Xingzhou army, Commander of the Imperial Guards at

The strongest army of Sichuan, the Imperial Guards of Xingzhou.

Wu Jie (1093 to 1139) and his younger brother Wu Lin (1102 to 1167) built it in the 1130s to hold the Qinling passes against the Jin: they beat Wuzhu at Heshangyuan and Xianren pass in 1131 with volley fire and 'Standing-Firm Arrow Teams' (Military history of the Song dynasty). Wu Ting, Wu Lin's son, was restored to the command in June 1174 and held it for twenty years, as army commander and, from July 1178, prefect of Xingzhou and Pacification Commissioner of Lizhou West; he retired ill in the spring of 1193 and died that fifth month. The court has used the seven years since to loosen the family's hold: it has not given the command to a Wu, and it keeps his sons away (Wu Xi was sent to Jiankang in 1195 and then to the Palace Command).

The soldiers still remember whose name they marched under.

Who he is

Title: Commander of the Imperial Guards at Xingzhou (dutongzhi), with the posts of prefect of Xingzhou and Pacification Commissioner of Lizhou West
Since: not pinned (Wu Ting held it from June 1174 until 1193)
Born: not known
Family: not known
Confidence: low

Neither the Wu Ting nor the Wu Xi sources name Wu Ting's successor. Wu Xi's own appointment is dated July 1201. Chen Xifeng 2024 names no commander for 1195-1201.

Overlord

The emperor Ningzong; the commander answers to the court, with the Sichuan Zhizhi commissioner above him on paper.

What it holds

Xingzhou (Lueyang) and its zone
Detachments in the frontier prefectures: Fengzhou, Chengzhou, Jiezhou (Wudu), Wenzhou, Xihezhou (which stations are not pinned)
The horse markets at Xihe and Danchang

How it was acquired

Built after 1130 by Wu Jie and Wu Lin; revived under Wu Ting by Xiaozong in 1174 (Chen Xifeng 2024).

Allies and rivals

Its paymaster is the Sichuan General Accounts Office. Its horses come through the tea and horse office; the Sichuan tea-horse official Li Fan (about 1175) opposed Wu Ting's own horse buying. Its rivals are the Xingyuan and Jinzhou commands and, behind them, the court, which fears a hereditary army in the west.

How things stand that morning

The commander is not known to me. The command is intact and loyal to the memory of the Wu house; its heir, Wu Xi, is in the capital and has been refused a return to Sichuan since 1193. The Jin-Song peace of 1165 (the Longxing treaty) is in force; no frontier war is under way on 1 January 1200.

Wealth

Pay and grain come from the Sichuan General Accounts Office. In 1175 the Xingzhou command's horse quota was set at 605 horses a year (Chen Xifeng 2024); it buys remounts at Xihe and Danchang with Sichuan tea.

Military

An Imperial Guards command with foot and crossbow arrow teams, border garrisons and a small horse; the Wu army's record in 1131 to 1132 was defensive victories in the passes, and its last offensive was the failed Longxing campaign of 1162 to 1163 (Wu Lin was ambushed in retreat in 1162). No numbers.

Threats

The Jin at Fengxiang, Qin and Gong across the line.
A court order breaking the command up.
A split between the Wu partisans and the court's appointee.

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.

July 1201Wu Xi is appointed commander of the Xingzhou command, prefect of Xingzhou and Pacification Commissioner of Lizhou West.Depends on: Han Tuozhou's favour. Stopped by: His fall.
1203A stele for Wu Ting, the Gan'en biaoji written by Wu Xi, is raised at Shibei zhai (Sohu).Depends on: Wu Xi at Xingzhou by then. Stopped by: His recall.
December 1206 to 29 March 1207Wu Xi, as governor-general of Sichuan, goes over to the Jin and takes the title of King of Shu, and is killed by loyalists on 29 March 1207.Depends on: The war of 1206 and Han's failure. Stopped by: No Song northern war.

Places of note

Xianren pass: The pass where Wu Jie beat the Jin in 1131 (position approximate).
Danchang horse market: The fair on the Tibetan edge where the Xingzhou command buys remounts.

Where the sources disagree

The brief calls Wu Xi 'Wu Jie's son' with 'posts in Hezhou, Xingzhou and Hanzhong' and asks whether the family's control is 'complete'. He is Wu Lin's grandson; the Hezhou was the Anhui Hezhou (1193); Xingzhou only from July 1201; there is no Hanzhong post. On 1 January 1200 the family does not control the Shu army, and the court is working to keep it so.

Evidence: Wu Ting's career is from the zh.wikipedia page (dated by the year and month of the Songshi); the army's history is from Chen Xifeng 2024 and the English Wikipedia military history; the commander of 1195-1201 is unknown.

On the map: The zone is the Lizhou West frontier as a whole; the command's stations are not known.

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.

Sources and studies

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