Chinese Idiom：日暮穷途 (rì mù qióng tú)

During the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋 chūn qiū,770 - 221BC),Chu Pingwang (chǔ pěng wǎng 楚平王),the ruler of the state of Chu (chǔ guó 楚国),was notorious for his lechery and arrogance. There were always political infightings and intrigue among the officials. One of the officials named Wu She (wǔ shē 伍奢) fell victim to such competitons since one trecherous offical named Fei Wuji (fèi wú jì 费无忌) spoke ill of him in frount of the king. Sadly, Fei’s lie worked,Chu Pingwang was easily tooke in by the fake story and became so irritated that he issued an instruction to put Wu She to death,as well as his son Wu Shang (wǔ shàng 伍尚).

Fortunately,Wu Zixu (wǔ zǐ xù 伍子胥),the second son of Wu She suvived narrowly in this ruthless murder,taking his shelter in the state of Wu (wú guó吴国),wher he firmly made his minds to put himself together,recharge,then contribute with his his heart an soul to king of the state of Wu until the day he were srong enough to get his own back on Chu Pingwang .

Fortune's wheel is ever turning. Some time later,Wu Zixu really got a chance to crusade against the state of Chu,they defeated the army of Chu with a overwhelming victory. At that time, Chu Pingwang had already dead some years earlier,which was a bad news for Wu Zixu since he had planned to kill the enemy in person. Therefore,out of the deeply-rooted hatred,he looked for every corner to seek the tomb of Chu Pingwang,which turned out to be a success. Then,the angry man pulled the rotten dead body out of the coffin,tore it into scraps crazily. Before long,When being asked by some people that why he did such inhuman thing to his previous leader,he responed:"It’s like a person who are still far from his destination when the darkness is drawing. That is to say,he is on its last legs,having to do something that is maybe contrary to ethics or morality.”


春秋后期，荒淫的楚平王无耻地霸占了自己的儿媳，又听信太子的师傅费无忌的诬告，一面派人去杀太子，一面把太子的另一位师傅伍奢及他的长子伍尚杀掉。

伍奢的次子伍子胥逃往宋国。为了替父兄报仇，伍子胥历尽千辛万苦，从宋国逃奔到吴国。他决定借吴国的兵力去攻打楚国，为父兄报仇。后来他同吴王率领大军进攻楚国，楚国军队大败。但是楚平王已经去世了，伍子胥听到这个消息后非常不高兴，因为他原本打算亲自把楚平王杀死。他费了很大的努力找到了坟地，挖出了棺材，把楚平王的尸体挖了出来。伍子胥一见这尸体，便怒气冲天，抄起铜鞭，一气打了300下，连骨头也打折了，最后把脑袋砍了下来。

伍子胥鞭尸的事，被他先前的好朋友知道了。他朋友说：“你这样做太过分了。你曾经是楚平王的臣下，可是为了报私仇，竟连死人也不放过，真是太残忍了！” 伍子胥读信后，对来人说：“忠孝不能两全，我好比一个走远路的人，天快黑了，路途还很遥远，所以我只好做出这种违背常理的事！”

日暮穷途 (rì mù qióng tú)
【翻译】be on its last legs.
【释义】日暮：天快黑；穷是尽、尽头；途穷：路走到了尽头。天已晚了，路已走到了尽头。比喻
            到了末日或衰亡的境地。也比喻到了无路可走的地步。
【例句】这个公司由于老板经营不当，亏损巨大，已经穷途末路了。
【近义词】穷途末日、山穷水尽、穷途末路
【反义词】前程万里、柳暗花明