1
趙方，字彥直，衡山人。 父棠，少從胡宏學，慷慨有大志。 嘗見張浚於督府，浚雅敬其才，欲以右選官之，棠不為屈。 累以策言兵事，浚奇之，命子栻與棠交，方遂從栻學。
Zhao Fang, styled Yanzhi, came from Hengshan. His father Tang had studied under Hu Hong in his youth; he was generous in spirit and possessed great ambitions. He once met Zhang Jun at the military headquarters. Zhang Jun held his talent in high regard and wanted to appoint him to an office in the right selection category, but Tang would not compromise his principles. He repeatedly submitted policy proposals on military affairs. Zhang Jun was impressed and had his son Zhang Shi become friends with Tang; Zhao Fang then went on to study under Zhang Shi.
2
淳熙八年舉進士，調蒲圻尉，疑獄多所委決。 授大寧監教授，俗陋甚，方擇可教者親訓誘之，人皆感勵，自是始有進士。 知青陽縣，告其守史彌遠曰：「催科不擾，是催科中撫字； 刑罰無差，是刑罰中教化。」 人以為名言。
In 1181, the eighth year of Chunxi, he passed the jinshi examination and was assigned as assistant magistrate of Puqi, where many difficult legal cases were entrusted to his judgment. He was appointed professor at the Daning salt supervisorate, where local customs were exceedingly crude. Fang selected students who showed promise and personally taught and guided them; people were moved and inspired, and from then on the region produced jinshi graduates. As magistrate of Qingyang County, he told his superior Shi Miyuan: "Collecting taxes without harassing the people is nurturing the people even amid tax collection; Applying punishments without error is teaching moral values even through the administration of punishment." People regarded these as words of lasting wisdom.
3
主管江西安撫司機宜文字，京湖帥李大性辟知隨州。 南北初講和，旱蝗相仍，方親走四郊以禱，一夕大雨，蝗盡死，歲大熟。 適和議成，諸郡寖弛備，方獨招兵擇將，拔土豪孟宗政等補以官。 提舉京西常平兼轉運判官、提點刑獄。 時劉光祖以耆德為帥，方事以師禮，自言：「吾性太剛，每見劉公，使人更和緩。」 嘗請光祖書「勤謹和緩」四字，揭坐隅以為戒。 以金部員外郎召，尋加直秘閣，改湖北轉運判官兼知鄂州。 升直煥章閣兼權江陵府，增修三海八匱，以壯形勢。 進秘閣修撰、知江陵府、主管湖北安撫司事兼權荊湖置司。
He served as a staff officer on the Jiangxi Pacification Commission. Li Daxing, commander of the Jing-Hu circuit, recruited him to serve as prefect of Suizhou. Right after the north-south peace was concluded, drought and locust plagues struck in succession. Fang personally went out to the four suburbs to pray, and in a single night heavy rain fell, the locusts all perished, and that year brought a great harvest. Just as the peace treaty took effect, prefectures across the region gradually slackened their defenses. Fang alone set about recruiting soldiers and selecting commanders, promoting local strongmen such as Meng Zongzheng and appointing them to official posts. He was appointed commissioner of the Jingxi Ever-Normal Granaries, concurrently serving as vice transport commissioner and judicial intendant. At the time Liu Guangzu, revered for his seniority and virtue, served as circuit commander. Fang treated him with the respect due a teacher and said of himself: "My temperament is too rigid; every time I see Lord Liu, I find myself becoming more calm and measured. He once asked Liu Guangzu to write the four characters "Diligent, Careful, Harmonious, and Gentle" and posted them in a corner of his chair as a constant reminder. He was recalled to the capital as Vice Director of the Ministry of Revenue's Gold Department, and soon after was given direct appointment to the Secretariat Archive. He was then reassigned as Hubei transport vice-commissioner while concurrently serving as prefect of Ezhou. He was promoted to direct appointment to the Hall of Glorious Culture and concurrently appointed acting administrator of Jiangling Prefecture, where he expanded and repaired the Three Seas and Eight Caches to strengthen the region's strategic posture. He was promoted to Compiler of the Secretariat Archive and appointed administrator of Jiangling Prefecture, placed in charge of the Hubei Pacification Commission and concurrently acting as head of the established Jing-Hu headquarters.
4
時金偪於兵，計其必南徙，日夜為備。 荊門有東西兩山險要，方築堡其上，增戍兵以遏其衝。 進右文殿修撰。 金樊快明謀歸宋，追兵至襄陽，方遣孟宗政、扈再興以百騎邀之，殺千餘人，金人遁去。 權工部侍郎、寶謨閣待制、京湖制置使兼知襄陽府。 諜知金人決意犯境，乃下防夏之令。 金相高琪及其樞密烏古倫慶壽犯陳、光化、隨、棗理、信陽、均州，方夜半呼其子范、葵曰：「朝廷和戰之說未定，觀此益亂人意，吾策決矣，惟有提兵臨邊決戰以報國耳。」 遂抗疏主戰，親往襄陽。
At the time the Jin were hard pressed by war, and Fang calculated that they would inevitably push southward; he made preparations day and night. At Jingmen, the eastern and western mountains were strategically vital. Fang built fortresses on them and increased the garrison to block the enemy's line of advance. He was promoted to Compiler of the Hall of Literary Glory. The Jin subject Fan Kuaiming plotted to defect to Song, and pursuing Jin troops reached Xiangyang. Fang sent Meng Zongzheng and Hu Zaixing with a hundred horsemen to intercept them, killed more than a thousand men, and the Jin forces fled. He served as Acting Vice Minister of Works and Awaiting Orders at the Hall of Precious Instruction, as Jing-Hu military commissioner while concurrently serving as prefect of Xiangyang. Intelligence reports revealed that the Jin had decided to invade the border, and he then issued orders for summer defense. The Jin chancellor Gao Qi and his Privy Council member Wugulun Qingshou attacked Chen, Guanghua, Suizhou, Zaoli, Xinyang, and Junzhou. At midnight Fang summoned his sons Fan and Kui and said: "The court has not yet decided between peace and war, and scenes like this only unsettle people further. My mind is made up: I have only to lead troops to the border and fight a decisive battle to repay my debt to the state." He then submitted a memorial advocating war and personally went to Xiangyang.
5
金人圍棗陽急，方遣宗政、再興等援棗陽，仍增戍光化、信陽、均州，以聯聲勢。 已而棗陽守趙觀敗金人於城外，再興、宗政至，與觀夾擊，又敗之，棗陽圍解。 方申飭諸將，當遏於境上，不可使之入而後拒之於城下。 時麥正熟，方遣兵護民刈之，令清野以俟。 再疏力陳不可和者七，戰議遂定。
The Jin forces were pressing the siege of Zaoyang. Fang sent Zongzheng, Zaixing, and others to relieve Zaoyang, and also reinforced the garrisons at Guanghua, Xinyang, and Junzhou to coordinate their strength. Soon afterward Zaoyang's defender Zhao Guan defeated the Jin outside the city. When Zaixing and Zongzheng arrived, they joined Guan in a pincer attack and defeated the enemy again, lifting the siege of Zaoyang. Fang repeatedly admonished his generals that they must stop the enemy at the border and must not allow them to penetrate deep inside before offering resistance beneath the city walls. At the time the wheat was just ripening. Fang sent troops to protect the people as they harvested it and ordered a scorched-earth policy while awaiting the enemy. He submitted another memorial forcefully setting forth seven reasons why peace was impossible, and the decision for war was then settled.
