The Ezhou army is the heir of Yue Fei's field army, which held Ezhou from the mid-1130s and was recast as the Ezhou Imperial Guards in the reorganisation after 1141.
It is among the larger of the middle-Yangtze commands (as we recall; no numbers), with a river fleet at the Ezhou booms (paddle-wheel warships are the Song river craft) and the Nanshi market beside it. The Hubei fiscal commissioners also sit at Ezhou, as we recall, so the army's pay and the circuit's taxes are handled in the same city.
Who he is
- Title
- Commander-in-chief (dutongzhi) of the Ezhou Imperial Guards, with the prefect of Ezhou and the Hubei fiscal commissioners
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Name not known for 1 January 1200. Song officials rotated every two or three years, so a name from another year cannot be assumed.
Overlord
The court at Lin'an (the Privy Council for the armies, the Department of State Affairs for the civil posts).
What it holds
- Ezhou Imperial Guards
- Yangtze river fleet at Ezhou
- Anchorage and booms at Ezhou and Hanyang
- Hubei finance and judicial offices (as recalled)
How it was acquired
Yue Fei's army was based at Ezhou from the mid-1130s; the Imperial Guard form dates from after 1141 (recalled).
Allies and rivals
Supplied from Hunan rice and Sichuan cargo; backed by the Jiangzhou command upstream and the Jiankang command downstream.
How things stand that morning
At peace; the fleet and army are a standing force kept on pay. No campaign or alarm is dated for the winter of 1199 to 1200.
Wealth
The Nanshi market, river tolls, Hubei grain and salt, and the iron of Daye.
Military
Imperial Guard infantry and marines with paddle-wheel craft; no numbers.
Threats
- Yangtze flood
- Pay arrears (a perennial danger to the Song armies)
Places of note
- Yue Fei at Ezhou: The army keeps the memory of Yue Fei, rehabilitated in 1162 and given the posthumous name Wumu in 1178. A shrine to him at Ezhou in 1200 is not pinned.
Where the sources disagree
- Not part of the 1200 state: 1204, Yue Fei made Prince of E; 1221, posthumous name changed to Zhongwu.
Evidence: The existence and shape of these commands are well known from the Southern Song military system (Imperial Guard armies stationed at Ezhou, Jingnan, Xiangyang and Jiangzhou, each under a dutongzhi, with a civil pacification commissioner in each circuit), recalled, not re-read in this pass because web access closed. The commanders on 1 January 1200 are not named in anything we could reach; we give the post and say "not known".
On the map: Garrison cities drawn as seeds; the real authority runs over the whole circuit.
Primary sources for Southern Song
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.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. Read online
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. 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
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. 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
12 more in the sources library for South China.
Sources and studies
- Background knowledge of Southern Song administration and the middle Yangtze (Cambridge History of China vol. 5 part 2; Hymes; Clark; Von Glahn; Bol; the travel diaries of Lu You, 1170, and Fan Chengda, 1177), recalled and not re-read in this pass
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.