Xingyuan army

Who he is

Title

Commander of the Imperial Guards at Xingyuan fu (dutongzhi); the prefect of Xingyuan fu is the Pacification Commissioner of Lizhou East

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low

Peng Gao is named as Xingyuan commander in the late Xiaozong years (to 1189) by Chen Xifeng 2024. No commander is named for 1195-1200.

Overlord

The emperor Ningzong, through the court and the Sichuan Zhizhi commissioner.

What it holds

• Hanzhong basin: Xingyuan fu, Chenggu, Xixiang, Mianxian, Yangzhou
• The passes of the Qinling front on the Song side (garrisons not pinned)

How it was acquired

Created in the 1130s with the Sichuan front; the 1200 commander is not known.

Allies and rivals

Beside the Xingzhou and Jinzhou commands. The Lizhou paymaster supplies it. The Jin Fengxiang route (Baoji) is across the Qinling.

How things stand that morning

Commander not known. The Hanzhong front is quiet. The Jin-Song peace of 1165 (the Longxing treaty) is in force; no frontier war is under way on 1 January 1200.

Wealth

Hanzhong rice and wheat; the army's pay comes from the Sichuan General Accounts Office. No figures.

Military

Imperial Guards foot and crossbow; garrisons on the pass roads. No numbers.

Threats

• The Jin over the Qinling.
• The depreciation of the note that pays the garrison.

Places of note

• Dasan pass: The pass at the head of the Chencang road (Wikipedia position): most probably a Song post on 1 January 1200, as the nch researcher reads it; no source says. The Jin took it in late 1217, long after our date.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The command's existence is certain; its 1200 commander and station list were not found.

On the map: The basin only.

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.