Volume 113 Biographies 51: Wanyan Saibu, same clan: Wanyanbaisayimingchengyi, Chizhan Hexi

完顏賽不

Wanyan Saibu

完顏賽不，始祖弟保活里之後也。狀貌魁偉，沉厚有大略。初補親衛軍，章宗時，選充護衛。明昌元年八月，由宿直將軍爲甯化州刺史。未幾，遷武衛軍副都指揮使。泰和二年，轉胡里改路節度使。四年，升武衛軍都指揮使，尋爲殿前左副都點檢。及平章僕散揆伐宋，爲右翼都統。六年六月，宋將皇甫斌遣率步騎數萬由確山、褒信分路侵蔡，聞郭倬、李爽之敗，阻溱水不敢進。於是，揆遣賽不及副統尚廄局使蒲鮮萬奴、深州刺史完顏達吉不等以騎七千往擊之。會溱水漲，宋兵扼橋以拒，賽不等謀潛師夜出，達吉不以騎涉水出其右，萬奴等出其左。賽不度其軍畢渡，乃率副統阿魯帶以精兵直趨橋，宋兵不能遏，比明大潰。萬奴以兵斷真陽路，諸軍追擊至陳澤，斬首二萬級，獲戰馬雜畜千餘。兵還，進爵一級，賜金幣甚厚。

Wanyan Saibu was descended from Baohuoli, younger brother of the dynastic founder. He was tall and imposing in bearing, steady in temperament, and possessed of considerable strategic vision. He first entered the Personal Guard, and under Emperor Zhangzong was chosen to serve among the imperial guards. In the eighth month of Mingchang 1 (1190), he was moved from Night-Duty General to prefect of Ninghua. Soon afterward he was appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the Martial Guard Army. In Taihe 2 (1202) he was made military commissioner of the Huligai Circuit. In the fourth year he rose to commander-in-chief of the Martial Guard Army, and shortly thereafter became left deputy chief inspector of the Palace Corps. When Participation Councillor Pusan Kui invaded Song, he served as overall commander of the right wing. In the sixth month of year six, the Song general Huangfu Bin led several tens of thousands of foot and horse by separate routes from Queshan and Baoxin against Cai; on hearing of Guo Zhuo and Li Shuang's defeats, his force halted at the Zhen River and dared not advance. Kui then dispatched Saibu, together with deputy commander Puxian Wannu of the Imperial Stables Bureau, Shenzhou prefect Wanyan Daji, and others, with seven thousand cavalry to attack them. The Zhen had swollen, and Song troops held the bridge against them. Saibu and his colleagues planned a night march: Daji forded with cavalry on the right while Wannu and the rest emerged on the left. Once Saibu saw his forces fully across, he led deputy commander Arudai with elite troops straight at the bridge; the Song could not hold them, and by dawn they were in full rout. Wannu blocked the road to Zhenyang, and the armies pursued as far as Chenze, taking twenty thousand heads and more than a thousand war horses and other livestock. On the army's return his noble rank was raised one step, and he received a lavish grant of gold and coin.

貞祐初，拜同簽樞密院事。三年，遷知臨洮府事，兼陝西路副統軍。上召見諭曰：「卿向在西京，盡心爲國，及治華州，亦嘗宣力，今始及三品。特升授汝此職者，以陝西安撫副使烏古論兗州不遵安撫使達吉不節制，多致敗事。今已責罰兗州，命卿副之。宜益務盡心，其或不然，復當別議行之。」八月，知鳳翔府事，兼本路兵馬都總管，俄爲元帥右都監。四年四月，調兵拔宋木陡關。五月，夏人於來羌城界河修折橋，以兵守護，賽不遣兵焚之。八月，夏人寇結耶觜川，遣兵擊走之，尋又破其衆于車兒堡。

At the opening of the Zhenyou era he was appointed co-signatory of the Marshalate. In the third year he was made administrator of Linzhou prefecture and concurrently deputy overall commander of the Shaanxi Circuit. The emperor summoned him and said: "You once served the state wholeheartedly in the Western Capital, and when you governed Huazhou you likewise did your part; only now have you reached the third rank. I have raised you to this post in particular because Wugulun Yanzhou, vice commissioner for Shaanxi pacification, would not submit to Pacification Commissioner Daji's command and repeatedly caused defeats. Yanzhou has already been punished; you are to serve as his deputy. You must redouble your efforts; if you do not, we shall have to consider other measures." In the eighth month he was appointed administrator of Fengxiang prefecture and overall commander of the circuit's forces, and soon afterward became right overseer of the marshalate. In the fourth month of the fourth year he took troops and seized the Song pass at Mudou. In the fifth month the Xia built a pontoon bridge on the border river at Laicheng and posted troops to guard it; Saibu sent forces to burn it down. In the eighth month the Xia raided Jieyezui River; he sent troops to repel them and soon afterward routed their force at Che'er Fort as well.

七月，上章言：「京都天下之根本，其城池宜極高深，今外城雖堅，然週六十餘里，倉猝有警難於拒守。竊見城中有子城故基，宜於農隙築而新之，爲國家久長之利。及凡河南、陝西州府，皆乞量修。」從之。

In the seventh month he memorialized: "The capital is the foundation of the realm; its defenses ought to be as deep and high as possible. The outer wall is strong, but at more than sixty li around it would be hard to hold in a sudden emergency. I see the old foundations of an inner citadel within the city; it would be well to rebuild it in the farming slack season, for the state's lasting good. I also ask that all prefectures in Henan and Shaanxi be repaired as circumstances allow. The emperor approved.

二年正月，破宋人於鐵山及上石店、唐縣。四月，進兼西南等路招討使、西安軍節度使、陝州管內觀察使。奉詔攻棗陽，宋出兵三萬拒戰，稍誘擊之，宋兵敗走城，薄諸濠，殺及溺死者三千餘人，遂進兵圍之。宋騎兵千、步卒萬來援，逆戰復大敗之。七月，遷行山東西路兵馬都總管，兼武甯軍節度使。三年二月，奪宋白石關，殺其守者千餘人，獲鎧仗千計。三月，破宋兵於七口倉，又奪宋小鶻倉，獲糧九千石、兵仗三十余萬。是月，復敗宋兵三千于石鶻崖。

In the first month of the second year he defeated Song forces at Tieshan, Shangshidian, and Tang County. In the fourth month he was further appointed concurrent pacification commissioner for the southwestern circuits and others, military commissioner of the Xi'an Army, and surveillance commissioner of Shanzhou. Ordered to attack Zaoyang, he met thirty thousand Song troops in the field, drew them on, and routed them back to the walls; pressed against the moats, more than three thousand were killed or drowned, and he then laid siege to the city. A relief force of a thousand horse and ten thousand foot came up; he met them and routed them again. In the seventh month he was made acting overall commander of the Shandong East and West Circuits and concurrently military commissioner of the Wuning Army. In the second month of the third year he took the Song pass at Baishi, killing more than a thousand defenders and capturing roughly a thousand sets of armor and arms. In the third month he defeated Song forces at Qikou Granary and seized Little Hu Granary as well, taking nine thousand shi of grain and more than three hundred thousand weapons. That month he also routed three thousand Song troops at Shihu Cliff.

四年三月，奉詔出兵河北招降，晉安權府事皇甫珪、正平縣令席永堅率五千餘人來歸，得糧萬石。時河北所在義軍官民堅守堡寨，力戰破敵者衆。賽不上章言：「此類忠赤可嘉，若不旌酬無以激人心。乞朝廷量加官賞，萬一敵兵復來，將爭先效用矣。」上覽奏，召樞密官曰：「朕與卿等亦嘗有此議，以不見彼中事勢，故一聽帥臣規畫。今觀此奏，甚稱朕意，其令有司遷賞之。」是年四月，遷樞密副使。

In the third month of the fourth year he marched into Hebei on orders to accept surrenders; Huangfu Gui, acting administrator of Jin'an, and Zhengping magistrate Xi Yongjian brought more than five thousand men over, yielding ten thousand shi of grain. Throughout Hebei at that time loyal militia and civilians held fortified stockades, and many fought hard to defeat the enemy. Saibu memorialized: "Such loyal devotion deserves recognition; without rewards and honors there is no way to stir men's hearts. I ask that the court grant offices and rewards as it sees fit; should the enemy return, they will compete to serve first." Reading the memorial, the emperor summoned Marshalate officials and said: "I too once discussed this with you, but unable to see conditions on the ground I left planning to the field commanders. This memorial suits me very well; let the appropriate offices promote and reward them." In the fourth month of that year he was made vice commissioner of the Marshalate.

四年，吏部郎中楊居仁上封事，言宰相宜擇人，上語大臣曰：「相府非其人，御史諫官當言，彼吏曹，何與於此。」尚書左丞顏盞世魯素嫉居仁，亦以爲僭，賽不徐進曰：「天下有道，庶人猶得獻言，況在郎官。陛下有寬弘之德，故不應言者猶言。使其言可用則行之，不可用不必示臣下也。」上是之。居仁字行之，大興人。泰和三年進士。天興末時北渡，舉家投黃河死。

In the fourth year Yang Juren, a bureau director in the Ministry of Personnel, submitted a sealed memorial arguing that chief ministers must be chosen with care. The emperor told the senior ministers: "If the chief minister's office is wrongly filled, censors and remonstrance officials should speak up—what business is that of the personnel bureau? Left Vice Director Yan Shilu, who had long resented Juren, likewise called it presumptuous. Saibu stepped forward slowly and said: "When the realm is well governed, even commoners may speak; how much more a court gentleman. Your Majesty's magnanimity is such that even those who ought not speak still do. If his words are useful, act on them; if not, there is no need to parade them before the court." The emperor agreed. Juren, whose style was Xingzhi, was from Daxing. He passed the civil examinations in Taihe 3 (1203). At the end of Tianxing, while crossing north, his entire family drowned themselves in the Yellow River.

