Speaking of Li Daoyuan, many people may only know that he wrote the "Notes on the Water Classics", the founder of Chinese travelogue literature, but did not know much about his life, and his life was actually more magnificent than the "Notes on the Water Classics".
Li Daoyuan (郦道元), also spelled Shanchang, was a native of Zhuozhou, Fanyang. Li Daoyuan was born in a family of eunuchs, his father was the Northern Wei Dynasty official Li Fan, who served as the Assassin of Qingzhou, and under the subtle influence of his father, he showed a jealous and hateful, upright and strong character from an early age. After Li Fan's death, Li Daoyuan inherited the title of Marquis of Yongning and was demoted to the next level according to the calendar, becoming Yongning Bo, thus entering the career path.
Li Daoyuan, who has such a background and family lineage, is supposed to be not too bad at mixing, but his career path is very bumpy. In addition to serving as a lieutenant in the capital and a general in the north, he also successively served as the governor of Jizhou, the history of Qingzhou, the taishou of Luyang, the history of the eastern Jingzhou, and the yin of Henan. Li Daoyuan was a clear and honest government, and adopted harsh measures to strictly enforce the law, and the traitors and thieves were very afraid of him and did not dare to break the law, and the people in the land he ruled could live and work in peace and contentment. It is precisely because Li Daoyuanping is too strict and very principled, and has always been upright in the official arena, and he has treated the powerful and the royal family equally. Because of the jealousy of the magnates, his career path was bumpy and full of thorns. The Book of Wei lists Li Daoyuan's deeds in the Biography of the Cool Officials.
Li Daoyuan has always been regarded as a thorn in the side of the Korean magnates, and is the object they have always wanted to get rid of. In the third year of Xiaochang, the rebellion of Xiao Baoyu, the king of Qi, became more and more obvious, and Emperor Xiaoming decided to send people to investigate the truth after consulting with his ministers. At the instigation of King Runan and a number of ill-intentioned ministers, Li Daoyuan was appointed as the guan right ambassador, responsible for monitoring Xiao Baoyu.
In order to successfully get rid of Li Daoyuan, the King of Runan spread rumors in advance, and Xiao Baoyuan, after hearing the rumors, worried that Li Daoyuan might be unfavorable to him, so he sent people to intercept Li Daoyuan and besiege him in the Yinpan Pavilion. The pavilion is on the hill, there is no water source on the hill, usually all rely on the well under the mountain to draw water, the besieged Li Daoyuan had to command the personnel to dig a well on the spot to draw water, but has not been able to dig out the water source, and finally because of the extreme lack of water, unable to resist, and finally was killed by the rebels who jumped into the wall, at the age of fifty-nine. Later, he was posthumously honored by the imperial court as the official Shangshu, the Assassin of Jizhou, and the male of Anding County.