Dou Jiande (; 573 – 3 August 621) was a Chinese rebel leader who led the agrarian rebels who rose against the rule of Emperor Yang of Sui near the end of the Chinese Sui dynasty. Generally considered the kindest and most able of the agrarian rebel leaders of the time, he was eventually able to capture the modern Hebei region and declare himself initially the Prince of Changle, and then the Prince of Xia. In 621, when the Tang dynasty general Li Shimin (later Emperor Taizong) attacked Wang Shichong the Emperor of Zheng, who ruled the modern Henan region, Dou believed that if Tang were able to destroy Zheng, his own Xia state would suffer the same fate, and therefore went to Wang's aid, against the advice of his strategist Ling Jing () and his wife Empress Cao. Li defeated him at the Battle of Hulao, capturing him. Li's father Emperor Gaozu of Tang subsequently put Dou to death. Xia territory was briefly seized by Tang, but soon Dou's general Liu Heita rose against Tang rule, recapturing Dou's territory, and held out against Tang until 623.
Initial uprising and service under Gao Shida
Dou Jiande was born in 573, when his birth area Zhangnan County (, in modern Handan, Hebei) was under the rule of Northern Qi, although subsequently it came under the rule of Northern Zhou and then Sui dynasty. It was said that in his youth, his honesty and willingness to help others made him well known in his home territory. In particular, once, when a man from his county lost his parents but was too poor to give his parents a proper burial, Dou was tilling in the fields, but he dropped his tilling and immediately went to help the man bury his parents, and after this incident he became particularly praised among the people. For a while, he served as the leader of the neighborhood, but after he was accused of crimes, he fled, returning home only after a general pardon. When his father died, more than a thousand people attended the funeral, and Dou refused all gifts given him for the funeral.
In 611, when Emperor Yang of Sui was conscripting men for his campaign against Goguryeo, Dou was conscripted and selected to be the commander of 200 men. During those times, there were floods afflicting the region east of the Taihang Mountains. One of the men from Dou's home county, Sun Anzu (), whose house had recently been destroyed in the flood and whose wife had starved to death, was also conscripted. Sun tried to obtain an exemption from conscription, but the county magistrate, in anger, whipped him. Sun assassinated the county magistrate and fled to Dou's home, where Dou hid him. As the region was afflicted with a famine in the aftermaths of the floods, Dou told Sun:
He therefore gathered several hundred men of the region and gave them to Sun to lead, to become bandits at the nearby Gaoji Pond (). Meanwhile, there were other bands of bandits in the same commandery, Qinghe (, roughly modern Xingtai, Hebei), led by Zhang Jincheng () and Gao Shida (). The bandits knew Dou's reputation and were not pillaging his home. The county magistrates of Dou's and nearby counties thus suspected Dou of conspiring with the bandits, and once, when Dou happened to be away from home, they ambushed Dou's house and slaughtered his family. Dou took 200 men and fled to Gao, who claimed the title Duke of Donghai and made Dou a general. Soon, Zhang killed Sun, and Sun's men largely fled to Dou. Dou become the commander of an army of more than 10,000 men. It was said at this time that Dou was open to other opinions, and he shared both the spoils and the labors with his soldiers, and therefore his soldiers were willing to fight and die for him.
In 616, Guo Xuan () the governor of Zhuo Commandery (, roughly modern Beijing) led a Sui army against Gao. Gao realized that he was not as capable as Dou, so he promoted Dou to the leader of his army. Dou asked Gao to safeguard their homebase, and then led 7,000 men against Guo, pretending to be betraying Gao and surrendering, particularly having Gao publicly execute a woman that Gao claimed to be Dou's wife. Guo, not suspecting Dou, proceeded at once to join Dou, planning to attack Gao together. Dou ambushed and killed him, seizing his army and horses. Thereafter, Dou became even more famous.
Later that year, one of the most capable Sui generals, Yang Yichen, defeated Zhang and slaughtered his troops. The survivors fled to Dou. Yang then followed up by attacking Gao. Dou, advising Gao not to engage Yang directly, stated:
Gao disagreed, and, leaving Dou in charge of the base, engaged Yang. Gao achieved initial success against Yang, and became arrogant, feasting on the battlefield. When Dou heard this, he, in surprise, stated, "The Duke of Donghai has not yet defeated the enemy but has become arrogant. A disaster will happen soon. After the Sui victory, they will attack here as well, and I am afraid we will not be spared." Several days later, Yang defeated Gao and killed him on the battlefield. He then attacked Dou, whose army collapsed. Dou fled, and Yang, not believing that he would be able to accomplish much, withdrew. Dou returned and gathered the remnants of Gao's army, and he publicly observed a mourning period for Gao. After his army had recovered somewhat, he claimed the title of general, and he began to capture territory around him. It was said that the rebels had hated Sui officials so much that they largely slaughtered Sui officials whenever they could find those officials. However, Dou did not do so, and treated Sui officials and scholars kindly, and therefore at times Sui officials would even surrender their cities to him. He soon had more than 100,000 soldiers under his command.
Nominal submission to Li Mi and Yang Tong
In spring 617, Dou claimed the title of Prince of Changle and also changed the era name that his followers used, from Emperor Yang's Daye () to DingchouIt might be notable, however, that Dingchou happened to be the designation for 617 in the sexagenary cycle, and thus might properly not be considered a true era name, although traditional historians treated it as one. (), thus subtly signifying an official break from Sui.
