周瑜打黄盖
zhōu yú dǎ huáng gài
fig. with the connivance of both sides
fig. by mutual consent; cf Wu patriot Huang Gai submits to mock beating at the hands of General Zhou Yu to deceive Cao Cao 曹操[Cao2 Cao1] before the 208 battle of Redcliff 赤壁之戰|赤壁之战[Chi4 bi4 zhi1 Zhan4]
周
zhōu
week
瑜
yú
excellence
打
dǎ
a semantically light, transitive verb that is combined with various grammatical objects to form compound verbs and verb-object phrases with a diverse range of meanings (e.g. 打傘|打伞[da3 san3] "to hold an umbrella", 打電話|打电话[da3 dian4 hua4] "to make a phone call", 打針|打针[da3 zhen1] "to get an injection", 打手套[da3 shou3 tao4] "to knit gloves", 打氣|打气[da3 qi4] "to inflate")
黄
huáng
yellow
盖
gài
lid