陶 / 定陶 / Dingtao
陶 / 定陶 / Dingtao enters the wiki through 《资治通鉴·周纪》67丨战国“灭霸”白起的军事才能究竟如何 as the place behind a correction to 《资治通鉴》’s Wei Ran enfeoffment notice. The episode says the chronicle’s statement that 魏冉 was enfeoffed at both Rang and Tao cannot belong to the current year, because Tao was not yet held by 秦国.
The source identifies Tao with present-day Dingtao in Shandong and describes it as one of the prosperous central-plains cities of the time. It says Tao originally belonged to 宋国, passed to 齐国 after 齐湣王 destroyed Song in 286 BCE, and only became available to Qin after the 284 BCE anti-Qi campaign led by 乐毅, when Qin and Wei forces took Dingtao.
The page is mainly a source-critical marker. It shows why a place-name notice should be checked against ownership chronology before being attached to an official’s fief history.
《资治通鉴·周纪》68丨惊叹宋康王荒淫无度的狗血历史（1） adds the pre-destruction context for why Tao/Dingtao is attractive before it becomes Wei Ran’s later base. The episode places it in the prosperous 宋国 region and says both 魏冉 and 李兑 have private-fief reasons to care about Song and Tao. Dingtao therefore anchors 以国战扩私邑 earlier than the later Qin attack on Qi: ministerial maps already matter before the campaign is launched.
《资治通鉴·周纪》88丨你怎么看待凤凰男（1） turns Tao/Dingtao from a chronology correction into an active power-base problem. The episode says 魏冉 recommends 客卿灶 / 客卿造 to attack 齐国 for Gang and Shou because those gains expand the territory around his Tao fief, making the campaign a case of 以国战扩私邑.
Qinji 132 gives Dingtao a Qin-collapse battlefield role. After 项梁 wins there and elsewhere, 宋义 warns that the victories have made the Chu commander arrogant. 章邯 then receives reinforcements, night-attacks Dingtao, defeats the Chu army, and kills Xiang Liang. The site therefore becomes the hinge between Xiang Liang’s Chu-centered command and 芈心 / 楚怀王’s later reorganization at 彭城.
Hanji 987 adds a late-Han battlefield layer. After 荀彧 persuades 曹操 to secure 兖州 before pursuing 徐州, 吕布 and 陈宫 advance near Dingtao with a larger force. Cao Cao uses dike-and-forest terrain to set an ambush, defeats Lü Bu, captures Dingtao, and then settles surrounding counties; this distinct event is tracked as 定陶之战.
Connections
- 魏冉 - figure whose enfeoffment notice is corrected.
- 《资治通鉴》 and 编年错位 - source and correction frame.
- 宋国, 齐国, 齐湣王, 乐毅, 秦国, and 魏国 - ownership and campaign sequence.
- 李兑, 东西二帝试探, and Zhouji 68 part 1 - pre-destruction fief-interest layer around Song and Tao.
- 客卿灶 / 客卿造 and 以国战扩私邑 - Zhouji 88 campaign and concept tied to Wei Ran’s private-base expansion.
- Qinji 132, 项梁, 宋义, 章邯, and 怀王之约 - Xiang Liang’s death and post-defeat Chu reorganization.
- Hanji 987, 定陶之战, 曹操, 吕布, 兖州, and 战场信息控制 - late-Han ambush and base-recovery layer.