6
金將完顏賽不入境，兵號十萬。 方部分諸將，金人犯棗陽者，宗政敗之於尚家川； 犯隨州者，劉世興敗之於磨子平。 相持逾年，方調世興移師，與許國、再興援棗陽； 張興、李雄韜援隨州。 隨州圍解，再興等轉戰入棗陽。 時宗政守城，伏兵城東，金人遇伏敗走。 未幾再至，再興又敗之，自是無日不戰。 金人三面來攻，宗政出東門，再興出南門，世興出北門，大合戰敗之。 金人朝進莫退，力不能捍； 諸將表裏合謀，國自南山進，張威自瀼河進，世興、李琪出城與國會，再興出城與威會，掎角追擊，金人遂潰。 光化守潘景伯亦設伏敗金人於趙家橋，孟宗德又破之於隨州鴨兒山，擒賽不妻弟王醜漢，金人遂誅賽不。 方以功遷龍圖閣待制，封長沙縣男，賜食邑。
The Jin general Wanyan Saibuo crossed the border with an army said to number one hundred thousand. Fang deployed his generals accordingly: where the Jin attacked Zaoyang, Zongzheng defeated them at Shangjiachuan; where they attacked Suizhou, Liu Shixing defeated them at Moziping. After more than a year of stalemate, Fang ordered Shixing to transfer his army and, together with Xu Guo and Zaixing, relieve Zaoyang; Zhang Xing and Li Xiongtao relieved Suizhou. The siege of Suizhou was lifted, and Zaixing and the others fought their way into Zaoyang. At the time Zongzheng was defending the city. He hid troops east of the city, and when the Jin encountered the ambush they were defeated and fled. Before long the Jin returned; Zaixing defeated them again, and from then on there was fighting every day. The Jin attacked from three sides. Zongzheng went out the east gate, Zaixing the south gate, and Shixing the north gate; they joined in a great battle and defeated the enemy. The Jin advanced by day and would not retreat; their strength could not be withstood; the generals coordinated an inside-outside plan: Guo advanced from the south mountain, Zhang Wei from the Rang River, Shixing and Li Qi sallied from the city to join Guo, Zaixing sallied to join Wei, and in pincer formation they pursued and attacked until the Jin forces collapsed. Guanghua's defender Pan Jingbo also set an ambush and defeated the Jin at Zhaoqiao Bridge. Meng Zongde broke them again at Yao'ershan in Suizhou and captured Saibuo's wife's younger brother Wang Chouhan, after which the Jin executed Saibuo. For his achievements Fang was promoted to Awaiting Orders at the Hall of Dragon Diagrams, enfeoffed as Baron of Changsha County, and granted a fief of sustenance.
7
金人復大舉，命訛可圍棗陽，塹其外，繞以土城。 方計其空巢穴而來，若搗其虛，則棗陽之圍自解。 乃命國東向唐州，再興西向鄧州，又命子范監軍，葵後殿。 時宗政在城中，日夜鏖戰，焚其攻具，金人不敢近城。 西師由光化境出，砦於三尖山，拔順陽縣，金人率眾仰攻，大敗。 再興與國兩道並進，掠唐、鄧境，焚其城柵糧儲。 棗陽城堅，金頓兵八十餘日，方知其氣已竭，乃召國、再興還，併東師隸於再興，尅期合戰。 再興敗金人於瀼河，又敗之城南，宗政自城中出夾擊，殺其眾三萬，金人大潰，訛可單騎遁，獲其貲糧、器甲不可勝計。 進方煥章閣直學士。 奏乞均官軍民兵廩給，自備馬者倍之。 又奏：「使民兵夏歸，以省月給，秋復詣屯守禦。」 從之。
The Jin again mounted a major campaign, ordering Eke to besiege Zaoyang, digging trenches outside the city and encircling it with an earthen wall. Fang calculated that they had come with their rear areas stripped bare; if one struck their vulnerable rear, the siege of Zaoyang would resolve itself. He then ordered Guo east toward Tangzhou and Zaixing west toward Dengzhou, and also placed his son Fan in command of the army with Kui covering the rear. At the time Zongzheng was in the city fighting day and night. He burned the enemy siege engines, and the Jin did not dare approach the walls. The western army emerged from Guanghua territory, encamped at Sanjianshan, and captured Shunyang County. When the Jin massed troops to attack uphill, they were routed. Zaixing and Guo advanced on two routes, raiding the Tang and Deng territories and burning enemy fortifications, stockades, and grain stores. Zaoyang's walls were strong, and the Jin halted their army for more than eighty days. When Fang saw that their fighting spirit was exhausted, he summoned Guo and Zaixing back, placed the eastern army under Zaixing's command, and set a date for a combined battle. Zaixing defeated the Jin at the Rang River and again south of the city. Zongzheng sallied from the city in a pincer attack, killing thirty thousand of their men. The Jin collapsed in rout; Eke fled alone on horseback, and the wealth, grain, weapons, and armor captured were beyond counting. Fang was promoted to Direct Academician of the Hall of Glorious Culture. He memorialized requesting equal rations for regular troops and militia, with double rations for those who supplied their own horses. He also memorialized: "Let the militia return home in summer to save monthly pay, and in autumn assemble again for garrison defense." The court approved.
8
方料金人數不得志於棗陽，必將同時並攻諸城，當先發以制之。 命國、宗政出師向唐，再興向鄧，戒之曰：「毋深入，毋攻城，第潰其保甲，燬其城砦，空其貲糧而已。」 宗政進破湖陽縣，擒其千戶趙興兒； 國遣部將耶律均與金人戰於北陽，戮其將李提控； 再興破高頭城，大敗金兵，遂薄鄧州。 唐州兵來援，迎敗之，降者踵至。 已而金兵至樊城，方命再興陣以待之，方視其師； 金人三日不敢動，遂遁。
Fang calculated that since the Jin had failed to achieve their aim at Zaoyang, they would certainly attack multiple cities simultaneously, and one should strike first to seize the initiative. He ordered Guo and Zongzheng to lead armies toward Tang and Zaixing toward Deng, and warned them: "Do not penetrate deeply and do not besiege cities; only break up their local defense units, burn their fortifications and stockades, and empty their stores of wealth and grain." Zongzheng advanced and captured Huyang County, seizing their chiliarch Zhao Xing'er; Guo sent his subordinate Yelü Jun to fight the Jin at Beiyang and killed their commander Li Tikong; Zaixing captured Gaotou City, routed the Jin army, and then pressed close to Dengzhou. Tangzhou sent troops to relieve the city and was met and defeated; surrenderers arrived in an unbroken stream. Soon afterward Jin troops reached Fancheng. Fang ordered Zaixing to form battle lines and await them, and personally inspected his army; for three days the Jin did not dare move and then fled.
9
金將駙馬阿海犯淮西，樞密完顏小驢屯唐州為後繼。 方先攻唐伐其謀，及使再興發棗陽兵擊其西，國發桐栢兵擊其東。 再興敗金人於唐城，斬小驢，圍其城五匝，垂下。 會蘄、黃繼陷，詔趣方遣救，方亟命國保鄂，再興援淮西。 國還鄂州保江； 再興軍至蘄之靈山，伺金人歸而擊之，土豪祝文蔚橫突入陣，金人大敗，國遣張寶將兵來會，李全等兵亦至，金人遂潰，再興追逐六十里，擒其監軍合答。 進方顯謨閣直學士、太中大夫、權刑部尚書。
The Jin general, the imperial son-in-law Ahai, invaded Huai West, while Privy Council member Wanyan Xiaolü encamped at Tangzhou as rear support. Fang first attacked Tangzhou to disrupt their plan, and also ordered Zaixing to lead Zaoyang troops to strike their west and Guo to lead Tongbai troops to strike their east. Zaixing defeated the Jin at Tangcheng, beheaded Xiaolü, and surrounded the city on five sides, pressing the siege. Just then Qi and Huang fell in succession. An edict urgently ordered Fang to dispatch relief, and he immediately ordered Guo to defend Ezhou and Zaixing to relieve Huai West. Guo returned to Ezhou to defend the river; Zaixing's army reached Lingshan in Qi and waited for the Jin to withdraw before striking them. The local strongman Zhu Wenwei charged into the enemy formation, the Jin were routed, Guo sent Zhang Bao with troops to join the fight, Li Quan's forces also arrived, the Jin collapsed, and Zaixing pursued for sixty li and captured their supervising general Heda. Fang was promoted to Direct Academician of the Hall of Manifest Instruction, Grandee of Palace Attendance, and Acting Minister of Justice.
