Gao Jiong

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Gao Jiong was born in 541, the third year of Xinghe under Eastern Wei. His father Gao Bin had originally served Northern Qi but defected to Northern Zhou to escape slander by corrupt officials. Dugu Xin, Grand Marshal of Northern Zhou, recruited him to his staff and granted him the surname Dugu. After Dugu Xin was executed, his wife and children were relocated to Shu. Dugu Xin's daughter Dugu Qieluo, the future Empress Wenxian, often visited the Gao family because Gao Bin had been one of her father's former subordinates. Gao Bin later became prefect of Ruozhou; after Gao Jiong rose to prominence, his father was posthumously appointed Minister of Rites and Duke of Bohai.

As a youth Gao was quick-witted, broad in capacity, somewhat read in history, and especially skilled in speech and writing. The Book of Sui records that when he was a child, a willow tree more than one hundred chi high grew at his home, flourishing like the canopy of a carriage. Local elders said that the family would produce an eminent man. In 558, at age seventeen, Gao was recruited by Yuwen Xian, Prince of Qi, as a secretary. He was soon made a lower grand master and later received an office with independent command because of merit in the conquest of Northern Qi. In 580 he followed Yuwen Sheng, Prince of Yue, in suppressing a Hu uprising in Xizhou.

Joining Yang Jian and Suppressing Yuchi Jiong

After Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou, Yuwen Yun, died, Left Grand Chancellor Yang Jian monopolized power and prepared to take the throne. Knowing Gao to be capable, experienced in military matters, and rich in strategy, Yang sent Duke of Han Yang Hui to invite him into service. Gao readily agreed, saying he was willing to be used and would not fear the destruction of his clan even if the enterprise failed. He was appointed Recorder of the Chancellor's Office. At the time Chief Secretary Zheng Yi and Military Director Liu Fang lost favor because of extravagance and indulgence, and Gao was increasingly valued by Yang as a trusted confidant.

In 580, Yuchi Jiong rebelled and his son Yuchi Dun led eighty thousand infantry and cavalry to Wuzhi. Yang Jian ordered Wei Xiaokuan to attack, but when the government army reached Heyang none of the commanders dared take the lead. Cui Zhongfang declined to supervise the army because his father was in Shandong, while Liu Fang and Zheng Yi likewise did not wish to go. Gao volunteered, greatly pleasing Yang. He departed immediately after receiving the order, sending someone to bid farewell to his mother and saying that loyalty and filial duty could not both be fulfilled. At the Qin River he had a bridge built. When rebel troops sent fire boats down from upstream, Gao prepared underwater obstacles to stop them. After crossing, he burned the bridge behind the army and won a major victory. At Ye, Yuchi Jiong assembled 130,000 troops south of the city, and the government attack initially faltered. Gao, Yuwen Xin, and Li Xun devised a plan to shoot toward spectators and create panic; Yuwen Xin then shouted that the enemy had been defeated. Wei Xiaokuan's troops recovered their morale, crushed Yuchi Jiong's army, and Yuchi committed suicide. After Gao returned, Yang Jian gave him his own imperial tent, promoted him to Pillar of State, changed his title to Duke of Yining County, and made him Military Director of the Chancellor's Office, trusting him even more deeply.

Chief Minister of the Kaihuang Era

In 581, the first year of Dading, Yang Jian accepted the abdication and founded Sui. Gao was appointed Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and concurrently Nayan, and promoted to Duke of Bohai Commandery; no court official could rival his position. Yang Jian regularly addressed him as “Dugu” rather than by his given name, showing the depth of imperial favor. Gao tried to avoid excessive power and submitted a memorial offering his position to Su Wei. Yang first considered granting him this reputation for yielding office, but several days later said that Su Wei had refused office under the previous dynasty and Gao had recommended him; since recommending worthy men deserved the highest reward, Gao should not lose his office. Gao was therefore restored and soon appointed Senior General of the Left Guard.

Gao often handled government affairs beneath a pagoda tree north of the court hall. When officials wanted to cut it down, Yang Jian ordered that it be preserved as a memorial for later generations. When Gao's mother died, he requested leave to observe mourning, but after only twenty days the court summoned him back to duty. Gao wept and declined, yet the edict did not permit it. For nearly the next twenty years he assisted Emperor Wen and made major contributions in politics, economics, and military affairs.

