Each circuit has a military commandery (zongguan fu) beside its fiscal and surveillance offices.
In Hebei the three commanderies sit at Hejian (Hebei East), Zhending (Hebei West) and Daming, the old Northern Capital of the Song. As a general description (not checked), they hold the Jurchen meng'an and mouke colonies planted among the Chinese villages, the garrisons of the towns and the Taihang passes, and the register of horses. The English Wikipedia Jin page says that in the early 1180s poor Jurchen families in the southern routes (Daming and Shandong) were selling daughters and renting their land to Han tenants.
The commands are not field armies: they are the territorial organisation of the caste that rules the plain.
Who he is
- Title
- Commanders (zongguan) of the military commanderies of Hebei East, Hebei West and Daming
- Confidence
- low
No commander of the three Hebei commanderies is dated for 1 January 1200.
Overlord
Emperor Zhangzong
What it holds
- The Jurchen colonies of the Hebei plain
- Garrisons at Hejian, Zhending, Daming and the border towns of the old Song-Liao frontier (Xiongzhou, Bazhou, Baoding)
How things stand that morning
At peace. Held by Jurchen officers whom the sources do not name for this winter.
Places of note
- Zhongdu: The Central Capital.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Office structure; no commander named.
On the map: A person or office with no land of its own; the drawing is a marker.
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)
- Military of the Jin dynasty (1115-1234) (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)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.