Tao Kan

Early in his career, he was a low-level county official, but subsequently on the recommendation of the commandery governor Zhang Kui (張夔), he was sent to the Jin prime minister Zhang Hua for commission; however, Zhang Hua, who did not favor people from former Eastern Wu lands, did not give him a commission, and he ended up serving on staff of the general Sun Xiu (孫秀, not to be confused with the Eastern Wu emperor or Sima Lun's advisor), a member of the Eastern Wu imperial household (being the grandson of Sun Kuang).

Later, Tao served on the staff of the famed Jing Province (荊州, modern Hubei and Hunan) governor Liu Hong.

In 315, he suddenly detained Tao and ordered him to be the governor of Guang Province (廣州, modern Guangdong) -- considered to be a demotion and an exile.

As the provincial affairs did not require him to work all day, Tao developed the exercise habit of moving a hundred bricks a day from his study to his courtyard, and then from the courtyard back to the study, reasoning that he needed to continue to exercise himself for future campaigns to recover central China.

After Wang was successful in capturing the capital Jiankang and forcing Emperor Yuan to submit to his will, he kept Tao at Guang Province.

He was effective in that role—and the military improvements he made later helped to pave the way for Huan Wen's later campaign to conquer Cheng Han in 347.