五年，行尚書省於京兆，謂都事商衡曰：「古來宰相必用文人，以其知爲相之道。賽不何所知，使居此位，吾恐他日史官書之，某時以某爲相而國乃亡。」即促衡草表乞致仕。平章政事侯摯樸直無蘊藉，朝廷鄙之，天興元年兵事急，自致仕起爲大司農，未幾復致仕，徐州行尚書省無敢行者，復拜摯平章政事。都堂會議，摯以國勢不支，因論數事，曰：「只是更無擘劃。」白撒怒曰：「平章出此言，國家何望耶！」意在置之不測。賽不顧謂白撒曰：「侯相言甚當。」白撒遂含憤而罷。

In the fifth year, while acting as Department of State Affairs at Jingzhao, he told chief clerk Shang Heng: "Chief ministers have always been literati, because they understand what the office requires. What does Saibu know to hold this post? I fear future historians will write that at such a time such a man was made chief minister—and then the state fell. He immediately pressed Heng to draft a memorial requesting retirement. Participation Councillor Hou Zhi was blunt and lacked polish, and the court looked down on him. In Tianxing 1, with war pressing, he was recalled from retirement as Grand Minister of Agriculture; soon he retired again. When no one would take the acting Department post at Xuzhou, Zhi was again made participation councillor. At a council in the chief ministers' hall, Zhi—seeing the state could not hold—discussed several matters and said, "There is simply nothing left to plan. Baisa burst out angrily: "For a participation councillor to say such a thing—what hope is there for the state! His intent was to put Zhi in mortal danger. Saibu turned to Baisa without hesitation and said, "Minister Hou is quite right. Baisa withdrew, swallowing his anger.

時大元兵薄汴，白撒策後日講和或出質，必首相當行，力請賽不領省事，拜爲左丞相，尋復致仕。是年冬，哀宗遷歸德，起復爲右丞相，樞密使，兼左副元帥，封壽國公，扈從以行。河北兵潰，從至歸德，又請致仕。二年七月，復詔行尚書省事於徐州。既至，以州乏糧，遣郎中王萬慶會徐、宿、靈璧兵取源州，令元帥郭恩統之。九月，恩至源州城下，敗績而還。再命卓翼攻豐縣，破之。初，郭恩以敗爲恥，托疾不行，乃密與河北諸叛將郭野驢輩謀歸國用安，執元帥商瑀父子、元帥左都監紇石烈善住，並殺之。又逐都尉斡轉留奴、泥龐古桓端、蒲察世謀、元帥右都監李居仁、員外郎常忠。自是，防城與守門者皆河北義軍，出入自恣。賽不先病疽，久不視事，重爲賊黨所制，束手聽命而已。

With Great Yuan forces closing on Bian, Baisa reckoned that any future peace talks or hostage mission would fall to the chief minister, and pressed hard for Saibu to head Department affairs; Saibu was made left chief minister, but soon retired again. That winter Emperor Aizong moved to Guide; Saibu was recalled as right chief minister, marshal commissioner, and left deputy grand marshal, enfeoffed Duke of Shou, and escorted the court on the move. After the Hebei army collapsed he followed to Guide and again asked to retire. In the seventh month of the second year he was again ordered to act as Department of State Affairs at Xuzhou. On arrival, finding the prefecture short of grain, he sent bureau director Wang Wanqing to combine forces from Xu, Su, and Lingbi to take Yuanzhou, placing Marshal Guo En in command. In the ninth month En reached Yuanzhou and was defeated, returning in rout. He then ordered Zhuo Yi to attack Feng County and took it. Earlier Guo En, shamed by defeat, feigned illness and refused to march; he then secretly plotted with Hebei rebel generals such as Guo Yelü to join Guo Yong'an, seized Marshal Shang Yu and his son and Marshalate Left Overseer Heshenlie Shanzhu, and killed them all. He also drove out Commandant Wozhuan Liunu, Nipanggu Huanduan, Pucha Shimou, Marshalate Right Overseer Li Juren, and bureau aide Chang Zhong. Thereafter wall defense and gate guards were all Hebei militia, coming and going as they pleased. Saibu had long been ill with an abscess and had ceased to govern; now thoroughly controlled by the rebels, he could only fold his hands and obey.

初，源、徐交攻，郭野驢者每辭疾不行，賽不遂授野驢徐州節度副使，兼防城都總領，實羈之也。野驢既見徐州空虛，乃約源州叛將麻琮內外相應。十月甲申，詰旦，襲破徐州。時蔡已被圍，徐州將士以朝命阻絕，且逼大兵，議出降。賽不弗從，恐被執，至是投河求死，流三十余步不沒，軍士援出之。又五日，自縊於州第。麻琮乃遣人以州降大元。

Earlier, while Yuan and Xu were at war, Guo Yelü repeatedly pleaded illness and refused to march; Saibu then made him deputy military commissioner of Xuzhou and overall leader of wall defense, in effect to keep him on a leash. Seeing Xuzhou undefended, Yelü arranged with Yuanzhou rebel Ma Cong for a coordinated strike from within and without. On jiazi day of the tenth month, at dawn, they stormed and seized Xuzhou. Cai was already besieged; Xuzhou's officers and men, cut off from court orders and pressed by the main enemy force, debated surrender. Saibu refused, fearing capture; he now threw himself into the river to die, but drifted more than thirty paces without sinking and was pulled out by soldiers. Five days later he hanged himself in the prefectural mansion. Ma Cong then sent envoys to surrender the prefecture to the Great Yuan.

子按春，正大中充護衛，坐與宗室女奸，杖一百收系。居許州，大兵至許，按春開南門以降。從攻京師，曹王出質，朝臣及近衛有從出者，按春極口大罵，以至指斥。是冬，復自北中逃回，詔令押入省，問事情，按春隨近侍登階作揮涕之狀。詔問丞相云：「按春自北中來，丞相好與問彼中息耗。」賽不附奏曰：「老臣不幸生此賊，事至今日，恨不手刃之，忍與對面語乎！」十二月，車駕東狩，留後二相下開封，擒捕斬之獄中。

His son An Chun served as an imperial guard in the Zhengda era; for an affair with an imperial clanswoman he received a hundred strokes and was imprisoned. Living at Xuzhou, when the main army reached the city An Chun opened the south gate and surrendered. He followed the assault on the capital; when the Prince of Cao was sent out as a hostage and courtiers and guards went with him, An Chun railed at them loudly, even pointing and reviling them. That winter he escaped back from the north; ordered escorted into the Department for questioning, An Chun followed the attendants up the steps, feigning tears. An edict asked the chief minister: "An Chun has returned from the north; you might inquire what news he brings from there. Saibu replied in a memorial: "This old minister was cursed to father such a villain; things have come to this, and I regret I did not kill him myself—how could I bear to speak with him face to face! In the twelfth month, as the court made its eastern move, the two chief ministers left behind went to Kaifeng, seized him, and executed him in prison.

贊曰：賽不臨陣對壘既有將略，洎秉鈞衡，觀其救解楊居仁、侯摯等言，殊有相度，按春之事尤有古人之風焉。晚以老病，受制叛臣，致修匹夫匹婦之節，此猶大廈將傾，非一木之所能支也，悲夫！

The encomium reads: In the field Saibu already showed generalship; once he held the reins of state, his defense of Yang Juren and Hou Zhi reveals no small ministerial judgment; his handling of An Chun especially recalls the ancients. In old age, ill and in rebel hands, he still upheld the integrity of an ordinary man and woman—but when the great hall is falling, one beam cannot hold it up. Alas!

