Zu Yue

Zu Yue hailed from Qiuxian county, Fanyang commandery and was the younger brother of Zu Ti, who he had a friendly relationship with. In his youth, Zu Yue received the title of "Xiaolian (孝廉; Filial and Incorrupt)" and worked as the Magistrate of Chenggao County. After the Disaster of Yongjia in July 311, he followed his brother south to join Sima Rui. There, he served a handful of offices such as the Attendant Officer of the Household Gentlemen and was said to be as equally famous as Ruan Fu (阮孚) of Chenliu.^[3]

Despite his respectful career, Zu Yue nearly landed himself in trouble due to his marital problems at home. Zu Yue had a very jealous wife who was very suspicious of him to the point that Zu Yue feared her. One night, Zu Yue was suddenly injured by someone, and he suspected that this was his wife's doing. Zu Yue begged Sima Rui to allow him to resign but was rejected, so Zu instead abandoned his post. The Minister of Justice, Liu Wei, wanted to execute him for his negligence but Sima Rui prevented him from doing so.^[4]

While Zu Ti won merits in his northern expedition, Zu Yue too benefitted back home with promotions. After Zu Ti died in 321, however, Zu Yue was chosen to take over his army as General Who Pacifies The West and Inspector of Yuzhou. His half-brother, Zu Na (祖納) warned Sima Rui that giving his brother that much power would lead to rebellion, but Na was ignored as he was noted to be notoriously jealous of Yue. Zu Yue found his new position difficult to hold, as his lack of ability to impose discipline and poor relations with his brother's generals made him very unpopular among his men.^[5] Shortly after Zu Yue's appointment, Later Zhao forces quickly retook lands that they had lost to Zu Ti. Zu Yue failed to hold out and lost Xiangcheng, Chengfu (城父, in present-day Bozhou, Anhui) and Chenliu as a result.^[6]

In 324, Zu Yue joined the loyalist side during Wang Dun's second insurrection against Jin after he was summoned to the capital by Emperor Ming. Zu Yue drove out Wang's Administrator of Huainan Ren Tai (任台) at Shouyang (壽陽, in present-day Lu'an, Anhui).^[7]

After the death of Emperor Ming the following year, his brother-in-law Yu Liang, became the regent for his nephew, Emperor Cheng of Jin. Zu Yue saw himself as an independent warlord and wished to exercise his own authority over his holdings. He had hope that the new government would give him the privilege to hand out offices to his subordinates, much like his contemporaries, but this did not happen. He soon sent multiple petitions demanding for it, but they were either rejected or ignored. Even worse, when an imperial edict promoting ministers was declared, he, along with Tao Kan, were left out from the edict, and all this caused Zu Yue to suspect that Yu Liang was purposefully snubbing him.^[8]

In 326, Zu Yue was attacked by Later Zhao forces under Shi Cong (石聰) at Shouchun. Zu sent edicts to Jiankang demanding for help but none came. The court only considered action when Shi Cong attacked Junqiu (浚遒, in present-day Feidong County, Anhui) and Fuling (阜陵; in present-day Quanjiao County, Anhui). However, before reinforcements could be sent, the warlord, Su Jun, sent his general Han Huang first and repelled Shi Cong. Zu Yue's relationship with the court deteriorated even further when he heard of the court's plan to make a defensive dyke. The dyke would cut him off from the capital, leaving him isolated in the face of a future invasion.^[9]