周瑜打黄盖

1. • fig. with the connivance of both sides
2. • fig. by mutual consent
3. • cf Wu patriot Huang Gai submits to mock beating at the hands of General Zhou Yu to deceive Cao Cao 曹操 cáocāo before the 208 battle of Redcliff 赤壁之战 chìbìzhīzhàn

Character by character

• 周(zhōu)make a circuit
• 瑜(yú)excellence
• 打(dǎ)a semantically light, transitive verb that is combined with various grammatical objects to form compound verbs and verb-object phrases with a diverse range of meanings
• 黄(huáng)surname Huang or Hwang
• 盖(gài)lid