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Tan Daoji
Liu Song founding general who freed his captives at Luoyang, brought his army home from a failed northern campaign by bluffing with sand, and was executed in 436
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
- Roles
- Commanders
Tan Daoji came from Jinxiang in Gaoping and joined Liu Yu's rising against Huan Xuan in 404. In 416, leading the vanguard of Liu Yu's campaign against the Later Qin, he took Luoyang with over four thousand prisoners; when others urged killing them, he said the campaign was meant to relieve the people and set them free. When Liu Yu founded the Song he was made Duke of Yongxiu, and under Emperor Wen he helped crush Xie Hui. Retreating from a northern campaign against the Wei in 431 with his grain gone, he had his men count measures aloud at night while pouring sand and scattering the last of the rice over it, so the Wei thought him well supplied and did not pursue. In 436, while the emperor lay ill, Liu Yikang summoned him to the capital and had him killed; the History of the Southern Dynasties says he threw down his cap and cried that they were destroying their own Great Wall.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–436 CE