完顏白撒

Wanyan Baisa

內族白撒，名承裔，末帝承麟之兄也，系出世祖諸孫。自幼爲奉御。貞祐間，累官知臨洮府事、兼本路兵馬都總管。興定元年，爲元帥左都監，行帥府事於鳳翔。是年，詔陝西行省伐宋，白撒出鞏州鹽川，遇宋兵於皁郊堡，敗之。又遇宋兵于天水軍，掩擊，宋兵大潰。二年四月，復敗宋兵，至雞公山，遂拔西和州，毀其諸隘營屯。遣合紮都統完顏習涅阿不率軍趨成州，宋帥羅參政、統制李大亨焚廬舍棄城遁，留千餘人城守，督兵赴之，逐克焉，獲糧七萬斛，錢數千萬。河池縣守將楊九鼎亦焚縣舍走保清野原。統制高千據黑谷關甚固，遣兵襲之，千遁去，獲糧二萬斛，器械稱是，因夷其險而還。三年，破虎頭關，敗宋兵於七盤子、雞冠關。褒城縣官民自焚城宇遁，因取其城。興元府提刑兼知府事趙希昔聞兵將至，率官民遁，於是白撒遂取興元，以駐兵焉。命提控張秀華馳視洋州，官民亦遁，又取其城。尋聞漢江之南三十里，宋兵二千據山而陣，遣提控唐括移失不擊走之。行省以捷聞，宣宗大悅，進白撒官一階。時朝議以蘭州當西夏之沖，久爲敵據，將遣白撒復之，白撒奏曰：「臣近入宋境，略河池，下鳳州，破興元，抵洋州而還。經涉險阻數千里，士馬疲弊，未得少休，而欲重爲是舉，甚非計也，不若息兵養士以備。」從之。

Baisa of the imperial clan, personal name Chengyi, was elder brother to the last emperor Chenglong and descended from the founder's grandsons. From childhood he served as a palace attendant. During Zhenyou he rose to administer Linzhou prefecture and concurrently command the circuit's forces. In Xingding 1 (1217) he became left overseer of the marshalate and acted as marshal headquarters at Fengxiang. That year the Shaanxi Branch Secretariat was ordered to invade Song; Baisa marched from Yanchuan in Gongzhou, met Song forces at Zaojiao Fort, and defeated them. He met Song forces again at Tianshui Army, struck by surprise, and routed them completely. In the fourth month of the second year he defeated Song forces again, reached Jigong Mountain, took Xihe prefecture, and destroyed its passes, stockades, and camps. He sent Combined Regiment commander Wanyan Xinieabu toward Chengzhou; Song commander Luo the Participation Councillor and Controller Li Daheng burned their quarters, abandoned the city, and fled, leaving a thousand men to hold the walls. He pressed forward, took the city in pursuit, and seized seventy thousand hu of grain and tens of millions in cash. Hechi defender Yang Jiuding likewise burned the county offices and withdrew to Qingye Plain. Controller Gao Qian held Heigu Pass firmly; Baisa sent troops against it, Qian fled, and he took twenty thousand hu of grain and ample arms before leveling the pass's defenses and returning. In the third year he took Hutou Pass and defeated Song forces at Qipanzi and Jiguan Pass. Baocheng's officials and people burned the city and fled, and he took the town. Zhao Xixi, Xingyuan's intendant for criminal cases and concurrent prefect, fled with officials and people on word that troops were coming; Baisa then took Xingyuan and encamped there. He sent Controller Zhang Xiuhua to reconnoiter Yangzhou; officials and people fled there too, and he took that city as well. He soon learned that two thousand Song troops had formed on the hills thirty li south of the Han; he sent Controller Tangguo Yishibu to drive them off. The Branch Secretariat reported victory; Emperor Xuanzong was delighted and raised Baisa's rank one step. The court then debated recovering Lanzhou, on the Xia frontier and long in enemy hands, by sending Baisa. He memorialized: "I have just invaded Song territory, overrun Hechi, taken Fengzhou, broken Xingyuan, reached Yangzhou, and returned. We have marched thousands of li through difficult country; men and horses are exhausted without a day's rest. To mount another such campaign would be folly; better to rest the army and rebuild strength. The emperor agreed.

未幾，權參知政事，行省事於平涼。四年，上言：「宋境山州宕昌東上拶一帶蕃族，昔嘗歸附，分處德順、鎮戎之間。其後有司不能存撫，相繼亡去。近聞復有歸心，然不招之亦無由自至。誠得其衆，可以助兵，甯謐一方。臣以同知通遠軍節度使事烏古論長壽及通遠軍節度副使溫敦永昌皆本蕃屬，且久鎮邊鄙，深得彼心，已命遣人招之。其所遣及諸來歸者，皆當甄獎，請預定賞格以待之。」上是其言。

Soon he was acting participation councillor, handling secretariat affairs at Pingliang. In the fourth year he memorialized: "Along the Song frontier, the tribes of Dangchang and the eastern Shangza strip once submitted and were settled between Deshun and Zhenrong. Later the authorities failed to keep them loyal, and they drifted away one by one. I hear they are willing to return, but without invitation they cannot come on their own. If we win them over, they can reinforce our armies and pacify the region. Wugulun Changshou, associate commissioner of the Tongyuan Army, and Wenden Yongchang, its deputy commissioner, are both tribal natives who have long governed the frontier and know these peoples well; I have already sent envoys to summon them. Envoys and all who submit should be rewarded; I ask that reward scales be fixed in advance. The emperor approved.

是年，夏兵三萬由高峰嶺入寇定西州，環城爲柵，白撒遣刺史愛申阿失剌與行軍提控烏古論長壽、溫敦永昌出戰，大敗之，斬首千余，獲馬仗甚衆。五年五月，白撒言：「近詔臣遣官諭諸蕃族以討西夏，臣即令臨洮路總管女奚烈古里間計約喬家丙令族首領以諭余族。又別遣權左右司都事趙梅委差官遙授合河縣尉劉貞同往撫諭。未幾，梅、貞報溪哥城等處諸族，與先降族共願助兵七萬八千余人，本國蕃族願助兵九千，若更以官軍繼爲聲援，勝夏必矣。臣已令古里間將鞏州兵三萬，宜更擇勇略之臣副之。梅、貞等既悉事勢，當假以軍前之職。蕃僧納林心波亦招誘有功，乞遷官授職以獎勵之。」上皆從其請。

That year thirty thousand Xia troops entered by Gaofeng Ridge against Dingxi and encircled the city with palisades. Baisa sent Prefect Aishen Asila with Campaign Controllers Wugulun Changshou and Wenden Yongchang; they routed the enemy, took more than a thousand heads, and seized many horses and weapons. In the fifth month of the fifth year Baisa reported: "I was recently ordered to send officials to rally the tribes against Western Xia. I have had Linzhou overseer Nüxilie Gulijian work with Qiao Jiabing so tribal chiefs can summon the rest. I also sent Acting Director Zhao Mei, with a traveling commissioner and remotely appointed Hehe county lieutenant Liu Zhen, to reassure them jointly. Soon Mei and Zhen reported that clans around Xige City and elsewhere, with those already submitted, offered more than seventy-eight thousand men; our own tribes offered nine thousand more. With regular troops as backing, Xia can surely be defeated. I have ordered Gulijian to lead thirty thousand Gongzhou troops; a capable minister should be sent to assist him. Mei, Zhen, and the others know the situation well and should be given field commands. The tribal monk Nalin Xinbo also did well in rallying them; I ask that he be promoted and rewarded with office. The emperor approved all his requests.

元光元年二月，行省上言：「近與延安元帥完顏合達、納合買住議：河北郡縣俱已殘毀，陝西、河南亦經抄掠。比者西北二敵並攻鄜延，城邑隨陷，惟延安孤墉僅得保全。若今秋復至，必長驅而深入，雖京兆、鳳翔、慶陽、平涼已各益軍，而率皆步卒，且相去闊遠，卒難應援，倘關中諸鎮不支，則河南亦不安矣。今二敵遠去，西北少休，宜乘此隙徑取蜀、漢、實國家基業萬全之計。」詔樞密議之。

In the second month of Yuanguang 1 the Branch Secretariat memorialized: "I have lately discussed with Yan'an Marshal Wanyan Heda and Naha Maizhu: Hebei's commanderies and counties lie in ruins, and Shaanxi and Henan have been plundered as well. Recently the two northwestern enemies attacked Fuyan together; town after town fell, and only Yan'an's lone walls barely held. If they return this autumn they will drive deep inland. Jingzhao, Fengxiang, Qingyang, and Pingliang have each reinforced, but mostly with infantry spread far apart, so mutual relief will be difficult; if Guanzhong's garrisons fail, Henan will be unsafe as well. With both enemies withdrawn and the northwest briefly at rest, we should seize the moment to strike Shu and Han—the surest way to secure the state's foundation. The emperor ordered the Marshalate to deliberate.

先是，夏兵數十萬分寇龕穀、鄜延、大通諸城，上召白撒等授以方略，命發兵襲其浮橋，遂趨西涼。別遣將取大通城，出溪哥路，略夏地。白撒徐出鎮戎，合達出環州，以報三道之役。白撒馳至臨洮，遣總管女奚烈古里間、積石州刺史徒單牙武各攝帥職，率兵西入，遇夏兵千余于踏南寺，擊走之。夏人據大通城，因圍之，分兵奪其橋，與守兵七千人戰，大敗之，幾殺其半，入河死者不可計，餘兵焚其橋西遁。乃還軍攻大通，克之，斬首三千，因招來諸寺族被脅僧俗人，皆按堵如故。以河梁既焚，塞外地寒少草，師遂還。

Earlier several hundred thousand Xia troops had raided Kan'gu, Fuyan, Datong, and other cities. The emperor summoned Baisa and others, gave them their plan, and ordered troops to strike the enemy pontoon bridge and advance on Xiliang. Other generals were sent to take Datong by the Xige route and overrun Xia territory. Baisa marched out of Zhenrong and Heda out of Huanzhou to meet the three-pronged campaign. Baisa raced to Linzhou and sent Overseer Nüxilie Gulijian and Jishi Prefect Tushan Yawu, each acting as commander, west with the army; at Tanan Monastery they met a thousand Xia troops and drove them off. The Xia held Datong, which he besieged; detaching troops to seize their bridge, he fought seven thousand defenders, killing nearly half; countless drowned in the river, and the rest burned the bridge and fled west. He then turned back, took Datong, and beheaded three thousand; monks and laypeople of the temple clans who had been coerced were brought back, and all remained at peace. With the bridge burned and the frontier cold and short of forage, the army withdrew.