The Kaihuang Code and Daxing City

In 581, the first year of Kaihuang, Gao was ordered with Zheng Yi, Yang Su, and others to revise the criminal law on the basis of the Northern Qi code and produce the Kaihuang Code. It abolished cruel punishments such as displaying severed heads, tearing bodies apart, and whipping, reduced terms of penal servitude, eliminated devices such as heavy clubs, bound rods, cart spokes, shoe soles, and ankle presses, and established the “Ten Abominations,” which were inherited by later legal codes.

In 582, because old Chang'an had long been dilapidated, Emperor Wen decided, on the advice of Yuwen Kai, Gao Jiong, and others, to create a new capital on the Longshou Plain. Gao was placed in overall charge of the new capital, and much of the planning and construction of Daxing City proceeded under his direction, laying foundations for the later prosperity of Tang Chang'an. Administrative, bureaucratic, and other institutions were likewise adjusted and developed largely under Gao's supervision, consolidating Sui unification.

Strategy Against Chen and the Conquest of Chen

In 587, the seventh year of Kaihuang, Xiao Yan rebelled, and Emperor Wen ordered Gao to pacify the people of the Jiang-Han region, where he won considerable support. In the eleventh month that year, Yang Jian asked for a strategy to conquer Chen. Gao proposed exploiting the different agricultural seasons of north and south: repeatedly feign attacks during Chen's harvest so that it would waste agricultural labor; accustom the enemy to false alarms; and secretly send men to use favorable winds to burn bamboo and thatch houses and stored supplies, exhausting Chen's resources within a few years. Emperor Wen adopted the plan, and Chen became increasingly impoverished.

In 588 the Sui appointed Yang Guang, Prince of Jin, as supreme commander and assembled 518,000 land and naval troops in eight routes against Chen. Gao served as chief of staff, and strategic matters from all armies were submitted to him for decision. In the first month of 589, Sui forces captured Jiankang. Entering the city, Gao found unopened emergency reports from Jingkou beneath Chen Shubao's bed. Yang Guang sent an envoy demanding Zhang Lihua, but Gao invoked the precedent of King Wu of Zhou executing Daji after the fall of Shang and ordered Zhang Lihua beheaded at Qingxi. Yang Guang was greatly displeased. After Chen's conquest, Gao was promoted to Upper Pillar of State and Duke of Qi, received nine thousand lengths of goods, and was assigned 1,500 households in Qiancheng County. Yang Jian reassured him that after the conquest some had accused Gao of rebellion, but those slanderers had been executed and harmony between ruler and minister could not be disrupted by malicious gossip.

Loss of Favor and Execution

In 592, the twelfth year of Kaihuang, Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs Su Wei was dismissed amid factional conflict. Yang Su succeeded him and shared control of government with Gao. In 598, Gao participated in the campaign against Goguryeo as chief of staff to the Prince of Han; the expedition failed, with eight or nine out of every ten reportedly dying. In 599 Gao led troops from the Shuozhou route, heavily defeated the Türks, and pursued them more than seven hundred li beyond Mount Qin.

In his later years Gao offended Empress Dugu by opposing the deposition of Crown Prince Yang Yong. Gao's son Gao Biaoren had married Yang Yong's daughter and was closely connected to the crown prince. Empress Dugu once suggested that Gao, whose wife had died, remarry. He politely declined on grounds of age and lack of interest in women, but a concubine later bore him a son, leading the empress to believe he had deceived her. Yang Guang also bore a grudge over Zhang Lihua and repeatedly slandered Gao. In 599 a subordinate reported that Gao's son Gao Biaoren had compared him to Sima Yi. Emperor Wen accepted the accusations, removed Gao from office, and soon stripped him of the dukedom of Qi.

