Dou Jiande
a leader of the agrarian rebels against the Chinese Sui dynasty
Years: 573 - 621
Dou Jiande (573 – August 3, 621) is a leader of the agrarian rebels who rise against the rule of Emperor Yang of Sui near the end of the Chinese dynasty Sui Dynasty.
Generally considered the kindest and most able of the agrarian rebel leaders of the time, he is 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 (the later Emperor Taizong) attacks Wang Shichong the Emperor of Zheng, who rules the modern Henan region, Dou believes that if Tang were able to destroy Zheng, his own Xia state would suffer the same fate, and therefore goes to Wang's aid, against the advice of his strategist Ling Jing and his wife Empress Cao.
Li defeats him at the Battle of Hulao, capturing him.
Li's father Emperor Gaozu of Tang subsequently puts Dou to death.
Xia territory is briefly seized by Tang, but soon Dou's general Liu Heita rises against Tang rule, recapturing Dou's territory, and holds out against Tang until 623.