十二月，行省言：「近有人自北來者，稱國王木華里悉兵沿渭而西，謀攻鳳翔，鳳翔既下乃圖京兆，京兆卒不可得，留兵守之，至春蹂踐二麥以困我。未幾，大兵果圍鳳翔，帥府遣人告急。臣以爲二鎮脣齒也，鳳翔蹉跌，則京兆必危，而陝右大震矣。然平川廣野實騎兵馳騁之地，未可與之爭鋒。已遣提控羅桓將兵二千，循南山而進，伺隙攻其柵壘，以紓城圍。更乞發河南步騎以備潼關。」詔付尚書省樞密院議之。

In the twelfth month the Branch Secretariat reported: "A man recently arrived from the north saying King Muqali was massing troops along the Wei westward to attack Fengxiang; once Fengxiang fell he would target Jingzhao. Unable to take Jingzhao at once, he would garrison it and in spring trample the wheat to starve us. Soon the main army did besiege Fengxiang, and headquarters sent urgent appeals for help. The two garrisons are lip and teeth: if Fengxiang fell, Jingzhao would be in peril and all western Shaanxi would shake. Yet the open plains are cavalry country; we cannot meet them head-on in the field. I have sent Controller Luo Huan with two thousand men along the southern hills to strike their camps when chance offers and relieve the siege. I also ask that Henan foot and horse be sent to guard Tong Pass. The emperor referred the matter to the Department of State Affairs and the Marshalate.

九年正月，諸軍敗績於三峰山。大兵與白坡兵合，長驅趨汴。令史楊居仁請乘其遠至擊之，白撒不從，且陰怒之。遂遣完顏麻斤出、邵公茂等部民萬人，開短堤，決河水，以固京城。功未畢而騎兵奄至，麻斤出等皆被害，丁壯無二三百人得反者。壬辰，棄衛州，運守具入京。初，大兵破衛州，宣宗南遷，移州治於宜村渡，築新城于河北岸，去河不數步，惟北面受敵，而以石包之，歲屯重兵於此，大兵屢至不能近。至是，棄之，隨爲大兵所據。

In the first month of the ninth year the armies were routed at Sanfeng Mountain. The main army joined Baipo forces and marched straight on Bian. Clerk Yang Juren urged striking them while they were still weary from the march; Baisa refused and secretly resented him. He then sent Wanyan Majinchu, Shao Gongmao, and others to levy ten thousand civilians, cut a short dike, and flood the river to strengthen the capital. Before the work was done cavalry swept in; Majinchu and the rest were killed, and fewer than two or three hundred able-bodied men escaped. On renchen day they abandoned Weizhou and brought the siege equipment to the capital. Earlier, when the main army took Weizhou, Emperor Xuanzong moved south and relocated the seat to Yicun Ford, building a new city on the north bank a few paces from the river, exposed only on the north and faced with stone; heavy troops were posted there yearly, and repeated enemy attacks could not reach it. Now they abandoned it, and the main army promptly occupied it.

甲午，修京城樓櫓。初，宣宗以京城闊遠難守，詔高琪築裏城，公私力盡僅乃得成。至是，議所守。朝臣有言裏城決不可守，外城決不可棄。大兵先得外城，糧盡救絕，走一人不出。裏城或不測可用，於是決計守外城。時在城諸軍不滿四萬，京城周百二十里，人守一乳口尚不能遍，故議避遷之民充軍。又召在京軍官于上清宮，平日防城得功者如內族按出虎、大和兒、劉伯綱等皆隨召而出，截長補短假借而用，得百餘人。又集京東西沿河舊屯兩都尉及衛州已起義軍，通建威得四萬人，益以丁壯六萬，分置四城。每面別選一千，名「飛虎軍」，以專救應，然亦不能軍矣。

On jiawu day they repaired the capital's towers and parapets. Earlier Emperor Xuanzong, finding the capital too sprawling to defend, ordered Gao Qi to build an inner city; public and private resources were exhausted before it was barely finished. Now they debated which walls to hold. Ministers argued that the inner city could not be held and the outer city must not be abandoned. If the enemy took the outer city first, grain would run out and relief would fail—not one man could escape. The inner city might still serve in an emergency; they resolved to defend the outer walls. The garrison then numbered fewer than forty thousand; the capital's circuit was a hundred and twenty li, and even one man per crenel would not suffice, so they debated drafting refugees into service. Officers were summoned to the Shangqing Palace; veterans of wall defense such as Anchuhu, Dahe'er, and Liu Bogang answered the call, and by improvising from whatever was at hand they scraped together a little over a hundred men. They also gathered the two riverine commandants east and west of the capital and Weizhou's militia; with the Jianwei force they mustered forty thousand troops, added sixty thousand civilians, and posted them on the four sides of the city. Each side picked a thousand men as the "Flying Tiger Army" for rapid relief, but even then they could not muster a real force.

三月，京城被攻，大臣分守四面。白撒主西南，受攻最急，樓櫓垂就輒摧，傳令取竹爲護簾，所司馳入城大索，竟無所得，白撒怒欲斬之。員外郎張袞附所司耳語曰：「金多則濟矣，胡不即平章府求之。」所司懷金三百兩徑往，賂其家僮，果得之。

In the third month the capital was attacked, and senior ministers divided to hold the four quarters. Baisa held the southwest, the hardest-pressed sector; towers and parapets were rebuilt only to be smashed again. He ordered bamboo screens; the office searched the city in vain, and Baisa in fury wanted them executed. Bureau aide Zhang Gun whispered to the officer: "Gold would solve this—why not go straight to the participation councillor's mansion? The officer took three hundred liang of gold, bribed the household slaves, and got the bamboo.

已而兵退，朝廷議罷白撒，白撒不自安，乃謂令令史元好問曰：「我妨賢路久矣，得退是幸，爲我撰乞致仕表。」頃之，上已遣使持招至其第，令致仕。既廢，軍士恨其不戰誤國，揚言欲殺之。白撒懼，一夕數遷，上以親軍二百陰爲之衛。軍士無以泄其憤，遂相率毀其別墅而去。其党元帥完顏斜撚阿不領本部軍戍汴，聞之徑詣其所，斬經其垣下者一人以鎮之。

When the enemy withdrew the court debated removing Baisa. Uneasy, he told chief clerk Yuan Haowen: "I have blocked better men long enough; retirement would be a blessing—draft my resignation memorial. Soon the emperor had already sent an envoy with orders to retire to his mansion. Once removed, soldiers blamed him for refusing battle and ruining the state, and openly threatened his life. Terrified, Baisa changed lodgings several times in one night; the emperor secretly posted two hundred guards. Unable to reach him, the soldiers mobbed and wrecked his suburban villa instead. His ally Marshal Wanyan Sanianabu, garrisoning Bian with his own troops, came at once and beheaded one man who had crossed the wall to restore order.

是時，速不泬等兵散屯河南，汴城糧且盡，累召援兵復無至者。冬十月，乃復起白撒爲平章政事、權樞密使、兼右副元帥。於是，群臣爲上畫出京計，以賽不爲右丞相、樞密使、兼左副元帥，內族訛出右副元帥、兼樞密副使、權參知政事，李蹊兵部尚書、權尚書左丞，徒單百家元帥左監軍、行總帥府事。東面元帥高顯，副以果毅都尉粘合咬住兵五千。南面元帥完顏豬兒，副以建威都尉完顏斡論出兵五千。西面元帥劉益、上党公張開，副以安平都尉紀綱軍五千。北面元帥內族婁室，副以振威都尉張閏軍五千。中翼都尉賀都善軍四千，隸總帥百家。都尉內族久住，副都尉王簡、總領王福胤神臂軍三千五百，左翼元帥內族小婁室親衛軍一千，右翼元帥完顏按出虎親衛軍一千，總領完顏長樂、副帥溫敦昌孫馬軍三百，郡王王義深馬軍一百五十，郡王范成進、總領蘇元孫圭軍三千，隸總帥百家。飛騎都尉兼合里合總領術虎只魯歡、總領夾谷得伯、颭軍田衆家奴等百人及諸臣下，發京師。

Subutai and others then had troops scattered across Henan; Bian's grain was nearly gone, and repeated calls for relief brought no one. In the tenth winter month Baisa was recalled as participation councillor, acting marshal commissioner, and right deputy grand marshal. The ministers then outlined a plan to leave the capital: Saibu as right chief minister, marshal commissioner, and left deputy grand marshal; the clansman Echu as right deputy grand marshal, vice marshal commissioner, and acting participation councillor; Li Xi as minister of war and acting left vice director; Tushan Baijia as left marshal overseer and acting headquarters commander. Eastern Marshal Gao Xian, with Resolute Commandant Nahan Kozhuo and five thousand men. Southern Marshal Wanyan Zhuer, with Jianwei Commandant Wanyan Wolun and five thousand men. Western Marshals Liu Yi and Duke of Shangdang Zhang Kai, with Anping Commandant Ji Gang and five thousand men. Northern Marshal the clansman Loushi, with Zhenwei Commandant Zhang Run and five thousand men. Central-wing Commandant Hedushan with four thousand men, under Overall Commander Baijia. Commandant the clansman Jiuzhu, Deputy Commandant Wang Jian, and Overall Leader Wang Fuyin with 3,500 Divine Arm troops; Left-wing Marshal Xiaoloushi with 1,000 guards; Right-wing Marshal Anchuhu with 1,000 guards; Overall Leader Wanyan Changle and Deputy Commander Wenden Changsun with 300 horse; Prince Wang Yishen with 150 horse; Prince Fanchengjin and Overall Leader Su Yuansungui with 3,000 men—all under Overall Commander Baijia. Flying-cavalry Commandant and Helihe Overall Leader Shuhu Zhiluhuan, Overall Leader Jiagu Debo, standard-bearer Tian Zhongjianu, a hundred others, and the court set out from the capital.

