Xiangyang

Who holds it

Title

Prefect (zhizhou) of Xiangyang

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Confidence

low

Name not known for 1 January 1200. Song prefects and magistrates rotated every two or three years, so a name from another year cannot be assumed.

Lord in 1200

The prefect of Xiangyang, who is also pacification commissioner of Jingxi South, and the commander-in-chief (dutongzhi) of the Xiangyang Imperial Guards. No names are dated for 1 January 1200.

Overlord

The court at Lin'an, through the circuit commissioners.

What the town holds

• Xiangyang fu and its counties
• Fancheng across the Han
• Xiangyang Imperial Guards
• Command of the Han river garrisons

How it was acquired

Retaken by Yue Fei in 1134 and held since; confirmed by the settlements of 1142 and 1165.

Allies and rivals

Linked by the Han to Jiangling and Ezhou. Rivals across the line are the Jin prefects of Dengzhou and Tangzhou (in the nch records).

How things stand that morning

At peace on the line. The commissioner watches Dengzhou and Tangzhou and the border markets; the garrison is on pay. No alarm is dated for the winter of 1199 to 1200.

Wealth

Han tolls, frontier-market duties, military farm grain and the Hubei and Hunan grain sent to the army. No figures.

Military

Xiangyang Imperial Guards, frontier stockades, county archers and watch posts. No numbers.

Threats

• A Jin crossing of the line (not expected under the peace of 1165)
• Famine on the Han plain
• Smuggling of horses, tea and salt across the line

Charter

None known. A Song prefectural city had no chartered liberties: the prefect and the county magistrates governed it, and its trades were organised in guilds (hang) licensed by the state.

Council

No council of its own. The prefect (zhizhou) rules with the county magistrate, the market and tax officers and the heads of the trade guilds; the leading literati families speak for the town to the officials. No names are known for 1 January 1200. In practice the commissioner and the army commander decide everything.

Communities

Buddhist and Daoist temples; soldiers' families; Han boatmen and caravan merchants. No foreign quarter is attested in our sources.

Fairs and markets

Border markets and temple fairs; the Song-Jin frontier markets are recalled, not pinned for this town.

Militia

The prefectural garrison, county archers (gongshou) and local militia; no numbers.

Walls and castle

Twin walled cities, Xiangyang on the south bank and Fancheng on the north, with the Han as moat and ferries between them (a floating bridge is recalled for later years, not pinned for 1200); a wide moat on the land sides, as we recall.

Trade and crafts

Grain from the military farms and the Han plain, Han river salt and cloth traffic, a frontier trade in horses, tea, cloth and livestock with the Jin across the line (smuggled as well as licensed), iron and timber from the upper Han, and the arsenal.

Places of note

• Fancheng: Twin city across the Han.
• Longzhong: Zhuge Liang's hermitage in the hills west of Xiangyang (approximate).

Where the sources disagree

• After 1200 and not part of the 1200 state: the Kaixi war from 1206 makes this the front; the sieges of the Mongol time are far later.
• The campaign board puts Zaoyang under Xiangyang; the Dili zhi (juan 85) puts it under Suizhou, where we draw it.

Evidence: Background knowledge of Southern Song administration and of the travel diaries of Lu You (1170) and Fan Chengda (1177), recalled and not re-read in this pass because web access closed; the rank and circuit follow the Songshi geography (juan 85 and 88, read in this pass). No prefect or magistrate for 1 January 1200 is dated in what we could reach.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

On the map: Seeds round Xiangyang and Fancheng.

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.