from Dou's home county, Sun Anzu (), whose house had recently been destroyed in the flood and whose wife had starved to death, was also conscripted. Sun tried to obtain an exemption from conscription, but the county magistrate, in anger, whipped him. Sun assassinated the county magistrate and fled to Dou's home, where Dou hid him. As the region was afflicted with a famine in the aftermaths of the floods, Dou told Sun: He therefore gathered several hundred men of the region and gave them to Sun to lead, to become bandits at the nearby Gaoji Pond (). Meanwhile, there were other bands of bandits in the same commandery, Qinghe (清河, roughly modern Xingtai, Hebei), led by Zhang Jincheng () and Gao Shida (). The bandits knew Dou's reputation and were not pillaging his home. The county magistrates of Dou's and nearby counties thus suspected Dou of conspiring with the bandits, and once, when Dou happened to be away from home, they ambushed Dou's house and slaughtered his family. Dou took 200 men and fled to Gao, who claimed the title Duke of Donghai and made Dou a general. Soon, Zhang killed Sun, and Sun's men largely fled to Dou. Dou become the commander of an army of more than 10,000 men. It was said at this time that Dou was open to other opinions, and he shared both the spoils and the labors with his soldiers, and therefore his soldiers were willing to fight and die for him. In 616, Guo Xuan () the governor of Zhuo Commandery (涿郡, roughly modern Beijing) led a Sui army against Gao. Gao realized that he was not as capable as Dou, so he promoted Dou to the leader of his army. Dou asked Gao to safeguard their homebase, and then led 7,000 men against Guo, pretending to be betraying Gao and surrendering, particularly having Gao publicly execute a woman that Gao claimed to be Dou's wife. Guo, not suspecting Dou, proceeded at once to join Dou, planning to attack Gao together. Dou ambushed and killed him, seizing his army and horses. Thereafter, Dou became even more famous. Later that year, one of the most capable Sui generals, Yang Yichen, defeated Zhang and slaughtered his troops. The survivors fled to Dou. Yang then followed up by attacking Gao. Dou, advising Gao not to engage Yang directly, stated: Gao disagreed, and, leaving Dou in