單刀赴會
Attending the Meeting with a Single Blade
Meaning
To walk into the enemy’s parley wearing a single blade — a bold, lone negotiation in the lion’s den, won by sheer nerve.
Origin story
After Red Cliffs, Shu and Wu fell into bitter dispute over Jing Province. Wu’s Lu Su proposed a parley with Guan Yu: both armies would withdraw a hundred paces, and the commanders would meet wearing a single blade each. In that razor-edged atmosphere Lu Su pressed for the province’s return, Guan Yu’s side yielded nothing, and the meeting crackled with tension. The histories record it as Lu Su’s fearless negotiation; the novel restaged it as Guan Yu strolling alone into the enemy camp and out again. Either way, the heart of the phrase is the audacity to walk into mortal danger with only one sword.
Source: Records of the Three Kingdoms — Lu Su (the novel retells it from Guan Yu’s side)
People
Modern examples
- He walked into the negotiation alone, no lawyers — a single blade at the enemy’s table.
- Facing the hostile shareholders’ meeting solo, the CEO played it like the lone-blade parley.