Li Daoyuan

Li Daoyuan

Li Daoyuan (466-527) was born in Zhuozhou, Hebei Province. He was an official and geographer in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the son of Li Fan, the governor of Qingzhou.

Li Daoyuan became an official in the shadow of his father and was granted the title of Yongning Bo. After moving the capital to Luoyang, he took up the post of shangshulang and Taifu, and was promoted to the post of governor. He was impeached by Li Chong, the minister's servant, and was removed from office. He has successively served as the lieutenant of imperial censor and general of beizhonglang, and as the governor of Jizhou, governor of Qingzhou, governor of Luyang, governor of dongjingzhou, governor of Henan, etc. The severe enforcement of the law has caused resentment among some clansmen.

In the third year of Xiaochang (527), the king of Qi, Xiao Baoyin, who guarded Yongzhou, rebelled. He paid homage to the right side of the pass and was responsible for supervising Xiao Baoyin, who was killed. In the early years of Wutai, he was awarded the Minister of Li, the governor of Jizhou, and the male of Anding county. He wrote 40 volumes of shuijingzhu and became the pioneer of Chinese travel literature, which had a great influence on the development of travel prose in later generations. In addition, thirteen articles in Benzhi and Qipin have been lost.

(overview photo source:)

Life of the characters

Youth experience

In his youth, Li Daoyuan lived in Qingzhou with his mother and father Li Fan, who was appointed governor of Qingzhou at any time. He traveled with his father and was able to observe the scenery of different places, which also inspired his love for the great rivers and mountains.

Stepping into official career

In 489, Li Fan died. Li Daoyuan inherited the Marquis of Yongning and the Earl according to the custom of descending.

In the autumn of 493, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty appointed Li Daoyuan as shangshulang after he moved his capital to Luoyang.

In 494, he followed Emperor Xiaowen to the north. Li Biao, the lieutenant of the imperial censor, thought that the law enforcement of Daoyuan was just and strict, and recommended him to the imperial court. Li Daoyuan was promoted from Taifu to the imperial censor.

In 498, Li Biao was impeached and Li Daoyuan was removed from office.

In the second year of emperor Xuanwu's Jingming reign (501), Li Daoyuan was transferred to Jizhou town as the governor of Dongfu. Li Daoyuan was an official there for three years, and he was very strict in politics. People were so in awe of him that many criminals and thieves fled to other places, Dazhi in Jizhou. Later, Li Daoyuan served as the prefect of Luyang county. According to the above table, the imperial court established schools, respected education and enlightened the villagers. The imperial court issued an edict, saying: "Luyang was originally a southern border area, and there was no school. Now we can set up schools there, so that Luyang can become an educated area like WenWeng in the Western Han Dynasty. " When Li Daoyuan was in Luyang County, Shankou admired his prestige and did not dare to break the law.

During the period of Yanchang (512-515), Li Daoyuan was appointed as the governor of Jingzhou in the East. During this period, he maintained the same style of being strict in politics as he did in Jizhou. Local people went to court to complain to Emperor Xuanwu. They told Li Daoyuan that he was harsh and severe, and asked his predecessor, Kou Zuli, to return to his post. When Kou Zuli came back and sent 70 soldiers to send Li Daoyuan back to Beijing, both of them were dismissed for committing crimes.

During his dismissal from office, Li Daoyuan began to annotate the book of water.

In the fifth year of Zhengguang (524) of emperor Xiaoming, Li Daoyuan was appointed as Yin of Henan Province and governed Luoyang.

Frontier March

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< sub > six towns Uprising

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< sub > Pei Shen's battle against Wei

Since Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the military and civilian status of the six towns in the northern border area, which had been paid attention to before, gradually declined, causing dissatisfaction. In the fourth year of Zhengguang (523), uprising broke out in some areas of six towns. There was a stalemate between the Wei army and the rebel army. In August of the fifth year of Zhengguang (524), Emperor Xiaoming decided to adopt the Huairou policy, upgrading Woye Town, huaishuo Town, bogulu Town, Wuchuan Town, fuming Town, rouxuan Town, Huaihuang Town, Yuyi town and other places to States, and using their names. He ordered Li Daoyuan to be a servant of the yellow gate and to go to the northern towns to plan with Li Chong, the governor of Dadu, the reorganization of officials, the preparation of military supplies and the cutting of organizations. But soon after, all the towns rebelled, and the reduction was fruitless, so they returned.

In September, the Liang Dynasty sent Pei Shen and others to attack Shouyang. Pei Shen won the night attack and conquered the outer city. Later, he retreated due to poor aid. Another faction will attack Huaiyang. On the one hand, the imperial court appointed Li Daoyuan as the commander-in-chief of the army, the governor and Wang Yuanchen of Hejian to rescue Shouyang, and on the other hand, it sent Wang Yuanjian of Anle to rescue Huaiyang. In the same month, Yuanchen and Li Daoyuan troops arrived at Guoyang and lifted the siege.

In the first month of the first year of Xiaochang (525), Pei Shen captured Xincai County, which was awed by Pei Shen's prestige. Yuanchen and Li Daoyuan troops were stationed in Chengfu and did not advance for several months.

