Lay down the pen and pick up the sword
Refers to an educated person who abandons their life as a scholar to join the military
Neutral
为了响应国家的号召，投笔从戎的同学可不少 | Wèile xiǎngyìng guójiā de hàozhào, tóubǐcóngróng de tóngxué kě bù shǎo
To answer the calls of their country, many students stopped their studies and joined the military
[Source]
队上的干部，大多是投笔从戎的年轻学生 | Duì shàng de gànbù, dàduō shì tóubǐcóngróng de niánqīng xuéshēng
Most of the cadres on the team are young students who decided to put aside their studies and join the military
[Source]
None
弃笔从戎 (qì bǐ cóng róng)
傅介子 (Fù Jiè Zǐ) and 张骞 (Zhāng Qiān) were two men from the Western Hàn (西汉, 206 BC - 8 AD) who traveled to territories in the west for diplomatic purposes and made countless valuable contributions to the dynasty
《后汉书》(Hòu Hàn Shū, "History of the Eastern Han") by 范晔 (Fàn Yè)
When he was little, 班超 (Bān Chāo) and his family moved to the city of 洛阳 (Luò Yáng). They were very poor, and 班超 had to support the family by transcribing documents in a government office. One day, he simply cast aside his brush and declared, "Proper men should be making victories on the battlefield like 傅介子 (Fù Jiè Zǐ) and 张骞 (Zhāng Qiān)! How can someone waste their life away doing meaningless things like transcribing documents?" And just like that, he joined the military.
Eventually, 班超 became a great general who won victories against the 匈奴 (Xiōng Nú) tribe to the north. On top of that, he also encouraged the emperor to maintain diplomatic relations with territories in the west, and when the emperor agreed, 班超 subsequently spent many years serving as a diplomat.