10
俄得疾，進徽猷閣學士、京湖制置大使。 歸還，力疾犒師，第其功上之。 病革，曰：「未死一日，當立一日紀綱。」 引再興臥內，勉以協心報國。 貽書宰相，論疆場大計。 尋卒。 是夕有大星隕於襄陽。 以端明殿學士、正議大夫致仕，贈銀青光祿大夫，累贈太師，諡「忠肅」。
Soon afterward he fell ill and was promoted to Academician of the Hall of Imperial Instruction and Great Military Commissioner of Jing-Hu. On returning home, he forced himself despite illness to reward the troops and ranked their achievements for submission to the throne. As his illness became critical he said: "For every day I have not died, I must uphold discipline for one day. He summoned Zaixing into his private chamber and urged him to cooperate wholeheartedly in repaying their debt to the state. He sent a letter to the chief councillor discussing the great strategic plan for the frontier. Soon afterward he died. That night a great star fell over Xiangyang. He was granted retirement as Direct Academician of the Hall of Sagacious Brightness and Grandee of Direct Remonstrance; posthumously awarded Silver-Gleam Grandee of the Palace, later promoted posthumously to Grand Preceptor, and given the posthumous title "Loyal and Solemn."
11
方起自儒生，帥邊十年，以戰為守，合官民兵為一體，通制總司為一家。 持軍嚴，每令諸將飲酒勿醉，當使日日可戰。 淮、蜀沿邊屢遭金人之禍，而京西一境獨全。 嘗問相業於劉清之，清之以留意人才對。 故知名士如陳晐、游九功輩皆拔為大吏，諸名將多在其麾下。 若扈再興、孟宗政皆起自土豪，推誠擢任，致其死力，藩屏一方，使朝廷無北顧之憂。 故其沒也，人皆惜之。 子：董、薿、范、葵。 范、葵有傳。
Fang rose from the ranks of scholar-officials and commanded the frontier for ten years. He used active warfare as his form of defense, united regular troops and militia into a single force, and integrated the overall command system into one cohesive whole. He held the army to strict discipline. Whenever he allowed his generals to drink wine, he told them not to become drunk, so that they would remain fit to fight every day. Along the Huai and Shu frontiers there were repeated calamities at the hands of the Jin, but the Jingxi region alone remained intact. Once he asked Liu Qingzhi about the art of serving as chief minister, and Qingzhi answered that one should attend to nurturing talent. Accordingly, renowned scholars such as Chen Gai and You Jiugong were all promoted to high office, and many famous generals served under his command. Men such as Hu Zaixing and Meng Zongzheng had risen from the ranks of local strongmen. Fang promoted them with sincerity and entrusted them with command, winning their utmost loyalty; they shielded the region and spared the court worry over the northern frontier. Therefore when he died, everyone regretted his loss. His sons were Dong, Ni, Fan, and Kui. Fan and Kui have separate biographies.
12
賈涉，字濟川，天台人。 幼好讀古書，慷慨有大志。 以父任高郵尉，改萬安丞。 寶應擇令，堂差涉至邑，請城之。 役興，以憂去。 金人犯光州，起涉竟前役。 通判真州，改大理司直、知盱眙軍。
Jia She, styled Jichuan, came from Tiantai. From youth he loved reading ancient books and was generous in spirit with great ambitions. Through his father's yin privilege he became assistant magistrate of Gaoyou, then was reassigned as vice magistrate of Wan'an. When Baoying needed a magistrate, the court dispatched She to the district, and he requested that city walls be built. When the labor project was begun, he resigned out of grief. When the Jin invaded Guangzhou, She was recalled to complete the earlier project. He served as vice prefect of Zhenzhou, then was reassigned as Direct Clerk of the Court of Judicial Review and administrator of Xuyi Military Prefecture.
13
淮人季先、沈鐸說楚州守應純之以招山東人，純之令鐸遣周用和說楊友、劉全、李全等以其眾至，先招石珪、葛平、楊德廣，通號「忠義軍」。 珪等反，斃鐸於漣水，純之罷，通判梁丙行守事，欲省其糧使自潰。 珪、德廣等以漣水諸軍度淮屯南渡門，焚掠幾盡。 謂：「朝廷欲和殘金，置我軍何地？」 丙遣李全、季先拒之，不止，事甚危。 涉時在寶應，上書曰：「降附踵至，而金乃請和，此正用高澄間侯景遺策，恐山東之禍必移於兩淮。 況金人所乏惟財與糧，若舉數年歲幣還之，是以肉㗖餒虎，㗖盡將反噬。 至若忠義之人源源而來，不立定額，自為一軍，處之北岸，則安能以有限之財應無窮之須？ 饑則噬人，飽則用命，其勢然也。」 授淮東提點刑獄兼楚州節制本路京東忠義人兵。 涉亟遣傅翼諭珪等逆順禍福，自以輕車抵山陽，德廣等郊迎，伏地請死，誓以自新。
The Huai native Ji Xian and Shen Duo persuaded Chuzhou's defender Ying Chunzhi to recruit people from Shandong. Chunzhi ordered Duo to send Zhou Yonghe to persuade Yang You, Liu Quan, Li Quan, and others to bring their followers. They first recruited Shi Gui, Ge Ping, and Yang Deguang, who collectively became known as the "Loyal and Righteous Army." Gui and the others rebelled and killed Duo at Lianshui. Chunzhi was dismissed, Vice Prefect Liang Bing acted as defender, and wished to cut their rations to make them collapse of their own accord. Gui, Deguang, and the others led the Lianshui armies across the Huai to encamp at Nandu Gate and burned and plundered almost everything. They said: "The court wishes to make peace with the remnant Jin — where does that leave our army? Bing sent Li Quan and Ji Xian to resist them, but they would not stop; the situation was extremely perilous. At the time Jia She was at Baoying and submitted a memorial to the throne: "Defectors are arriving in an endless stream, yet the Jin now sue for peace — this is precisely the legacy stratagem of Gao Cheng driving a wedge against Hou Jing. I fear the calamity of Shandong will inevitably shift to the two Huai regions. Moreover, the Jin lack nothing but wealth and grain. If we return to them several years' worth of annual tribute, it is feeding meat to a starving tiger — once it has eaten its fill, it will turn and bite. As for the loyal and righteous who keep arriving in a steady stream, if we do not set fixed quotas and instead let them form their own army on the north bank, how can finite resources satisfy endless needs? When hungry they prey on men; when fed they fight with zeal — such is the nature of the situation." He was appointed judicial intendant of Huaidong, concurrently charged with commanding the Shandong loyal and righteous forces of the circuit at Chuzhou. She urgently dispatched Fu Yi to explain to Shi Gui and the others the consequences of rebellion versus loyalty, then personally took a light carriage to Shanyang. Yang Deguang and the others welcomed him in the suburbs, prostrated themselves begging for death, and vowed to reform.
