Biography
Family Background and Early Life
Yue Fei was born in 1103, the second year of the Chongning era under Emperor Huizong of Song, into a farming household in Xiaoti Village, Yonghe Township, Tangyin County, Xiangzhou, Hebei West Circuit. His father, Yue He, came from a family that had migrated from Liaocheng in Shandong and had farmed for generations. The household owned only several hundred *mu* of poor land, whose harvest barely supported the family. Hebei West Circuit suffered repeatedly from flooding by the Yellow River, and a famine struck again in the spring of Yue Fei's birth year. Although Yue He's own household was not wealthy, he still aided neighbors and even reduced his own daily food intake to help starving villagers. The local community therefore respected the Yue family. According to a traditional story, a large bird like a swan flew from the southeast and cried above the chamber when Yue Fei was born. Yue He considered it an auspicious sign and named the child Fei, with the courtesy name Pengju.
As a youth Yue Fei was ambitious and principled, calm and straightforward, sparing of speech, and uncompromising in character. He had a quick memory and read widely, especially enjoying the *Zuo Tradition of the Spring and Autumn Annals* and Sun Wu's military writings, sometimes reading through the night. Because the family was poor and could not always afford candles, he gathered dry branches by day and burned them at night for light. His reading was not confined to phrases and commentaries; once he grasped the essential meaning, he did not remain tied to the wording. Before the age of twenty he could draw a bow of three hundred *jin* and use his waist to span a crossbow rated at eight *shi*. He studied archery under the local expert Zhou Tong, who greatly admired him and taught him everything he knew. Yue later practiced until he could shoot with either hand and hit what he aimed at. After Zhou Tong died, Yue Fei grieved deeply. On the first and fifteenth days of each month he sold a piece of clothing, set out a cup of wine and a piece of meat before Zhou's grave, wept in sacrifice, and shot three arrows from the bow Zhou had left him, showing that he did not forget his teacher's instruction. Yue later studied spear and blade techniques under Chen Guang and became regarded as unmatched in martial skill within the county.
Entering Military Service and Early Resistance to Jin
In 1122, the fourth year of Xuanhe, Liu Ge, pacification commissioner of Zhending Circuit, recruited elite fighters in preparation for possible Liao incursions. Yue Fei enlisted for the first time. Liu Ge was immediately struck by him and appointed him a small-unit leader. The major Xiangzhou bandits Tao Jun and Jia Jin were plundering towns, killing and abducting officials and civilians, while government forces repeatedly failed to suppress them. Yue Fei asked to take one hundred cavalry against them, and Liu Ge gave him two hundred infantry and cavalry. Yue sent thirty men in altered clothing to enter the bandits' territory disguised as merchants. They pretended to be captured and were incorporated into the bandit ranks. One night Yue placed one hundred men in ambush below a hill and personally led several dozen cavalry against the bandit base. The bandits, contemptuous of his small force, came out to fight. Yue feigned retreat and drew them into pursuit. The hidden troops then attacked while the thirty infiltrators seized Tao Jun and Jia Jin amid the confusion. The bandits collapsed and most were captured. Wang Jing, prefect of Xiangzhou, memorialized the court on Yue's achievement, and Yue was selected for the rank Chengxinlang. Before the appointment could be issued, however, his father Yue He died. Yue hurried back to Tangyin and observed mourning so intensely that he became visibly emaciated. The court soon abolished the recruited elite units, and the earlier appointment was never formally delivered.
In the third lunar month of 1124, the sixth year of Xuanhe, the bandit leader Zhang Chao and several hundred followers surrounded the former residence of Han Qi. Yue Fei was at the Han estate seeking to purchase grain and angrily declared that bandits dared to violate territory he was defending. He went out to investigate, saw Zhang Chao advancing confidently, climbed a low wall, and shot him through the throat. Zhang fell dead and the bandits scattered, saving the Han estate. Later that year Yue enlisted at Pingding Military Prefecture as an auxiliary soldier and was soon promoted to junior commander.
In the sixth lunar month of 1126, the first year of Jingkang, a circuit military inspector who knew of Yue's courage ordered him to lead more than one hundred cavalry to reconnoiter Shouyang and Yuci. They suddenly encountered a Jin detachment, and Yue's cavalry drew back in fear. Yue alone charged into the enemy, entering and leaving their formation several times and killing several mounted officers. That night he put on Jin clothing and secretly entered the Jin camp, moving throughout the encampment and returning with full knowledge of its strengths and weaknesses. He was promoted for merit to Deputy Commandant of Jinyi. On a later night crossing he lost the certificate confirming his appointment; instead of reporting the matter, he quietly returned by side roads to Xiangzhou.
In the winter of 1126 Zhao Gou established a grand marshal's headquarters in the Hebei region and arrived at Xiangzhou. Yue Fei was summoned because he belonged to Liu Hao's command. Liu Hao ordered Yue to secure the surrender of bandit leaders Ji Qian and others and gave him one hundred cavalry. Yue departed late in the day, had his men camp and eat, and entered the bandit camp directly with only four horsemen. Ji Qian and the others already knew Yue's reputation and were moved by his sincerity. They prepared wine for him, and Yue drank freely without suspicion. One bandit suddenly rose and attacked. Yue struck him in the face, knocking him forward, then drew his sword and confronted the group. Ji Qian and the others surrounded Yue, bowed, and asked for pardon. They removed their armor and surrendered, bringing a total of more than 380 men into submission. The three grand marshals took notice of Yue and appointed him Chengxinlang. Soon afterward he received orders to follow Liu Hao to relieve the siege of the eastern capital and confronted the enemy on the southern bank near Huazhou. Riding Liu Hao's warhorse, Yue trained one hundred cavalry beside the Yellow River. The frozen river was sealed with ice when Jin forces suddenly arrived. Yue told his men that although the enemy was numerous, they did not know the Song force's strength; if attacked before they stabilized, they could be defeated. Yue rode forward alone. A fierce enemy officer advanced brandishing a large saber; Yue parried and cut off his head. Yue's cavalry then attacked and routed the enemy, reportedly taking several thousand heads. Yue was promoted to Bingyilang, and Zhao Gou placed his troops under Zong Ze, defender of the capital.
In the first lunar month of 1127, the second year of Jingkang, Yue fought at Kaide Prefecture and shot two Jin standard-bearers with two arrows before leading a cavalry charge that defeated the enemy. He was promoted to Xiuwulang. In the second lunar month he fought at Caozhou. With his hair loose, he brandished a four-edged iron club and charged directly into the Jin formation. His soldiers were encouraged and fought with exceptional determination, defeating the Jin and pursuing them for several dozen *li*. Yue was promoted to Wuyilang. Zong Ze was astonished by him and observed that Yue's bravery, intelligence, ability, and martial skill would not be surpassed even by celebrated generals of antiquity, but that Yue favored open-field fighting and did not follow ancient methods. Yue replied that the essence of warfare lay in surprise and unpredictability; on open ground, when unexpectedly meeting the enemy, there was no time to arrange a fixed formation, and if a subordinate commander with few troops stopped to form a rigid array the Jin cavalry would see through the dispositions and trample them. Zong Ze reflected for a long time and agreed.
