Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · The Jin empire of Zhangzong · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Cai command

The Jin's middle frontier.

Caizhou (Runan), the Song's Ruyin commandery, is a middle prefecture with ten counties in 1200, among them Shangcai, Xiping, Suiping, Queshan, Pingyu and the four Huai counties (Xinxi, Zhenyang, Baoxin, Xincai). It is raised to a full military governorship (the Zhennan army) only in 1208 (Dili zhi, read), so on 1 January 1200 it is under a defence commissioner and keeps the older army title Huaikang. To the east the Jin hold Yingzhou (Fuyang) and Shouzhou (Xiacai) on the Huai's north bank, and the Song's Anfeng and Guangzhou face them from the south; those two are on South China ground.

A licensed market is recorded at Caizhou as once held and at Yingzhou until its closure in 1159 (Dili zhi, read).

Who he is

Title
Defence commissioner (fangyushi) of Caizhou, Huaikang army; prefects of Shouzhou and Yingzhou across the sheet line
Since
not known
Born
not known
Family
not known
Confidence
low

No holder is named for 1 January 1200 in anything we could reach. The Jinshi names officers only inside individual biographies (zh.wikisource, ctext, Baidu Baike and CBDB were all unreachable from here), so the office, not the man, is what this record gives.

Overlord

the Jin emperor Zhangzong (Wanyan Jing), Cheng'an 4, through the Department of State Affairs at Zhongdu

What it holds

  • Caizhou (Runan) and its counties
  • Yingzhou (Fuyang) and Shouzhou (Xiacai), on sch ground
  • The Huai crossings from Zhengyang to Yingshang

How it was acquired

Held since the 1130s and 1140s; Yingzhou and Shouzhou are on the Jin side of the 1141 line.

Allies and rivals

Faces Guangzhou (Huangchuan), Anfeng and the Song garrisons across the Huai; relations at peace.

How things stand that morning

At peace. Caizhou is the Jin's last refuge only in 1233 to 1234, which has not happened.

Wealth

The licensed markets when open; grain and silk of the Cai plain; the Huai tolls.

Military

Prefectural garrisons; the Huaikang army as the title of the governorship; no numbers.

Threats

  • Smugglers and bandits on the river
  • The new Yellow River arm raising the Huai

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.

  1. 1208 (Taihe 8)Caizhou is raised to a military governorship (Zhennan army) and the new Xizhou is cut from its four Huai counties (Dili zhi, read).Depends on: The 1206 to 1208 war. Stopped by: No war.
  2. 1233 to 1234Caizhou becomes the Jin's last refuge and falls to the Mongols and Song in early 1234 (recalled).Depends on: The Mongol conquest of North China, which has not begun. Stopped by: No Mongol conquest.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Offices, counties and dated changes from the Dili zhi (read); the 1233 to 1234 events are recalled.

On the map: An office record draws the ground the office directly works, not the whole circuit; the prefectures themselves are in the province records. Edges follow modern county seats and the nearest-unit rule.

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

  1. Jinshi, juan 25, Dili zhi 2 (the Nanjing lu, Shandong East and West and Hebei West sections), text hosted at donglishuzhai.net; read through a page summariser, the Nanjing lu section read entry by entry (read this session)
  2. Recalled from standard works and NOT re-read this session: Tao Jing-shen, The Jurchen in Twelfth-Century China (1976); Franke and Twitchett (eds.), Cambridge History of China 6 (1994), the Jin chapter; Jinshi Hequ zhi, Bing zhi, Baiguan zhi, Shihuo zhi; the Song envoys' diaries (Lou Yue, Beixing rilu, 1169; Fan Chengda, Lanpei lu, 1170)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.