A Research Of Wars And Characters In Northeast China During The Late Jin Dynasty

Northeast China is the native land of Jurchen people. Keeping the situation of this region stable was significant to Jin rulers.1211, when the Mongols began to invade North China, they also sent their army into Northeast China. The related records can be found in Jin shi 金史 and Yuan shi 元史. In the next year, a Khitan General named Yelv Liuge betrayed Jin for being the leader of Khitan people uprising.1215, another General serving Jin named Puxian Wannu also betrayed Jin and established a nation called Dongxia. In response to the critical situation, Jin government established three provinces 行省 including Shangjing, long’an and Liaodong, and appointed many commanders in charge of leading soldiers to resist the invasions of their enemies, such as Wanyan Alibusun, Heshilie Hengduan, Pucha Wujin and Gebuge. Northeast China had always been a region in which many different ethnic groups lived together. Warfare made the local situation more complicated. Northeast China was reunified until the Mongols conquered Dongxia in 1233. During this period which was more than 20 years, four main political forces played important roles in influencing the situation of Northeast China.They are the Mongols, Yelv Liuge and the army betraying him, Dongxia established by Puxian Wannu and the army of Jin in charge of guarding Northeast China.This thesis is designed to research the wars and characters in Northeast China during the late Jin dynasty. It includes five chapters, and every chapter has a relatively independent theme.Chaper 1 is aimed at researching several wars occurring in Dongjing from 1211 to 1215, which were all waged by the Mongols. These wars are recorded in different history materials and their narratives are not completely consistent. By analyzing and summarizing, I concluded that there were at least four different wars waged by the Mongols in this period, which were all ended with Dongjing’s being occupied by the Mongols. The second section of chapter 1 focus on the first war in 1211, in which Zhebie is considered to be the commander of the Mongols. There are similar recordings in The secret history of the Mongols 元朝秘史, while the name of the city is spelled as Dongchang 东昌 in it. Many scholars expressed their views on this issue. By analyzing the writing process of this book, I conluded that Dongchang was a wrong translation of Dongjing made in Ming dynasty.Chaper 2 is aimed at researching the deeds of Yelv Liuge and his descendants by making use of Yuan shi Yelv Liuge zhuan 元史. 耶律留哥传.In this part, I found a few wrong records in Liuge zhuan and expressed my own understanding about some of their deeds.Chapter 3 is aimed at researching the deeds of Puxian Wannu in the early years of his political life when he just betrayed Jin and established Dongxia.This chapter can be divided into two parts.The first part explains why there there is a contradiction in history materials’ records that Puxian Wannu had begun to fight against the other Jin troops in Northeast China before he established his kingdom and proclaimed himself emperor.The reason is that Puxian Wannu’s betraying Jin was actually ahead of his establishing Dongxia and proclaiming himself emperor.The second part of chapter 3 concludes that Puxian Wannu began to attack Shangjing in 1917 by analysising some history materials critically. It could not happen in the earlier years.Chapter 4 is aimed at researching Sarta’s conquest of Liaodong,after which he and his troops were sent into Koryo in 1231. In my opinion, the name of Sarta maybe related with the appellation Sartaul which the Mongols called Khwarezmia and its people. By analysising different materials recorded in Yuanshi, a conclusion was drawed that maybe early in 1225, Sarta had marched into Liaodong at the order of Genghis Khan.Chapter 5, as well as the conclusion of the whole thesis, focus on the bilateral relations of Jin and Koryo between 1211 and 1234. Since Jin moved its capital to Kaifeng in 1214, Liaodong Province and some other institutions of Jin set in Northeast China had actually become the communication media between Jin and Koryo. Jin-Koryo relations reflected the complex situation in Northeast China during this period.