一败涂地 — “To suffer a crushing defeat”

During the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang, then the Head of Sishui Pavilion, was tasked by the Pei County Magistrate to escort a group of common people to Mount Li for forced labor. However, along the way, many people escaped one after another. Liu Bang thought, "If this continues, everyone will have fled before we even reach Mount Li, and I will inevitably be punished." After much deliberation, he simply released the remaining people and, along with those who chose to stay with him, hid in the mountains and marshes between Mang and Yang counties.

In the first year of Qin Er Shi's reign, Chen She started an uprising in Daze Village and proclaimed himself King of Chu. The Pei County Magistrate considered joining the rebellion. His subordinates, Xiao He and Cao Can, advised him, "You are a Qin official. If you betray Qin now, some people might not accept it. It would be best to recall Liu Bang to control those who might resist; that would make things easier." The Pei County Magistrate immediately sent Fan Ru to invite Liu Bang back.

However, when Liu Bang returned with nearly a hundred followers, the magistrate regretted his decision, fearing Liu Bang would not obey his command. He ordered the city gates to be tightly shut, preventing Liu Bang from entering. Liu Bang wrote a letter, tied it to an arrow, and shot it into the city for the elders, urging them to unite, kill the magistrate, and jointly resist Qin to protect their families. The elders indeed killed the magistrate, opened the city gates, welcomed Liu Bang into Pei County, and asked him to be their new magistrate.

Liu Bang humbly said, "The situation in the world is very tense. If the choice of magistrate is not handled properly, it could lead to 'yī bài tú dì' (utter ruin). Please choose someone else!" Nevertheless, Liu Bang eventually became the magistrate and was known as Duke of Pei.

Originally, "yī bài tú dì" meant that once defeated, one's liver and brains would be smeared on the ground. Later generations borrowed this idiom to describe a situation of complete and irreversible failure. For example, a merchant, due to short-sighted greed, blindly promoted inferior goods, but consumers did not fall for it. Consequently, the merchant's goods accumulated, cash flow became tight, leading to an "utter ruin" beyond recovery. Similarly, a sports team, due to lack of close cooperation among players, faced setbacks and became flustered, ultimately suffering a "crushing defeat" beyond recovery.