The origin of "the general trend of the world, the soup is rich, those who follow it prosper, and those who oppose it perish"

This sentence comes from Twenty-four History of the Book of Jin and Biography of Chen Shou. The following is the original text:

The general trend of the world, the vast soup, those who follow it will prosper, and those who oppose it will die. So, after hitting the water in the middle reaches, I swam to the Jingwei River. As for subversion, the big ones are polite, and the small ones are princes and heroes. The submitters survive and the opponents perish.

The meaning of this passage is that the general trend of the world is like a mighty soup. Those who conform to the general trend prosper, and those who go against the general trend perish. Therefore, the wise choose to follow the general trend and go downstream. If people swim in the water and eventually meet Fenhe River and Weihe River, they will all achieve great things. When the general trend is subverted, no matter the important etiquette system or the little princes and heroes, only those who conform to the general trend can survive, and those who go against the trend will fail and die.

This sentence reveals the importance of conforming to the general trend and emphasizes the risks and inadvisability of going against the trend. It also implies that people should be cautious in the face of change and follow suit to succeed.