Wu family (Wu Xi)

Who he is

Name

Wu Xi

Title

Head of the Wu family; deputy commander of the Palace Command at Lin'an

Since

1193, his father's death

Born

1162

Family

Second son of Wu Ting (1138 to 1193), grandson of Wu Lin (1102 to 1167, posthumously Prince of Xin), grandnephew of Wu Jie (1093 to 1139); the family is from Longgan in Deshun jun (now Jingning, Gansu), a county the Jin hold.

Confidence

high

Offices from the zh.wikipedia page for Wu Xi (the Songshi summary); the family from the Wu Ting page and Chen Xifeng 2024.

Overlord

The emperor Ningzong.

What it holds

• No land: the family's hold is on the loyalty of the Xingzhou soldiers and the memory of three generations
• The Wu tombs and the stele at Shibei zhai (not located)

How it was acquired

By service: Wu Jie 1130s, Wu Lin 1140s to 1167, Wu Ting 1174 to 1193.

Allies and rivals

He has attached himself to Han Tuozhou to be sent back; when this began is not pinned (the sources say he used Han to ask for a return to Sichuan; the outcome is in the likely course). The court officials who remember 1162 to 1163 and fear a Shu warlord are his rivals.

How things stand that morning

On 1 January 1200 Wu Xi is in Lin'an, in the Palace Command. He holds no Sichuan post and has been denied one for six years. The Xingzhou army is not his. A good test for the campaign: a player who offers Wu Xi Sichuan, or a Jin envoy who courts him, is playing a game that the sources show as a danger only later (see the likely course).

Wealth

Official salary and honours; the family's wealth in Sichuan is not itemised.

Military

None of his own; the claim is the Xingzhou command.

Threats

• The court keeps him at Lin'an.
• A fall of Han Tuozhou would cut his road to 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.

In 1200

1. spring 1200Wu Xi is made Zhaoxin jun jiedushi.Depends on: Court favour. Stopped by: Disgrace.
2. winter 1200Wu Xi is given the rank of taiwei when Guangzong's mausoleum is finished.Depends on: Guangzong's death in 1200 and the funeral. Stopped by: A change of plan at court.

Later, on the likely course

1. July 1201He returns to Xingzhou as commander, prefect and Pacification Commissioner of Lizhou West.Depends on: Han Tuozhou. Stopped by: Han's fall.
2. March 1202He is made deputy Xuanfu commissioner of Sichuan; in April also pacification commissioner for Shaanxi and Hedong.Depends on: Han's northern plans. Stopped by: Their abandonment.

Places of note

• Xingzhou (Lueyang): The family's army seat.

Where the sources disagree

• The regional brief calls him 'Wu Jie's son' and gives him posts in 'Hezhou, Xingzhou and Hanzhong'. See the Xingzhou army record: he is Wu Lin's grandson; his Hezhou is the Anhui prefecture (1193); he reaches Xingzhou only in July 1201.
• The regional brief puts his Sichuan deputy-Xuanfu title in 1205 to 1207; the zh.wikipedia page puts it in March 1202.

Evidence: One Chinese Wikipedia summary of the Songshi gives the offices year by year; the month conversions are not made here.

On the map: A person and a claim, not a block of land.

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.