Zu Ti

Zu Ti hailed from Qiuxian county, Fanyang commandery from a family line of officials. As a child, it was said that he could not read until the age of 14 and rather mischievous, but he was well-respected for his generosity by the people of Luoyang whenever he visited the capital. Even at his young age, he was very ambitious and became determined to read in his teenage years so that he could become a government official.[1]

Sometime in the 290s, he became a Registrar of Sichuan, where he befriended with another registrar named Liu Kun. One night, while they were sleeping in the same bed, Zu Ti heard a rooster's crow in the middle of the night. Believing it was a bad omen, Zu Ti kicked Liu Kun awake, telling him "This is not a disagreeable sound." The two men got out of their bed and performed a sword dance. A Chinese proverb, "rising at cockcrow to begin action (聞雞起舞)" is accredited to this story.[2]

Zu Ti served under different lords throughout the War of the Eight Princes. He first served under the Prince of Qi, Sima Jiong and then the Prince of Changsha, Sima Ai before finally siding with the Prince of Donghai, Sima Yue against Sima Ying and Sima Yong in 304. Under Sima Yue, he participated in Yue's failed campaign in Dangyin (盪陰, today Tangyin county, Henan) where they were badly defeated by Sima Ying and forced back to Luoyang. While the emperor was still held hostage in Chang'an, Zu Ti was approached by several other princes namely Sima Xiao (司馬虓), Sima Lüe (司馬略) and Sima Mo (司馬模) but he rejected them all. After his mother died, Zu Ti quit the government to mourn her.[3]

In 311, the Jin capital Luoyang and Emperor Huai of Jin had been captured by the forces of Han Zhao. To avoid the chaos in the north, Zu Ti and a group of refugees crossed the Yangtze to Sikou (泗口, located at Xuzhou, Jiangsu). After arriving, Zu Ti was appointed the Inspector of Xuzhou and later the Army Libationer-Advisor by the Prince of Langxie, Sima Rui. He resided in Jingkou, where he gathered volunteers to join him in his expedition to reclaim the north. Before heading out, Zu Ti stated his intentions to Sima Rui first. Although Sima Rui permitted him to carry out an expedition, he was not too enthusiastic about it as he was more concerned with developing Jianye. Sima Rui appointed Zu Ti as Inspector of Yuzhou and General Who Exerts Might while also providing food and clothes but did not provide him with any weapons nor armor, and recruits had to be done by Zu himself.[4]

Regardless, Zu Ti crossed the Yangtze and landed in Huaiyin county in 313, where he built smithies and foundries to have his soldiers produce their own weapon. It would not be until 317 when Zu Ti's army would see its first action. Two refugee leaders, Fan Ya (樊雅) and Zhang Ping (張平), had set their up own fortresses at Qiaocheng. The two men had recently submitted to Jin so Zu Ti camped at Luzhou and had his Army Advisor Yin Ai (殷乂) to visit Zhang. However, unbeknownst to Zu, Yin Ai insulted Zhang Ping during his visit to the point Zhang executed him and together with Fan Ya prepared to defend themself from Zu Ti. Zu first attacked Zhang Ping at Taiqiu (太丘縣) but after failing to break through after a year, he had Zhang's subordinate, Xie Fu (謝浮) assassinate Zhang for him to capture the city. He then attacked Fan Ya at Qiaocheng but once again struggled to defeat the enemy. This time, he sent a well-respected officer named Huan Xuan (桓宣) to convince Fan Ya to surrender. Fan Ya accepted Huan Xuan's reasoning and Qiaocheng too fell to Zu Ti.[5] The Han Zhao general, Shi Le, upon hearing of Zu Ti's recent victory, sent his nephew Shi Hu to capture the city but Zu Ti and Huan Xuan repelled him.