Campaigns in the Lower Yangtze and Recovery of Jiankang
In the fifth lunar month of 1127 Zhao Gou ascended the throne as emperor and adopted the Jianyan era name. Yue Fei submitted a memorial of several thousand characters arguing that the emperor's accession had given the people and state a legitimate center and frustrated the enemy's political designs; as loyal armies gathered and the military position strengthened, the court should take advantage of Jin fatigue and attack. Yue criticized Li Gang, Huang Qianshan, Wang Boyan, and others for failing to fulfill the emperor's intention of recovering the old territories and bringing back the two captured emperors, and warned of a tendency toward passive security. The court stripped him of military office for “speaking beyond his official duties.”
In the eighth lunar month of 1127 Yue joined Zhang Suo, a court official then serving as pacification commissioner of Hebei West Circuit. Zhang valued him and provisionally restored him as Xiuwulang and Gate Office Presentation Officer, placing him in command of the central army. He was soon provisionally promoted to Wujinglang and became a central-army commander. In the ninth lunar month Zhang Suo ordered Commander-in-Chief Wang Yan to lead Yue and seven thousand men across the Yellow River against Jin. Zhang Suo was soon removed and exiled, and the Hebei West pacification command was abolished. During the advance Yue and Wang Yan disagreed. Yue eventually separated from Wang and acted independently, but was outnumbered. When he attempted to rejoin Wang, Wang refused him, so Yue went south to Zong Ze, who at that time was Hanlin academician of the Yankang Hall, defender of the capital, and mayor of Kaifeng. Yue was liable to execution for disobeying his commander, but Zong Ze pardoned him, merely removing his office pending judgment.
Zong Ze died in the seventh lunar month of 1128, and Du Chong succeeded him as defender of the eastern capital. In the eighth lunar month Yue again defeated Jin forces at Sishui Pass and was promoted to Wugonglang. Du Chong ordered him to suppress Zhang Yong, Cao Cheng, Wang Shan, and other forces that Zong Ze had previously accepted into submission but which no longer obeyed after Zong's death. Yue fought desperately with eight hundred men and was promoted to Wujing Dafu. He then relieved Dongming County, which was surrounded by the bandits Du Shuwu and Sun Hai, and was promoted to Wulüe Dafu and provisionally appointed Prefect of Yingzhou. He later relieved Huaining Prefecture from Wang Shan's siege, was promoted to Wude Dafu, and received the formal appointment as Prefect of Yingzhou.
In the sixth lunar month of 1129 Du Chong withdrew to Jiankang despite Yue's bitter remonstrance, and Kaifeng was lost. Soon afterward Wanyan Zongbi led Jin forces south toward Jiankang. Du Chong's troops were defeated and Du surrendered with three thousand personal soldiers. Yue withdrew to Zijin Mountain northeast of Jiankang and later recovered Changzhou through four battles. Emperor Gaozong fled by sea. Jin troops pursued for more than three hundred *li* along the coast but failed to capture him and eventually withdrew north after extensive plundering.
In the third lunar month of 1130 Gaozong returned from the sea to Yuezhou and appointed Zhang Jun as military commissioner for Zhejiang West and Jiangdong, ordering the various generals to accept his authority and recover Jiankang. In the fourth lunar month Yue won at Qingshui Pavilion. In the fifth he moved to Niutou Mountain and led three hundred cavalry and two thousand infantry to defeat Wanyan Zongbi fifteen *li* northwest of Jiankang, recovering the city. In the sixth lunar month he accompanied Zhang Jun against Qi Fang, a former military commander who had become a bandit, defeating him at Kuling, roughly seventy *li* southeast of Guangde Military Prefecture, with three thousand men. Qi Fang surrendered to Zhang Jun. On returning to court Zhang Jun strongly praised Yue's usefulness. Yue was therefore promoted to Wugong Dafu and Defense Commissioner of Changzhou and appointed pacification commissioner of Tongzhou concurrently administering Taizhou.
After moving north, Wanyan Zongbi joined Wanyan Chang to attack Chuzhou. Gaozong ordered Zhang Jun to relieve the city. Zhang Jun sent Yue Fei, who was not part of his own inner force, into battle and ordered Liu Guangshi to support him. Yue reached Chengzhou in the ninth lunar month but could not lift the siege, and Chuzhou fell. With no defensible position, Yue withdrew. In the tenth lunar month he was promoted to Qinwei Dafu and Surveillance Commissioner of Jianzhou. In the twelfth lunar month, Xin Qizong, deputy commander-in-chief of the Shenwu Auxiliary Army, was dismissed for failing to suppress Fan Ruwei's revolt in Fujian. Yue's “Right Shenwu Auxiliary Army” was renamed the “Shenwu Auxiliary Army,” and Yue was promoted to commander-in-chief.
Suppressing Internal Rebellion and the First Northern Campaign
At the end of the first lunar month of 1132, the second year of Shaoxing, Yue was appointed prefect, pacification commissioner of Jinghu East Circuit, and general commander and led troops toward Tanzhou. In the second lunar month Li Gang, the foremost advocate of active resistance, was restored to office as pacification commissioner for Jinghu and Guangnan circuits. Yue and other generals were placed under Li Gang and ordered to campaign against the rebel Cao Cheng in Hunan East Circuit. The Yue Family Army then numbered more than twelve thousand. Yue left two thousand men at Jizhou while Zhang Xian, Wang Gui, Xu Qing, and others led the remaining forces on separate routes against Cao Cheng. Cao Cheng repeatedly retreated before the attacks and eventually surrendered. Yue was promoted to Chengxuan Commissioner of the Wu'an Army.
In 1133 Yue suppressed rebellions in Ji and Qian prefectures. Emperor Gaozong presented him with a banner reading “Jingzhong Yue Fei” in recognition of his service. During the suppression Yue imposed strict military discipline; his troops were forbidden to take even the smallest property from the people and gained strong popular support.
In 1134 Yue led troops north, defeated the combined forces of Jin and the puppet Qi, and recovered Yingzhou, Xiangyang Prefecture, Suizhou, and other areas. He was promoted to military commissioner. This was the first major recovery of lost territory since the foundation of the Southern Song and greatly encouraged resistance to Jin. Yue stationed at Xiangyang and actively developed the area as a base for later campaigns.
In 1135 Yue became military commissioner of two commands and was promoted to campaign commander. He continued training troops and preparing in the Jingxiang region. The Yue Family Army expanded in size and steadily improved in combat effectiveness.
Northern Campaigns and the Victory at Yancheng
In 1136 Yue again campaigned north, taking Zhenru Military Prefecture, Guozhou, Shangzhou, and the counties of Yiyang and Changshui in the Western Capital's Henan Prefecture. The reputation of the Yue Family Army grew, while Jin and puppet Qi troops became increasingly wary. The campaign, however, was repeatedly constrained by Emperor Gaozong and Qin Gui, and supplies and reinforcements were often insufficient.
In 1137 Yue planned another northern campaign and proposed that Gaozong designate an heir, which aroused suspicion from Gaozong, Qin Gui, and others. The Song court cancelled the expedition. Yue was deeply disappointed but did not abandon his determination to resist Jin.
