Xiè Xuán dàilǐng bāwàn shìbīng, dǎbài le Qiánqín de dàjūn.
Xie Xuan led eighty thousand soldiers and defeated the great army of the Former Qin.
Tips
history
A nephew of the chief minister 谢安, he raised the 北府兵, an army drawn from northern refugees and based at 京口, and with it beat 苻坚 at the 淝水之战 in 383. He then marched north and won back much of the land south of the Yellow River before illness forced him to stop.
culture
Asked as a boy by his uncle why families want fine sons, he answered that it was like wanting 芝兰玉树, orchids and jade trees, to grow by one's own steps; the phrase has meant a promising young man ever since. The poet 谢灵运 was his grandson.
