橫征暴斂

to tax by force and extort levies (idiom); to screw taxes out of the people by force

Characters and words in 橫征暴斂

horizontal / across / crosswise / horizontal stroke (in Chinese characters) / to place (sth) flat (on a surface) / to cross (a river, etc) / in a jumble / chaotic / (in fixed expressions) harsh and unreasonable / violent

横 = 木 + 黄 : Hamlet (h) climbed on the beam (横) of the engine's kitchen ((e)ng2) and now he is too afraid to come down again. If the Yellow Emperor (黄) doesn't want to call the fire brigade, for better or worse he'll have to climb the Christmas Tree (木) to pick Hamlet up.

横

橫

hèng = h + (e)ng4

harsh and unreasonable / unexpected

征

zhe̅ng = zh + (e)ng1

journey / trip / expedition / to go on long campaign / to attack

征

徵

zhe̅ng = zh + (e)ng1

to invite / to recruit / to levy (taxes) / to draft (troops) / phenomenon / symptom / characteristic sign (used as proof) / evidence

征 = 彳 + 正 : James II of England (zh) recruited (征) the stick figure (正) to join him on an expedition (征). Legend has it that an ancient civilization left their black sneakers (彳) in front of the engine ((e)ng1). After they dug up most of the ground they finally find the sneakers.

暴

bào = b + ao4

surname Bao

暴 = 共 + 日 + 氺 : Beelzebub (b) is torturing the communist (共) in a very cruel (暴) way in the aorta's bathroom (ao4). The communist set up an aqueduct (氺) to supply the bathroom with water, but Beelzebub has the sun (日) evaporate the water before it arrives at the end of the aqueduct.

暴

bào = b + ao4

sudden / violent / cruel / to show or expose / to injure