In 1140, the tenth year of Shaoxing, Jin broke the peace and invaded south. Yue advanced under a strategy of “linking up with Hebei,” dividing his forces to seize broad territories as far north as Zhengzhou and the Western Capital's Henan Prefecture. At Yancheng and Yingchang he inflicted major defeats on the Jin main forces, and the Jin commander Wanyan Zongbi nearly fell into Song hands. Yue advanced to Zhuxian Town, only forty-five *li* from the former Northern Song capital of Kaifeng. Emperor Gaozong, however, was determined to negotiate peace and ordered him back by twelve gold-lettered commands. Isolated and without support, Yue withdrew. In grief he declared that ten years of achievement had been destroyed in a single day; the recovered commanderies had all been lost at once, the state could not be restored, and the world offered no path to recover what had been lost.
Wrongful Death
In 1141, the eleventh year of Shaoxing, Emperor Gaozong and Qin Gui used promotion in title to remove effective command from Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and other leading generals. Yue became Deputy Military Affairs Commissioner, but in practice he had been stripped of power. During the negotiations that produced the Treaty of Shaoxing, Qin Gui, Zhang Jun, and others accused Yue of wrongdoing, and he was imprisoned. Qin Gui directed Censor Moqi Xie and others to construct accusations of treason. Yue was subjected to severe interrogation in prison but did not confess to the charges.
On January 27, 1142, the twelfth year of Shaoxing, Yue Fei was killed in the prison of the Court of Judicial Review at age thirty-nine on a charge of treason described by the phrase “perhaps there is.” His eldest son Yue Yun and his subordinate Zhang Xian were also killed. Before his death, according to the account preserved in the source text, Yue wrote eight characters in prison: “The bright sun and heaven are clear; the bright sun and heaven are clear,” expressing his sense of injustice.
Rehabilitation
In 1162, the thirty-second year of Shaoxing, Emperor Xiaozong came to the throne and exonerated Yue Fei. Yue was ceremonially reburied at Qixia Ridge beside West Lake and was posthumously titled Wumu. Later Southern Song emperors further posthumously appointed him Grand Preceptor and enfeoffed him as Prince of E. Later generations commonly referred to him as Yue Wumu, Prince Wumu, or Prince Zhongwu Yue.
The "Hard Reconnaissance" at Yuci and the Summoning of Ji Qian at Xiangzhou
The first appearance of Yue Fei's abilities is recorded in the Xing Shi Bian Nian of the E Guo Jin Tuo Cui Bian. The first chapter records that in the bingwu year of the first year of Jingkang, when he was twenty-four, he reconnoitred a thousand enemy at Yuci; that the office of the Grand Marshal summoned Ji Qian, that he was given the rank of Chengxin Lang, fought at Shiyulin, was transferred to the nominal rank of Baoyi Lang, fought on the river at Huazhou, and was transferred to Bingyi Lang and attached to Zong Ze. In the sixth month of summer the commander Ji Tuanlian, knowing his courage, sent him with more than a hundred cavalry to reconnoitre the bandits in the county of Yuci in Qingyang, which was called a hard reconnaissance; meeting suddenly with a body of the enemy, his cavalry feared and fell back, and Yue Fei alone charged the enemy array, going in and out four times, killing several of their mounted commanders, so that the enemy broke and dared not press him. At night he entered their camp in barbarian dress and, meeting one beating the watch, answered in gibberish Hu speech, and so went all round the camp and brought back every detail of their dispositions, being given the rank of Jinyi Fuwei; but crossing by night he lost his credentials, and, caring nothing for them, made his way back to Xiangzhou. Afterwards, when the emperor opened the office of Grand Marshal of the world's horse and foot in Hebei and came to Xiangzhou, Yue Fei obtained audience through Liu Hao and was ordered to summon the various bands under Ji Qian, a hundred cavalry being given him. On the day of the order, at dusk, Yue Fei halted his troops and fed them, and himself with four riders went straight into the bandits' camp; the bandits were astonished, and Yue Fei called Ji Qian out and comforted and admonished him, saying that the barbarians had outraged the rightful order, and that instead of supporting righteousness to establish merit and fame they were living meanly in the grass; that he was now ordered by the Grand Marshal to summon them, and that this was the season to turn calamity into fortune. Ji Qian and the others, knowing Yue Fei's reputation of old and moved by his perfect sincerity, set out wine and entertained him, and Yue Fei drank heartily without suspicion. When the wine was deep Ji Qian said that having disturbed the prefectures and counties they now accepted the summons but feared they would not escape execution. Yue Fei reasoned with them again and again, and they had already submitted when one of the bandits suddenly rose and struck at him; Yue Fei slapped his cheek so that he fell at once, drew his sword and faced them, whereupon Ji Qian and the rest bowed around him begging pardon and laid down their arms one after another, three hundred and eighty in all. By this he came to the notice of the three great marshals, was given the rank of Chengxin Lang and three hundred iron cavalry.
The Battles of Shiyulin and the River at Huazhou, and of Kaide and Caozhou
Having been given three hundred iron cavalry, Yue Fei went to try the enemy at the Li Garden crossing and fought at Shiyulin, defeating them and killing their chief commander, being transferred to Chengzhong Lang; and shortly after he was ordered by Lu Hao to relieve the siege of the eastern capital, holding the enemy at the south of Huazhou. Yue Fei, riding Liu Hao's horse, practised his troops on the river with a hundred cavalry; the river froze and closed with ice, and the enemy suddenly appeared, whereupon Yue Fei waved his men on, saying that though the enemy were many they did not know his strength or weakness, and that if they struck before the enemy was settled they might gain their aim. He galloped alone to meet them; a chief commander brandishing a sword came forward, and Yue Fei caught it with his own blade, which entered an inch or more into it, then drew his sword and struck, cutting off his head, so that the body fell upon the ice. The cavalry took advantage of it and the enemy was utterly defeated, several thousand heads being cut off and several hundred horses taken, and for his merit he was advanced to Bingyi Lang. When the Grand Marshal moved north to Beijing, Yue Fei's army was attached to the guard Zong Ze. The Xing Shi Bian Nian also records that in the first month of the spring of the second year of Jingkang he fought at Kaide, killing two standard-bearers of the Chin with two arrows, and loosed his cavalry in a sudden attack, defeating them and taking armour, horses, bows and swords to present, being transferred to Xiuwu Lang; and that in the second month he fought at Caozhou, with his hair unbound, wielding an iron mace with four edges, charging straight into the enemy array, so that all his soldiers took heart and none was not equal to a hundred, breaking the enemy utterly and pursuing them several tens of li, and being transferred to Wuyi Lang.
