Speaking of Tao Yuanming, what is the most prominent feature of this person in our minds? Poverty, seclusion, love of nature, dislike of the officialdom, and when we analyze the reasons for the creation of these outstanding personality characteristics of Tao Yuanming, we will always talk about the harsh official environment and social atmosphere at that time, especially the emergence of the official monopoly phenomenon of "no cold door in the upper grade and no family in the lower grade" caused by the Nine Pins Zhongzheng system, which is one of the main reasons for Tao Yuanming's officialdom to be discouraged, because Tao Yuanming himself was not from the family family, so it was difficult to get the opportunity to reuse it in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when the family monopoly was the most serious.
But in fact, although tao yuanming's family is not a family family, his family lineage cannot be counted as a bitter cold family, because only four generations ago, in the era of his great-grandfather Tao Kan, he once held a high position, and at his peak, he not only held the position of a lieutenant, commanded a heavy army, and even supervised the military of eight states and concurrently served as the assassin of the two states of Jingjiang. However, Tao Kan did not have the background of the Gate Valve Clan, and in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when the clan monopolized high-ranking official positions, Tao Kan could be said to be a very special existence. So how did Tao Kan grow from a cold disciple to a heavy subject of the country step by step? Today we will take a look at this unique legendary celebrity of the Eastern Jin Dynasty - Tao Kan.
Tao Kan's family lineage is really not prominent, his father served as a General of Yangwu in the State of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, and did not obtain a very high status, and Tao Kan's generation was even more depressed, Tao Kan only served as a small official in Xunyang County, and did not even have an official rank. Later, Tao Kan met Xiaolian Fan Kui of Poyang County, and Tao Kan, whose family was not rich, treated him with sincerity, in order to entertain him, Tao Kan's mother even sold her long hair, and when he bid farewell, Tao Kan was sent hundreds of miles away, which made Fan Kui deeply moved, and after learning that Tao Kan had the idea of serving in the prefecture county, he strongly recommended Tao Kan to Lujiang Taishou.
Tao Kan was summoned by Lujiang Taishou to be the governor of The Post and also served as the county commander of Zongyang, and Tao Kan, who was finally able to display his talents, was soon promoted, was appointed as the chief of the book, and strictly restrained himself and his subordinates in office, so that those who wanted to find Tao Kan's stubble were helpless. Tao Kan's loyalty and ability in serving Lujiang Taishou made Lujiang Taishou very trusting, and even Changsha Taishou asserted after seeing Tao Kan in Lujiang, believing that he would inevitably become famous in the world in the future, and specially let his son and Tao Kan become friends.
Later, Tao Kan was finally promoted as filial piety, and it was not easy to be promoted to filial piety in the Jin Dynasty, which monopolized the right to vote for officials in the Mengmen clan, tao kan was able to go to Luoyang to visit Zhang Hua, an important minister of the imperial court, and Tao Kan's ability and conversation deeply shocked Zhang Hua, who originally despised him because of his origin, and Tao Kan was able to be appointed as Langzhong. Later, Tao Kan also served as the housekeeper of the Fubo general Sun Xiu, as well as the Wugang County Commandery.
When Tao Kan struggled slowly and steadily on the official road, the opportunity to show his extraordinary military ability finally arrived. In the second year of the Western Jin Dynasty (305), Zhang Chang of yiyang led an army to rebel in Jingzhou, and the Ning Shuo general Liu Hong was appointed as an envoy, a lieutenant of the Southern Manchus, and an assassin in Jingzhou, responsible for quelling Zhang Chang's rebellion, but Liu Hong's army had to retreat because Zhang Chang's offensive was too strong, which allowed Zhang Chang to occupy most of Jingzhou, Jiangzhou, Yangzhou and other areas, and finally Liu Hong sent Tao Kan as the leader of the main force to kill the rebels, Tao Kan successfully defeated Zhang Chang with his superb tactics, beheaded tens of thousands of people, and Zhang Chang's men scattered and fled. The following year, Zhang Chang's rebellion was completely put down, and after this battle, Tao Kan was also awarded the title of Marquis of Dongxiang for his outstanding performance in counterinsurgency.
Later, the right general Chen Min rebelled in Liyang again, and Liu Hong again elected Tao Kan, making Tao Kan the post of Taishou of Jiangxia, and also adding the post of General Yingyang. Chen Min sent his brother Chen Hui to attack Wuchang, and Tao Kan led the army to engage him, during which some people wanted to split the relationship between Tao Kan and Liu Hong, saying that Tao Kan and Chen Min were both from Lujiang County, and there was a possibility of defecting to Chen Min, but Liu Hong turned a deaf ear to this rumor, in order to repay Liu Hong's trust, Tao Kan directly sent his son and nephew to Liu Hong as hostages to show his loyalty, and finally Tao Kan's soldiers surprised to defeat Chen Hui. But at this time, the news of Tao Kan's mother's death came, and Tao Kan had to leave his job and go home for funeral treatment.
After serving his mother's funeral, Tao Kan was recommended by Shi Huayi of Jiangzhou to be the general of Yangwu, garrisoned in Xiakou, and later served as the general of Long Jun and the Taishou of Wuchang. At that time, in the face of famine, many local Yi people became thieves, plundering ships passing through the Yangtze River, Tao Kan in order to control the bandits, specially disguised his army as merchant ships, attracting the attention of thieves, after attracting the thieves, they found that these so-called thieves were actually the subordinates of Sima Xi, the king of Xiyang, Tao Kan did not feel helpless because he was Wang Ye's subordinates, but ordered his soldiers to kill the enemy bravely, where these so-called thieves could resist, they fled back to their old nests.
