Sichuan Zhizhi shi

Who he is

Title

Pacification and Control Commissioner of Sichuan and prefect of Chengdu fu (anfu zhizhi shi, zhi Chengdu fu)

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

No source consulted names the holder on 1 January 1200. The best-documented holders are earlier: Fan Chengda, the first (1175), and Hu Yuanzhi (1180), from Chen Xifeng 2024. We could not recover the 1195-1200 holders.

Overlord

The emperor Ningzong at Lin'an, through the chancellor and the Privy Council.

What it holds

• Chengdu fu
• The oversight of the Chengdufu, Tongchuanfu, Lizhou East, Lizhou West and Kuizhou circuits

How it was acquired

The office dates from 1175; the incumbent is changed every few years by the court.

Allies and rivals

Works with the Sichuan General Accounts Office (the army's paymaster) and the four Imperial Guards commanders. The court distrusts every strong man in Sichuan, a fear as old as the Shu kingdoms and the rising of Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun in 993 (recalled). The court's man at the centre is Han Tuozhou; his dealings with Wu Xi are in the likely course.

How things stand that morning

Holder not known. Chengdu is at peace. The commissioner's real problems are money (the state note and the army's pay), the tea and horse monopolies, and keeping the Imperial Guards generals loyal. A new Qingyuan year begins about 18 January 1200 (Julian), and the court is still working through the ban on the 'false learning' (Daoxue).

Wealth

Sichuan pays for its own armies: the tax in grain and silk, the monopolies of salt, tea and wine, and the paper note (qianyin). No figures.

Military

He has the Chengdu garrison and the right to give orders to the armies on paper; in practice the Imperial Guards commands answer through their own commanders to the court. No numbers.

Threats

• The Jin: nothing expected under the 1165 peace.
• The tribes of the Qiang, Tibetan and Man edge.
• Floods and the depreciation of the note.
• A rebellious general: the court's old fear for Sichuan.

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. July 1201Wu Xi, who has served at Jiankang and in the Palace Command since 1195, is sent back to Sichuan as commander at Xingzhou, prefect and Pacification Commissioner of Lizhou West (zh.wikipedia, Wu Xi).Depends on: Han Tuozhou keeping his place at court and the court agreeing to a Wu return. Stopped by: Han's fall or a court decision to keep Wu Xi at Lin'an.
2. March 1202Wu Xi becomes deputy Xuanfu commissioner of Sichuan, which implies the Xuanfu Commission has been revived by then.Depends on: A reason for a wartime command (the northern plans of Han Tuozhou). Stopped by: Han's plans being dropped.

Places of note

• Chengdu: Seat of the Zhizhi commissioner and of the Chengdufu circuit.

Where the sources disagree

• The assignment and board speak of a Sichuan 'Pacification Commissioner (xuanfu shi)'. In 1200 the office is the Zhizhi commissioner; the Xuanfu Commission was abolished in 1175 and returns by 1202.

Evidence: The office and its origin in 1175 are from Chen Xifeng 2024 and Liu Lanwei 2023; the 1202 and 1201 events are from the zh.wikipedia Wu Xi page. No holder for 1195-1200 was found.

On the map: An office; not drawn as a block. The prefectures carry the ground.

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.