The Memorial of the First Year of Jianyan and the Loss of His Office
At the beginning of Emperor Gaozong's reign Yue Fei incurred guilt for memorialising on affairs of state as what was called a minor official overstepping his duty. The Xing Shi Bian Nian records that the Grand Marshal moved to Nanjing and again ordered the present emperor's subject to follow with his troops; that in the fifth month the Grand Marshal took the imperial throne and changed the era name to Jianyan; and that the subject sent up a memorial of several thousand words, whose gist was that the emperor had now ascended the precious throne, that the black-haired people had someone to turn to and the altars of state a lord, which was already enough to defeat the barbarians' schemes; that the loyal troops of the imperial camp were daily gathering and the armies growing strong, and that since the enemy took us for always weak and not likely to be able to resist, this was precisely the time to strike while they were slack; but that Li Gang, Huang Shanqian, Wang Boyan and their like could not carry out the emperor's will to restore the old frontiers and welcome back the two sages, but served the imperial carriage in going ever further south and ordered Chang'an, Weiyang and Xiangyang to prepare for the carriage's return, so that there was the beginning of a base contentment and no far-reaching plan, which could not bind the hopes of the central plain; and that though the generals and commanders exerted themselves abroad, in the end there would be no success. For the plan of the day, he said, nothing was better than to beg the emperor to return to the capital, to annul the edict on the progress to the three prefectures, and, while the two sages had not long been in the dust and the enemy's camp was not yet firm, to lead the six armies in person across the river northward in slow array, whereupon, with the awe of Heaven upon them, generals and commanders of one mind and the soldiers in high spirit, the land of the central plain might be recovered at the appointed time. On the memorial being presented it greatly offended the ministers in power, who held that a minor official had overstepped his duty and spoken what he ought not, and he was deprived of office and sent back to his fields. That a low-ranking military official should memorialise several thousand words on the great plans of state and rebuke the chief ministers to their faces, and so be stripped of office, was a small matter in itself, yet his purpose of welcoming back the two sages and recovering the central plain was already visible at this time.
The Crossing of the River with Wang Yan and the Battle of Xinxiang
Yue Fei's becoming an independent commander began with his friction with the commandant Wang Yan. The Xing Shi Bian Nian records that the subject was ordered to cross the river with the commandant Wang Yan, and reaching Xinxiang county in Weizhou, where the enemy was strong, Wang Yan's army lay below Shimen Mountain; the subject asked Wang Yan to fight, but Wang Yan did not advance; and the subject, suspecting that Wang Yan had other designs, cried out to him that the two emperors were in the dust and the enemy held the land north of the river, so that a subject should open the road to welcome the imperial carriage, and that if they did not fight quickly but only looked on, did he truly mean to go over to the enemy? Wang Yan was silent and forced himself to set out wine; and in his tent there was a man surnamed Liu who several times wrote the character for "behead" on his palm to show Wang Yan, who did not respond. The subject in anger rose and led his own troops alone into desperate battle, seized the enemy's great banner and waved it, whereupon all the armies shouted and strove, and Xinxiang was taken and the thousand-man commander Alibo taken alive; and he fought the ten-thousand-man commander Wang Suo and defeated him. The next day, about to fight at Houzhaochuan, the subject warned his soldiers beforehand that he had already won two victories and the enemy would surely come with united strength, and that though they were few they must plan for certain victory, and that whoever did not obey would be beheaded. In the fighting the soldiers were gravely wounded and the subject himself took more than ten wounds, and all fought to the death, breaking the enemy at last and taking countless men and horses. At night they camped below Shimen Mountain, and when word came that enemy cavalry had returned the whole army was alarmed, but the subject lay still and did not move; and the enemy in the end did not come. With provisions exhausted they killed the horse he rode over several days to feed the troops; and going by side paths to Wang Yan's camp to beg grain, Wang Yan would not give it, so he led his troops further north and entrenched against the enemy; and he fought again in the Taihang Mountains, taking several dozen horses and capturing several of the Tuoba Yawuju; and some days later, meeting the enemy again, the subject rode out alone with a long iron mace and killed the enemy commander the Great King of the Black Wind, putting to flight twenty thousand of his men and terrifying the enemy army. Knowing that he was suspected by Wang Yan, the subject made his own separate army and returned to Zong Ze, who made him a controller of the guard office; and not long after Zong Ze died and Du Chong took his place.
The Defeat at Majiadu and the Holding of Zhongshan
In the winter of the third year of Jianyan the Chin crossed the river, and Yue Fei fought with a single army and preserved his troops. The Xing Shi Bian Nian records that in the eleventh month of winter the Chin raised a great army and with Li Cheng raided Wujiang county; Du Chong shut his doors and would not come out, and to the repeated requests of his generals gave no answer. The subject knocked at the door of his sleeping chamber and remonstrated, saying that the great enemy was near in the Huai region, looking askance at the Yangzi with no shallow design, and that never was the position of one sleeping on brushwood more urgent than now; yet the lord passed his days in ease, unheeding military matters, and if the enemy spied out their slackness and took up arms against them, and the lord himself took no hand in the business, could he answer for the generals obeying orders; that if the generals did not obey, and Jinling fell, could the lord still sleep at ease there; and that though he himself served with a single army, it would be no help to the state. He wept so that his face was covered and begged him earnestly to come out and inspect the troops; Du Chong answered vaguely that he would come to the river bank the next day, but in the end did not come out. On the eighteenth day the enemy crossed at Majiadu, and Du Chong at last sent the subject and sixteen others with twenty thousand troops to meet the enemy with the commandant Chen Cui; and while the fighting was at its height the great general Wang Xie fled with several tens of thousands, so that all the generals broke away, and the subject alone fought on until evening, when relief did not come and the baggage had been carried back by the fleeing generals, and the soldiers had no food; and so the whole army camped by night at Zhongshan and fought out again at dawn, cutting off several thousand heads.
Blood Shed to Rouse the Troops and the Gathering of the Remnant
After the defeat at Majiadu the generals wished to rebel, and Yue Fei roused them by loyalty and righteousness and gathered their troops. The Xing Shi Bian Nian records that the generals, in turmoil, wished to rebel, and Qi Fang was the first to desert and turn bandit, and some under the subject followed him; and the subject, shedding blood, roused his men, saying that they had received the state's great favour and should repay it with loyalty and righteousness, establishing merit and name and writing it on bamboo and silk, so that in death they should be immortal; that if they surrendered to the barbarians and broke up into bandits, living meanly and in hiding, they would die in body and name would perish, and how could that be a good plan; that Jiankang was ground of strategic strength on the left of the river, and if the barbarians stole it, on what could a state be founded; and that in the business of the day there was death and no second thought, and whoever went out of that gate would be beheaded. His words and looks were generous and moved the soldiers to tears, so that none dared think of another course. He summoned the remaining generals and said that whoever was not a Red Turban should follow him. Thereupon Fu Qing and Liu Jing took their troops and followed Du Chong, who in the end crossed the river with the Jinling treasury and his household and surrendered to the enemy. The remaining soldiers were all men of the northwest who had long admired the subject's kindness and good faith, and some secretly told him that they wished to ask him to be their commander and rebel together, and the subject pretended to agree; and presently the leaders of their units came each with the rolls of their ranks, and the subject, calling them by the rolls, said that with their numbers and strength they could establish extraordinary merit for the court, take the central plain, receive high reward in their own persons and return to their old homes, which would surely be glory; that they must wash away their old thoughts before they could attach themselves to him; and that if any would not listen they had better kill him first, for he could never follow them in rebellion. All with one accord shouted that they would obey the controller's orders, and he took them all in. To turn danger into safety and gather troops to stand firm amid a broken rout shows his power of command.
