During the Spring and Autumn period, the Chu region was famous for its reeds. When Chu troops marched into battle, they often sent soldiers ahead carrying reeds; at the first sign of enemy movement, they would raise the reeds as a signal. Because of this practice, people came to call the vanguard of an army the "forward reeds."
During the Spring and Autumn period, the states of Jin and Chu were locked in a bitter rivalry for supremacy. To flex its military might, Chu launched an attack on the small state of Zheng, which lay between them. Despite fierce resistance from Zheng's soldiers and civilians, they were ultimately defeated.
When the State of Jin learned that Chu was attacking Zheng, they dispatched General Xun Linfu as commander to cross the Yellow River and rescue their ally. But before the Jin army could even ford the river, word arrived that the Duke of Zheng had already surrendered to Chu, and the Chu forces were withdrawing.
Xun Linfu gathered his generals to discuss a countermeasure, saying, "Zheng has already submitted to Chu, and the Chu army has withdrawn. What should we do?"
The deputy general Xian Hu advocated taking advantage of the Chu army's retreat to catch them off guard. Xun Linfu thought for a moment and said, "The Chu army's vanguard is highly vigilant; they will certainly be on guard. Now that the battle is over, there's no need to launch another attack on them. It's better to withdraw our troops and return home."
Another senior general, Shi Hui, agreed with Xun Linfu's strategy. But Xian Gu stubbornly insisted on his own view, ignoring orders and leading his troops to pursue the Chu army on his own, only to suffer a crushing defeat.
Later, the idiom "Ranking at the Top" came to be used to describe being placed first in order.
Source: *Zuo Zhuan*, "Duke Xuan's Twelfth Year"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "名列前茅" came to describe being placed first in order.