十二月甲辰，車駕至黃陵岡，白撒先降大兵兩寨，得河朔降將，上赦之，授以印及金虎符。群臣議以河朔諸將前導，鼓行入開州，取大名、東平，豪傑當有回應者，破竹之勢成矣。溫敦昌孫曰：「太后、中宮皆在南京，北行萬一不如意，聖主孤身欲何所爲？若往歸德，更五六月不能還京。不如先取衛州，還京爲便。」白撒奏曰：「聖體不便鞍馬，且不可令大兵知上所在，今可駐歸德。臣等率降將往東平，俟諸軍至，可一鼓而下，因而經略河朔，且空河南之軍。」上以爲然。時上已遣官奴將三百騎探漚麻岡未還，上將御船，賜白撒劍，得便宜從事，決東平之策。官奴還奏衛州，有糧可取？上召白撒問之，白撒曰：「京師且不能守，就得衛州，欲何爲耶？以臣觀之，東平之策爲便。」上主官奴之議。

On jiachen day of the twelfth month the court reached Huangling Mound. Baisa had first accepted the surrender of two enemy camps and gained Hebei defectors; the emperor pardoned them and gave seals and golden tiger tallies. Ministers argued that Hebei generals should lead the march with drums into Kaizhou, take Daming and Dongping, and rouse local heroes in an irresistible advance. Wenden Changsun said: "The empress dowager and consort are both at Nanjing. If the northern march goes wrong, what can the emperor do alone? If we go to Guide, five or six more months will pass without returning to the capital. Better to take Weizhou first and then return to the capital. Baisa memorialized: "Your Majesty is not fit for the saddle, and the enemy must not learn where you are; halt at Guide for now. We will lead the defectors to Dongping; when our armies gather we can take it at a stroke, secure Hebei, and draw the enemy out of Henan. The emperor agreed. The emperor had sent Guan Nu with three hundred horse to scout Oumagang and awaited his return. About to board ship, he gave Baisa a sword with discretionary authority and committed to the Dongping plan. Guan Nu returned and reported: "Is there grain to be had at Weizhou?" The emperor summoned Baisa, who said: "We cannot even hold the capital—what good is Weizhou? In my view the Dongping plan is better. The emperor sided with Guan Nu.

明年正月朔，次黃陵岡。是日，歸德守臣以糧糗三百餘船來餉，遂就其舟以濟南岸，未濟者萬人，大元將回古乃率四千騎追擊之，賀都喜揮一黃旗督戰，身中十六七箭，軍殊死鬥，得卒十餘人，大兵少卻。上遣送酒百壺勞之。須臾，北風大作，舟皆吹著南岸，諸兵復擊之，溺死者近千人，元帥豬兒、都尉紇石烈訛論等死之。建威都尉完顏訛論出降於大元。上於北岸望之震懼，率從官爲豬兒等設祭，哭之，皆贈官，錄用其子侄，斬訛論出二弟以徇。

On the new year's day of the following year they halted at Huangling Mound. That day Guide officials brought more than three hundred grain boats; the court used them to cross the south bank. Ten thousand men were still on the north bank when Great Yuan general Huigu Nai pursued with four thousand horse. Heduxi waved a yellow flag to command the fight, took sixteen or seventeen arrows, and his men fought to the death, saving a dozen soldiers before the enemy drew back slightly. The emperor sent a hundred jars of wine to reward them. Suddenly a fierce north wind blew the boats back to the south bank; the enemy struck again, and nearly a thousand drowned. Marshal Zhuer, Commandant Heshenlie Elun, and others were killed. Jianwei Commandant Wanyan Elun surrendered to the Great Yuan. Watching from the north bank, the emperor was shaken with fear; he led attendants in mourning rites for Zhuer and the others, posthumously enfeoffed them, enrolled their sons and nephews, and executed Elunchu's two younger brothers as a warning.

遂命白撒攻衛州。上駐兵河上，留親衛軍三千護從，都尉高顯步軍一萬，元帥官奴忠孝軍一千，郡王范成進、王義深、上党公張開、元帥劉益等軍總帥百家總之，各齎十日糧，聽承裔節制。發自蒲城，上時已遣賽不將馬軍北向矣，白撒以三十騎追及，謂賽不曰：「有旨，命我將馬軍。」賽不謂上曰：「北行議已決，不可中變。」上曰：「丞相當與平章和同。」完顏仲德持御馬銜苦諫曰：「存亡在此一舉，衛州決不可攻。」上麾之曰：「參政不知。」白撒遂攻衛州，兵至城下，御旗黃傘招之不下。其夜，北騎三千奄至，官奴、和速嘉兀地不、按出虎與之戰，北兵卻六十里。然自發蒲城，遷延八日始至衛，而猝無攻具，縛槍爲雲梯。州人知不能攻，守益嚴。凡攻三日不克。及聞河南大兵濟自張家渡，至衛西南，遂班師。大兵踵其後，戰于白公廟，敗績，白撒等棄軍遁，劉益、張開皆爲民家所殺。車駕還次蒲城東三十里，白撒使人密奏劉益一軍叛去。點檢抹撚兀典、總領溫敦昌孫時侍行帳中，請上登舟，上曰：「正當決戰，何遽退乎？」少頃，白撒至，倉皇言於上曰：「今軍已潰，大兵近在堤外，請聖主幸歸德。」上遂登舟，侍衛皆不知，巡警如故。時夜已四更矣，遂狼狽入歸德。

He then ordered Wanyan Baisa to attack Weizhou. The emperor halted on the riverbank, leaving three thousand Personal Guards as escort, ten thousand foot under Commandant Gao Xian, a thousand Zhongxiao troops under Marshal Guan Nu, and the forces of Princes Fan Chengjin and Wang Yishen, Shangdang Duke Zhang Kai, Marshal Liu Yi, and others—all under overall commander Bai Jia, each man carrying ten days' grain and subject to Chengyi's orders. They marched out from Pucheng. The emperor had already sent Wanyan Saibu north with the horse; Baisa overtook him with thirty riders and said, "I have orders to take command of the cavalry." Saibu told the emperor, "The northern march is already decided—it cannot be reversed midway." The emperor said, "The chief minister and the participation councillor must agree." Wanyan Zhongde seized the bridle of the imperial horse and pleaded urgently: "The fate of the dynasty rests on this decision—Weizhou must not be attacked." The emperor waved him away. "The participation councillor does not understand." Baisa attacked Weizhou anyway. When his men reached the walls, the imperial banner and yellow parasol called for surrender, but the city would not yield. That night three thousand northern riders appeared without warning. Guan Nu, Hesujia Wudibu, and Anchuhu met them in battle and drove the northerners back sixty li. Yet from Pucheng they had dawdled eight days before reaching Wei, and arrived with no siege gear—spears were lashed together for scaling ladders. Seeing the assault could not succeed, the defenders tightened their guard. They assaulted the city three days without success. Word came that the main northern force had crossed at Zhangjia Ford and was southwest of Wei; they withdrew. The enemy followed close behind. At Baigong Temple they were routed; Baisa and others abandoned the army and fled. Liu Yi and Zhang Kai were killed by civilians along the way. The imperial train halted thirty li east of Pucheng on the return march. Baisa secretly reported that Liu Yi's command had deserted. Inspector Mozhen Wudian and Chief Steward Wudun Changsun, attending in the traveling tent, urged the emperor aboard ship. He said, "This is the moment to fight—why retreat so soon?" Moments later Baisa arrived in disarray and told the emperor, "The army is broken; the enemy is at the dike—Your Majesty must go to Guide." The emperor boarded at once. His guards knew nothing; patrols continued as usual. It was already the fourth watch. They reached Guide in disorder.