The Campaign Against Qi Fang and the Victory at Kuling
After the fourth year of Jianyan Yue Fei put down the rebel commander Qi Fang, the whole course appearing in the Xing Shi Bian Nian and the Jin Tuo Cui Bian. At first Qi Fang had carried off the old and young of Hu Cheng's army, and Hu Cheng reproached him; and Qi Fang outwardly apologised, made a covenant with Hu Cheng and returned those he had carried off, and Hu Cheng, not perceiving the deceit, went to the meeting, where Qi Fang had bravos hidden who killed him and slaughtered his household. On Hu Cheng's death his troops came over one after another to Yue Fei, and the officials of Guangde also sent a letter to inform him of Qi Fang's misdeeds. It happened that an edict ordered Yue Fei to attack him, and he camped at Kuling with three thousand men. Qi Fang then sent troops to break the official bridge and hold himself secure, and Yue Fei shot an arrow into the bridge post; and Qi Fang, getting the arrow, fled, and Yue Fei sent Fu Qing and the others after him without success; presently he came again with more troops, and Yue Fei went out himself with a thousand men and in more than ten engagements won every time, and he fled again and was pursued without ceasing. Qi Fang's way of life was near its end when Zhang Jun came to join forces, and Qi Fang surrendered to Zhang Jun by a side road. Zhang Jun pleaded for him, and Qi Fang came out to bow and wept begging for his life, and Zhang Jun pleaded hard for him; and Yue Fei said that the commissioner's order he must indeed obey, but that he and Qi Fang had been colleagues and Qi Fang had suddenly revolted and gone; that he had sent men to reason with him of obedience and rebellion and he had not listened; that he had slaughtered and plundered the living and disturbed the prefectures and counties; that he had lured the general Hu to death and slaughtered his household; and that he had refused the order and would not submit, worse than other wicked men, and how could he be forgiven? Zhang Jun pleaded again and again, and Yue Fei called Qi Fang and told him that since the commissioner had spared him death he should think of some way to repay the state. Qi Fang bowed twice and stood on the left. In the fighting at Guangde Yue Fei had been first among his soldiers, and Qi Fang had shot him with a crossbow, striking his saddle; and Yue Fei put the arrow in his quiver and said that when he took that brigand another day he would make him break it in atonement for death. Now he took out the arrow and gave it to Qi Fang, who broke it inch by inch with all respect, and Yue Fei and Zhang Jun both laughed aloud, while Qi Fang sweated and trembled and dared not look up. So the barbarians and bandits in the near regions were killed or surrendered.
Shao Wei's Memorial Praising Yue Fei's Achievements
Of Yue Fei's achievements there were those who memorialised at the time. The Xing Shi Bian Nian records that a certain Shao Wei, an editor of the court, sent a letter to the government saying that Yue Fei was valiant, martial, deep and resolute, yet mild as a scholar; that he had lately risen in Hebei, and had with several dozen cavalry held a dangerous and vital point and driven back an enemy army of ten thousand; that he had also outside the Nanxun Gate near the capital broken Wang Shan and Zhang Yong's five hundred thousand with eight or nine hundred men, so that his awe shook the barbarians and the Chinese, while he ate with his common soldiers among the people and did not disturb so much as a hair; and that if it were feared that the Chin would keep troops south of the river, checking the imperial armies and being a great danger to the southeast, he had then, regardless of himself, recovered Jiankang and taken for the state the throat of its strategic ground, so that the rebels were swept away and not a horseman remained, and who was it whose strength pacified Jiangsu and Zhejiang? He recounted his achievements in no fewer than several thousand words, and the government presented his letter to the throne, whereby there was an intention to advance him.
The Campaign Against Li Cheng in Jiangxi
In the first year of Shaoxing Yue Fei joined forces with Zhang Jun against Li Cheng and broke him repeatedly in Jiangxi. The Xing Shi Bian Nian records that in the first month of spring Zhang Jun came to take leave and spoke at length of Li Cheng's host, and the emperor said that though Li Cheng's troops were many they were not to be feared; and he told Zhang Jun that among the generals of the day he alone had no merit, at which Zhang Jun quickly asked how he had no merit, and the emperor laughed and said that in seizing Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan Han Shizhong was perhaps his superior. Zhang Jun, in fear, took the order and withdrew; and having withdrawn he was timorous and reckoned that he could certainly not win, and thinking that among the generals only the subject had plan and courage he asked that the subject's army be joined with his against the rebels, which the edict allowed. In the second month the subject reached Poyang and joined forces with Zhang Jun. On the third day of the third month they halted at Hongzhou, where the rebels had camps linked on the western hills so that the imperial army could not cross and none of the generals could face their edge; and Zhang Jun, much afraid, called the subject and told him that he had fought Li Cheng several times before and had lost every time, and asked him to plan for him. The subject answered that it was very easy: that the rebels were greedy and gave no thought to their rear, and that if three thousand cavalry were sent up the river to cross at Shengmi and take them unawares they must be broken; and that though he was without ability he begged to go as the van. Zhang Jun was delighted and followed him. On the ninth day the subject, in heavy armour, was first of all the armies to leap his horse across, at which all stared in amazement, and presently the rest crossed in order, the onlookers taking it for a divine act; and he came out secretly on the right of Ma Jin's army and was the first to break into the rebels' array, his troops following, so that the rebels were utterly defeated and fifty thousand of their soldiers surrendered. The subject pursued twenty-five li to the river and crossed a wooden bridge with a few dozen riders when the bridge broke so that the rear cavalry could not pass; and Ma Jin brought five thousand troops back against the subject, who killed his van commander with a single arrow and waved his cavalry in a sudden charge, whereupon Ma Jin's army scattered their arms at the sight and were broken again. Zhang Jun called the ditch and rampart officers to mend the bridge, and the rear cavalry also came, and Ma Jin fled to Yunzhou. The subject camped east of the city of Yun. On the eleventh day the rebels again led their troops out of the city and drew them up across fifteen li; and the subject, with a red gauze banner bearing the character Yue in white, at dawn led two hundred picked cavalry with banners and drums, and the rebels, despising their small number, closed with them, whereupon the ambush rose and they were broken and fled. The subject had it cried out that those who did not follow the rebels should sit down and strip off their armour and they would not be killed; and eighty thousand sat down at the word with countless dead; and of the maces, armour and weapons taken, the sound and whole were bound up and carried by the surrendered soldiers with the army, while the worn ones were put in the treasury of Yunzhou and the surrendered troops divided among the units, all being finished in three days.
The Victories at Zhujiashan, Louzizhuang and Qizhou
When Li Cheng's host was broken the subject pursued and defeated them again and again. The Xing Shi Bian Nian records that Ma Jin fled with his remnant to Li Cheng, who was then at Jianchang in Nankang; and the subject by night led troops with bits in their mouths to Zhujiashan and hid his men and furled his banners in the thick wood, and found them. When Ma Jin arrived the ambush rose from the wood at the first drum and the rebels were utterly defeated, five thousand foot being killed or taken and their commanders Zhao Wan and others beheaded, while Ma Jin fled first with a dozen or so riders and barely saved himself. Li Cheng in anger brought more than a hundred thousand of his own troops, and the subject met him at Louzizhuang and gave battle, breaking Li Cheng's army utterly, taking more than twenty thousand of his soldiers and two thousand horses; and pursuing from Wuning to Jiangzhou he killed or took thirty thousand on the way. Li Cheng fled by Dumudu toward Qizhou, and the subject pursued with cavalry and crossed his foot at Zhangjiadu to attack from both sides, killing Ma Jin, Sun Jian and the chiefs of their host; and Li Cheng's army fled in terror day and night without rest, fourteen or fifteen in ten dying of hunger and exhaustion. At Qizhou the subject took another fifteen thousand of their troops and more than two thousand horses, their abandoned weapons, armour, gold and silk beyond number; and Li Cheng fled and surrendered to the puppet Qi, and the Huai and the Yangzi were at peace. By the strength of one army to pass through the battles of Hongzhou, Yunzhou, Zhujiashan, Louzizhuang, Jiangzhou and Qizhou, and to drive Li Cheng's hundred thousand into surrender to the puppet Qi, was the greatest merit in all Zhang Jun's campaigns against the rebels, and so when Zhang Jun reported the merit the subject stood first.
