labor, effort
师	shī	6	teacher, master, or division
袭	xí	11	attack by surprise
远	yuǎn	7	far, distant, remote

Example Sentence with 劳师袭远

在制定市场扩张策略时，我们必须避免劳师袭远，应优先考虑那些我们能有效覆盖的区域。

When formulating market expansion strategies, we must avoid 'wearing out the troops by attacking afar'; instead, we should prioritize areas we can effectively cover.

Origin and Story of 劳师袭远

During the Spring and Autumn period, Qi Zi, an official from Qin stationed in Zheng, sent a messenger to inform Duke Mu of Qin that he was now in charge of the defense of the northern gate of Zheng's capital, and that a surprise attack by Qin troops would certainly succeed.

Duke Mu of Qin, however, ignored Jian Shu's strong advice that 'exhausting the troops by attacking a faraway enemy' (劳师袭远) would not lead to success. Instead, he dispatched his top generals Meng Mingshi, Xi Qishu, and Bai Yibing to lead an army to attack Zheng.

Consequently, they fell into an ambush, and all three generals were captured.