14
金太子及僕散萬忠、盧國瑞等數十萬大入，且以計誘珪等。 涉慮珪等為金用，亟遣陳孝忠向滁州，珪與夏全、時青向濠州，先、平、德廣趨滁、濠，李全、李福要其歸路，以傅翼監軍。 數日，孝忠捷至，珪屢破金人，遂與先及李全趨安豐。 時金人環百餘砦，攻具甫畢，珪等解其圍，李全挾僕散萬忠以歸，見《李全傳》。 金人不敢窺淮東者六七年。
The Jin crown prince together with Pusan Wanzong, Lu Guorui, and others invaded with an army of hundreds of thousands, and also employed stratagems to entice Shi Gui and his followers. Fearing that Gui and the others would be turned to Jin use, She urgently dispatched Chen Xiaozhong toward Chuzhou; Shi Gui with Xia Quan and Shi Qing toward Haozhou; Ji Xian, Ge Ping, and Yang Deguang toward Chuzhou and Haozhou; Li Quan and Li Fu blocked their line of retreat, with Fu Yi supervising the army. Within days Chen Xiaozhong's victory report arrived. Shi Gui repeatedly defeated the Jin, then joined Ji Xian and Li Quan in advancing toward Anfeng. At the time the Jin had encircled more than a hundred stockades and had just completed their siege equipment. Gui and the others broke the siege, and Li Quan took Pusan Wanzong captive and returned — see the Biography of Li Quan. For six or seven years thereafter the Jin dared not cast their gaze toward Huaidong.
15
南渡門之變，平、德廣等實預，涉既受降，置弗問。 平等尚懷異志，涉密使先以計殺之，而先之勢亦孤。 忠義諸軍在漣水、山陽者既眾，涉慮其思亂，因滁、濠之役，分珪、孝忠、夏全為兩屯，李全軍為五砦，又用陝西義勇法涅其手，合諸軍汰者三萬有奇，涅者不滿六萬人，正軍常屯七萬餘，使主勝客，朝廷歲省費十三四。
Ge Ping and Yang Deguang and others had actually taken part in the Nandu Gate incident. After She accepted their surrender, he set the matter aside without further inquiry. Ping and the others still harbored rebellious intent. She secretly had Ji Xian devise a plan to kill them, and Ji Xian's power thereafter stood alone. The loyal and righteous armies at Lianshui and Shanyang had grown very large, and She feared they would turn to rebellion. Using the Chuzhou and Haozhou campaign as pretext, he split Shi Gui, Chen Xiaozhong, and Xia Quan into two encampments and Li Quan's army into five stockades. He also adopted the Shaanxi volunteer practice of tattooing their hands. After consolidating the armies and weeding out the unfit, more than thirty thousand were dismissed; those tattooed numbered fewer than sixty thousand, while regular troops in permanent garrison totaled over seventy thousand — making the host prevail over the guest, so the court saved thirty or forty percent in annual expenses.
16
涉又遣李全以萬人取海州，復取密、濰。 王琳以寧海州歸，遂收登、萊二州。 青州守張林以濱、棣、淄州降，又取濟、沂等州。 自是恩、博、景、德至邢、洺十餘州相繼請降。 涉傳檄中原：「以地來歸及反戈自效者，朝廷裂地封爵無所吝。」 仍厲諸將，圖未下州郡。 擢太府少卿、制置副使兼京東、河北節制。
She also sent Li Quan with ten thousand men to take Haizhou, then recovered Mi and Wei prefectures. Wang Lin surrendered Ninghai Prefecture, and they then recovered Deng and Lai prefectures. Zhang Lin, defender of Qingzhou, surrendered Bin, Di, and Zi prefectures, and they also took Ji, Yi, and other prefectures. From then on more than ten prefectures from En, Bo, Jing, and De to Xing and Ming successively offered to surrender. She issued a proclamation to the Central Plains: "Those who submit with territory and those who turn their swords in loyal service — the court will divide lands and bestow titles without stint. She also urged the generals to target prefectures and districts not yet taken. He was promoted to Vice Minister of the Palace Treasury and vice commissioner for administration, concurrently directing affairs in Jingdong and Hebei.
17
金十餘萬眾犯黃州，淮西帥趙善湘請援於朝，涉遣李全等赴之，翟朝宗等為後繼。 丞相史彌遠擬升全留後，涉曰：「始全貧窶無聊，能輕財與眾同甘苦，故下樂為之用。 逮為主帥，所為反是，積怨既多，眾皆不平。 近棄西城，免死為幸，若無故升遷以驕其誌，非全之福，亦豈國家之福。 曷若待事定，與諸將同升可也。」 金人破黃陷蘄，安慶甚危，全馳至，遂定。 全至久長鎮，與京湖制置使趙方二子范、葵遇，掎角連戰俱勝，遣彭義斌等進至下灣渡，盡掩金人於淮。 遷權吏部侍郎。 金人再犯淮西。 先是，蘄州受圍，徐暉往援，乃鼓眾宵遁，金乘間登城，一郡為血，前帥不敢問。 涉斬暉以徇，諸將畏懼，無不用命，淮西之勢大振。
The Jin invaded Huangzhou with more than a hundred thousand men. Zhao Shanxiang, commander of Huai West, requested aid from the court. She dispatched Li Quan and others, with Zhai Chaozong and others as reinforcements. Chief Councilor Shi Miyuan proposed promoting Li Quan to acting military commissioner. She said: "At first Quan was destitute and desperate; he could freely spend his own wealth to share hardship with his men, so his followers gladly served him. Once he became commander, his conduct was the opposite. Resentment had accumulated and his men were all discontent. Recently he abandoned Xicheng — escaping with his life was fortune enough. If he is promoted without cause and his arrogance is fed, that is not Quan's blessing, nor is it the state's blessing. Would it not be better to wait until matters are settled and promote him together with the other generals?" The Jin broke through at Huang and captured Qi. Anqing was in grave danger, but Quan galloped there and stabilized the situation. Quan reached Jiuchang garrison and joined Zhao Fang's sons Fan and Kui. Fighting in pincer formation they won successive battles, and dispatched Peng Yibin and others to advance to Xiawan Ford, cutting off all Jin forces south of the Huai. He was transferred to Acting Vice Minister of Personnel. The Jin again invaded Huai West. Earlier, when Qizhou was besieged, Xu Hui went to its relief but instead roused his troops to flee by night. The Jin seized the opportunity to scale the walls; the whole prefecture ran with blood. The previous commander dared not investigate. She executed Xu Hui as a warning. The generals were awed and all obeyed without question; Huai West's position was greatly strengthened.
18
初，翟朝宗得玉璽獻諸朝，至是趙拱還，又得玉印，文與璽同而加大。 朝廷喜璧之歸，行慶賞。 涉遺書彌遠謂：「天意隱而難明，人事切而易見，當思今日人事尚未有可答天意者。 昔之患不過亡金，今之患又有山東忠義與北邊，宜亟圖之。」 彌遠不懌，李全卒以璽賞為節度使。 涉又言：「盜賊血氣正盛，官職過分，將有後憂。」 彌遠不以為然。 涉曰：「朝廷但知官爵可以得其心，寧知驕則將至於不可勸邪？」
Earlier, Zhai Chaozong had obtained a jade seal and presented it to the court. Now Zhao Gong returned and obtained a jade stamp; its inscription matched the seal but was larger. The court rejoiced at the return of the jade treasure and conducted celebratory rewards. She sent Shi Miyuan a letter saying: "Heaven's intent is hidden and hard to discern, while human affairs are pressing and easy to see. One should consider that today's human affairs have not yet reached a point that could answer Heaven's intent. Formerly the worry was nothing beyond losing the Jin. Now there are also the Shandong loyalists and the northern frontier — these should be urgently addressed." Miyuan was displeased. Li Quan was ultimately rewarded with the seal and appointed military commissioner. She also said: "These bandits' fighting spirit is at its peak. Excessive official rank will bring trouble later. Miyuan did not agree. She said: "The court thinks only that rank and title can win their hearts — does it not know that once pride sets in they will become beyond persuasion?"
