Early years Feng Dao was born in 882, during the reign of
Emperor Xizong of the late
Tang. His family was from Jingcheng () in modern
Cangzhou,
Hebei. His ancestors had been farmers and scholars. Feng Dao himself was said to be virtuous and tolerant in his youth, studious and capable in writing. He did not look down on poor clothes or food and was willing to endure hard labor and poverty to
support his parents.
Yan At some point, he was invited by
Liu Shouguang, one of the major late-Tang warlords, to serve as a secretary at the prefectural government of Liu's capital
Youzhou in modern
Beijing.
Jin Feng thereafter fled to Jin, where
Zhang Chengye, the chief
eunuch and a military advisor to Jin's prince
Li Cunxu, recommended him to be the secretary general of Jin's capital
Taiyuan. Soon thereafter, Guo came to apologize, and the matter was put to rest. It was said that others became impressed with Feng's temerity in advising the prince.
Later Tang In 923, Li declared himself the emperor of a new
Later Tang dynasty (
posthumously remembered as its Emperor Zhuangzong). He made Feng an imperial scholar along with Lu Zhi (). After Li conquered the Later Liang later in the year and took its territory under his control, he made Feng (), a mid-level official at the
Central Secretariat, and a deputy minister of the census (, ) at the
Ministry of Revenue. When Feng's father died shortly afterwards, he left governmental service to observe the traditional multiyear period of mourning at his family home in Jingcheng. At that time, Feng had already become well-known, and the
Khitan Empire considered raiding Jingcheng to seize him but, with the Later Tang border forces well prepared, the Khitan raid was called off. Li Siyuan had long been respectful of Feng's capabilities and virtues. The emperor created him
Duke of Shiping. In 933, Emperor Mingzong became gravely ill. His oldest son
Li Congrong, generally considered his presumptive heir, was fearful that the imperial officials would oppose his succession and therefore decided to try to seize power by force even before Emperor Mingzong's death. Li Congrong's mutiny ended in failure, and he was killed. Some of the key officials urged the mass execution of Li Congrong's staff members, but Feng Dao and
Feng Yun urged leniency and so most of them were only exiled. Emperor Mingzong died shortly after and was succeeded by his son
Li Conghou, the Prince of Song, posthumously remembered as Emperor Min. Feng Dao continued to serve Emperor Min as chancellor. Li Congke had Feng Dao oversee construction of Emperor Mingzong's tomb. In 938, Emperor Gaozu honored the Khitan emperor as his "father emperor" while referring to himself as the "son emperor" and also offered honored titles to Emperor Taizong's mother
Empress Dowager Shulü Ping. As a sign of further respect, he sent Feng and another senior official,
Liu Xu, to Khitan to offer those honors as well as gifts for the emperor and empress dowager. The mission was undertaken despite Emperor Gaozu's worry that Emperor Taizong, impressed by Feng, might detain him. Feng pointed out that given Khitan's aid to Emperor Gaozu, he was willing to take the risk on the emperor's behalf. Emperor Taizong did consider keeping the scholar but eventually allowed Feng to return to Later Jin. He was soon given the titles of (), another one of the Three Excellencies, and head of the Chancellory (, ). He was also created the
Duke of Lu. Shi Chonggui gave Feng the honorary title of (), another of the
Three Excellencies), and created him
Duke of Yan. As Feng developed a reputation for indecision, Shi Chonggui returned him to Kuangguo to serve as its military governor, carrying the honorary chancellor title. The next year, rather than promoting Zhao as promised, he adopted
Chinese imperial regalia, declared the enlarged Khitan Empire the
Great Liao dynasty, and summoned the Later Jin military governors to Kaifeng for a personal audience. Feng Dao, still commanding Weisheng, went and submitted to the new regime. As both Zhao Yanshou and Zhang Li () had recommended Li Song, Emperor Taizong treated both Feng and Li with respect. He made Li while giving Feng the title of acting () and, while not officially a , had him working out of that office and consulted on important matters. It was said that there was a conversation where Emperor Taizong asked him, "How do I save all the people
under Heaven?" Feng responded, "At this time, not even if the
Buddha reentered the world could the people be saved. Only the Emperor can save them." It was believed that these words, along with an intercession by Zhao, were the reason that Emperor Taizong did not carry out mass executions of his new
Han Chinese subjects. Within the Khitan Empire itself, the empress dowager Shulü opposed Emperor Shizong's ascension and sent an army against him. He defeated it and subsequently put her under house arrest. During the campaign, however, he left the general
Yelü Mada as prefect over
Heng around modern Shijiazhuang. Emperor Taizong had died nearby and many of the imperial officials headed northincluding Feng and the other former Later Jin chancellors Li Song and
He Ninghad remained in the prefectural seat at Hengzhou (now