In 604, the fourth year of Renshou, Emperor Yang restored Gao to office as Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. In 607, the third year of Daye, Emperor Yang traveled to Yulin and had a tent capable of holding three thousand people made to entertain Türk envoys. Gao and other veteran officials were deeply worried by the extravagance. Gao told Li Yi, assistant in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, that the Tianyuan Emperor of Zhou had perished through love of music and entertainment and that this near precedent should not be repeated. He also told He Chou, Minister of the Court of the Imperial Treasury, that the foreign visitors now knew much about China's strengths, weaknesses, terrain, and strategic routes and might become a future danger. Minister of Rites Yuwen Bi also privately criticized the government. The three were reported. Gao, Yuwen Bi, and Heruo Bi were executed, while Gao's sons were exiled to the frontiers. People throughout the realm lamented him, and his death continued to be regarded as unjust.

His Family and the Suppression of Yuchi Jiong

Gao Jiong, styled Zhaoxuan, also named Min, is said by the History of Sui to have "called himself a man of Bohai Tiao," and his father Gao Bin "left Qi and went over to Zhou, where the grand marshal Dugu Xin took him as a subordinate and gave him the surname Dugu"; when Dugu Xin was executed, his wife and children were deported to Shu, and Empress Wenxian, because Gao Bin had been her father's old subordinate, "went often to their house." Gao Bin later rose to be governor of Ruozhou, and when Gao Jiong became eminent his father was posthumously made minister of rites and duke of Bohai. On the Bohai Gao pedigree, later scholars have pointed out that as political and social standing rose, more and more men sought falsely to claim descent from the Bohai Gao, that Gao Bin's branch returned to allegiance in the early years of Emperor Xiaowen and styled itself Bohai Gao, and that the phrase "lost in Liaozuo" is a commonplace of such false claims; that the History of Sui says Gao Jiong "called himself a man of Bohai Tiao" shows how unreliable the lineage is. Some scholars hold that Gao Bin's branch was in fact of Koguryo origin, while Gao Jiong's descendants still called themselves men of Bohai in Tang epitaphs, thus claiming to be a collateral branch of the Bohai Gao. Gao Jiong was in youth intelligent and quick, of generous measure, somewhat read in history and especially skilled in speech; as a small child he had a willow by the house a hundred feet high, "standing like a canopy," whereupon the elders of the village said that "this house will produce a great man." At seventeen he was taken as secretary by Yuwen Xian, prince of Qi; under Emperor Wu he inherited the title of earl of Wuyang, was appointed a gentleman of the interior secretariat and presently promoted to grand officer; for his merit in pacifying Qi he was made kaifu, and he then followed the prince of Yue, Yuwen Sheng, against the rebellious Hu of Xizhou and put them down.

When Yang Jian held power and secretly planned to take the throne, he knew Gao Jiong to be strong and clear-headed, versed in arms and full of stratagems, and sent Yang Hui, duke of Hanguo, to sound him; Gao Jiong gladly accepted, saying, "I am willing to be driven; even should the enterprise fail, I shall not shrink from the destruction of my clan," and was made recorder of the chancellery. The secretary Zheng Yi and the marshal Liu Fang having been estranged for extravagance and licence, Yang Jian leaned the more on Gao Jiong as his heart and flank. When Yuchi Jiong rose and sent his son Yuchi Dun with eighty thousand foot and horse to camp at Wuzhi, Yang Jian ordered Wei Xiaokuan against him, and the army reached Heyang but "none dared advance"; and when Gao Jiong saw that Liu Fang and Zheng Yi had no intention of going, he asked leave to go himself, "which accorded deeply with the imperial wish." He set out as soon as he received the order, sending word to his mother that "loyalty and filial duty cannot both be served," and went on his way sobbing; reaching the army he bridged the Qin river, and when the rebels launched burning boats downstream to destroy the bridge, he had earthen "dogs" — obstacles in the water, broad behind and pointed in front, like squatting dogs — made ready against them; once across he burned the bridge and fought with his back to the river, breaking the rebels heavily. Advancing under the walls of Ye, he and Yuwen Xin and Li Xun laid a plan — first shooting at the spectators to create confusion, whereupon Yuwen Xin shouted that "the enemy is beaten," Wei Xiaokuan's troops took heart, and the rebels were routed and Yuchi Jiong forced to kill himself, his rising having lasted sixty-eight days. After the army's return Gao Jiong attended a banquet in Yang Jian's own chamber, and Yang Jian took down the imperial curtain and gave it to him; he was advanced to pillar of state, enfeoffed as duke of Yining, and made marshal of the chancellery, with ever greater trust.

