披荆斩棘

break through brambles and thorns--hack one's way through difficulties

This idiom comes from History of Later Han The life of Feng Yi. Liu Xiu was the First Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.But in the first period of his building the army, the military power and living standard were very difficult and weak, so a lot of his followers and soldiers left him and went away. At the same time, a brave general, Feng Yi was very persistent and never complained of hardship.

Once, Liu Xiu led the troops through a place--WuLouting. All the soldiers were very cold and hungry. Feng tried his best to cook a big pot of porridge to make everyone comfortable. Later on their way to Nangong County, they caught up with a violent storm and all of them were numb with cold. Then Feng tried to find some grass and firewood to dry all the wet clothes by the fire and also cooked some food for them. All of these gave Liu Xiu an unforgetable impression. Especially, Feng Yi was very courageous and skillful in battle and had a lot of outstanding military exploits, so he had won Liu Xiu's great love and esteem.

After ascending the throne, Liu Xiu treated him as well as before. So it raised a lot of officials' jealousy and some of them brought false charges against him, they even warned Liu Xiu of Feng's comspiracy against the state, but Liu Xiu paid no attention to their claims. Once Liu Xiu told all his ministers in the court:" Feng Yi is my capable assistant, he has removed all the obstacles on the road of advance, so we can lay a victorious foundation of our state."

Now we usually use it to refer to clearing away all difficulties and obstacles to one's progress. Sometimes it's also used to refer to overcoming any hardships that may occur in the course of one's career.

此语出自《后汉书·冯异传》。光武帝刘秀是东汉王朝的开国皇帝，可他开始起兵时势单力薄，生活相当艰苦，不少人为此离他而去，但当时任主薄的冯异却坚定不移，从不叫苦。

一次，刘秀带兵路过芜蒌亭，又冷又饿，士兵们忍不住饥饿寒冷，后来冯异设法给大家煮了一大锅粥，使大家消除了饥寒。后来又有一次队伍到南宫县，遇到狂风暴雨，大家冻得受不了，冯异又给大家找来柴草点火烤衣服，又为大家设法煮饭吃。这两件事给刘秀留下了难忘的印象，最主要的是冯异勇猛善战，屡立战功，因而刘秀对他十分信任。

由于光武帝对冯异的信任，也引起了不少大臣的嫉妒，有人诬告冯异，劝皇帝防止冯异权重谋反。刘秀不仅不信，还在一次上朝时，对满朝文武官员说：“冯异是我起兵时打天下的得力助手，曾为我劈开了创业路上的荆棘，为我平定天下奠定了基础。”

后用此典比喻扫除前进中的困难和障碍，也形容克服创业中的种种艰难。