这个故事后来变成成语“日暮途穷”，比喻处境十分困难，力量用尽了，计策没有了。

The Day Is Waning¹ and the Road Is Ending

In the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Ping of Chu was misled by slanderers, and had Wu Zixu's father executed. Wu Zixu fled to the State of Wu. More than then years later, Wu Zixu took his revenge by helping². Wu conquer Chu. Yet he suffered agonies of remorse³, because his countrymen called him a traitor⁴. He protested, "I'm just like a traveller. It's already late, but I still have a long way to go. I simply dont know what to do."

This idiom comes from the above story. It means being in a very difficult situation at the end of one's tether.