19
涉時已疾，力辭事任。 值金人大入，強起視事。 金將時全、合連、孛術魯答哥率細軍及眾軍三道渡淮，涉以合連善戰，乃命張惠當之。 惠，金驍將，所謂「賽張飛」者，既歸宋，金人殺其妻，所部花帽軍，有紀律，它軍不及也。 惠率諸軍出戰，自辰至酉，金人大敗，答哥溺死，陷失太半，細軍喪者幾二千。 涉既病，乃以所獲京、河版籍及金銀牌銅印之屬上於朝。 卒，超贈龍圖閣學士、光祿大夫。
He was already ill and strenuously declined his duties. When the Jin invaded on a large scale, he forced himself to rise and attend to affairs. Jin generals Shi Quan, Helian, and Bieshulu Dage led elite troops and main forces in three columns across the Huai. She, knowing Helian was skilled in battle, ordered Zhang Hui to confront him. Hui was a fierce Jin general known as "Rival to Zhang Fei." After defecting to Song, the Jin killed his wife. His Flower-Cap Army was disciplined beyond any other force. Hui led the armies out to battle. From the hour of Chen to You the Jin suffered a crushing defeat. Dage drowned, over half the force was lost, and nearly two thousand elite troops perished. When She was already ill, he submitted to the court the registers of Jing and He and items such as gold and silver tally-slips and bronze seals that had been captured. He died and was posthumously advanced to Academician of the Hall of Dragon Diagrams and Grandee of Splendid Happiness.
20
涉父偉，嘗守開江，貽書丞相趙雄，極論武興守吳挺之橫，它日陛對，又乞裁抑郭棣、郭杲兵權，孝宗嘉納，後反為所擠以沒。 涉弱冠直父冤，不避寒暑，泣訴十年，至伏書闕下。 子：似道，有傳。
She's father Wei had once served as defender of Kaijiang. He sent Chief Councilor Zhao Xiong a letter vehemently denouncing Wu Ting's tyranny as defender of Wuxing; on another day at court audience he also requested curbing the military authority of Guo Di and Guo Gao. Xiaozong approved, but later he was squeezed out by them and died in obscurity. In his early twenties She sought justice for his father's wrong. Unmindful of heat and cold, he wept and appealed for ten years, finally prostrating himself with a petition below the palace gate. Son: Sidao — see separate biography.
21
扈再興
Hu Zaixing
22
扈再興，字叔起，淮人也。 有膂力，善機變。 每戰，被髮肉袒徒跣，揮雙刃奮呼入陣，人馬辟易。 金人犯襄陽、棗陽，京西制置使趙方檄再興等禦之。 金人來自團山，勢如風雨。 再興同孟宗政、陳祥分三陳，設伏以待。 既至，再興中出一陳，復卻，金人逐之，宗政與祥合左右兩翼掩擊之，金人三面受敵，大敗，血肉枕藉山谷間。 授神勁統制。 又犯棗陽，再興率師赴援，金人聞風夜潰。 既而益兵數萬復圍城，相持九十日。 再興夜以鐵蒺藜密布地，黎明佯遁，金人馳中蒺藜者十踣七八。 敵卻走，追至十五里岡。 已而金兵攻城東隅，薄南門北角，再興與宗政、劉世興各當一面，大戰數十合，大敗金兵。 金帥完顏訛可擁步騎數萬傅城，再興與宗政縱之涉濠，半渡擊之； 又令守壩者佯走，金人爭壩，急擊之，多墮水中。 金人創對樓、鵝車、革洞，決濠水，運土石填城下。 再興募死士著鐵面具，披氈，列陳以待之。 金人計無所施而去，棄旗甲輜重滿野。 大戰於范家莊，金人敗，追之至泊湖，禽其巡檢亢師禮酒、都監納蘭福昌，降其壯丁，獲牛馬甚眾。
Hu Zaixing, styled Shuji, came from the Huai region. He possessed great physical strength and was skilled at improvisation. In every battle he let his hair hang loose, bared his torso, and fought barefoot, wielding twin blades with fierce cries as he charged into the enemy ranks. Men and horses gave way before him. When the Jin invaded Xiangyang and Zaoyang, Jingxi commissioner for administration Zhao Fang ordered Zaixing and others to resist. The Jin came from Tuan Mountain with the force of a windstorm. Zaixing together with Meng Zongzheng and Chen Xiang divided into three formations and laid ambushes in wait. When the Jin arrived, Zaixing led the center formation out, then feigned retreat. The Jin pursued, and Zongzheng and Xiang joined the left and right wings in a flanking attack. The Jin faced enemies on three sides and were routed; corpses piled thick in the valleys. He was appointed commander of the Shenjin Army. They again invaded Zaoyang. Zaixing led troops to the relief, and the Jin, hearing of his approach, fled in the night. Soon after they added tens of thousands of troops and again besieged the city. The stalemate lasted ninety days. Zaixing scattered caltrops densely on the ground by night. At dawn he feigned retreat, and of the Jin cavalry that charged in, seven or eight of ten fell to the caltrops. The enemy turned and fled, and he pursued them to Fifteen-Li Ridge. Later Jin troops attacked the southeast corner of the city, pressing the north corner of the south gate. Zaixing with Zongzheng and Liu Shixing each held one sector. After dozens of major clashes they routed the Jin. Jin commander Wanyan Eke led tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry to the city walls. Zaixing and Zongzheng let them cross the moat and struck when half had crossed; He also had the dam defenders feign flight. The Jin scrambled for the dam and he struck swiftly — many plunged into the water. The Jin built siege towers, goose carts, and leather tunnels, diverted the moat water, and hauled earth and stone to fill beneath the walls. Zaixing recruited dare-to-die troops in iron masks wearing felt cloaks, arrayed in formation to await them. The Jin, finding no stratagem avail, withdrew, abandoning banners, armor, and supplies that covered the fields. At Fan Family Village a great battle was fought and the Jin were defeated. Pursuit reached Bo Lake; they captured patrol inspector Kang Shili and superintendent Nalan Fuchang, accepted the surrender of able-bodied men, and seized many oxen and horses.
23
自是與宗政、世興無日不戰。 再興又破順昌縣，奪甲馬三千，破淅川鎮，殺金人三百，追至馬磴砦，焚其城柵。 又敗其護駕騎軍於瀼河。 入鄧州，破高頭，敗其步軍五千、騎軍五百，焚其積聚。 遂營於高頭，進攻唐州，至三家河，金騎軍二千、步軍七千出城迎戰，又敗之，死者十七八，追及城下。 金將從義者收殘騎三百奔城，再興據門拒戰，斬從義。 遂圍唐州，分兵焚蕩州境，截其歸路，砦於久長，嚴陳以待之。 搜剿殘兵，獲其副統軍廣威將軍衲撻達。 金兵殲，乃斂髑髏立人頭堠。
From then on he battled with Zongzheng and Shixing without a day of rest. Zaixing also broke Shunchang County, seizing three thousand sets of armor and horses. He broke Xichuan garrison, killing three hundred Jin, pursued to Madeng Stockade, and burned its fortifications. He again defeated their imperial escort cavalry at the Rang River. Entering Dengzhou, he broke Gaotou, defeated five thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry, and burned their stores. He then encamped at Gaotou and advanced on Tangzhou to Sanjia River. Two thousand Jin cavalry and seven thousand infantry came out to fight; he defeated them again — seventy or eighty percent were killed — and pursued to the city walls. A Jin officer named Congyi gathered three hundred remnant cavalry and rushed the gate. Zaixing held the gate and fought, beheading Congyi. He then besieged Tangzhou, sent detachments to burn and ravage the prefecture, cut off retreat routes, and encamped at Jiuchang in strict formation awaiting them. In mopping up remnant troops he captured deputy commander, General of Expanding Might Nadatu. When the Jin forces were annihilated, he gathered skulls and erected a mound of heads.
