赔了夫人又折兵

赔了夫人又折兵

Literally means:

lose one's wife and then his soldiers as well

Actually means:

pay a double penalty

赔, losing money business. 折, suffer from loss or damage.

According to the Chinese classic novel Romance of Three Kingdoms, Sun Quan, in order to get Jingzhou back to his kingdom, made a hypocritical promise to marry his younger sister to Liu Bei so as to capture him as hostage, but not only did Liu Bei escaped with his wife (Sun Quan's sister), but also the military forces Sun dispatched were defeated by Liu Bei's army. This is the story of the phrase.

It figuratively means that one not only fails to gain profits as expected, but also suffers double losses. It connotes a sense of sarcasm or complaint. Derogatory

赔，蚀了本钱。折，亏损，损失。《三国演义》中孙权为了讨回荆州，谎称要把妹妹嫁给刘备，以便把刘备骗来当人质，结果不但让刘备成亲后带着夫人（即孙权的妹妹）逃走了，而且连派出去的追捕的军队也被刘备的人打败了。这就是成语的故事。

比喻得利不成，反而遭到双重损失。含有讽刺或不满、埋怨的意味。具有贬义色彩。