In fall 617, at Emperor Yang's orders, the general Xue Shixiong (), who was in charge of defending Zhuo Commandery, led his 30,000 men south, intending to attack Li Mi—then generally recognized as the strongest rebel leader. As Xue went through Hejian Commandery (, roughly modern Cangzhou, Hebei), near Dou's holdings, Dou's army became fearful and fled. Xue thus took no further precautions, believing Dou to pose no further threat. Dou instead planned a surprise attack, leading 280 of his best soldiers personally as the forward assault force at night while having the rest of his men trail. He made an agreement with them: if they reached Xue's camp at night, they would make a surprise attack, but if it was already the day by the time that they arrived, they would surrender. The sun rose when Dou was almost at Xue's camp, and Dou, fearful that he would be crushed by Xue, discussed with his men whether to surrender. Suddenly, a thick fog descended over the scene, and Dou gladly stated, "The Heavens are helping us!" He then made a surprise attack on Xue's camp, causing Xue's army to panic and collapse. Xue fled back to Zhuo Commandery with fewer than 100 men, and died in anger there. Meanwhile, Dou continued to expand but, knowing that Li, then occupying modern central and eastern Henan, had the stronger army, he sent messengers to nominally submit to Li. In spring 618, after Li had a major victory over the Sui general Wang Shichong, whom Emperor Yang had sent from Jiangdu (, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) to aid the eastern capital Luoyang, Dou, along with several other rebel leaders, sent a submission to Li, then carrying the self-declared title of Duke of Wei, urging him to take imperial title. Li declined. Meanwhile, Li's subordinate Fang Yanzao () wrote Dou, inviting Dou to meet Li to show his loyalty. Dou wrote back in humble and polite terms, but declined with the excuse that he needed to defend an attack from Luo Yi (a former Sui official who had seized Zhuo Commandery himself) from the north. (Later that year, Wang defeated Li, causing Li to flee west and surrender to Emperor Gaozu of Tang (Li Yuan), a former Sui general who had rebelled in 617 and established Tang dynasty in spring 618, although he was eventually killed by Tang forces after attempting to reestablish his independence.)
Soon, news arrived from Jiangdu that Emperor Yang had been killed in a coup led by the general Yuwen Huaji. The Sui official Wang Cong (), who had held out against Dou at Hejian, observed a mourning period for Emperor Yang, and Dou, in response, sent a messenger to Wang to express condolences. Wang then surrendered to Dou. As Wang had previously had several victories over Dou's soldiers, Dou's soldiers wanted Wang put to death, but Dou pointed out that Wang's faithfulness to Sui should be rewarded, and therefore made Wang a prefectural prefect.Emperor Yang had, in 607, abolished provinces (, zhou) and turned them into commanderies (, jun); Dou, as well as many other rebel generals, reversed the process and restored zhou, abolishing jun, although English sources generally referred to zhou as "prefectures" from this point on. See Zhou (administrative division) for more information. A number of other Sui commanderies also surrendered to him. He then began to organize his staff into a governmental structure, and he set his capital at Leshou (, in modern Cangzhou). In winter 618, after five large birds appeared at Leshou, with an assortment of over 10,000 small birds, and later left, Dou, believing them to be fenghuang (phoenixes), changed his era name to Wufeng (). Further, at the suggestion of his officials Song Zhengben () and Kong Deshao (), he changed his title to Prince of Xia. Also at this time, Dou surprised and killed another major rebel leader, Wei Dao'er (), who had claimed the title of Emperor of Wei, seizing Wei's forces. He also sent messengers to Luo, trying to persuade Luo to submit. Luo, believing both Dou and Gao Kaidao (who also tried to get him to submit) to be simply bandits, instead submitted to Tang. Dou led his forces against Luo, but could not capture Luo's base at You Prefecture (, converted from Zhuo Commandery) and had to withdraw.
Meanwhile, Yuwen, after killing Emperor Yang, had advanced north with Sui's elite Xiaoguo Army (), and he had, after first declaring Emperor Yang's nephew Yang Hao emperor and then poisoned Yang Hao and been several times defeated by Li Mi and then the Tang general Li Shentong (, Emperor Gaozu's cousin), declared himself Emperor of Xu and settled in at Liaocheng (, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong). In spring 619, Dou proclaimed, "I was a Sui subject, and the Sui emperor was my lord. Yuwen Huaji killed my lord, and is therefore my enemy, and I must attack him." He therefore marched on to Liaocheng. Yuwen engaged him outside the city, and Dou defeated him repeatedly, forcing him back into Liaocheng to defend it. Dou put Liaocheng under siege, and the rebel leader Wang Bo (), whom Yuwen had enticed with treasure to help defend the city, opened the city gates and welcomed Dou in. Dou captured Yuwen and formally greeted Emperor Yang's wife Empress Xiao, referring to himself as "your subject." He then carried out a mourning period for Emperor Yang while comforting the Sui officials that had been forced to follow Yuwen. He then executed Yuwen and several of his key associates. He disbanded the large group of Emperor Yang's ladies-in-waiting that Yuwen had brought along, and disbanded the Xiaoguo Army as well. The Old Book of Tang, while written from Tang's standpoint, praised Dou in this way in the aftermaths of the battle: