Northern frontier commands

Who he is

Name

not pinned for 1 January 1200

Title

Pacification commissioners (zhaotao shi) and the commanders of the trench forts

Since

n/a

Born

n/a

Family

Wardens: the Ongud under their chief (Alaqush, per the campaign board; not checked here).

Confidence

low

English Wikipedia: the Jin built large fortifications along the north-western border from 1192; the wall-building ran to about 1198; guarding the walls fell to the Ongud.

Overlord

Emperor Zhangzong

What it holds

• The trench and forts from Zhangbei to Gubeikou
• The horse pastures of Fuzhou and Changzhou

How things stand that morning

Quiet, as far as any source we opened shows. The war of 1196 is over; the trench is finished by the page's account; the Ongud are the wardens, and their loyalty has not yet been tried.

Military

Garrisons of Jurchen and Khitan frontier households and Ongud wardens; no numbers are given.

Threats

• Raids by Tatar or Khongirad bands
• The Ongud changing sides (a possibility only; see the likely course)

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. 1204 to 1211, not pinnedThe Ongud, the Jin's wardens of the trench, go over to the Mongols (English Wikipedia says early in the Mongol rise; we could not date it).Depends on: The rise of Temujin and the Jin's failure to keep the steppe divided or to bind the Ongud with favours. Stopped by: A Jin show of strength on the steppe, or a Mongol failure.

Places of note

• Fuzhou: Plateau prefecture with the herds.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: One Wikipedia page for the walls; the commissioners are not named.

On the map: A rough strip along the plateau; the trench itself runs further north.

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.