Dai Zong
| Dai Zong | |
|---|---|
| Water Margin character | |
| Nickname | "Magic Traveller" 神行太保 |
| Rank | 20th, Speed Star (天速星) of the 36 Heavenly Spirits |
| Scouting chief of Liangshan | |
| Origin | Prison warden |
| First appearance | Chapter 38 |
| Weapon | Sword |
| Names | |
| Simplified Chinese | 戴宗 |
| Traditional Chinese | 戴宗 |
| Pinyin | Dài Zōng |
| Wade–Giles | Tai Tsung |
Dai Zong is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 20th of the 36 Heavenly Spirits of the 108 Liangshan heroes and is nicknamed "Magic Traveller".
The novel describes Dai Zong as a man with a broad face, squarish mouth and lean body. He practises Taoist magic and has the ability to travel long distances at superhuman speed and stamina. He does so by tying magic talismans to his legs, and can travel up to 800 li in a day. He is nicknamed "Magic Traveller" because of his special skill.
Dai Zong is first introduced in the novel as the chief warden of a prison camp for exiled convicts in Jiangzhou (江州; east of present-day Chongzuo, Guangxi). He is a close friend of Wu Yong, the chief strategist of the outlaw band at Liangshan Marsh.
Wu Yong helps Song Jiang write a letter to Dai Zong when Song is exiled to Jiangzhou for killing Yan Poxi. Dai Zong treats Song Jiang well after reading Wu Yong's letter and befriends him. When Song Jiang gets into trouble after writing a seditious poem while he was drunk, Dai Zong suggests to him to behave like a lunatic to trick Cai Jiu, the governor of Jiangzhou. However, Huang Wenbing, a corrupt minor official, notices that Song Jiang is pretending to be mad, so he proposes to Cai Jiu to use torture to force a confession out of Song. Song Jiang is unable to withstand the torture so he confesses. Dai Zong tries his best to help Song Jiang but his efforts are in vain.
Cai Jiu is unable to decide what to do with Song Jiang so he writes a letter to his father, the Imperial Tutor Cai Jing, to seek advice. Dai Zong is tasked with delivering the letter, but he brings the letter to Liangshan Marsh instead to seek help from the outlaws. Wu Yong invites Xiao Rang and Jin Dajian to forge a letter from Cai Jing, in which Cai Jiu is ordered to have Song Jiang escorted to the capital, Dongjing (東京; present-day Kaifeng, Henan), for further action. The outlaws intend to ambush the convoy along the way and rescue Song Jiang. However, Jin Dajian made a mistake with the seal on the letter. The fraud is exposed when Huang Wenbing scrutinises the letter and points out the error to Cai Jiu. Cai Jiu is furious and he orders his men to arrest Dai Zong, beat him up, and throw him into prison. He sentences Song Jiang and Dai Zong to death later.
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