24
尋以病卒。 子世達，亦以名將稱，官至都統制。
Soon after he died of illness. His son Shida was also renowned as a fine general, rising to commander-in-chief.
25
孟宗政
Meng Zongzheng
26
孟宗政，字德夫，絳州人。 父林，從岳飛至隨州，因家焉。 宗政自幼豪偉，有膽略，常出沒疆場間。 開禧二年，金將完顏董犯襄、郢，宗政率義士據險遊擊，奪其輜重。 宣撫使吳獵奇之，補承節郎、棗陽令。 京西路分趙方、吳柔勝皆薦其才，轉秉義郎、京西鈐轄，駐劄襄陽。
Meng Zongzheng, styled Defu, came from Jiangzhou. His father Lin followed Yue Fei to Suizhou and settled the family there. Zongzheng was bold and imposing from youth, possessed of courage and strategy, and often ranged the borderlands. In 1206, the second year of Kaixi, Jin general Wanyan Dong invaded Xiang and Ying. Zongzheng led volunteers to strike from ambush in rugged terrain, seizing their baggage. Pacification commissioner Wu Lie admired him and appointed him Gentlemen for Upholding Integrity and magistrate of Zaoyang. Jingxi circuit commissioners Zhao Fang and Wu Rousheng both recommended his talent. He was transferred to Gentleman for Maintaining Righteousness and Jingxi chief controller, stationed at Xiangyang.
27
嘉定十年，金人犯襄陽、棗陽，方檄宗政節制神勁、報捷、忠義三軍。 宗政與統製扈再興、陳祥分為三軍，設伏三所，蹀血以戰，金兵敗走。 尋報棗陽圍急，宗政午發峴首，遲明抵棗陽，馳突如神。 金人大駭，宵遁。 方時移帥京西，聞捷大喜，差權棗陽軍。 初眡事，一愛僕犯新令，立斬之，軍民股栗。 於是築隄積水，修治城堞，簡閱軍士。
In 1217, the tenth year of Jiading, the Jin invaded Xiangyang and Zaoyang. Zhao Fang ordered Zongzheng to command the Shenjin, Baojie, and Loyal and Righteous armies. Zongzheng with commanders Hu Zaixing and Chen Xiang divided into three armies, setting three ambushes. They fought through blood-soaked ground until the Jin fled in defeat. Soon word came that Zaoyang's siege was critical. Zongzheng departed Xianshou at noon and reached Zaoyang by daybreak, charging like a god. The Jin were greatly alarmed and fled by night. Fang had just been transferred as Jingxi commander. Hearing of the victory he was overjoyed and appointed Zongzheng acting administrator of Zaoyang Military Prefecture. On first assuming office, a favored servant violated a new regulation and he immediately executed him. Troops and civilians trembled with awe. Thereupon he built dikes to store water, repaired the battlements, and inspected the troops.
28
十一年，金帥完顏賽不擁步騎圍城，宗政與再興合兵角敵，歷三月，大小七十餘戰，宗政身先士卒。 金人戰輒敗，忿甚，周城開濠，四面控兵列濠外，飛鋒鏑，以鈴自警，鈴響則犬吠。 宗政厚募壯士，乘間突擊，金人不能支，盛兵薄城，宗政隨方力拒。 隨守許國援師至白水，鼓聲相聞。 宗政率諸將出戰，金人奔潰。 賜金帶，轉武德郎。
In 1218, the eleventh year of Jiading, Jin commander Wanyan Saibuo led infantry and cavalry to besiege the city. Zongzheng and Zaixing combined forces to contend with the enemy. Over three months they fought more than seventy battles large and small, with Zongzheng always leading from the front. The Jin lost every battle and grew furious. They dug a moat around the city, posted troops on all sides beyond the moat, fired whistling arrows, and used bells as alarms — when bells rang, dogs barked. Zongzheng generously recruited bold men for opportune strikes. When the Jin could not hold, they massed troops against the walls and Zongzheng resisted wherever they pressed. Suizhou defender Xu Guo's relief force reached Baishui; the sound of drums could be heard between the armies. Zongzheng led the generals out to battle and the Jin broke and fled. He was awarded a gold belt and promoted to the rank of Wude Lang.
29
十二年，金帥完顏訛可擁步騎傅城，宗政囊糠盛沙以覆樓棚，列甕瀦水以隄火，募砲手擊之，一砲輒殺數人。 金人選精騎二千，號弩子手，擁雲梯、天橋先登，又募鑿銀礦石工晝夜塪城，運茅葦直抵圜樓下，欲焚樓。 宗政先毀樓，掘深坑，防地道； 創戰棚，防城損； 穿穽才透，即施毒煙烈火，鼓韝以熏之。 金人窒以濕氈，析路以刳士，城頹樓陷。 宗政撤樓益薪，架火山以絕其路，列勇士，以長槍勁弩備其衝。 距樓陷所數丈築偃月城，袤百餘尺，翼傅正城，深坑倍仞，躬督役，五日成。 金人摘強兵披厚鎧、氈衫、鐵面而前，又濕氈濡革蒙火山，覆以冰雪，擁雲梯徑抵西北圜樓登城。 城中軍以長戈舂其喉，殺之； 敢勇軍自下夾擊金兵，兵墜死燎焰。 金將於後截其軍，拒馬揮刀迫前，自昕至昃，死傷踵接，梯橋盡燬。 金人連不得志，俄乘順風渡濠，飛脂革燒戰棚，宗政激將士血戰，凡十五陣，矢石交，金兵死者千餘，弩子手十七八，射其都統殪。 天反風，金人愈忿，炮愈急。 會王大任領銳卒一千冒重圍轉鬥入城，內外合勢，士氣大振，賈勇入金營，自晡至三更，金人橫屍遍地，奪其銅印十有六，訛可棄帳走，獲輜重牛馬萬計。 捷至，朝廷方錄前戰守功，升武功大夫兼閤門宣贊舍人，重賜金帶。
In the twelfth year, the Jin commander Wanyan Eke led infantry and cavalry to the foot of the walls. Zongzheng had sacks of chaff filled with sand to shield the tower platforms, lined jars of water as a firebreak, and recruited artillery crews; a single shot would kill several men. The Jin picked two thousand elite horsemen, called crossbow handlers, and sent them forward with scaling ladders and sky bridges. They also hired miners to undermine the walls day and night, hauled thatch and reeds right up to the round tower, and planned to burn it down. Zongzheng first tore down the tower and dug deep pits to guard against tunneling; built fighting platforms to protect the walls from damage; the moment a tunnel broke through, he poured in poisonous smoke and raging fire and worked bellows to fumigate the enemy. The Jin blocked the smoke with wet felt, cleared routes, and dug away the earth; the wall gave way and the tower collapsed. Zongzheng cleared the tower and piled fuel, built a fire barrier to block their advance, and lined up brave fighters with long spears and heavy crossbows to meet the assault. A few zhang from where the tower had collapsed, he built a crescent-shaped redoubt over a hundred chi long, flanking the main wall, with pits twice a ren deep. He personally oversaw the labor, and it was finished in five days. The Jin sent picked troops forward in thick armor, felt jackets, and iron face guards. They again smothered the fire barrier with wet felt and soaked hides, piled ice and snow on top, and pushed scaling ladders straight to the northwest round tower to climb the wall. The garrison thrust long halberds at their throats and killed them; the Dare-to-Be-Brave Corps struck the Jin from below on both flanks, and men fell to their deaths in the blaze. A Jin commander cut off their rear and pressed forward behind caltrops, blades swinging. From dawn to midday the dead and wounded came in an unbroken stream, and every ladder and bridge was burned. Frustrated again and again, the Jin soon rode a favorable wind across the moat and hurled greased hides to set the fighting platforms ablaze. Zongzheng roused his officers and men to a bloody fight through fifteen engagements. Arrows and stones flew back and forth; more than a thousand Jin soldiers were killed, only seventeen or eighteen crossbow handlers remained, and they shot their commander dead. The wind turned against them; the Jin grew angrier still, and their bombardment grew fiercer. Just then Wang Daren led a thousand elite troops, broke through the tight encirclement, and fought his way into the city. Inner and outer forces joined, and morale surged. Emboldened, they charged into the Jin camp. From midafternoon until the third watch of night, Jin corpses covered the ground. They captured sixteen bronze seals. Eke abandoned his headquarters and fled. Baggage, cattle, and horses taken numbered in the tens of thousands. When word of the victory arrived, the court was already tallying earlier merits in defense and attack. He was promoted to Military Meritorious Grandee and concurrently appointed Gate Herald and Praise Master, and was again awarded a gold belt.