In the same month, the monk assassin of Yuan Dynasty rebelled in Pengcheng, and the imperial court sent Li Daoyuan and other soldiers to fight against him. Then Yuan Jian crusaded, winning first and then losing, but yuan FA monk thought he couldn't last long, so he asked emperor Liang Wu to surrender and go south.

Feud with the powerful

In the second year of Xiaochang (526), Li Daoyuan was granted the post of General Annan and lieutenant censor. Li Daoyuan was always strict in power, and he did not avoid the powerful and the royal family, which damaged their reputation. Therefore, Li Daoyuan was hated by the powerful. However, Li Daoyuan was the official of the imperial court, and it was hard for them to retaliate.

The imperial clan Yuanhui framed his uncle Yuanyuan, and Li Daoyuan tried to tell the truth, which made Yuanyuan clear. So Yuan Hui hated Li Daoyuan. Si zhoumu and Wang Yuanyue of Runan loved Qiu Nian very much, and most of them listened to his advice when they were elected state officials. Qiu Nian also often hides in Yuan Yue's residence. Li Daoyuan is inconvenient to break into Ru Nan Wang's house to catch him. Once Qiu Nian returned home, Li Daoyuan made a secret visit and learned about it. He arrested Qiu Nian and put him in prison. Yuanyue played to empress dowager Hu. Please keep Qiu Nian safe. Empress dowager Hu ordered to forgive Qiu Nian. Li Daoyuan put Qiu Nian to death before giving the order, and used it to report yuan Yue's illegal behavior. Yuan Yue has a grudge ever since.

Die unyielding

In the third year of Xiaochang (527), the plot of rebellion by the king of Qi and Yongzhou governor Xiao Baoyin became more and more obvious. In order to stabilize Chang'an, Emperor Xiaoming negotiated with the ministers and decided to send a competent minister to Chang'an to inspect and pacify, and to explore Xiao Baoyin's reality. Wang Yuanhui and others in Chengyang always hated Li Daoyuan, so they used a knife to kill people, implying that the imperial court tried to encourage empress dowager Hu to appoint Li Daoyuan as Guan You ambassador to watch Xiao Baoyin. Xiao Baoyin worried that Li Daoyuan might be bad for him, so he sent his subordinate Guo Zihui to surround Li Daoyuan in Yinpan Posthouse.

The pavilion was at the foot of the hill, and there was well water, but there was no water source on the hill. Li Daoyuan's commander dug a well for more than ten feet, but no water source was found. Because of the extreme lack of water, Li Daoyuan and others were unable to resist, so they jumped into the wall and were killed by the rebels. He was about 59 years old. Before his death, Li Daoyuan glared and denounced the rebels. His younger brothers Li Daojun and Li daobo, his eldest son Li Boyou and his second son Li Zhongyou were also killed. In October of the same year, Xiao Baoyin launched a rebellion in Chang'an (now Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province).

In the spring of the first year of Wutai (528), the Wei army recovered Chang'an and Li Daoyuan was buried in Luoyang. Later, he was canonized by the imperial court as the official minister, Jizhou governor and anding County male. Li Xiaoyou, the third son, inherited the title.

Main impact

Politics

Li Daoyuan was an official all his life in the Northern Wei Dynasty

military

During the reign of Xiaochang, Yuan FA monk, the governor of Xuzhou, rebelled in Pengcheng. Li Daoyuan was sent by the imperial court to direct the military action. After the army arrived at Guoyang, the rebels were defeated and retreated. Li Daoyuan pursued the Crusade and killed and captured many of them.

In addition, in shuijingzhu, Li Daoyuan recorded that there were no less than 300 battles in various places in history, and described in detail the geographical conditions that could not be ignored by both sides, such as mountains, passes, rivers, ferries, bridges, warehouses, etc. Experts pointed out that among the geographical factors, mountain and water were the two most important topographical conditions that influenced the victory or defeat of wars in the cold weapon era, especially the pass in the mountain area. Shuijingzhu recorded more than 140 important passes, which were imitated by the geographical records after the Tang Dynasty. And clearly put forward the military point of view of "depending on people and solid", which can be called brilliant.

Geography

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< sub > shuijingzhu

Li Daoyuan wrote a geographical work "notes to the water classic". Shuijingzhu is the first comprehensive and systematic geographical work in China before the sixth century. It has important reference value for the study of ancient Chinese history and geography. Shuijingzhu has 40 volumes (five volumes have been lost in the Song Dynasty, but it is still 40 volumes. It was adapted by later generations) and more than 300000 words. It was an unprecedented geographical masterpiece at that time. In name, it annotates the book of water, but in fact, it is a re creation based on the book of water. This book not only creates the history of ancient "realistic geography", but also occupies an important position in the development history of world geography.

As an outstanding geographer, Li Daoyuan made many comments on the famous geographical works of the previous generation in the preface of shuijingzhu. Before the Qin Dynasty, there were many geography books, but at that time, the country was not unified, the level of productivity was not developed, and people's concept of geography was still vague. The common problem in these works was fiction, such as Shanhaijing, biography of emperor mu, Yugong and so on. However, Li Daoyuan firmly opposed "fictitious geography". In the preface of shuijingzhu, he put forward his own research and working methods, that is, to attach importance to the importance of field investigation. Therefore, the book shuijingzhu records a lot of achievements Li Daoyuan made in field investigation, which shows that in order to obtain the true value of life

Chinese PinYin : Li Dao Yuan