Is calling a deer a horse the same as calling a mulberry tree a locust tree?

It is different. The former means deliberately confusing right and wrong. The allusion comes from the story of Zhao Gao. After the death of Qin Shihuang, Zhao Gao and Li Si took over the dictatorship. In order to maintain their own power, they falsely passed on the "imperial edict" and made the supposed successors Fusu, the eldest son of Qin Shihuang who held the throne, committed suicide, and Hu Hai, the second son who controlled King Qin, ascended the throne and became Qin II. Zhao Gao held the high position of prime minister and wanted to wait for an opportunity to overthrow Hu Hai and usurp the imperial power. Zhao Gao was cunning and insidious. He knew that he was of low origin and all the ministers disdained him. In order to test the attitude of various officials towards him, one day, Zhao Gao pulled a deer and said to Hu Hai in front of all the ministers: "Your Majesty, please accept this good horse that I have tried so hard to find!" Hu Hai said with a smile. "Have you made a mistake, Prime Minister? What you pulled is a deer, where is the good horse?" Zhao Gao ignored the emperor's words, but carefully observed the reactions of the people around him. Some people followed Zhao Gao and echoed, while others told the truth. Point out that it is a deer and not a horse

Pointing at the mulberry tree and scolding the locust tree means pointing at the mulberry tree and scolding the locust tree. It is a metaphor that on the surface you are scolding one person, but in fact you are scolding another person. Many reference books record the origin of the idiom referring to mulberry trees and scolding sophora trees as follows: "The idiom comes from Chapter 16 of "Dream of Red Mansions": 'Of all the housekeepers in our family, which one is easy to trouble? They will make fun of them if they make a mistake. . They just complain about it." This sentence was said by Wang Xifeng when he complained to Jia Lian.