白撒收潰兵大橋，得二萬餘人，懼不敢入。上聞，遣近侍局提點移剌粘古、紇石烈阿里合、護衛二人以舟往迎之。既至，不聽入見，並其子下獄。諸都尉司軍以白撒不戰而退，發憤出怨言。上乃暴其罪曰：」惟汝將士，明聽朕言：我初提大軍次黃陵岡得捷，白撒即奏宜渡河取衛州，可得糧十萬石，乘勝恢復河北。我從其計，令率諸軍攻衛。去蒲城二百余里，白撒遷延八日方至，又不預備攻具，以致敗衄。白撒棄軍竄還蒲城，便言諸軍已潰，北兵勢大不可當，信從登舟，幾死于水。若當時知諸軍未嘗潰，只河北戰死，亦可垂名於後。今白撒已下獄，不復錄用，籍其家產以賜汝衆，其盡力國家，無效此人。」囚白撒七日而餓死，發其弟承麟、子狗兒徐州安置。當時議者，衛州之舉本自官奴，歸之白撒則亦過矣。

Baisa rallied the fugitives at Daqiao—more than twenty thousand men—but dared not enter the city. Hearing of this, the emperor sent Palace Attendants Commissioner Yila Niangu, Heshenlie Alihe, and two guards by boat to bring them in. When they arrived he refused to see Baisa and imprisoned him together with his son. Troops of the commandant offices, furious that Baisa had fled without fighting, broke into open complaint. The emperor then proclaimed his crimes: "Officers and soldiers, hear me: after our victory at Huangling Mound, Baisa urged crossing the river to take Weizhou for a hundred thousand shi of grain and, while the momentum held, to recover Hebei. I followed his advice and ordered him to lead the attack on Wei. Though Weizhou lay only two hundred-odd li from Pucheng, Baisa took eight days to reach it and brought no siege equipment—hence our defeat. Baisa abandoned the army and fled to Pucheng, then claimed our forces had collapsed and the northerners were unstoppable. I believed him, boarded ship, and nearly drowned. Had I known the army was not broken and had only died fighting for Hebei, our names might still stand in history. Baisa is in prison and will never serve again. His property is confiscated and given to you—serve the state with all your strength and do not follow his example." After seven days in prison Baisa was starved to death. His brother Chenglong and son Gou'er were resettled in Xuzhou. Contemporaries held that the Weizhou campaign had begun with Guan Nu; to blame Baisa alone was likewise unjust.

初，瀕河居民聞官軍北渡，築坦塞戶，潛伏洞穴，及見官奴一軍號令明肅，撫勞周悉，所過無絲發之犯，老幼婦子坦然相視，無復畏避。俄白撒輩縱軍四出，剽掠俘虜，挑掘焚炙，靡所不至。哭聲相接，屍骸盈野。都尉高祿謙、苗用秀輩仍掠人食之，而白撒誅斬在口，所過官吏殘虐不勝，一飯之費有數十金不能給者，公私皇皇，日皆徯大兵至矣。

At first, hearing the court army was crossing north, riverside folk walled their homes, barred their doors, and hid in caves. Guan Nu's command marched with strict discipline and thoughtful care; they harmed no one along the way, and old and young faced them without fear. Soon Baisa and his followers unleashed their troops in every direction—looting, taking captives, torturing and burning—leaving nothing untouched. Wailing ran without pause; the fields were heaped with corpses. Commandants Gao Luqian, Miao Yongxiu, and others seized people for food. Baisa spoke constantly of executions. Officials along the route were crushed by cruelty; a single meal might cost dozens of gold pieces none could pay. Public and private life alike trembled, each day awaiting the northern army.

白撒目不知書，奸黠有餘，簿書政事，聞之即解，善談議，多知，接人則煦煦然，好貨殖，能捭闔中人主心，遂浸漬以取將相。既富貴，起第於汴之西城，規模擬宮掖，婢妾百數，皆衣金縷，奴隸月廩與列將等，猶以爲未足也。上嘗遣中使責之曰：「卿汲汲於此，將無北歸意耶？」白撒終不悛，以及於禍。

Baisa could not read, yet he was surpassingly cunning. Hear a document or policy once and he grasped it. He spoke well, knew much, and received people with warmth. He loved profit and knew how to sway the throne—by degrees he rose to general and minister. Once rich and powerful, he built a mansion in western Bian modeled on the palace. He kept hundreds of concubines in gold-thread robes and paid his slaves monthly rations equal to a field general's—yet still wanted more. The emperor once sent a palace envoy to rebuke him: "You are so busy with this—do you mean never to return north?" Baisa never mended his ways, and disaster followed.

贊曰：白撒本非將才，恇怯誤國，徒能阿合以取富貴，性愎貪鄙，當此危亡，方謀封殖以自逸，此猶大廈將焚而燕雀不悟者歟！

Encomium: Baisa was no soldier—timidity and cowardice misled the state. He fawned his way to wealth, obstinate, greedy, and base. At the hour of ruin he still schemed for private ease—like swallows in the eaves while the hall burns.

赤盞合喜

Chizhan Hexi

四年四月，夏人犯邊，合喜討之，師次鹿兒原，遇復兵千人，遣提控烏古論世顯率偏師敗之，都統王定亦破其衆一千五百於新泉城。九月，夏人攻鞏州，合喜遣兵擊之，一日十余戰，夏人退據南閑，遣精兵三萬傅城，又擊走之，生擒夏將劉打、甲玉等。訊知夏大將你思丁、兀名二人謀，以爲鞏帥府所在，鞏既下則臨洮、積石、河、洮諸城不攻自破，故先及鞏，且構宋統制程信等將兵四萬來攻。合喜聞之，飭兵嚴備。俄而兵果至，合喜督兵搏戰，卻之，殺數千人。攻益急，將士殊死戰，殺傷者以萬計。夏人焚其攻具，拔柵而去。合喜已先伏甲要地邀之，復率衆躡其後，斬首甚衆。十月，以功遙授平西軍節度使。

In the fourth year, fourth month, the Xia raided the frontier and Hexi marched against them. At Deer-Child Plain he met a thousand Xia reinforcements and sent Commander Wugulun Shixian with a flanking force to rout them; Commander-in-Chief Wang Ding destroyed another fifteen hundred at Xinquan. In the ninth month the Xia attacked Gongzhou. Hexi met them in more than ten battles in one day. The Xia withdrew to South Pass and sent thirty thousand elite troops against the walls; he drove them off again and took the Xia generals Liu Da and Jia Yu alive. Interrogation revealed that Xia generals Nisiding and Wuming had planned to take Gong first—the commandery seat—so that Lintao, Jishi, He, Tao, and the rest would fall without a fight. They had also enlisted Song Commander Cheng Xin with forty thousand men. Hexi heard this and tightened discipline and defenses. The enemy soon arrived. Hexi led the fight in person, drove them back, and killed several thousand. The assault intensified. Officers and men fought to the death; casualties on both sides ran into the tens of thousands. The Xia burned their siege gear, pulled up their stockades, and withdrew. Hexi had already posted troops at key points to ambush them, then pursued and took many heads. In the tenth month he was appointed Military Commissioner of the Pingxi Army in absentia for his service.

元光元年，大將萌古不花攻鳳翔，朝廷以主將完顏仲元孤軍不足守禦，命合喜將兵援之。二年二月，木華黎國王、斜里吉不花等及夏人步騎數十萬圍鳳翔，東自扶風、岐山，西連汧、隴，數百里間皆其營柵，攻城甚急，合喜盡力，僅能禦之。於是，合喜以同知臨洮府事顏盞蝦蟆戰尤力，遂以便宜升爲通遠軍節度使，上嘉其功，許之。是歲，升簽樞密院事。哀宗即位，拜參知政事，權樞密副使。

In Yuanguang 1 the great general Menggubuhua attacked Fengxiang. The court judged Commander Wanyan Zhongyuan's isolated force too weak to hold the city and ordered Hexi to reinforce him. In the second year, second month, King Muqali, Xielijibuhua, and others with hundreds of thousands of Xia foot and horse besieged Fengxiang. From Fufeng and Qishan in the east to Qian and Long in the west, their camps stretched hundreds of li. The assault was fierce; Hexi strained every resource and barely held. Hexi noted that Lintao Associate Administrator Yanzhan Xiami had fought with exceptional valor and promoted him on his own authority to Military Commissioner of the Tongyuan Army; the emperor approved. That year he was made Privy Council Signatory. When Emperor Aizong ascended the throne, Hexi was appointed Participation Councillor and Acting Deputy Privy Councilor.

正大八年十一月，鄧州馳報大元兵破嶢峰關，由金州東下。報至時日已暮，省院官入奏，上曰：「事至於此，奈何？」上即位至是八年，從在東宮日立十三都尉，每尉不下萬人，強壯矯捷，極爲精練。步卒負擔器甲糧糗重至六七斗，一日夜行二百里。忠孝軍萬八千人，皆回紇、河西及中州人夜掠而逃歸者，人有從馬，以騎射選之乃得補。親衛、騎兵、武衛、護衛，遷外諸軍又二十余萬。故頻年有大昌原、倒回穀之捷，士氣既振，遂有一戰之資。至是，院官同奏：「北軍冒萬里之險，曆二年之久，方入武休，其勞苦已極。爲吾計者，以兵屯睢、鄭、昌武、歸德及京畿諸縣，以大將守洛陽、潼關、懷、孟等處，嚴兵備之。京師積糧數百萬斛，令河南州郡堅壁清野，百姓不能入城者聚保山砦。彼深入之師，欲攻不能，欲戰不得，師老食盡，不擊自歸矣。」上太息曰：「南渡二十年，所在之民破田宅、鬻妻子以養軍士。且諸軍無慮二十余萬，今敵至不能迎戰，徒以自保，京城雖存，何以爲國，天下其謂我何！」又曰：「存亡天命，惟不負民可也。」乃詔合達、蒲阿等屯軍襄、鄧。

In the eleventh month of Zhengda 8, Dengzhou sent urgent word that Great Yuan forces had broken Yaofeng Pass and were marching east from Jinzhou. The report arrived at dusk. Provincial and court officials memorialized. The emperor said, "Matters have come to this—what can we do?" He had reigned eight years. As heir apparent he had raised thirteen commandant commands of no fewer than ten thousand men each—hardy, agile, and drilled to a fine edge. Foot soldiers carried arms, armor, and rations of six or seven dou and could march two hundred li in a day and night. The eighteen-thousand-man Zhongxiao Army drew on Uighurs, Hexi men, and Central Plain raiders who had fled back by night. A man needed his own mount and had to pass a mounted-archery test to enlist. Personal Guards, cavalry, Martial Guards, Imperial Guards, and transferred frontier armies added another two hundred thousand and more. In recent years victories at Dachangyuan and Daohuigu had raised morale; the court still had strength for one great fight. The court officials jointly memorialized: "The northern army has braved ten thousand li and two years' march to reach Wuxiu—they are exhausted. Our plan: garrison Sui, Zheng, Changwu, Guide, and the capital districts; post great generals at Luoyang, Tong Pass, Huai, Meng, and the like; and hold every line in strength. The capital holds millions of hu of grain. Order Henan commanderies to strengthen walls and clear the countryside; those who cannot reach the cities should hold mountain stockades. Their deep column will neither take a city nor win a battle. When their troops are spent and their grain gone, they will withdraw without our striking a blow." The emperor sighed. "Twenty years since the southern crossing, the people have ruined their fields and homes and sold wives and children to feed the army. We have two hundred thousand troops. The enemy is here and we will not fight—only hide behind walls. If the capital survives but we will not battle, what kind of state is this? What will the realm say of me!" He added, "Survival or ruin is Heaven's will—but we must not fail our people." He then ordered Wanyan Hedda, Pusan A, and others to encamp at Xiang and Deng.

