The Luoshi kingdom (called Luoshi guo or "Ghost Kingdom of the Luo clan" in Tang sources, later Mu'ege and still later the Shuixi native chiefdom) was a Nasu-speaking Yi state with its core on the west bank of the Yachi river in the north-west of Guizhou.
Its ruler called himself the Great Ghost Lord; the religion was Bimoism, with Buddhism alongside. In the early Song the Luodian king withdrew from Shuixi and the Azhe Black Mywa became sole rulers under their head chief Degai, to whom the Song gave an office: one passage of the Wikipedia article calls him governor of the Yaozhou the Song created in the area, another says inspector in 1042, the year its infobox gives for the kingdom's establishment; we could not reconcile the two. The Luoshi traded with the Song through Sichuan: in 1133 the delegation under Ayong went to Luzhou.
Later events are far outside our date: the Song envoy of 1256, the 1266 grant of the governorship of Huazhou, submission to the Yuan and the 1292 merger into the Shuixi tusi.
Who he is
- Title
- The Great Ghost Lord (da guizhu) of Luoshi
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Not known for 1200. In 1133 Ayong of the Mu'ege kingdom led a trade delegation of several thousand to Luzhou in Sichuan (Wikipedia, "Timeline of Yunnan-Guizhou"), sixty-seven years before our date.
Overlord
None; the Song created a prefecture for its early chief
What it holds
- The Yachi river country of north-western Guizhou
- A trade road north to Luzhou in Sichuan
How it was acquired
From Degai's line in the early Song.
Allies and rivals
Often at war with Luodian; trading partner of the Song through Luzhou (Sichuan circuits).
How things stand that morning
Existing, of unknown strength. No dated action for the winter. To the north the Song prefectures of Sichuan (Luzhou and its neighbours) are scc's ground; to the west Yunnan is the Dali kingdom's.
Military
Not described.
Where the sources disagree
- The brief names "Luoshi/Shuixi" among the chieftaincies. The campaign board has no Luoshi place; its Ziqi and Luodian entries cover the Yi kingdoms. We have placed Luoshi in the north-west on Wikipedia's description of the Yachi river.
Evidence: One Wikipedia article and one timeline entry; nothing dated after 1133 before 1256.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A zone round the Bijie country; the extent is guessed.
Primary sources for Chiefs of the south-west
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.
- 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 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
- Draft Compilation of the Collected Statutes of the Song, Various; the Song huiyao were compiled by the Song state, the surviving draft reassembled by Xu Song from the Yongle dadian in the nineteenth century (the original Song compilations date from the eleventh to the thirteenth century; the surviving extracts were recovered in 1809 to 1820 and printed in 1936). Dated extracts from the Song government's own statute collections, arranged by office. Read online
- Miscellaneous Notes on Court and Country since the Jianyan Era, Li Xinchuan (李心傳) (first series 1202, second series 1216). A contemporary handbook of the Southern Song state, written in Sichuan by the historian Li Xinchuan and finished in its first part in 1202, two years after the start of 1200. Read online
- Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.