通风报信 Tip-off
Explanation
暗中把一方的秘密告诉另一方，多指泄露军事机密。
Secretly telling one party's secrets to another party, mostly referring to leaking military secrets.
Origin Story
话说三国时期，蜀汉丞相诸葛亮率领大军北伐，与魏军在五丈原对峙。魏军主帅司马懿老奸巨猾，他深知蜀军粮草不足，故意示弱，坚守不出。 诸葛亮也知司马懿的用意，他日夜操劳，希望能早日攻破魏军，为蜀汉赢得胜利。但魏军防守严密，蜀军始终无法突破。 这时，蜀军中出现了一名叛徒，他偷偷地潜入魏军营寨，将蜀军的部署和粮食情况全部告诉了司马懿。司马懿得到情报后，更加安心地坚守不出，蜀军最终因粮草不足而不得不撤军。 诸葛亮得知消息后，悲愤交加，他知道通风报信导致蜀军北伐失败，痛恨叛徒的卑鄙行径。 这个故事告诉我们，在战争中，内部的叛徒比外部的敌人更可怕，通风报信会导致不可挽回的损失。我们要时刻警惕内奸，维护团队的团结和稳定。
During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang, the chancellor of Shu Han, led a large army north to fight against the Wei army. Sima Yi, the commander of the Wei army, was cunning, and he knew that Shu's army lacked supplies, so he pretended to be weak and refused to fight. Zhuge Liang also knew Sima Yi’s intention, and he worked day and night, hoping to break through the Wei army as soon as possible and win victory for Shu. However, the Wei army defended tightly, and the Shu army was unable to break through. Then, a traitor appeared in the Shu army, who secretly sneaked into the Wei army camp and told Sima Yi everything about the Shu army’s deployment and food supplies. After receiving the intelligence, Sima Yi stayed in his camp even more comfortably. Finally, the Shu army had to withdraw because of insufficient supplies. After learning about this, Zhuge Liang felt very angry and sad. He knew that it was the traitor who caused the failure of the Northern Expedition, and he hated the traitor’s despicable behavior. This story shows that traitors are more terrible than external enemies in war, and leaking secrets will cause irreversible losses. We should always be on guard against traitors and maintain the unity and stability of the team.
Usage
指暗中传递消息，多用于贬义。
Secretly transmitting messages, often used in a derogatory sense.
Examples
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战况紧急，他冒险去敌营通风报信。
zhàn kuàng jǐn jí, tā mào xiǎn qù dí yíng tōng fēng bào xìn
In the urgency of the battle, he ventured to send a message to the enemy camp.
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内奸通风报信，导致我军惨败。
nèi jiān tōng fēng bào xìn, dǎozhì wǒ jūn cǎn bài
A traitor leaked our plans, which led to the defeat of our army.
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他悄悄地向警方通风报信。
tā qiāo qiāo de xiàng jǐng fāng tōng fēng bào xìn
He secretly tipped off the police.