九年正月，兩省軍潰於三峰山，北兵進薄京師。三月庚子，議曹王出質。大兵北行，留速不泬攻城，攻具已辦，既有納質之請，即又云：「有我受命攻城，但曹王出則退，不然不罷也。」壬寅，曹王入辭，宴于宮中。癸卯，北兵立攻具，沿壕列木柵，以薪草填壕，頃刻平十余步。主兵者以議和之故不敢與戰，但於城上坐視而已。

In the first month of the ninth year the combined armies were routed at Sanfeng Mountain, and northern forces closed on the capital. On the gengzi day of the third month the court debated sending Prince Cao as a hostage. The main army marched north, leaving Subutai to besiege the city with siege gear already in place. Though the court sought to send a hostage, they said: "I have orders to take the city—withdraw only if Prince Cao is delivered; otherwise we will not stop." On renyin Prince Cao came to bid farewell, and the court feasted him in the palace. On guimao the northerners raised siege engines, lined the moat with wooden palisades, and filled it with brush—in moments they leveled more than ten paces. The commanders, fearing to spoil the peace talks, dared not fight and only watched from the walls.

城中喧哄，上聞之，從六七騎出端門至舟橋。時新雨淖，車駕忽出，人驚愕失措，但跪於道傍，亦有望而拜者，上自麾之曰：「勿拜，恐泥汙汝衣。」倉皇中，市肆米豆狼藉於地，上敕衛士令各歸其家，老幼遮擁至有誤觸御衣者。少頃，宰相從官皆至，進笠不受，曰：「軍士暴露，我何用此爲。」所過慰勞軍士，皆踴躍稱萬歲，臣等戰死無所恨，至有感泣者。西南軍士五六十輩聚而若有言者，上就問之，跪曰：「大兵芻土填壕，功已過半，平章傳令勿放一鏃，恐壞和事，想豈有計耶？」上顧謂其中長者云：「朕爲生靈，稱臣進奉無不從順，止有一子，養來成長，今往作質子矣。汝等略忍，待曹王出，大兵不退，汝等死戰未晚。」復有拜泣者曰：「事急矣，聖主毋望和事。」乃傳旨城上放箭。西水門千戶劉壽控御馬仰視曰：「聖主無信賊臣，賊臣盡，大兵退矣。」衛士欲擊之，上止曰：「醉矣，勿問。」是日，曹王出詣軍前，大兵並力進攻。甲辰，上復出撫東門將士，太學生楊奐等前白事。上問何所欲言，曰：「臣等皆太學生，令執砲夫之役，恐非國家百年以來待士之意。」敕記姓名，即免其役。過南薰門，值被創者，親傅以藥，手酌卮酒以賜，且出內府金帛以待有功者。是日，大兵驅漢俘及婦女老幼負薪草填壕塹，城上箭鏃四下如雨，頃刻壕爲之平。

Uproar filled the city. Hearing it, the emperor rode out with six or seven men from Duangate to the Boat Bridge. Fresh rain had turned the streets to mire. The imperial procession appeared without warning; people froze and knelt along the road, and some in the distance bowed as well. The emperor waved them off: "Do not bow—you will foul your clothes." In the confusion rice and beans lay scattered in the markets. He ordered the guards to send people home. Old and young pressed so close that some brushed his robe. Soon the chief ministers and attendants arrived. They offered bamboo hats, but he refused: "The soldiers stand in the open—what need have I of shelter?" Wherever he went he comforted the troops. They leapt up shouting "Long live the emperor!" "We would die without regret"—some wept aloud. Fifty or sixty soldiers from the southwest corner gathered as if to speak. The emperor asked them. Kneeling, they said: "The enemy is half-filling the moat with earth and straw, yet the participation councillor forbids a single arrow for fear of spoiling peace—have you any plan?" The emperor turned to their elder. "I have done everything for the people—submitted, paid tribute, withheld nothing. I have one son, raised to manhood, who now goes as hostage. Bear with it a little longer. When Prince Cao is sent out, if the enemy still does not withdraw, then fight to the death—it will not be too late." Another man bowed, weeping: "The crisis is upon us—Your Majesty must abandon hope of peace." He then ordered the defenders to shoot. Liu Shou, chiliarch of the West Water Gate, reined in his horse and cried up: "Your Majesty must not trust traitors—drive them out and the enemy will withdraw." The guards moved to seize him. The emperor said, "He is drunk—leave him be." That day Prince Cao went out to the enemy camp, and the northerners redoubled the assault. On jiachen the emperor again went out to encourage the troops at the East Gate. Imperial University students Yang Huan and others came forward to petition. He asked what they wished to say. They replied: "We are Imperial University students. To be made catapult crews is hardly how the state has treated scholars these hundred years." He had their names recorded and at once released them from duty. At the South Fragrance Gate he came upon the wounded, dressed their wounds himself, poured wine with his own hand, and brought out palace gold and silks to reward the valiant. That day the enemy drove Han captives and civilians—women, old, and young—to fill the moat with brush. Arrows fell from the walls like rain, yet in moments the moat was level.

龍德宮造砲石，取宋太湖、靈璧假山爲之，小大各有斤重，其圓如燈球之狀，有不如度者杖其工人。大兵用砲則不然，破大磑或碌碡爲二三，皆用之。攢竹砲有至十三稍者，餘砲稱是。每城一角置砲百餘枝，更遞下上，晝夜不息，不數日，石幾與裏城平。而城上樓櫓皆故宮及芳華、玉溪所拆大木爲之，合抱之木，隨擊而碎，以馬糞麥秸布其上，綱索旃褥固護之。其懸風板之外皆以牛皮爲障，遂謂不可近。大兵以火砲擊之，隨即延爇不可撲救。父老所傳周世宗築京城，取虎牢土爲之，堅密如鐵，受砲所擊唯凹而已。大兵壕外築城圍百五十里，城有乳口樓櫓，壕深丈許，闊亦如之，約三四十步置一鋪，鋪置百許人守之。

Longde Palace cast catapult stones from Song garden rocks of Taihu and Lingbi, each weighed to specification and shaped like lantern globes. Workers who missed the standard were beaten. The enemy did otherwise: they shattered millstones and rollers into pieces and hurled them all. Their bundled-bamboo trebuchets had as many as thirteen arms; the rest of their artillery matched. At each corner they posted more than a hundred engines, relieved in shifts day and night. Within days the stone heaps nearly reached the inner wall. The wall towers were built of great timbers stripped from the old palace and from Fanghua and Yuxi. Timbers thick as a man's embrace splintered under each blow. The defenders spread horse dung and straw atop them and bound them with rope, felt, and quilts. Beyond the hanging wind-shields they hung oxhide screens and believed the enemy could not come near. The enemy hurled fire bombs; the flames spread at once and nothing could put them out. Tradition held that Emperor Shizong of Zhou had built the walls with earth from Hulao, hard as iron, so that cannon-stones only dented them. Beyond the moat the enemy threw up a circumvallation one hundred fifty li around, with embrasures and watchtowers. The moat was over a zhang deep and as wide. Every thirty or forty paces they set a guard post with roughly a hundred men.

初，白撒命築門外短牆，委曲狹隘容二三人得過，以防大兵奪門。及被攻，諸將請乘夜斫營，軍乃不能猝出，比出，已爲北兵所覺。後又夜募死士千人，穴城由壕徑渡，燒其砲坐。城上懸紅紙燈爲應，約燈起渡壕，又爲圍者所覺。又放紙鳶，置文書其上，至北營則斷之，以誘被俘者。識者謂前日紙燈、今日紙鳶，宰相以此退敵難矣。右丞世魯命作《江水曲》，使城上之人靜夜唱之，蓋河朔先有此曲以寄謳吟之思，其謬計如此。

Earlier Wanyan Baisa had ordered low walls built outside each gate, twisting and narrow enough for only two or three men abreast, lest the enemy rush the gates. Under assault the generals proposed a night raid, but the troops could not pour out at once; by the time they did, the northerners had been alerted. They then raised a thousand volunteers by night, tunneled through the wall, crossed the moat, and torched the enemy's gun emplacements. Defenders hung red paper lanterns on the wall as signals to cross when they were raised—again the besiegers saw through it. They also flew paper kites with messages; when a kite reached the northern camp they severed the line, hoping to lure captives with false intelligence. Observers remarked that paper lanterns one day and kites the next would hardly drive off an army—the chief minister's stratagems had come to this. Vice Councillor Yan Shilu had a "River Water Song" composed and ordered the wall-guards to sing it on still nights—a tune from Hebei already used for homesick longing. Such were their counsels.

