道宗 Dàozōng

Daozong, Prince of Jiangxia Commandery, had the courtesy name Chengfan. When Gaozu took the throne he was made Personal Guardsman of the Left and Duke of Lueyang Commandery. Pei Ji fought Liu Wuzhou at Dusuo Plain and was defeated, and the rebels pressed on Hedong. Daozong, then seventeen, followed the Prince of Qin to fight them. The prince climbed the walls of Yubi City to look out, and said to Daozong, "The rebels rely on their numbers and want to fight. What is your plan?" He answered, "Wuzhou is riding on victory, and his sharp edge cannot be met head on; we should break him by stratagem. Besides, a rabble fears a long campaign. If we hold firm behind our ramparts to blunt their edge and wait until their food is gone and their spirit is spent, we can take them without a battle." The prince said, "Your thinking matches mine." Soon the rebels' grain ran out and they withdrew by night, and they were pursued, fought and destroyed. Edit

He went out as Area Commander of Lingzhou. At that time Luoren, younger brother of Liang Shidu, joined with tens of thousands of Turkish troops and pressed against his ramparts. Daozong shut the city and held it, watched for an opening, sallied out and defeated them. Gaozu said to Pei Ji, "In the past Zhang, Prince of Rencheng under the Wei, won merit by driving back the enemy, and Daozong is like him." He was therefore enfeoffed as Prince of Rencheng. Edit

Earlier, the Turkish shad Yushe had moved in to live at Wuyuan. Daozong drove him out, his martial might shone far and wide, and he opened up more than a thousand li of land. In the first year of Zhenguan he was summoned and appointed Chief Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, and was moved to Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. As Taizong was then planning his campaigns against the Turks, he was again made Area Commander-in-chief of Lingzhou. In the third year he was made Field Commander of the Datong Circuit and helped Li Jing break the enemy, capturing the Jieli Khan with his own hands; he was granted a fief of six hundred households and returned to court as Minister of Justice. When the Tuyuhun raided the frontier and Li Jing went out by the Kunqiu Circuit, an edict made Daozong and Hou Junji deputies to Jing. Hearing that the troops were coming, the enemy fled several thousand li into the Zhang Mountains. The generals wanted to stop; only Daozong asked to pursue them to the end, and Jing said, "Good." Junji would not follow. Daozong advanced with his own force alone, ten days' march from the main army, and caught up with them. The Tuyuhun held a strong position and fought to the death; Daozong secretly led a thousand horsemen over the mountain to fall on their rear, and the enemy took fright and broke completely. He was moved to the title Prince of Jiangxia and made Prefect of E Prefecture. After a long time he was charged with corruption. When the emperor heard of it he said in anger, "I hold the wealth of the four seas, and my soldiers and horses are like a forest. If I sent my carriage tracks round the whole empire, with sightseeing beyond measure, and gathered the curiosities of distant lands and the treasures beyond the seas, could I not have them? It is only because it would weary the people for my own pleasure that I do not do it. Men's desires have no limit and must be checked by what is right. Now Daozong is already a prince and receives much in grants, yet his greed does not stop. Is that not contemptible!" He was dismissed from office, the households of his fief were reduced, and he was sent home with his title of prince. The next year he was summoned to be Area Commander-in-chief of Mao Prefecture; before he set out he was appointed Prefect of Jin Prefecture. He was moved to Minister of Rites. Edit

When Hou Junji returned from destroying Gaochang he was full of resentment. Daozong once said to the emperor at leisure, "Junji's wisdom is small and his talk is big, and he will lead a revolt." The emperor asked how he knew that he would surely rebel. He answered, "I see that he is jealous and boasts of his merits; he is ashamed to stand below Fang and Li, and though he holds the office of minister he is always sullen and discontented." The emperor said, "Junji truly has merit, and there is no task his talents are unequal to; would I grudge him rank? It is only that his turn has not yet come. We should not lightly suspect him and make him uneasy and fearful for himself." Later, when Junji rebelled, the emperor laughed and said, "Just as you always guessed." Edit

When the emperor was about to attack Koguryo, he first sent Zhang Jian, Area Commander-in-chief of Ying Prefecture, with light horsemen across the Liao to survey the lie of the land, but Jian was afraid and dared not go deep. Daozong asked to go with a hundred horsemen, and the emperor agreed and asked when he would return. He said, "I ask for twenty days for the journey and ten days to look over the mountains and rivers, and then I shall come back and see the Son of Heaven." He fed his horses and readied his men, went along the Southern Mountains into enemy territory, surveyed the rough and easy ground and judged where camps and battle lines could best be placed. As he was about to return, Koguryo troops cut off his road, so he went by byways instead and presented himself to the emperor on the appointed day. The emperor said, "How could the courage of Meng Ben and Xia Yu surpass this!" and gave him fifty jin of gold and a thousand bolts of silk. Edit

An edict then made him and Li Ji the vanguard; they crossed the Liao and took Gaimou City. Enemy relief forces arrived; Daozong and the Area Commander Zhang Junyi had only four thousand horsemen, and the enemy were ten times as many. Everyone wanted to dig deep ditches and hold strong ground until the emperor arrived, but Daozong said, "The enemy have come in haste, so their troops must be tired. If we crush them at one roll of the drums, it is certain. In the past Geng Yan would not leave the enemy for his lord and father to deal with. I command the advance army, and I should clear the road to welcome the imperial carriage. What are we waiting for?" Li Ji agreed. Daozong chose a few dozen strong horsemen and charged into the enemy camp, riding in and out on left and right, and Li Ji joined the attack and routed them. When the emperor arrived he praised him and gave him forty male and female slaves. Then an earthen siege mound was built to attack Anshi City; the mound collapsed against the city wall, and because Daozong had lost control of his troops it was taken by the enemy instead. The emperor beheaded his Assault-Resisting Commandant Fu Fu'ai, and Daozong came barefoot to ask to be punished. The emperor said, "Emperor Wu of the Han killing Wang Hui was not as good as Duke Mu of Qin pardoning Meng Ming," and let the matter rest. Daozong was wounded in the foot in battle, and the emperor himself treated him with stone needles and gave him food from the imperial table. On their return he declined a heavy post because of illness and took an easy one, and was made Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Edit

At the beginning of Yonghui under Gaozong, Fang Yi'ai was put to death for rebellion. Zhangsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang, who had an old grudge against Daozong, falsely accused him of being friendly with Yi'ai, and he was exiled to Xiang Prefecture; he fell ill on the road and died, aged fifty-four. After Wuji and the others fell, an edict restored his rank and fief. In his later years Daozong loved learning; he received scholars and officials and was not haughty because of his high station. Of the imperial clan at the start of the dynasty, only Daozong and Xiaogong were thought the most worthy. His son Jingheng was enfeoffed as Duke of the State of Lu and was Prefect of Xiangzhou. Edit