The army swept forward irresistibly and soon reclaimed the lost territory.
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history
From 《晋书·杜预传》. Before the final campaign against Wu, Jin general Du Yu (杜预) rallied his officers: '今兵威已振，譬如破竹，数节之后，皆迎刃而解' - 'our momentum is like splitting bamboo: after the first few joints, the rest splits at the touch of the blade.' Wu fell shortly after.
memory
Bamboo has joints (节). Split the top few and the whole stalk splits down the grain on its own. That cascading, unstoppable split is the image of 势如破竹 - momentum so strong that resistance collapses ahead of you.