The Pacification of Yang Yao and the Order Not to Kill
In the fifth year of Shaoxing Yue Fei pacified Yang Yao in Dongting, and the breadth of his settlement appears in the continuation of the Jin Tuo Cui Bian. The account of Yang Yao's affairs by an idler of Ding and Li records that Niu Gao reported to Yue Fei, saying that the great Yang Yao had occupied the double lake and troubled the court; that though the army of a prince and four wings, several tens of thousands, had gone against him the year before, it had been broken and returned empty; that now the commissioner had come with a great army to sweep his lair, and the rebels in fear of his tiger might had all come out and surrendered, only Yang Yao resisting and having been taken and killed; and that if some of his followers were not put to the sword the might of the army would not be shown, and he begged leave to make a slight slaughter so that those who came after should know to fear. Yue Fei said that the men of Yang Yao were villagers, first deluded by Zhong Xiang with monstrous tales and then, because the official Cheng harboured the grudge of the plundering of Dingjiang, never spared, but sought to kill all to wipe out his former shame, which had brought the bandits' strength to such growth; that in truth they only sought to preserve their lives and gather to escape; that now that the stockades had surrendered and the chief Yang Yao had been openly executed, the rest were all the emperor's own children, and to kill them would wound benevolence and what profit would it bring; that to bend an enemy's soldiers without fighting and to preserve the whole army was what the military writers prized; that slaughter and beheading were no good business; and that if the great matter were finished, so as to accord with the court's love of life and relieve the solicitude of a sage ruler and worthy minister, his own house would not fail in its heavy charge and he would have nothing to be ashamed of in his office. He said several times in succession, "You must not kill, you must not kill," and Niu Gao, having no answer, withdrew, and then pacified all the stockades, the whole being finished at once. To forbid slaughter on the ground that they were villagers and the emperor's own children was what distinguished his pacification of the Hu-Xiang troubles; and his merit in pacifying Yang Yao was one of the most notable of his campaigns in Xiang-Han and Hu-Xiang.
The Merit of Yang Yao's Pacification and the Suppression of Yue Yun
Yue Fei's merits were often shared by his son Yue Yun without being reported, as appears in the Supplements of the Jin Tuo Cui Bian: Yue Fei's son Yue Yun followed the campaigns and repeatedly won extraordinary merit, which he always concealed, so that all his promotions came from the court's own examination or the emperor's special order; his merit in the Xiang-Han campaign was the first, and not being reported for more than a year the board of selection discovered it and he was at last advanced to Wuyi Lang; in the pacification of Yang Yao he was again first, and it was again not reported; and Zhang Jun, learning the truth, said that Yue the marquis avoiding favour and honour to such a degree was indeed incorrupt but not yet public-spirited; and he memorialised that in the Hu-Xiang campaign Yue Yun had in fact won extraordinary merit and that because he was Yue Fei's son it had not been reported, and begged that he be specially advanced beyond the ordinary. The subject still would not accept. When an imperial order advanced him three grades the subject declined, saying that it was the soldiers who braved arrows and stones, and that when a man killed a general or broke an enemy array and won extraordinary merit he had only then set out his deeds and received a single grade; and that for his son Yun to leap suddenly to high rank without cause was to set him out of step with the soldiers, and how could he command men; and he said that this was not the way to show the soldiers a great and public and upright road. Memorial after memorial he would not accept, and the emperor, admiring his purpose, specially granted his request. On the nominal office of prefect he said that his son was only now learning what was right and still smelled of milk, and that though he had several times been in the battle line he had as yet shown no achievement; and that so sudden an advancement could only make his spirit idle; and he begged that the order be withdrawn so that his son might know the difficulty of rank and office, study the harder, and some day perhaps serve with all his strength. He said also that if his son did not know the weight of titles and honours he might become arrogant, failing above toward the emperor's grace and below drawing the slander of the officials, and that his own guilt would then be hard to escape. He said again that a man must rectify himself before he can rectify things, and govern himself before he can govern others; and if his son received reward without merit, then he himself could not rectify or govern himself, and how could he lead men? In the battle of Yingchang in the tenth year of Shaoxing, when his merit was first among the generals, he declined the post of defender of Zhongzhou, saying that a sovereign in governing his ministers need not grudge rich rewards, but a father in teaching his son should not demand near achievement; and that his son Yun, in following and meeting the enemy, had some small effect but no great merit, and he begged that the order be withdrawn. On the office of imperial arms-bearer he also firmly declined and was excused. The emperor once praised him by edict, saying that he resisted the sealed memorials and gave precedence to his officers and men, and that he did not merely cling modestly to the avoidance of shame like the Han generals contending for merit, but made his son establish his own service and showed again that Xiping had a son.
The Campaign of the Sixth Year of Shaoxing and the Victories at Guo and Shang
In the sixth year of Shaoxing Yue Fei marched north again, and his report appears in the memorial of Li Gang requesting troops to support Yue Fei, quoting Yue Fei's own dispatch. Chapter 92 of the Liangxi quanji records: on the twelfth day of this month four reports came from the controller Kou Cheng and others, saying that after the victory at Guozhou they had again settled and comforted the people of the region of Shang, Guo, Changshui, Fuchang, Yongning and Yiyang of the western capital; that on the twenty-seventh day of the tenth month scouts reported that the barbarian and puppet horses had invaded the Tieling pass, and that the commander of the local troops holding the defile reported that the enemy horse was heavy and he could not hold; and that Kou Cheng and the others, having few men, moved their camp to Hengjian and laid ambushes in readiness. On the twenty-ninth day more than a thousand enemy horse came to give battle and were beaten off, more than a hundred of the enemy killed and more than twenty horses taken, in which twenty or thirty barbarians were recognized; and on the thirtieth day more than a thousand horse came again to the charge, and Kou Cheng and the others led their officers and men forward to meet and cut them up, so that the enemy horse retired, several tens being killed and eight taken alive, of whom seven were barbarians who died in succession of grievous wounds so that the names of their chiefs could not be learned, and one was the Liu Yu man Gao Shoutong, who said that the barbarians had more than fifteen thousand men and three thousand horses, and Liu Yu more than twenty thousand men and two thousand horses, still commanded by the puppet Grand Guardian Wang, the Han observer, the Fu pacification commissioner and the grand governor Cheng; and that when they pursued, the enemy had ambushes in several directions coming on in separate columns. Kou Cheng and the others, seeing the enemy horse heavy, at once drew off their troops and camped to advantage at Wulichuan in Zhuyang, and begged the office to send troops with all speed by night to their rescue. On the same day a report came from Jia Yan, a preparation commander stationed at Shangzhou, that on the first day of the eleventh month more than ten thousand barbarian and puppet horse had invaded Shangluo county; and on the fourth day of the eleventh month a report from the controller Wang Gui that the puppet fifth great king had gathered heavy barbarian and puppet horse at the Hejia stockade, and that some had camped at old Tangzhou and invaded the borders of Xiangyang, while the bandits of the Zhenru army were heavy and were invading the borders of Dengzhou; and that though he had carried out the instructions sent by the office through the official Yu, he begged for troops to be sent quickly to join in the attack. And on the eleventh day of the eleventh month a report came from the controller Cui Bangbi that on the sixth day of this month the enemy horse had invaded Xin Yangjun, and that he had sent the commander Qin You, who scattered the enemy horse at Changtai town and pursued them to the great stockade at Wangminggang, but seeing the enemy numerous had drawn off to camp at Xinyangjun, and begged the office to send more troops quickly to join in cutting them up. Yue Fei, having examined the reports from all quarters that the enemy horse was coming in separate columns with the intent of deciding the upper waters, and although his eye trouble was not yet settled, took the troops in camp across the river to make dispositions, and informed the office accordingly. That he crossed the river though his eye trouble was unsettled was the actual condition of his campaign in the sixth year of Shaoxing.
