In 180 BCE, after Empress Dowager Lü of the Han Dynasty passed away, her nephew Lü Lu, the Prince of Zhao and General-in-Chief, and Lü Chan, the Prince of Lü and Chancellor, both stationed in Chang'an, amassed troops to intimidate officials and plotted rebellion.
Liu Zhang, the Marquis of Zhuxu, was a figure whom the entire Lü clan feared. During a banquet hosted by Empress Dowager Lü, he sang a farming song: "Deeply plow and densely sow, leave sparse seedlings; those not of the same kind, hoe them away." This veiled warning against the Lü family's power left even the empress dowager speechless. He also enforced military law at the feast, personally pursuing and killing a drunken Lü clan member who fled the table, shocking the Lü faction into silence. Since Liu Zhang was married to Lü Lu's daughter, he was the first to uncover the Lü conspiracy. He secretly sent a messenger from Chang'an to inform his elder brother, the King of Qi, urging him to raise an army westward, while Liu Zhang and the Marquis of Dongmou would serve as insiders to eliminate the Lü clan and install the King of Qi as emperor.
When King Qi heard of this plan, he secretly began deploying troops with his uncle Si Jun, imperial advisor Zhu Wu, and commandant Wei Bo. Prime Minister Zhao Ping, learning of this, sent soldiers to surround the king's palace. Wei Bo tricked Zhao Ping, saying, "The king wants to raise an army but lacks the emperor's tiger tally as proof. Your surrounding the palace to protect him is wise. Let me command these troops to guard the king." Trusting him, Zhao Ping put Wei Bo in charge. Once in control, Wei Bo turned the army against the prime minister's residence. Seeing his defeat, Zhao Ping sighed, "Alas, the Daoists spoke truly: 'He who hesitates in decision invites disaster.' This is the reality." With that, he drew his sword and killed himself.
Afterward, King Qi used strategy to seize control of Langya's military forces and launched a full-scale westward campaign. The once-arrogant Lü clan, besieged from within and without, was ultimately annihilated by Marquis Zhu Xu Liu Zhang, Grand Commandant Zhou Bo, and Chancellor Chen Ping.
Later, the idiom "When to Cut, Cut" refers to hesitating and failing to make a prompt decision when faced with a situation.
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Biography of Prince Daohui of Qi"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "当断不断" came to describe hesitating and failing to make a prompt decision when faced with a situation.