Zhengding). Yelü Mada was corrupt and harsh, putting the Han soldiers under severe restrictions and drawing their discontent. When Emperor Shizong subsequently sent an order for the Later Jin officials to continue to advance north to attend to the funeral of Emperor Taizong, the Han soldiers mutinied under the officer Bai Zairong (). During the battle inside Hengzhou, Feng, Li Song, and He Ning followed the advice of
Li Gu and personally went to encourage the Chinese soldiers, who then rallied and successfully expelled Yelü Mada and his Khitans. The soldiers then offered the military governorship of
Chengde to Feng, but Feng declined the post as better suited to a military officer. Bai then became acting military governor and submitted Chengde and its prefectures (including Heng) to the Later Han. In 950, Feng wrote an autobiographical note titled the
Self-Description of the Old Man from Changle () that discussed family history and his career, including the honors that had been bestowed on him and his family members by the succeeding dynasties.) In winter 950, Emperor Yin, angry that Yang, Shi, and Guo, along with the chancellor
Wang Zhang, had held onto power and not let him make decisions alone, had Yang, Shi, and Wang killed. Guo, who was commanding an army to the north and not at the capital Kaifeng at that time, escaped the fate, but Emperor Yin still had his family and that of Guo's army monitor
Wang Jun killed. Guo thereafter rebelled and took the army toward Kaifeng, defeating the imperial army that Emperor Yin personally commanded to face him. Emperor Yin fled and was killed in flight. When Guo subsequently entered the capital, Feng did not bow to him, but accepted his bows, stating to him calmly, "This trip you,
Shizhong, undertook, was not an easy one." This apparently set back Guo's plan to take the throne himself,
Later Zhou Shortly after the new Later Zhou emperor took the throne, he made Feng Dao
Zhongshu Ling, thus restoring him to chancellorship. Later in the year, the general
Murong Yanchao, a half brother of Later Han's Emperor Gaozu, who initially submitted to Later Zhou, rebelled at Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern
Jining,
Shandong). After Murong was defeated and committed suicide in early 952, Emperor Taizu considered slaughtering Murong's soldiers. However, the imperial scholar Dou Yi () met with Feng and fellow chancellor
Fan Zhi and persuaded them to argue to Emperor Taizu (along with Dou himself) that the Taining soldiers were merely forced into combat by Murong. They were able to persuade Emperor Taizu, who thereafter pardoned the Taining soldiers. Later that year, another imperial scholar, Xu Taifu (), had requested that Ge Yanyu () and Li Cheng (), who had falsely accused Li Song of plotting to join Li Shouzhen's rebellion in 948 and whose false accusations led to the slaughter of Li Song and his family, be put to death. Feng opined that there had been a chance in dynasties and many general pardons in the interim, so the charges should not be pursued. However, fellow chancellor Wang Jun was impressed by Xu's fervor to avenge Li Song, and recommended Ge's and Li Cheng's death. Emperor Taizu thereafter put Ge and Li Cheng to death. In 953, believing that Wang was growing too powerful and too insolent in his behavior (including trying to prevent Emperor Taizu's adoptive son
Guo Rong from coming to the capital Kaifeng to pay homage to the emperor, in fear of Guo Rong's diverting powers from him), Emperor Taizu, after consulting with Feng and the other chancellors, forced Wang into medical retirement. (After Wang's retirement and subsequent death, Guo Rong was able to stay at the capital and thereafter would remain in the power center.) Emperor Taizu died in 954 and was succeeded by Guo Rong (as Emperor Shizong). Shortly after Emperor Shizong's enthronement, even before Emperor Taizu's burial, Li Yun's biological father
Liu Min (né Liu Chong), who had declared himself emperor and legitimate successor of the Later Han throne at Taiyuan, shortly after Emperor Taizu's proclamation of Later Zhou (and whose state, while claiming to be a continuation of Later Han, became known historically as
Northern Han), decided to launch a major attack on Later Zhou with Liao support, hoping to reestablish Han control over the central plains. Emperor Shizong decided to react by personally leading an army against Liu Min. Feng and many other officials had reservations about having the new emperor personally lead the army (arguing that Emperor Shizong's absence may lead to other rebellions), which led to a heated exchange recorded by historians between Emperor Shizong and Feng: {{dialogue The tone of the exchange displeased Emperor Shizong, but the chancellor
Wang Pu agreed with Emperor Shizong's idea of personally leading an army, and so Emperor Shizong did so anyway. As Emperor Shizong was ready to depart, he commissioned Feng to be in charge of accompanying Emperor Taizu's casket to the imperial tomb and overseeing its burial. Emperor Shizong ended up crushing the Northern Han army on the campaign, while Feng died before Emperor Shizong's victorious return. ==Legacy==