The Favours of the Chief Ministership and the Campaign against the Turks

After Emperor Wen took the throne Gao Jiong was made president of the secretariat of the left and concurrently director of proclamations, enfeoffed as duke of Bohai, "than whom no minister of the court could compare," and the emperor always called him Dugu rather than by his name. Deeply avoiding power, he memorialized asking to resign and to yield to Su Wei, and the emperor, wishing to let him have the credit of yielding, allowed him to give up the presidency; a few days later he said that "Su Wei withdrew from office under the former dynasty, and Gao Jiong was able to recommend him. I have heard that he who brings forward the worthy receives the highest reward — how can I let him leave office?" and restored him, presently making him general of the left guard while retaining his other posts. He used to sit under a locust tree north of the court hall to hear business; the tree standing out of line, the officials meant to cut it down, and the emperor specially ordered it left standing "to show later men." On his mother's death he asked to resign to keep mourning, and after only twenty days the court ordered him back to work; he wept and declined, and "the gracious edict would not allow it." The emperor once had him and He Ruobi talk over the conquest of Chen, and Gao Jiong said: "He Ruobi first offered ten plans and then fought hard at Jiangshan and broke the enemy. I am only a civil official — how should I presume to discuss merit with a great general?" at which the emperor laughed, and the opinion of the day praised his modesty; afterwards his son Gao Biaoren married the daughter of the crown prince Yang Yong, and the gifts before and after were past counting. When the Turks raided, the emperor ordered Gao Jiong to hold the frontier, and on his return gave him more than a hundred horses and a thousand head of cattle and sheep; in 599 he marched by the Shuozhou road and with Yang Su by separate roads against the Turks, sending the pillar of state Zhao Zhongqing with three thousand men as vanguard, who after seven days of fighting at Zulishan broke the Turks heavily, pursued them to Qifubo and beat them again, taking more than a thousand prisoners and ten thousand head of stock. When the khan Dulan came in person with the main army and ringed Zhao Zhongqing about, Zhao formed a square and held on every side for five days, until Gao Jiong's main force arrived and broke the Turks; Dulan fled and was killed by his own men, and Gao Jiong pursued beyond Baidao and over Mount Qin for more than seven hundred li before withdrawing. It is worth noting that when he was about to pursue beyond Baidao he sent messengers to ask for more troops, and courtiers close to the emperor thereupon said he meant to rebel; the emperor gave no answer, and Gao Jiong broke the enemy and returned.

Major Activities

Political Contributions

Gao directed government for nearly twenty years. He supervised revision of the Kaihuang Code, abolished cruel punishments, and established the “Ten Abominations”; directed the planning and construction of Daxing City; and oversaw the formation and refinement of administrative and bureaucratic institutions, providing an institutional foundation for Sui unification and stability. He recommended talented figures including Su Wei, Yang Su, Heruo Bi, and Han Qinhu, all of whom were employed according to their abilities and became prominent officials of the age.

Military Activity

Gao volunteered to supervise the army against Yuchi Jiong and helped devise the victorious strategy. During the conquest of Chen he served as chief of staff to the supreme commander and made strategic decisions for the armies. In 599 he led an expedition from the Shuozhou route, heavily defeated the Türks, and pursued them more than seven hundred li beyond Mount Qin. Experienced in military affairs and rich in strategy, he was a key figure in the wars of Sui unification.

Economic Measures

After the conquest of Chen, Gao submitted a proposal concerning the shujidingyang household-registration measure. Each year on the fifth day of the first month, county magistrates were to assess households according to standardized categories and determine their proportional tax and labor obligations. The measure caused many peasants dependent on local magnates to register with government offices and return to the regular taxation and service system. The Comprehensive Institutions praised Gao's light-tax method for bringing unregistered migrants into official household registers and attributed much of Sui prosperity to it.

