Hebei East is the low plain south of the Zhongdu circuit: Hejian fu at its centre, Cangzhou and the salt shore to the east, Qingzhou on the canal, Xianzhou, Shenzhou, Jizhou, Jingzhou to the south, Xiongzhou and Bazhou on the old Liao-Song border by the Juma river, which is now far inside the empire.
It is flat, flood-prone and heavily settled, carries the barge road to Zhongdu and the salt of Cangzhou, and has Jurchen colonies on the land (their extent is not known). The border it once guarded has gone: Xiongzhou and Bazhou are county towns now. The campaign board gives it 9 seats.
Who holds it
- Title
- Circuit officers: the Transport commissioner, the Provincial Surveillance commissioner and the yin of Hejian fu with the military command, none named
- Confidence
- low
No source we could open names the officeholder on 1 January 1200.
Overlord
Emperor Zhangzong, through the Department of State Affairs and the circuit commissions
What it holds
- Hejian fu (circuit seat), Cangzhou, Qingzhou, Xianzhou, Shenzhou, Jizhou, Jingzhou, Xiongzhou, Bazhou
How it was acquired
Conquered from the Song in 1125-27 (the Jin-Song wars page); the old Liao-Song border of the Juma river ran through its north until then.
Allies and rivals
Neighbours: Zhongdu circuit to the north, Hebei West to the west, Daming and Shandong West to the south, Shandong East at the delta.
How things stand that morning
Quiet interior ground. The main river has run south of the plain since 1128 (English Wikipedia, Changes in the course of the Yellow River) and the plain's old channels are dry or silted; nothing is known to me of rebellion, raiding or famine here in the winter of 1199-1200.
Wealth
Grain and cloth; the salt of Cangzhou (Salt commissions); the canal trade. The campaign board marks Hejian, Cangzhou as staple towns.
Military
County and prefectural garrisons, with the Jurchen colonies of the plain (see Jurchen colonies of the plain); no figure.
Threats
- Floods and silted channels of the old river courses
- Locusts and famine
- Salt smuggling on the coast
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1213 to 1214Mongol columns ravage Hebei East; the Jin loses control of the plain to local warlords by the late 1210s.Depends on: The Mongol war that opens in 1211. Stopped by: A settlement with Temujin or his defeat before 1211.
Where the sources disagree
- Circuit seat at Hejian fu is our recollection of the Dili zhi, medium confidence.
Evidence: The seat, rank and county names are the OMNIA board's, checked against general knowledge of the Jin Dili zhi. The Jinshi text could not be opened in this session, so county lists, ranks and promotions are not verified, and no prefect or commissioner is dated for 1 January 1200.
On the map: A rough outline of the plain; the delta coast and the Shandong boundary are approximate.
Primary sources for Jin empire
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Annals of the Western Xia, Wu Guangcheng (吳廣成) (1825 to 1827, compiled from Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's year-by-year reconstruction of Tangut history from the Chinese histories, since the Xia left no surviving annals of their own in Chinese. Read online
- Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
- Essentials of the History of Goryeo, Kim Jong-seo (金宗瑞) and the Joseon history office (1452). The chronological companion to the Goryeosa, finished a year after it and drawing on the same lost records, sometimes with entries the Goryeosa omits. Read online
- Outline and Details of Two Reigns (thirteenth century, after 1224). A Song outline-and-detail chronicle of exactly the two reigns around 1200, drawn from the court's daily records. Read online
- Record of the Personal Campaigns of the Holy Warrior (Chinggis Khan) (presented to Khubilai in 1288, finished in Mongolian in 1290; the surviving Chinese version dates from 1369). A year-by-year Chinese account of Temujin's wars, drawn from the lost Altan Debter (the same source behind the Yuan shi's first chapter and Rashid al-Din). Read online
- The Secret History of the Mongols (1228 or 1240 (the colophon's Year of the Rat is disputed), with later additions; the surviving Chinese transcription and gloss were made under the Ming in the 1380s). The only Mongol account of Temujin's rise, written within living memory. Read online
- History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
- Record of the Great Jin State, Attributed to Yuwen Maozhao (宇文懋昭); the attribution is doubtful (preface dated 1234; probably assembled in the Southern Song from Song and Jin material, with later accretions). A Song-side history of the Jin, with annals for each emperor and chapters on institutions, customs, the capitals and the Jurchen way of life. Read online
14 more in the sources library for North China and Manchuria.
Sources and studies
- Jin dynasty (1115-1234) (English Wikipedia)
- Jin-Song wars (English Wikipedia)
- Jinshi (History of the Jin), Benji of Zhangzong, Dili zhi, Hequ zhi, Shihuo zhi and Bing zhi (recalled from memory and the secondary literature; the text itself could not be opened in this session)
- Changes in the course of the Yellow River (English Wikipedia)
- OMNIA board places for nch (lead only)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.