30
制置司以湖陽縣迫境金兵，檄宗政圖之。 宗政一鼓而拔，燔燒積聚，夷蕩營砦，俘掠以歸。 金人自是不敢窺襄、漢、棗陽。 許國移金陵，宗政代為荊鄂都統制，仍知棗陽。 宗政以迫濠而陳，乃於西北濠外瀦水為濘以限騎。 中原遺民來歸者以萬數。 宗政發廩贍之，為給田、創屋與居，籍其勇壯號「忠順軍」，俾出沒唐、鄧間，威振境外。 金人呼為「孟爺爺」。 俄病疽卒。 轉右武大夫、團練使、防禦使。
Because Huyang County lay on the Jin border, the military commissionerate ordered Zongzheng to take action. Zongzheng captured the place at the first rush, burned their stockpiles, leveled their camps and fortifications, and returned with prisoners and booty. After that the Jin no longer dared threaten Xiang, Han, or Zaoyang. When Xu Guo was transferred to Jinling, Zongzheng succeeded him as overall commander of Jing-E while continuing as prefect of Zaoyang. Because his forces were deployed too close to the moat, Zongzheng dammed water outside the northwest ditch to create muddy ground that would check cavalry. Refugees from the Central Plains who came over to the Song numbered in the tens of thousands. Zongzheng opened the granaries to feed them, allotted fields, built houses for them to live in, and enrolled their stout fighters in a force called the Loyal and Obedient Army, which he sent raiding between Tang and Deng. His fame shook the country beyond the frontier. The Jin called him "Grandfather Meng." Before long he fell ill with a festering sore and died. He was posthumously promoted to Right Military Grandee, regimental training commissioner, and defense commissioner.
31
宗政於有功者怨必賞，有罪者親必罰。 好賢樂善，出於天性。 未嘗學兵法，而暗與之合。 死之日，邊城為罷市慟哭。 子：珙，有傳。
Zongzheng always rewarded men of merit even when he personally resented them, and always punished the guilty even when they were close to him. He loved the worthy and took pleasure in doing good — traits that sprang from his nature. He had never studied the art of war, yet what he did tacitly matched its principles. On the day of his death, the frontier towns closed their markets and mourned him with weeping. Son: Gong, who has his own biography.
32
張威，字德遠，成州人。 策選鋒軍騎兵也。 軍中馬料多，匹馬給米五石，騎軍利其餘以自給。 總領覈實裁抑，威逃去。 帥郭杲使其父招之歸，送隆慶府後軍效用。 威貧甚，賣藥自給。 或言其才勇，乃令戍邊。 開禧用兵，威與金人戰輒捷，屢以功補本軍將領。
Zhang Wei, styled Deyuan, came from Chengzhou. He was chosen by examination for the vanguard army's cavalry. Army fodder allowances were generous: each horse drew five shi of rice, and the horsemen pocketed the surplus to support themselves. When the supply commissioner audited the accounts and cut the allowances, Wei deserted. The commander Guo Gao had Wei's father bring him back and assigned him to the rear service corps of Longqing Prefecture. Wei was desperately poor and sold medicine to get by. When someone praised his talent and courage, he was ordered to the frontier garrison. During the Kaixi campaign, Wei won every clash with the Jin and was repeatedly promoted within his own army for his achievements.
33
吳曦既誅，遣將收復。 李貴復西和州，威率眾先登，敗金人，戰於板橋，遂取西和，升統制。 由是威名大振。 天水縣當金人西入路，乃升縣為軍，命威為守，屢立奇功，擢充利州副都統制。 丁父憂，服除，帶御器械。 久之，調荊鄂都統制、襄陽府駐劄，改沔州都統制。
After Wu Xi was put to death, the court sent generals to recover lost ground. Li Gui retook Xihe Prefecture. Wei led his men up first, routed the Jin, fought at Banqiao, seized Xihe, and was promoted to regimental commander. From that point his martial fame spread far and wide. Tianshui County stood on the Jin route of advance from the west, so the county was raised to a military prefecture and Wei was made its commander. He won repeated feats of distinction and was promoted to deputy overall commander of Lizhou. When his father died he entered mourning; after the mourning period he was granted the privilege of bearing the imperial arms. After a time he was transferred to overall commander of Jing-E with his headquarters at Xiangyang Prefecture, and later reassigned as overall commander of Mianzhou.
34
嘉定十二年，金人分道入蜀，犯湫池堡，又犯白環堡。 威部將石宣、董炤連卻之。 既而金人犯成州，威自西和退保仙人原。 時興元都統制吳政戰死黃牛堡，李貴代政，亟走武休，金人已破武休，遂陷興元，又陷大安軍。
In the twelfth year of Jiading, the Jin invaded Shu by several routes, assaulted Qiuqi Fort, and then assaulted Baihuan Fort. Wei's lieutenants Shi Xuan and Dong Zhao drove them back in turn. Soon afterward the Jin struck Chengzhou, and Wei pulled back from Xihe to hold Xianren Plateau. By then Wu Zheng, overall commander of Xingyuan, had been killed at Huangniu Fort. Li Gui replaced him and fled headlong to Wuxiu. The Jin had already overrun Wuxiu, then seized Xingyuan, and went on to take Da'an Army.