The Northern Campaign of the Tenth Year of Shaoxing and the Response North of the River
In the tenth year of Shaoxing Yue Fei made a great northern campaign, the extent of which appears in the Xing Shi Bian Nian. At that time he obtained the full truth about the enemy chiefs' movements and the defiles of their mountains and rivers; and from Ci, Xiang, Kaide, Ze, Lu, Jin, Jiang, Fen and Xi the braves rose on the appointed day, and the banners they raised all bore the character Yue, answering at the news. This was the practical effect of his policy of joining with the region north of the river: while the great army marched north, the loyal levies north of the river were joined, so that the people of the central plain all answered under the name of Yue. Afterwards in the two battles of Yancheng and Yingchang the subject broke the main force of the Chin; and in the battle of Yingchang his son Yue Yun's merit was first among the generals, and Yue Fei declined the office of defender of Zhongzhou, saying that a sovereign in governing his ministers need not grudge rich rewards, but a father in teaching his son should not demand near achievement; and that his son Yun, in following and meeting the enemy, had some small effect but no great merit, and he begged that the order be withdrawn.
Yue Fei on the Battle Array and the Courage of the Banner Head
Yue Fei's courage and his methods of training appear in what he told Huang Zong, recorded in the Wenhlin lang Huang Yuanzhen bian of the continuation of the Jin Tuo Cui Bian. Yue Fei told Huang Zong that once the array is engaged, if a man can hold his spear steady in his hand and swallow the spittle in his mouth, that is already courage; that a scholar taken into the secretariat who has never seen a battle line will reach the central plain and, seeing a great battle, lose his nerve; and that such a man should first go with him into a small array to watch the fighting, and that he had him stand at a place where no harm could come to him; that if he needed to relieve himself he must on no account leave his horse, since in an army of hundreds of thousands all eyes were on a certain banner, and if one of the secretariat should move to and fro unsteadily a soldier would shoot him with a stray arrow, for they hated any confusion of their sight; and that only when the great array moved could one move with the rest. Huang Zong earnestly remonstrated that a cunning enemy might recognize him and mass strong bows to shoot him, and that though he was loyal and brave and the spirits protected him so that he could not be wounded, it was not the business of a great general. Yue Fei said that formerly when Du Chong held the capital as guard he had two thousand troops and came under Du Chong's command; that at his first arrival several tens of thousands of great bandits were outside the city, and Du Chong at once ordered him to go and fight; that Du Chong told him that Du would be beheaded, and that he did not dare plead that his troops were too few to face them, but went to the bandits and agreed on their surrender, and came back to report to Du Chong, who said that he had never ordered him to receive a surrender and that he must take them for him; and that he went back and reproved the bandits for being slow to come after agreeing to surrender, and told them he would no longer receive their surrender but would challenge them to battle; and that when their chief came out to fight he rode out alone and, swinging his great sword, split him from crown to waist in two, so that several tens of thousands were broken without fighting. He said that human strength could not have done this and that there was truly some divine help, and that his battles in his life had all been of this kind. To take the role of banner head himself, to be first among his soldiers as a matter of course, and to set as the standard of courage that a man can hold his spear steady and swallow his spittle, was bluntly said, yet his practice in training his troops appears in it.
The Case of the Twelfth Month of the Eleventh Year of Shaoxing and the Death of Yue Fei
The death of Yue Fei was one of the great unjust cases of the national history. The case was made out of the informings of Wang Gui and Wang Jun, Zhang Xian and Yue Yun being first arrested, and Yue Fei also summoned to the court and thrown into prison. The fabrication of the case appears in many sources such as the Jin Tuo Cui Bian and the Yaolu of the years since Jianyan; its end appears in the Song shi: on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Shaoxing Yue Fei was given death in the prison of the Grand Court of Revision, and his son Yue Yun and his officer Zhang Xian were killed in the market, Yue Yun then being twenty-three. When Yue Fei died the Chin are said to have congratulated one another on hearing of it, while the officers and people of the Southern Song wept without exception. In the time of Emperor Xiaozong the case was cleared, his offices restored and the posthumous name Wumu conferred; under Emperor Ningzong he was posthumously enfeoffed as Prince of E and his posthumous name changed to Zhongwu. That the death of one general should leave a name that has not declined through a thousand years is why he became a national hero.
Dong Xian Holding the River Bridge and the Ambush of Liu Yu
The ability of the officers under Yue Fei appears in the account of Dong Xian in the Wenhlin lang Huang Yuanzhen bian of the continuation of the Jin Tuo Cui Bian: Dong Xian was the rear guard, and Liu Yu laid an ambush to fall upon the army when it withdrew. The rear of our army met one of the enemy's scouts who was a kinsman and had long heard of Yue Fei's virtue, and he disclosed their plan, saying that Yue the pacification commissioner had come with twenty thousand troops, seven parts armoured, carrying ten days' grain, and that their grain being now exhausted they were going home; that Liu Yu had sent Li Cheng and ten great generals each with ten thousand men, each first given a house and ten palace women, to fall upon that army, meaning to take them all and march straight to Ezhou; that his men each carried a rope, and taking the southern soldiers they would pass it through the palms of their hands, ten men to a string, and march eastward with drums, and were coming now. Dong Xian, seeing that the enemy had the full truth of our army, galloped to report to Yue Fei; and Dong Xian then chose dangerous ground and hid his troops in the thick wood, holding the river bridge alone in readiness. Presently Li Cheng and the others arrived and, seeing Dong Xian, showed him the ropes and told him everything as the scout had said, telling him not to run, for they would take him first. Dong Xian answered that he certainly would not run, and only feared that they would. The enemy, seeing Dong Xian wait at leisure, suspected an ambush and dared not advance directly, and each time they sent troops to fight Dong Xian would bring out one or two companies from the wood to meet them, and when they withdrew he returned to the wood, so that the enemy suspected the more; and while they held each other thus for a long time Yue Fei led the great army back, and Li Cheng and the others, seeing it come up out of the mountains like a silver mountain, fled in confusion; and Yue Fei crossing the river pursued them thirty li and stopped, taking several dozen of their commanders and several thousand of their troops and returning. The essence of this battle lay in using a part of the army as a decoy and the return of the main army as the surprise, and it succeeded through Dong Xian's steadiness and Yue Fei's seizing the moment.