In 319, the Administrator of Chenliu, Chen Chuan (陳川), who had assisted Zu Ti against Fan Ya, grew jealous of Zu Ti's success after a subordinate of his, Li Tou (李頭), lamented about not being able to serve Zu. Chen Chuan had Li Tou executed and pillaged the commanderies of Yuzhou but Zu Ti turned him away. After this defeat Chen Chuan submitted to Shi Le, who at this point, had broken away from Han Zhao and formed his state of Later Zhao. Zu Ti attacked him at Pengguan (蓬關, in modern-day Chenliu, Henan) but he was driven back by Shi Hu at Junyi county (浚儀, in modern-day Kaifeng). Reinforcements from Shi Le's general, Tao Bao (桃豹) forced Zu Ti to retreat across the Huai River to Huainan whilst Shi Hu relocate Chen Chuan and his followers back to Zhao's capital in Xiangguo.[6] In 320, Zu Ti sent his Han Qian (韓潛) to attack Junyi, and the city was split into two sections, one occupied by Han Qian and the other occupied by Tao Bao. After 40 days, luck shifted in favor of Zu Ti as Tao Bao's food supply were beginning to run short. As Tao Bao retreated to camp at Dongye (東燕, in modern-day Henan), Han Qian was ordered to move to Fengqiu to pressure him.[7]

At the same time, Zu Ti moved his base to Yongqiu and launched raids against the Later Zhao army while accepting many surrenders from their people. He also got the Jin generals Guo Mo, Li Ju (李矩), Zhao Gu (趙固) and Shangguan Si (上官巳), who were all stationed at the Huai River, to accept his authority after settling a quarrel between the four men. With Zu Ti consolidating power over the Huai River while Later Zhao's borders were beginning to strain, Shi Le resorted to improving his relations with Zu Ti and settling with peace.

Shi Le restored Zu Ti's grandfather and father's tomb and offered to trade with him. Although Zu Ti did not reply, trade between the two sides occurred as Shi Le intended to. One time, Zu Ti's General of the Standard, Tong Jian (童建) defected to Shi Le, but Shi had him beheaded. Tong's head was returned to Zu Ti along with a letter of friendship by Shi Le. Zu Ti was very impressed at his display that later he would return any defector from Zhao and forbid his troops from pillaging Shi Le's land.[8] Conflict between the two sides gradually died down, and the border between Jin and Zhao experienced a short period of amity.

While Zu Ti was campaigning against Shi Le, political tension in the court of Jianye between Sima Rui (Emperor Yuan of Jin as of 318) and his advisor Wang Dun was beginning to reach its boiling point. To protect himself from Wang Dun, one decision he did was to give the southern gentry Dai Yuan (戴淵) several appointments including Commander of military affairs in Yuzhou which reduced Zu Ti's authority over the province. Zu Ti was distraught at the news, as he could no longer lead any expedition at his own bidding. Furthermore, Zu Ti did not think that Dai Yuan could fulfill the long-term plans that Zu had for the north. Zu Ti's plans had practically come to a stop and with civil war beginning to take place, he believed that his dreams of reunifying China were over. He grew ill due to this and died shortly after in 321.[9]

Zu Ti's death was mourned by the people of Yuzhou who deeply respected and loved him. For Wang Dun, the news worked in favor for him as he no longer had to fear Zu Ti's strength when opposing Sima Rui. Zu Ti's younger brother, Zu Yue, would replace him as General Who Pacifies the West and Inspector of Yuzhou but he was not as talented Ti and was not on good terms with his generals. Yue would later ally with Su Jun in his rebellion in 328. As for Later Zhao, they resumed their attacks against Jin, and quickly retook lands north of the Huai that Zu Ti had previously conquered.[10]

• Fang, Xuanling (ed.) (648). Book of Jin (Jin Shu).
• Liu, Yiqing (ed.) (c. 5th century). A New Account of the Tales of the World (Shishuo Xinyu / Shiyu).
• Sima, Guang (1084). Zizhi Tongjian.