35
先是，利州路安撫使丁焴聞金人深入，亟遣書招威東入救蜀，又檄忠義總管李好古北上捍禦。 好古出魚關與統領張彪遇，以彪棄迷竹關故，斬之。 彪，威弟也。 威聞彪死，按兵不進。 焴聞之，謂僚佐曰：「吳政身死，李貴復以兵敗，金人所憚惟威。 今好古擅殺其弟，失威心，奈何？ 且金人在東，非威地分，今可無好古，不可無威。」 遂因好古入見，數其擅殺彪罪，斬之。 遣書速威進救蜀，且使進士田遂往說之。 威感激，夜半調發，鼓行而前，破金人於金斗鎮。 金人雖敗未退，威頓兵不動，潛遣石宣等襲於大安軍，大破之。 金人之來也，擇兩齒馬及精兵凡三千人，至是殲焉，俘其將巴土魯，大將包長壽聞之宵遁。
Earlier, Ding Yu, pacification commissioner of Lizhou Circuit, learning that the Jin had driven deep inland, had urgently written Wei to march east and relieve Shu, and also ordered the loyalist commander Li Haogu north to block them. Haogu came out through Yugu Pass and met the regimental commander Zhang Biao. Because Biao had abandoned Mizhu Pass, Haogu had him beheaded. Biao was Wei's younger brother. When Wei learned that Biao had been killed, he halted his army and refused to move. When Yu heard of this, he told his staff, "Wu Zheng is dead, and Li Gui has been beaten again. The Jin fear no one but Wei. Now Haogu has killed his brother on his own authority and lost Wei's loyalty. What are we to do? Besides, the Jin are in the east, outside Wei's jurisdiction. We can spare Haogu, but we cannot spare Wei." He therefore had Haogu come in under pretense of an audience, charged him with executing Biao on his own authority, and had him beheaded. He wrote urging Wei to hurry to Shu’s relief and sent the jinshi graduate Tian Sui to persuade him. Moved by this, Wei mobilized at midnight, marched forward to the beat of drums, and routed the Jin at Jindou Town. Although beaten, the Jin had not retreated. Wei held his main force in place and secretly sent Shi Xuan and others to strike Da'an Army, inflicting a heavy defeat. The Jin force that had come had been picked from three thousand prime horses and elite troops; now it was wiped out. They captured the general Batu'er, and the grand general Bao Changshou fled by night when he heard the news.
36
興元叛兵張福、莫簡作亂，以紅帕蒙首，號「紅巾隊」，焚利州，殺總領楊九鼎，破閬、果，入遂寧，遊騎在潼、漢界，將窺成都。 制置司謂賊勢欲西，非威不可禦。 乃遣威提精兵六千人，自劍、綿至廣漢，盛夏暑劇，休士三日。 俄安丙檄威東進，時賊自遂寧入普州茗山，威進兵重圍，絕其糧道，晝夜迫之。 未幾禽福等十七人戮之，簡自殺，賊遂平。
Zhang Fu and Mo Jian, rebel soldiers from Xingyuan, rose in revolt. With red cloth bound over their heads they called themselves the Red Headband Corps. They burned Lizhou, killed the supply commissioner Yang Jiuding, overran Lang and Guo, entered Suining, and sent raiding parties to the Tong and Han frontier, poised to threaten Chengdu. The military commissionerate judged that the rebels meant to push west and that only Wei could stop them. They sent Wei with six thousand picked troops. From Jian and Mian to Guanghan, in the fierce heat of midsummer, he rested his men for three days. Soon An Bing ordered Wei east. The rebels had left Suining and entered Ming Mountain in Puzhou. Wei advanced, tightened the encirclement, cut their supply lines, and pressed them day and night. Before long he captured Fu and seventeen others and executed them. Jian killed himself, and the rebellion was put down.
37
西夏來約夾攻金人，丙許之。 遣王仕信會夏人於鞏，又命威與利帥程信、興帥陳立等分道並進。 威向秦州。 議初起，威謂：「金人尚強，夏人反覆，未可輕動。」 丙不聽，卒遣威，威黽勉而行，令所部毋得輕發，諸將至城下，無功而還。 丙怒，奏罷其兵柄。 是歲，卒於利州，終揚州觀察使。
Western Xia proposed a joint attack on the Jin, and Bing agreed. He sent Wang Shixin to meet the Xia at Gong and ordered Wei, together with the Lizhou commander Cheng Xin, the Xingyuan commander Chen Li, and others, to advance by separate routes in concert. Wei marched on Qinzhou. When the plan was first broached, Wei said, "The Jin are still strong and the Xia are unreliable. We must not move rashly." Bing would not listen and sent Wei anyway. Wei went reluctantly, ordering his troops not to engage lightly. The generals reached the city walls and came back empty-handed. Enraged, Bing memorialized the throne to remove him from command. That year he died at Lizhou, having reached the rank of Yangzhou observation commissioner.
38
威初在行伍，以勇見稱，進充偏裨，每戰輒克，金人聞其名畏憚之。 臨陳戰酣，則精采愈奮，兩眼皆赤，時號「張紅眼」，又號「張鶻眼」，威立「淨天鶻」旗以自表。 每戰不操它兵，有木棓號「紫大蟲」，圜而不刃，長不六尺，揮之掠陣，敵皆靡。 荊、鄂多平川廣野，威曰：「是彼騎兵之利也，鐵騎一衝，吾步技窮矣，蜀中戰法不可用。」 乃意創法，名「撒星陳」，分合不常，聞鼓則聚，聞金則散。 騎兵至則聲金，一軍分為數十簇； 金人隨而分兵，則又鼓而聚之。 倏忽之間，分合數變，金人失措，然後縱擊之，以此輒勝。 威御軍紀律嚴整，兵行常若銜枚，罕聞其聲。 每與百姓避路，買食物則賈倍於市，迄無敢喧。 晚以嗜欲多疾，故不壽云。
Wei began as an ordinary soldier, known for courage. He rose to company officer, won every battle he fought, and the Jin feared him at the mention of his name. In the heat of battle his spirit burned brighter still and both eyes turned red. Men called him "Zhang Red-Eyes" and also "Zhang Hawk-Eyes." He flew a banner reading "Pure Heaven Hawk" as his personal standard. In battle he used no other weapon. He carried a wooden club called "Purple Great Beast" — round, unedged, and less than six chi long. Swinging it through the ranks, he broke every enemy before him. Jing and E are mostly open plain, and Wei said, "That plays to their cavalry. One charge of iron horsemen and our infantry tactics are spent. The fighting methods of Shu will not work here." He therefore devised a new formation he called the Scattered Stars Array, shifting between dispersion and concentration without fixed pattern: at the drum they gathered, at the gong they scattered. When enemy cavalry appeared, he sounded the gong and one body of troops split into dozens of clusters; the Jin divided in pursuit, whereupon he beat the drums and drew his men together again. In moments the formation split and re-formed several times. The Jin lost their footing, and then he let his men charge. By this method he won again and again. Wei kept iron discipline. On the march his men moved as if gagged with wooden sticks — scarcely a sound was heard. They always gave way to civilians on the road. When they bought food they paid twice the market price, and no one dared raise a commotion. In his later years excess and indulgence brought many illnesses, and so, it is said, he did not live long.
39
論曰：宋之南渡，邊將之才何其鮮哉！ 或曰「江南非用武之地」，然古之善兵者，若孫武子，亦吳人也。 抑先王之世，文武無二道，文武既分，宜其才之各有所偏勝也。 趙方少從張栻學、許國之忠，應變之略，隱然有尊俎折衝之風。 其部曲如扈再興、孟宗政後皆為名將，亦方之能獎率也。 方之子范、葵，宗政子珙，後皆以功名自見，不愧其父，有足稱者。 賈涉居方面，亦號有才，及其庶孽，竟至亡國，為可歎也。 張威者善於御眾，故所至立功云。
The commentators say: After the Song crossed south, how few talented frontier generals there were! Some say that lands south of the Yangtze are no field for arms, yet Sun Wu, among the ancients who excelled at war, was himself a man of Wu. Perhaps in the age of the former kings civil and military were not two separate paths. Once they were split apart, it is only natural that talent should lean one way or the other. Zhao Fang studied under Zhang Shi in his youth. Like Xu Guo's loyalty and his gift for adapting to events, he quietly carried the bearing of a man who could settle affairs over the banquet table. Subordinates such as Hu Zaixing and Meng Zongzheng later became famous generals in their own right — a measure also of Fang's power to inspire and lead. Fang's sons Fan and Kui, and Zongzheng's son Gong, later won distinction in their own right and did not disgrace their fathers — all worth noting. Jia She too held a frontier command and was counted talented, yet his illegitimate son in the end helped ruin the state — a thing to sigh over. Zhang Wei was skilled at leading men, and so wherever he was sent he won distinction.