血流漂杵

According to Gu, 1983, coined by Mencius to describe the fierceness of the battle in which King Wu had defeated King Zhou.

孟子曰：「盡信書，則不如無書。吾於《武成》，取二三策而已矣。仁人無敵於天下。以至仁伐至不仁，而何其血之流杵也？」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]

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孟子曰：「尽信书，则不如无书。吾于《武成》，取二三策而已矣。仁人无敌于天下。以至仁伐至不仁，而何其血之流杵也？」 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

Mèngzǐ yuē: “Jìn xìn shū, zé bùrú wú shū. Wú yú “Wǔchéng”, qǔ èrsān cè éryǐ yǐ. Rénrén wúdí yú tiānxià. Yǐ zhì rén fá zhì bùrén, ér hé qí xuè zhī liú chǔ yě?” [Pinyin]

Mencius said, "It would be better to be without the historical documents than to indiscriminately believe them. In the Accession of King Wu, I merely credit a few passages. A benevolent man is invincible under heaven. When the most benevolent one was engaged against him who was the most malevolent, how could the blood of the people have still flowed till it floated the pestles?"

Note that the abovementioned article is cited by many dictionaries as the earliest source, listed in the first position. However, that text is actually one of the twenty-five additional chapters of Guwen Shangshu or Old Script Book of Documents, which was later proven to be counterfeited by Mei Ze circa 318 CE. It is now widely believed that Shi Fu (lit. Enormous Captives) is what he had really read, or at least has to do with Wu Cheng (lit. Accession of King Wu).

血流漂杵

1. rivers of blood (on the battlefield); blood bath

   • 炎帝者，黃帝同父母弟也，各有天下之半。黃帝行道，而炎帝不聽，故戰涿鹿之野，血流漂杵。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     炎帝者，黄帝同父母弟也，各有天下之半。黄帝行道，而炎帝不听，故战涿鹿之野，血流漂杵。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. 180~179 BCE, 賈誼,《制不定》

     Yándì zhě, Huángdì tóng fùmǔ dì yě, gè yǒu tiānxià zhī bàn. Huángdì xíngdào, ér Yándì bù tīng, gù zhàn Zhuōlù zhī yě, xuèliúpiāochǔ. [Pinyin]

     The Yan Emperor was the younger brother of the Yellow Emperor, born of the same parents. Each ruled half of the world. However, when the Yellow Emperor followed the way (of proper governance), the Yan Emperor refused to heed him. Thus, they fought at the field of Zhuolu, where blood flowed so abundantly that it could carry pestles.

• 血流成河 (xuèliúchénghé)