图穷匕见 / Tuqiong Bijian
图穷匕见 / Tuqiong Bijian is the idiom-origin moment highlighted in 《资治通鉴·秦纪》115-2｜秦王大难不死之后干了件你不知道的事？. As 荆轲 presents the 督亢地图 to 嬴政 / 秦始皇, the scroll reaches its end and the hidden dagger appears.
The concept is useful because it marks the instant when an access credential changes function. Before the reveal, the map supports 燕国’s staged surrender script; after the reveal, it becomes the delivery mechanism for a close-range attack inside the Qin court.
For the wiki, Tuqiong Bijian sits at the boundary between deception and exposure. It is not just a phrase meaning “the hidden intention is revealed”; in this source it is also a physical sequence where diplomatic performance, concealed weapon design, and weak-state assassination strategy meet in one gesture.
Key Claims
- The idiom is attached to Jing Ke’s map presentation and dagger reveal.
- The map works first as political evidence and then as weapon concealment.
- The moment shows that access devices can succeed tactically while still leaving the actual strike vulnerable to timing, grip, distance, and team failure.