Travels and Campaign Geography

Gao served Northern Zhou and Sui and traveled through Hebei, the Guanzhong region, Jiang-Huai, and the northern frontier. In his early career he followed Yuwen Sheng, Prince of Yue, in suppressing a Hu uprising in Xizhou; during the suppression of Yuchi Jiong he fought at the Qin River and Ye; during the conquest of Chen he accompanied the army to Jiankang; and late in life he campaigned against the Türks from the Shuozhou route and pursued them beyond Mount Qin.

Relations with Contemporaries

Gao enjoyed an intimate relationship with Emperor Wen Yang Jian, who addressed him as “Dugu” rather than by name. He interacted with Su Wei, Yang Su, Heruo Bi, Han Qinhu, and others as recommender, colleague, or political rival. He became estranged from Yang Guang, Prince of Jin, over the execution of Zhang Lihua, and from Empress Dugu over the succession dispute involving Crown Prince Yang Yong.

The Code and the Capital

His chief contributions to institutions were the Kaihuang Code and the building of Daxing city. Ordered to draw up a new code and to memorialize for its promulgation, he abolished exposure of the head, dismemberment and flogging, lightened the terms of penal servitude and did away with a number of interrogating cruelties "exhausting every torture," such as the great rod, the bound staff, the cart-spoke, the shoe-sole and the ankle-press, improving the old law to a degree; and more importantly the Kaihuang Code gave fixed form to the offence of conspiracy against the state, making ten categories of crime fixed and formally styled the "ten abominations," a system inherited by every later dynasty and made a core element of the penal codes. In 582 the emperor, on the ground that the old city of Chang'an had been ruined by successive wars since Han times, decided on the advice of Su Wei and Gao Jiong to build a new capital on the Longshou plain, making Gao Jiong director of the new capital, "and most of its regulations came from him" — the new city, Daxing, whose plan laid the ground for the prosperity of Tang Chang'an. Beyond the code and the capital, the machinery of offices and rites was largely established and adjusted under his direction, steadying the unity of the Sui.

In the use of men he recommended He Ruobi and Han Qinhu as governors of Wuzhou and Luzhou in preparation for the conquest of Chen, and both served to the full and became famous ministers of the age. In the conquest he was chief of staff to Yang Guang, prince of Jin, "and the consultations of the three armies were all decided by him"; after Chen fell, the prince wished to take the favourite consort of the Chen ruler, Zhang Lihua, and Gao Jiong said, "When Wu destroyed Yin he killed Daji. Now that Chen is conquered, Lihua should not be taken," and had her beheaded, at which the prince was much displeased. Later judgments of him centre on his being a "true chancellor" and on his unjust death: Wei Zheng wrote that "I have seen the old men of Sui, and all say Gao Jiong was a good chancellor; reading his biography, he was indeed fair and upright and especially understood the substance of government. The safety of Sui depended on whether he lived or died; Emperor Yang was without the Way and put him to death wrongfully"; and that "Gao Jiong had the great talent of governing the state, helped Emperor Wen to accomplish his hegemony, and directed the government for more than ten years, on which the empire rested in peace." Zhu Jingze set him with Xiao He, Kou Xun, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Zhao, Wang Meng, Liu Muzhi and Su Chuo, saying that "though their merits differed in size and their fortunes in length, all are counted among the pillars and all were loyal and upright men"; Li Jiang used him to show the weight of appointments, saying that "Sui prospered with Gao Jiong and fell into disorder with Yang Su"; and Hong Mai said that "Gao Jiong aided Emperor Wen of Sui... his merit was not small." The History of Sui, summing up his use of men, says that He Ruobi, Han Qinhu and the rest "were all recommended by Gao Jiong, each serving to the full and becoming famous ministers of the age, and of those who won merit and did service besides, the number cannot be counted," and that "for nearly twenty years he held the government, and court and country alike deferred to him with no disagreement; that the government reached Great Peace was Gao Jiong's doing, and men of judgment called him a true chancellor. When he was put to death the whole world grieved, and to this day men say he was wronged," noting also that "of all his rare plans and secret counsels and his adjustments of the government, Gao Jiong destroyed the drafts, so that the world knows nothing of them."

