Du Tao, courtesy nameJingwen, was an rebel leader during the Jin Dynasty. Originally from Yizhou, he fled west to avoid a rebellion led by Li Xiang in and shortly served as a Jin official in 311. The same year, he was proclaimed a leader of an uprising led by Ba and Shu refugees, many who had fled before him to escape the Ba-Di conflict that started in 301. Du Tao fought with the Jin forces led by Wang Dun, Tao Kan and Zhou Fang in Jingzhou and Xiangzhou for four years, before he presumably died while fleeing in 315, putting an end to his rebellion.
Prior rebellion
Du Tao was from Chengdu, Yizhou and was the grandson of a famous official in Shu Han named Du Zhi during the Three Kingdoms period. In 311, he was forced to migrate to Nanping commandery due to a recent uprising by a Shu native named Li Xiang. There, he was appointed as the Prefect of Liling by the Administrator of Nanping, Ying Zhan. Together, they routed Li Xiang, and he was later executed by the Inspector of Jingzhou, Wang Cheng. Wang tricked Li by pretending to accept his surrender, and after he killed him, he drowned 8,000 of the rebels in the Yangtze. Resentment grew among the Ba and Shu refugees, who were fleeing their homelands west to avoid the rise of Cheng Han in Yizhou since 301. They were treated poorly by the local administrators and populace, and the recent actions by Wang Cheng only made them anxious. Not long after, another native of Shu named Du Chou rebelled. The consistent uprisings by Shu refugees were beginning to arouse suspicion among the officials of Jingzhou and Xiangzhou. Finally, the Inspector of Xiangzhou, Xun Tiao, decided to plan and carry out a mass execution on the refugees. However, before it could occur, news of this managed to get out to the public, and hearing this, the refugees revolted en masse in Jingzhou and Xiangzhou. They proclaimed Du Tao as their leader, as he was from Shu and a popular official.
Du Tao's rebellion
Du Tao agreed to lead the rebellion, declaring himself Governor of Liangzhou and Yizhou and acting Inspector of Xiangzhou. He occupied the city of Changsha where Xun Tiao resided, forcing him to retreat to Guangzhou. The Inspector of Guangzhou, Guo Ne, and Wang Cheng sent their general to quell the rebellion but Du Tao routed their forces. Du Tao then killed the newly appointed Inspector of Jingzhou, Guo Cha, and continued his successes by conquering Lingling and Wuchang while killing many officials along the way. The following year, Wang Cheng was dismissed by Sima Rui as Inspector of Jingzhou in favor of Zhou Yi due to Wang's inefficient leadership. Just as Zhou Yi arrived, a refugee from Jianping, Fu Mi rebelled under Du Tao's name, and Du Tao sent his subordinate Wang Zhen to jointly attack Zhou. With Jingzhou at risk of falling, the commander of the western provinces, Wang Dun, immediately sent Tao Kan and Zhou Fang to support Zhou Yi. In 313, Tao Kan defeated Du Tao and saved Zhou Yi at Xunshui and later predicted that Du Tao would go to Wuchang next. His predictions were true and Du was beaten again, causing him to retreat back to Changsha. By 315, Du Tao's forces were beginning to collapse. Continuous defeats against Tao Kan were diminishing his numbers, leading him to ask for surrender from Sima Rui. When Sima Rui rejected it, he then sent a letter to Ying Zhan, justifying his rebellion by stating the oppression faced by his followers under the Jin regime. Ying Zhan sent the letter to Sima Rui, who was impressed and retracted his previous rejection. Du Tao was pardoned and appointed as Chief of military affairs in Badong commandery. Despite that, Du rebelled again the same year after he was disrespected by the Jin generals and killed Rui's candidate to accept his surrender, Wang Yun. Du Tao exchanged bouts with Tao Kan. In their final battle, Du sent his general Wang Gong to lead against Tao Kan. However, Tao managed to convince Wang to defect to his side which created confusion in Du Tao's army and caused them to scatter. Du Tao also retreated but what became of him after this was unknown. Three different accounts stated that he either was killed, successfully escaped and disappeared or drowned himself in a river. Regardless, the rebellion ended in 315 after Tao Kan recovered Changsha. Du Tao's followers were granted amnesty by Sima Rui after they surrendered.
