Yuan Forces Take Jiankang and Lishui Surrenders, 1275 CE

Date and era

Two eras run together in this year: the first year of the Deyou era of the Song emperor Gong, which is the twelfth year of the Zhiyuan era of the Yuan emperor Shizu, or 1275 CE. The gazetteer marks the equivalence in this entry and from here on dates its entries by the Yuan era.

The dynastic history dates the entry of the Yuan forces into Jiankang Prefecture to the third month of the first year of Deyou. The History of Song, juan 47, "Basic Annals of the Duke of Ying", records:

癸酉，都统徐旺荣迎大元兵入建康府，镇江统制石祖忠请降于建康。

Translated: On the guiyou day the commandant Xu Wangrong welcomed the Yuan forces into Jiankang Prefecture, and the Zhenjiang commander Shi Zuzhong asked to surrender to Jiankang. This is a translation, not the words of the original.

Jiankang Prefecture therefore came over to the Yuan in the third month of 1275, the first year of Deyou; Lishui, being a county of Jiankang, surrendered at the same time or shortly after. The gazetteer records only that "the Yuan took Jiankang and Lishui surrendered", without a month.

The event

恭帝德祐元年乙亥，即元世祖至元十二年。元兵克建康，溧水降。十月，阿剌罕由西道趋溧水，破东坝而进。十一月，铜关将贝宝、胡岩起同攻溧水，死之。后赠宝为武翼郎，岩为朝奉郎。是年，元立行省于建康，以伯颜为平章事，统溧水等县。

Translated: In the first year of the Deyou era, which is the twelfth year of the Zhiyuan era of Shizu of the Yuan, Yuan forces took Jiankang and Lishui surrendered. In the tenth month Alahan advanced on Lishui by the western road and broke through Dongba. In the eleventh month the Tongguan commanders Bei Bao and Hu Yanqi attacked Lishui together and died. Bei Bao was afterwards given the posthumous rank of Wuyi lang and Hu Yanqi that of Chaofeng lang. In that year the Yuan established a branch secretariat at Jiankang with Bayan as its chief minister, governing Lishui and other counties. This is a translation, not the words of the original.

The record puts the surrender first, then Alahan's advance through Dongba, then the deaths of Bei Bao and Hu Yanqi, all within the one year.

The History of Yuan's biography of Alahan gives the campaign of that year in more detail than the gazetteer: Bayan divided the army into three columns, and "Alahan advanced by the western road on Lishui and Liyang, and broke through Yinshu and Dongba", afterwards taking Jianping county as well. According to that account Alahan's line of advance covered more than Lishui alone: by the western road he took Lishui and Liyang in succession, first breaking through Yinshu and Dongba and then entering Jianping (present-day Langxi, Anhui). The biography is cited here from a current edition and its juan number is still to be verified, so this entry takes from it only the line of march and not its figures of killed and captured.

The History of Yuan, juan 62, "Treatise on Geography V", under Jiqing Circuit, also records the surrender of Jiankang in this year:

元至元十二年归附，十四年升建康路。

Translated: It came over to the Yuan in the twelfth year of Zhiyuan, and in the fourteenth year was raised to Jiankang Circuit. This is a translation, not the words of the original.

Consequences

Lishui surrendered to the Yuan. According to the gazetteer, the Yuan set up a branch secretariat at Jiankang with Bayan as its chief minister, governing Lishui and the other counties; the History of Yuan, juan 62, records that Jiankang was raised to Jiankang Circuit in the fourteenth year of Zhiyuan, 1277. The gazetteer records the posthumous ranks given to Bei Bao and Hu Yanqi. In the following year, the second year of Deyou of the Song and the thirteenth year of Zhiyuan, 1276, the gazetteer records that the Yuan appointed a darughachi at Lishui, holding rank above the county magistrate; a year later, in 1277, it records that the Yuan changed Jiankang Prefecture into a circuit, with Lishui under it, in agreement with the History of Yuan's "raised to Jiankang Circuit in the fourteenth year".

Uncertainties

First, the gazetteer does not say whose officers the two "Tongguan commanders" were, nor what posts they held, nor whether they were storming the town or defending it; nor does it say where Tongguan lay within Lishui. A search of the dynastic histories found no mention of either man.

Second, it does not say who conferred the posthumous ranks, and it offers no explanation of the two rank names.

Third, apart from the phrase about breaking through Dongba, the gazetteer gives no account of Alahan's line of march towards Lishui; the History of Yuan's biography of Alahan is fuller (Lishui and Liyang, Yinshu and Dongba, Jianping county), but that biography is cited here from a current edition whose juan number and original print are still to be verified, so this entry takes only the line of march and not its figures.

Fourth, the gazetteer records that "the Yuan established a branch secretariat at Jiankang with Bayan as chief minister", whereas the History of Yuan's biography of Alahan records that after Bayan was called to court "Alahan was left to manage the affairs of the secretariat". The wordings differ; this entry sets them side by side and does not conclude who held the branch secretariat at Jiankang in the twelfth year of Zhiyuan.