Wanyan Xiang, Commander-in-chief

Wanyan Xiang led the Jin's great campaign against the steppe of 1195 to 1198.

In 1195 the Jin allied with the Tatars against the Khongirad (Onggirat) and succeeded; the Tatar leader quarrelled over the loot; the Khongirad struck deep into Jin territory on 4 February 1196 and defeated a Jin detachment; and in 1196 Xiang marched against the Tatars with Temujin and Toghrul as allies. His vanguard under Wanyan Anguo reached the Kherlen and held for three days; the main army beat the Tatars; Toghrul and Temujin caught the fleeing Tatars and were rewarded with Jin titles (Toghrul's, as we recall, was Wang; the English page names no titles). A Tatar leader submitted again in 1198.

After the war Xiang ordered extensive defensive works, the boundary trench and its forts, which are the line the Ongud are posted to watch.

Who he is

Name: Wanyan Xiang; his vanguard commander Wanyan Anguo
Title: Commander-in-chief (duyuanshuai) of the northern armies of 1195 to 1198; the regional brief names him a chancellor (his rank on 1 January 1200 not pinned)
Since: field command 1195/96 to 1198
Born: not known
Family: Wanyan clan, a general of the imperial house. Anguo is named only as vanguard commander.
Confidence: medium

English Wikipedia (Rise of Genghis Khan): in 1196 Wanyan Xiang sent a vanguard under Wanyan Anguo toward the Kherlen river, which held off the Tatars for three days until the main army arrived; Xiang later ordered extensive defensive works to protect the sedentary population in the north.

Overlord

Emperor Zhangzong

What it holds

The command of the field army in the north (1195-98)
The boundary works and forts on the steppe edge, as their organiser

Allies and rivals

Temujin and Toghrul as allies and clients (1196); the Ongud as wardens; the Tatars and Khongirad as enemies; Jiagu Qingchen, who held the northern command before him as we recall (not checked).

How things stand that morning

The campaign is over and Xiang has returned to the court or his post; where exactly is not pinned. He is the best-known general of the reign in the sources we opened and, by the regional brief's naming, a senior minister whose chair is not pinned.

Military

A field army of Jurchen and Khitan cavalry and Han troops; no numbers are given in the sources we opened.

Threats

The Tatars and Khongirad have not been destroyed
The Kereyit and Mongols, now Jin clients, are growing in strength beyond the trench

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.

1200 to 1211, not pinnedNo Jin campaign against the nomads matches the success of 1196 (English Wikipedia's hindsight verdict); the trench and the Ongud have to hold the line.Depends on: The court choosing not to send another field army north. Stopped by: A new northern campaign that succeeds, or a steppe war the Jin decides to join.

Places of note

Zhongdu: The Central Capital.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The 1196 campaign and the roles of Xiang and Anguo are from English Wikipedia (Rise of Genghis Khan); Xiang's rank in 1200 is not pinned.

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

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.