Tao Baisui (simplified: 陶百岁, traditional: 陶百岁, pinyin: Táo Bǎisuì, jyutping: tou4 baak3 seoi3), known as “Terror of Guandong” (镇关东), is the head stockade chief of the Yinma Creek Stockade in Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain. He is the father of Tao Zian, and in his youth he was Tian Guinong’s deputy.
Biography
Tian Guinong’s deputy
Tao Baisui has lived in the greenwood since boyhood and makes no secret of it. As young men he and Tian Guinong committed many robberies together, with Tao always Tian’s deputy, until Tian gave it up on his marriage. Tao was still Tian’s deputy when Tian and Guild Chief Fan tried to stop Hu Yidao near Cangzhou. He was among the men Hu Yidao struck with coin darts and Madam Hu threw from the roof. Tian gave him a box of Tianlong School poison to smear on the weapons of Hu Yidao and Miao Renfeng. Unwilling to do it himself, Tao passed the task to the bonesetter Yan Ji.
Tian later betrothed his only daughter, Tian Qingwen, to Tao Zian. Tao believes Tian did so to buy his silence (ch. 7).
The iron box
Tao came to Tian Guinong’s retirement feast as an old friend and prospective in-law. That night Tian gave Tao Zian the iron box to bury beyond the pass. Tao Zian then found Tian dead, took Li Zicheng’s Treasured Dao from the bed, and fled with his father (ch. 7).
When father and son return to dig up the box, Xiong Yuanxian and his helpers spring an ambush from pits under the snow. Tao fights the monk Jingzhi, then Liu Yuanhe and Zheng Sanniang together, and takes a dao cut under the ribs. The Tianlong School party then strikes and seizes the box. The monk Baoshu sends Tao’s steel whip flying with a flick of the hand and leads everyone to Jade Brush Peak (ch. 1).
On Jade Brush Peak
At Du Ximeng’s manor, Tao answers the charge that his son murdered Tian Guinong by telling what he knows of Tian: their banditry, the poison, and how Tian kept Hu Yidao’s message from Miao Renfeng (ch. 6, 7). When the affair between Cao Yunqi and Tian Qingwen comes out, he beats Cao Yunqi with a chair and refuses to accept Tian Qingwen as a daughter-in-law (ch. 7, 8).
The treasure cave
In the cave behind the peak Tao clears the ice with a rock. He questions Cao Yunqi about the golden pens of Cao’s grand-shifu, Tian Anbao. He is among the treasure-seekers whom Hu Fei seals in when he rolls the boulder back across the entrance. The novel leaves their fate open (ch. 8, 10).
Personality
Tao Baisui is a big man with a grey beard and a voice like thunder. He is blunt, proud and short-tempered. He scorns men who do wrong and call themselves gentlemen, and says he would rather own his deeds openly. Liu Yuanhe counts him among the men who care more about getting rich than about rank (ch. 1, 7, 8).
Relationships
- Tao Zian (Son).
- Tian Guinong (Old partner and prospective in-law): Tao was Tian’s deputy in their bandit days, and their children were betrothed.
- Xiong Yuanxian (Enemy): The Yinma Creek Stockade robbed a consignment from Xiong’s Pingtong Armed Escort, and Xiong never recovered it.
- Cao Yunqi (Enemy): He accuses Tao Zian of murdering Tian Guinong, and was Tian Qingwen’s lover.
Martial arts
Tao Baisui fights with a sixteen-jin steel whip, using the Six Harmonies Whip Technique, and is known for the raw force of his blows. With age his stamina has begun to fail (ch. 1).