Zuojiang chiefs

Who he is

Title

The Zhuang chiefs (zhi) of the jimi prefectures and dong of the Zuo river

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Confidence

low

No chief is named for 1200 in any source we could read.

Overlord

The Song court through the Yongzhou command

What it holds

• The dong and jimi prefectures of the Zuo river (Longzhou, Daxin, Chongzuo, Ningming and the Pingxiang road)
• The border markets in their country (Yongping, Taiping)

How it was acquired

By descent, with Song recognition since the 970s and 1060s.

Allies and rivals

Allies of the Song: Huang and Cen against the Nong in 1052 to 1054. Rival claims: Dai Viet on the Nong families of the Cao Bang country.

How things stand that morning

Quiet, on the evidence available. No raid or revolt is dated for the winter. Across the line the ground is Dai Viet's (the Ly king Cao Tong, reigning since 1175; Quang Nguyen, Cao Bang and the Lang country, msa's sheet).

Military

Village militias under the chief; the 1065 organisation. Wikipedia gives large figures for the 1060s and 1108, which we do not repeat.

Threats

• Dai Viet courting the chiefs
• Song officers' demands

Where the sources disagree

• The brief names Cen, Nong, Tian, Huang, Wei and Li as Zuo and You chiefs. The Zhuang article names Cen, Huang, Wei, Nong and Mo; it names no Zhuang Tian or Li house (Li Mao there is a Vietnamese general, and Tian is the family of Sizhou in Guizhou). We have not identified any Tian or Li house of the Zuo and You valleys.

Evidence: The early Song facts are in one article; nothing is dated for 1100 to 1200 except Zhou Qufei's remark of 1178.

On the map: A zone between Yongzhou and the Annam border. Which chief held which dong is not known.

Primary sources for Chiefs of the south-west

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.

• 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 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
• Draft Compilation of the Collected Statutes of the Song, Various; the Song huiyao were compiled by the Song state, the surviving draft reassembled by Xu Song from the Yongle dadian in the nineteenth century (the original Song compilations date from the eleventh to the thirteenth century; the surviving extracts were recovered in 1809 to 1820 and printed in 1936). Dated extracts from the Song government's own statute collections, arranged by office. Read online
• Miscellaneous Notes on Court and Country since the Jianyan Era, Li Xinchuan (李心傳) (first series 1202, second series 1216). A contemporary handbook of the Southern Song state, written in Sichuan by the historian Li Xinchuan and finished in its first part in 1202, two years after the start of 1200. Read online
• Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. Read online