A tiny, insignificant, or precarious stronghold; a small, vulnerable base, often used contemptuously to describe a minor power or a place of limited influence.
Era:
Ancient
Frequency:
Synonym:
Story:
In the 8th year of Kaibao of the Northern Song Dynasty (975 AD), Zhao Kuangyin led his army to besiege Jinling (present-day Nanjing), the capital of the Southern Tang kingdom.
At that time, the imperial examination topics for the Northern Song court were 'Ode on Bridges Crossing the Yangtze River' and 'Poem on Practicing Naval Warfare'. Meanwhile, the Southern Tang also held its imperial examination, with topics like 'Ode on the Virtue of Royal Kinship' and 'Poem on Repelling Qin with Talk and Laughter'.
Zhao Kuangyin mocked the Southern Tang for producing civil and military officials while being oblivious to the true lord in the Central Plains. Zhao Pu (his prime minister) remarked that the Southern Tang was nothing more than a 'bee's nest and ant's hole'.