Personal Relations

• Father: Gao Bin, prefect of Ruozhou under Northern Zhou, granted the surname Dugu
• Mother: Yang Jijiang, titled Grand Lady of Qi
• Wife: Lady Heba
• Sons: Gao Shengdao, Gao Hongde, Gao Biaoren (married a daughter of Crown Prince Yang Yong)
• Daughter: Lady Gao, married Tang Hong, Vice Director of the Bureau of Operations
• Great-grandfather: Gao Hao, administrator of Anding Commandery and Minister of the Imperial Clan under Northern Wei
• Grandfather: Gao Ji'an, General Who Pacifies the Army and prefect of Yanzhou under Northern Wei
• Dugu Xin: Patron of Gao Bin who granted the family the surname Dugu
• Yuwen Xian: Recruited Gao as a secretary
• Su Wei: Recommended by Gao to succeed him
• Yang Jian: Emperor Wen of Sui, Gao's ruler and patron
• Yang Guang: Prince of Jin and later Emperor Yang of Sui; had a longstanding grievance against Gao
• Dugu Qieluo: Empress Wenxian; relationship with Gao shifted from closeness to hostility
• Yang Su: Shared control of government with Gao and later opposed him over the crown prince succession
• Heruo Bi: Fellow meritorious official in the conquest of Chen and executed at the same time
• Yuwen Bi: Fellow court official executed at the same time
• Zheng Yi and Liu Fang: Fellow staff members in the chancellor's establishment who later lost favor
• Pang Huang and Lu Ben: Successively slandered Gao and were demoted by Yang Jian

Historical Assessment

Sui and Tang Periods

• Emperor Wen of Sui praised Gao for broad discernment, deep ability, military service that pacified the Huai region, command of the imperial guards, and nearly constant responsibility for the mechanisms of government since the founding of the dynasty, calling him a worthy assistant sent by Heaven.
• Wei Zheng wrote that Gao possessed broad civil and military strategy and understood affairs clearly. Having governed for nearly twenty years with support across court and country and without serious public dissent, Gao was credited with much of the era's peace and prosperity and was regarded by commentators as a “true grand councilor.” Wei added that people throughout the realm mourned his execution and continued to call it unjust.
• The Comprehensive Institutions placed Gao alongside famous state-builders such as the Grand Duke, Guan Zhong, Li Kui, Shang Yang, and Su Chuo, crediting him with light taxes, prosperous registered households, abundant Sui state reserves, and achievements comparable to the great ministers Xiao He and Zhuge Liang.

Song and Yuan Periods

• The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance described Gao as possessing broad civil and military strategy and a clear grasp of contemporary affairs. It emphasized his complete devotion once entrusted with authority, his recommendation of upright and capable men such as Su Wei, Yang Su, Heruo Bi, and Han Qinhu, his nearly twenty years directing government, and his major contribution to the realm's prosperity; it added that people everywhere mourned his death.
• The History of the Northern Dynasties similarly praised Gao's civil and military ability, administrative understanding, devotion, recommendation of talented men, and central role in nearly twenty years of orderly government. It called him a “true grand councilor,” stated that his execution was widely lamented as unjust, and noted that he destroyed drafts of many of his best plans and policy proposals so later generations did not know them.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wang Fuzhi argued in Reflections on Reading the Comprehensive Mirror that Gao served his ruler according to upright principle and was killed by Yang Guang, and that Gao's death made the fall of Sui inevitable: while Gao lived, even an extravagant emperor had not dared indulge without restraint.
• Zhao Yi, in Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories, argued that Sui unification owed much to Emperor Wen's discernment and Gao's work, that Gao's twenty years as chief minister left the court without major policy failures, and that the dynasty soon fell after Emperor Yang killed him.

Modern Period

• Lü Simian's History of the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties called Gao a first-rank figure of the Sui, combining political ability and military strategy and standing at the center of institutional construction.
• Cen Zhongmian's History of Sui and Tang described Gao as possessing civil and military talent and a clear grasp of government, and regarded the Kaihuang Code and the shujidingyang household-registration measure associated with him as measures of lasting influence.
• Contemporary scholars generally regard Gao as one of the principal designers of the founding institutions of Sui and see his political legacy as directly influencing the legal and administrative order of the Tang.