合喜先以守鳳翔自誇，及令守西北隅，其地受攻最急，而合喜當之，語言失措，面無人色。軍士特以車駕數出慰勞，人自激昂，爭爲效命耳。其守城之具有火砲名「震天雷」者，鐵罐盛藥，以火點之，砲起火發，其聲如雷，聞百里外，所爇圍半畝之上，火點著甲鐵皆透。大兵又爲牛皮洞，直至城下，掘城爲龕，間可容人，則城上不可奈何矣。人有獻策者，以鐵繩懸「震天雷」者，順城而下，至掘處火發，人與牛皮皆碎迸無跡。又飛火槍，注藥以火發之，輒前燒十余步，人亦不敢近。大兵惟畏此二物云。

Chizhan Hexi had once boasted of his defense of Fengxiang; now assigned the northwest corner, where the assault was fiercest, he lost his composure and his face went ashen. The troops fought on because the emperor rode out again and again to encourage them—each man found his own zeal and vied to die for the cause. Their arsenal included a bomb called "Heaven-Shaking Thunder"—powder in an iron pot, touched off by flame. It detonated like thunder, audible a hundred li away, scorched half an acre, and burned through armor and iron. The enemy drove oxhide-covered saps to the wall, dug niches large enough for a man, and left the defenders helpless above. Someone proposed lowering Heaven-Shaking Thunder on iron chains along the wall to the sap-head and setting it off—men and hides were blown to nothing. They also used fire-lances—powder packed and ignited, the flame racing ten paces forward so that no one dared come near. The enemy, it was said, feared only these two weapons.

四月罷攻。至是十六晝夜矣，內外死者以百萬計，大兵知不可下，乃謾爲好語云：「兩國已講和，更相攻耶？」朝廷亦就應之。明日，遣戶部侍郎楊居仁出宜秋門以酒炙犒師，於是營幕稍稍外遷，遂退兵。

In the fourth month the siege was raised. Sixteen days and nights had passed; casualties inside and out were reckoned in the millions. Seeing the city would not fall, the enemy spread a false tale of peace: "The two courts have made terms—why keep fighting? The court pretended to believe them. The next day Vice Minister Yang Juren went out through the Yiqu Autumn Gate with wine and roast meat to feast the troops. The encampment gradually shifted away and the army withdrew.

壬戌，合喜以大兵退，議入賀。諸相皆不欲，獨合喜以守城爲己功，持論甚力，呼令史元好問曰：「罷攻已三日而不入賀，何也？速召翰苑官作表。」好問以白諸相，權參政內族思烈曰：「城下之盟，諸侯以爲恥，況以罷攻爲可賀歟？」合喜怒曰：「社稷不亡，帝后免難，汝等不以爲喜耶？」明日，近侍局直長張天任至省，好問私以賀議告之，天任曰：「人不知恥乃若是耶！」因謂諸相曰：「京城受兵，上深以爲辱。聞百官欲入賀，誠有此否？」會學士趙秉文不肯撰表，議遂寢。

On renxu, with the enemy gone, Hexi proposed a court celebration. The other ministers refused; Hexi alone claimed the defense as his triumph and pressed relentlessly. He summoned Clerk Yuan Haowen: "Three days since the siege lifted and still no congratulations—why? Summon the Hanlin Academy at once and draft a memorial. Haowen relayed this to the ministers. Acting Councillor Si Lie of the Inner Clan said, "A treaty signed under the walls was shame enough—how can lifting a siege be cause for celebration? Hexi flared: "The dynasty still stands and the throne is safe—are you not glad? The next day Zhang Tianren of the Palace Attendants came to the Department. Haowen told him privately. Tianren said, "Have they no shame at all? He then spoke to the ministers: "The emperor is deeply shamed that the capital was besieged. I hear you mean to congratulate him—is it true? Zhao Bingwen refused to draft the memorial, and the plan died.

是月，以尚書省兼樞密院事，合喜罷樞密。合喜既失兵柄，意殊不樂，欲銷院印，諸相謂院事仍在，印有用時，不宜毀。合喜怒，欲笞其掾。有投匿名書于御路云：「副樞合喜、總帥撒合、參政訛出皆國賊，朝廷不殺，衆軍亦須殺之，爲國除害。」衛士以聞。撒合飲藥死，訛出稱疾不出，惟合喜坦然若無事者，上亦無所問，由是軍國之事盡決於合喜矣。

That month Hexi was stripped of the Privy Council and put in charge of the Department of State Affairs. Bereft of military power, Hexi grew sullen and tried to destroy the Council's seal. The ministers said the Council still functioned and the seal would be needed again—it must not be broken. Hexi raged and threatened to flog his clerks. An anonymous placard appeared on the imperial road: "Deputy Hexi, Commander Sahe, and Councillor Echu are traitors. If the court will not execute them, the army must—for the nation's sake. The guard reported it upward. Sahe drank poison and died; Echu feigned illness and stayed away; Hexi alone acted unmoved, and the emperor asked nothing—henceforth Hexi decided all military and civil affairs.

初，大兵圍汴，司諫陳岢屢上封事言得失，切中時病。合喜大怒，召入省，呼其名責之曰：「子爲'陳山可'耶？果如子言，能退大敵，我當世世與若爲奴。」聞者無不竊笑。蓋不識「岢」字，至分爲兩耳。

When the enemy first besieged Bian, Remonstrator Chen Ke sent repeated sealed memorials on policy, hitting the court's failures squarely. Hexi flew into a rage, had him brought to the Department, and shouted: "So you are 'Chen Shan-ke'? If you can drive them off as you claim, I will be your slave forever. Everyone who heard it stifled a laugh. He had misread the character ke in Chen Ke's name and broken it in two.

天興元年七月，權參知政事思烈、恆山公武仙合軍自汝州入援，詔以合喜爲樞密使，統京城軍萬五千應之，且命賽不爲之助。八月己酉朔，駐於近郊，候益兵乃進屯中牟古城。凡三日，聞思烈軍潰，即夜棄輜重馳還。黎明至鄭門，聚軍乃入。言者謂：「合喜始則抗命不出，中則逗遛不進，終則棄軍先遁，委棄軍資不可勝計，不斬之無以謝天下。」上貸其死，免爲庶人，既而籍其家以賜軍士。

In Tianxing 1, seventh month, Si Lie and Prince Wu Xian of Hengshan marched from Ruzhou to relieve the capital. Hexi was named Privy Councilor to lead fifteen thousand city troops to meet them, with Wanyan Saibu ordered to aid him. On the first of the eighth month they halted in the suburbs, waited for more troops, then advanced to the old walls of Zhongmou. Three days later word came that Si Lie's force had routed; that night they abandoned their supplies and fled. At dawn they reached the Zheng Gate, rallied the troops, and entered the city. Critics said Hexi had first refused to march, then hung back, then fled before his men and abandoned incalculable stores—only his head could satisfy the realm. The emperor spared his life but reduced him to commoner rank, then confiscated his estate for the troops.

既廢，居汴中，常鞅鞅不樂。會大將速不泬遣人招之，合喜即治裝欲行，崔立邀至省酌酒餞送，且以白金二百兩爲贐。明日，復詣省別立，方對語，適一人自歸德持文書至，發視之，乃行省傳哀宗語以諭合喜者，其言曰：「卿朕老臣，中間雖廢出，未嘗忘卿。今崔立已變，卿處舊人尚多，若能反正，與卿世襲公相。」立怒，叱左右系之獄，是日斬之。

Dismissed, he remained in Bian, sour and restless. Subutai sent envoys to summon him; Hexi packed to go. Cui Li invited him to the Department for a farewell feast and gave him two hundred taels of silver. The next day he went again to bid Cui Li farewell. As they spoke, a courier arrived from Guide with a dispatch from the Branch Secretariat bearing Emperor Aizong's message: "You are an old servant of mine; though you were dismissed, I have not forgotten you. Cui Li has turned traitor. Many loyal men still stand with you. Restore the throne and hereditary high office is yours. Cui Li's face darkened. He had Hexi seized and beheaded that same day.

論曰：合喜初年用兵西夏，屢著勞效，要亦諸將顏盞蝦蟆等功也。既當大任，遂自矜伐，汴城之役，舉措煩擾，質出兵退，即圖稱賀，此豈有體國之誠心者乎。中牟之潰，衆怒所歸，幸逭一死，猶懷異圖，卒殞猜疑，天蓋假手于崔立也。

Commentary: In his youth Hexi campaigned fruitfully against Western Xia—though the credit owed more to generals like Yanzhan Xiami. Once elevated he grew vain; at Bian his counsels were a nuisance, and when the enemy withdrew he sought triumphal honors—was that loyalty to the realm? After Zhongmou he bore the army's hatred, survived by grace, yet plotted anew—and Heaven, it seems, killed him through Cui Li's hand.

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