Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · The Southern Song of Zhao Kuo (Ningzong) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Yongzhou command

Yongzhou (Nanning) on the Yu river is the Song's military hinge on the southern frontier.

It is the seat from which the stockades toward Dai Viet (Yongping zhai, Taiping zhai and others on the Zuojiang), the Qinzhou sea market and the horse market at Hengshan are overseen, and the place from which the Zhuang chiefs of the Zuo and You rivers are managed. The city remembers two disasters. Nong Zhigao's forces pillaged the district in 1049 and took the city in 1052, until the Song forces under Di Qing retook it in 1054 (Wikipedia, "Zhuang people"; "Nong Zhigao").

Then the Dai Viet army took it in the war of 1075 to 1077 (the campaign board puts the sack in 1076; the page we read says only that Dai Viet held Yongzhou, Qinzhou and Lianzhou when the Song withdrew in 1077), and Ly Nhan Tong returned the three prefectures to the Song in 1082 (Wikipedia, "Song-Dai Viet war"). The border was fixed at talks at the Yongping garrison between 6 July and 8 August 1084. Since then the command keeps the peace by loose rein and frontier markets.

Its holder on 1 January 1200 is not known.

Who he is

Title
Prefect of Yongzhou (zhi Yongzhou) and frontier commander of the Zuo and You river district
Since
not pinned
Born
not known
Confidence
low

No source available to me names the holder in the winter of 1199-1200.

Overlord

The Pacification Commissioner of Guangnan West at Jingjiang fu

What it holds

  • The city of Yongzhou and its counties
  • The jimi prefectures and dong of the Zuo and You rivers in name, through the chiefs (see their records)
  • The Hengshan market and the Yongping stockade market
  • The frontier levies (tuding) organised in 1065

How it was acquired

Appointment from Lin'an; the command dates from the response to Nong Zhigao.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the Cen and Huang chiefs, loyal since Nong Zhigao's fall. Rivals: the Nong families, and Dai Viet's officers across the line.

How things stand that morning

Quiet. The border markets are open. No raid is dated for the winter. Across the line the ground is Dai Viet's (Quang Nguyen, Lang Son and the Lang country, msa's sheet).

Military

Yongzhou garrison, the stockades, the Zhuang levies. No figures; the 1065 levy of 45 grottoes is the earliest count.

Threats

  • A chief changing sides toward Dai Viet
  • Nong survivors in the border dong
  • Dai Viet pressure on the markets

Places of note

  • Yongzhou: The command seat
  • Yongping zhai (site approximate): Border stockade where the 1084 talks were held

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The sieges and the 1084 talks are well documented; the command's present holder and strength are not.

On the map: Points only; the Yongping site is a best guess.

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

  1. Wikipedia, "Nong Zhigao"
  2. Wikipedia, "Zhuang people" (Song-period section)
  3. Wikipedia, "Song-Dai Viet war" (aftermath, 1082-1084 border settlement)
  4. Zhou Qufei, Lingwai daida (1178), described in Wikipedia, "Lingwai Daida"

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