Tao Kan pursued them in desperation, and even threatened Sima Xi to personally hand over these thieves, and as a result, Sima Xi had to pinch his nose and admit it, personally tied up twenty of his subordinates and sent them to Tao Kan for execution, and the bandit plague on the Yangtze River was solved. In order to prevent the displaced people from being forced to become bandits again due to poverty, he also opened Yi City, a prosperous commodity trade that allows the local Yi people to earn income through their own efforts, and also provides more tax revenue for the local states and counties, coupled with Tao Kan's relief, the quality of life of the local people has been greatly improved.
In the fifth year of Yongjia (311), the displaced people in the Jingxiang region supported Du Tao and launched a rebellion. At that time, Wang Dun, a powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, sent Tao Kan and Zhou Guan and others to suppress it. Originally, Tao Kan and Zhou Huan and others quickly repelled Du Tao, and also rescued the Jingzhou Assassin History who was attacked by the rebellion, and Wang Dun praised Tao Kan's performance, believing that Jingzhou would fall without Tao Kan. Tao Kan was also awarded the titles of Envoy Jie, General ningyuan, Lieutenant of southern Man, and Assassin of Jingzhou for his merits.
However, the world is unpredictable, Tao Kan's subordinates Wang Gong and Du Zeng followed Du Han to rebel because of their desire for profit, and Tao Kan, who was attacked on his stomach and back, instantly ate a dumb loss, plus the general Zhang Yi tried to rebel and confuse Tao Kan, and Tao Kan, who was almost killed, was captured by the rebels.
Tao Kan managed to escape the rebel siege, but was also dismissed, but Wang Dun chose to believe Tao Kan, so he continued to let Tao Kan command the battle as a civilian. Later, Tao Kan and Zhou Wan, among others, defeated Du Tao again, and Tao Kan was reinstated as an official, but the rebellion was not yet completely over. Tao Kan's rebel general Wang Gong led the rebel army in an attempt to attack Wuchang, but was defeated by Tao Kan's dispatch of soldiers, forcing Wang Gongbanshi, and Du Tao killed him because he suspected Zhang Yi's loyalty, causing the rebels' hearts to be more and more shaken, and finally after Tao Kan persuaded Wang Gong to surrender before the battle, Du Tao was forced to lose.
When Tao Kan was about to return to Jiangling, he was forced by Wang Dun, and Tao Kan was also transferred from Jingzhou, where he had served for many years, and was transferred by Wang Dun to Serve as an assassin and Pingyue Zhonglang general in Guangzhou, and as for the Jingzhou region, wang Dun's cousin Wang Du was replaced, tao Kan's department would not want Tao Kan to be transferred to Guangzhou, but Wang Dun ignored it, and as a result, Tao Kan's generals actually tried to welcome back Du Zeng, who had previously joined the rebel army, to oppose Wang Dun, which made Wang Dun very angry. He even planned to kill Tao Kan, but eventually gave up because he was jealous of Zhou Guan, who was related to Tao Kan by marriage.
After Tao Kan escaped from death, he went to Guangzhou to take up his post, where Du Hong and Wen Shao occupied Jiaozhou, where Du Hong learned of Tao Kan's arrival, felt frightened, and planned to use the means of deception to sneak up on Tao Kan. As a result, Tao Kan, who had already made preparations, saw that Tao Kan was ready to retreat, but was chased and annihilated by Tao Kan, and Tao Kan, who had just arrived in Guangzhou, was thus shocked by Guangzhou, and was awarded the title of Chai Sanghou for his merits. Later, he was added to the ranks of General Pingnan and Dudu Jiaozhou Military. Although Tao Kan was transferred away from Jingzhou, he was also blessed not to be too deeply involved in the later Wang Dun Rebellion, and because of the rebellion of Liang Shuo in Jiaozhou, he was promoted to the rank of General of Zhengnan and Kaifu Yi Tongsansi. After the defeat of Wang Dun, Tao Kan was able to return to Jingzhou to continue his role as the Assassin of Jingzhou.
Later, the famous Su Jun Rebellion broke out, Su Jun successfully broke into Jiankang, forcing Yu Liang, who was in charge of the government, to flee, and Tao Kan's son Tao Zhan, who was serving in the middle of the dynasty, was also killed by the rebels, and finally the Pingnan general Wen Yu and others invited Tao Kan to join the king and elected Tao Kan as the leader of the alliance, although Tao Kan had regrets at the beginning because he failed to become a minister of gu orders, but in the end he decided to be qin wang for the sake of national hatred, and Tao Kan, as the leader of the alliance, led the army to fight with Su Jun for a long time. In the end, Su Jun was defeated by cutting off Su Jun's grain and grass and attacking the east and west by attacking the stone city.
After quelling Su Jun's rebellion, Tao Kan's merit and prestige reached its peak, and he was promoted to the rank of Shizhong (侍中), Taiwei (太尉), and the military governor of seven prefectures, including Jiaozhou, Guangzhou, and Jingzhou, and was also given the title of Duke of Changsha County. Tao Kan continued to participate in the suppression of rebellions and the invasion of ethnic minority regimes in the north. In the end, because of his merits, he was awarded the title of great general, and he could go to the temple with his sword, enter the dynasty without tendency, and worship without a name. However, in his later years, Tao Kan was not willing to participate in the politics of the dynasty, and even wanted to return to his hometown many times, but he was retained by his subordinates many times, and finally he was able to return to his hometown because of his serious illness, but he had no choice but to die of illness at the age of seventy-six.