The Outline of His Art of War
Taking Yue Fei's campaigns together, his art of war may be summed up in several points: first, to beat the many with the few without fear, as when he broke five hundred thousand with eight hundred outside the Nanxun Gate, and faced more than a hundred thousand with eight thousand at Guiling; second, to win by the unexpected without being bound to set methods, as in his answer to Zong Ze that the wonder of application lies in a single mind, and in going round the ridge at midnight to break Taipingchang; third, to lure the enemy by deceit, as in the false word that his grain was exhausted and he must return to Chaling, when he let the spy go, and in summoning to surrender by letter and receiving Zhang Yong's host; fourth, to attack by night and mingle black-clad men with the enemy camp, as at Niutoushan where a hundred men in black mingled with the Chin camp, and at Zhongshan where the army camped by night and fought out at dawn; fifth, to join the strategic ground to human feeling, as in his argument that Hebei was as the limbs, and in his policy of joining with the region north of the river, whereby the loyal levies of Hebei raised banners bearing the character Yue; and sixth, to be first among his soldiers as the banner head, as in his words to Huang Zong that in an army of hundreds of thousands all eyes are on a certain banner, and in the splitting of the bandit chief in two. That his army could win repeatedly was not by courage alone but by binding it with discipline and knitting it with kindness and good faith, so that when scattered it could be gathered again and those who surrendered could be made useful.
His Official Career from Jianyan to Shaoxing
Yue Fei's official career corresponded to his military achievements. In the first year of Jianyan, for summoning Ji Qian and three hundred and eighty others, he was given the rank of Chengxin Lang and three hundred iron cavalry; he fought at Shiyulin and was transferred to Chengzhong Lang, and on the river at Huazhou and was transferred to Bingyi Lang; in the second year of Jingkang he fought at Kaide and was transferred to Xiuwu Lang, and at Caozhou and was transferred to Wuyi Lang; in the third year of Jianyan, for breaking Wang Shan's five hundred thousand, he was transferred to Wujing Dafu and then Wulue Dafu and Wude Dafu, and given the real office of prefect; in the fourth year of Jianyan, for recovering Jiankang and presenting his captives at the court, he was given fifty sets of iron armour, a gold girdle, saddle and horse, and a robe of gilded mace and a hundred flowers; he was afterwards made pacification commissioner of Tong and Tai with the concurrent magistracy of Taizhou; in the first year of Shaoxing he joined Zhang Jun against Li Cheng in Jiangxi; in the second he pacified Cao Cheng in Jing and Hu; in the third he pacified the bandits of Qian and Ji; in the fourth he led troops north and broke the allied forces of the Chin and the puppet Qi, recovering Yingzhou, Xiangyangfu, Suizhou and other places and being advanced to military commissioner; in the fifth he was advanced to military commissioner of two circuits and made recruiting commissioner, pacifying Yang Yao in Dongting; in the sixth he marched north again, taking Zhenrujun, Guozhou, Shangzhou and Yiyang and Changshui of the western capital of Henanfu; in the seventh he planned a northern campaign and proposed that Gaozong settle the succession, whereupon he incurred the suspicion of Gaozong and Qin Gui and the court annulled the plan; and in the tenth year, when the Chin broke the agreement and invaded south, Yue Fei marched north under the policy of joining with the region north of the river and, dividing his forces, took a vast region reaching north to Zhengzhou and the western capital of Henanfu, breaking the main force of the Chin at Yancheng and Yingchang. From Chengxin Lang to military commissioner of two circuits and recruiting commissioner was no more than some ten years, his rapid advancement coming wholly from military merit.
The Clearing of His Name After Death and His Place in the Sacrifices
Yue Fei's wrong was gradually cleared after his death. On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Shaoxing he was given death in the prison of the Grand Court of Revision, and his son Yue Yun and his officer Zhang Xian were killed in the market, Yue Yun being then twenty-three; in the time of Emperor Xiaozong the case was cleared, his offices restored and the posthumous name Wumu conferred; and under Emperor Ningzong he was posthumously enfeoffed as Prince of E with the posthumous name changed to Zhongwu. In the Ming dynasty he was further given a place among the sacrifices of the temple of the emperors of former ages: in the temple built in the Hongwu period of the Ming founder, among the ten of the second altar in the eastern gallery was Yue Fei, standing with Zhou Bo, Feng Yi, Fang Xuanling, Li Jing, Li Sheng, Pan Mei, Muqali, Borghul and Bayan as one of the famous ministers of all ages there sacrificed to. From the Southern Song through Ming and Qing the shrines of the Prince of Yue were found throughout the empire, and his name for loyalty and righteousness came to be named beside that of the Emperor Guan; and those who in later ages discussed the fall of the Southern Song always made the death of Yue Fei its key.
His Native Place, His Names and His Early Years
Yue Fei's courtesy name was Pengju; he was a man of Tangyin in Xiangzhou, that is Tangyin in Henan, his ancestral home being Dongchang, that is Liaocheng in Shandong. He was of a farming family; in the fourth year of Xuanhe, that is 1122, he joined the army for the campaign against the Liao; in the first year of Jingkang, 1126, he volunteered to serve against the Chin; and in the first year of Jianyan, 1127, he earnestly begged Emperor Gaozong to return to Kaifeng and recover the lost territory, and was deprived of his military office by the court, afterwards fighting the Chin under Zhang Suo, Wang Yan and Zong Ze and repeatedly winning merit. From his enlistment in the Xuanhe period to the case of the last years of Shaoxing was more than twenty years, and the advances and retreats of his life ran together with the war and peace between Song and the Chin: when the Chin invaded south his army turned north, and when the peace was made his own person suffered. That in his early years at Xiangzhou he obtained audience with the Grand Marshal through Liu Hao, and was given the rank of Chengxin Lang for summoning Ji Qian and the others to surrender, has been told above; and the purpose of his whole life was already fixed when he memorialised several thousand words in the first year of Jianyan.
An Outline of His Life
Yue Fei, whose courtesy name was Pengju, was a man of Tangyin in Xiangzhou, his ancestral home being Dongchang. In the fourth year of Xuanhe he joined the army for the campaign against the Liao, and in the first year of Jingkang volunteered to serve against the Chin; in the first year of Jianyan he memorialised asking Emperor Gaozong to return to the capital and recover the lost land, was deprived of his office, and afterwards served under Zhang Suo, Wang Yan and Zong Ze, becoming a controller of the guard office. In the fourth year of Jianyan he laid an ambush at Niutoushan and recovered Jiankang, being made pacification commissioner of Tong and Tai; in the first year of Shaoxing he joined Zhang Jun against Li Cheng in Jiangxi, in the second pacified Cao Cheng in Jing and Hu, in the third the bandits of Qian and Ji, and in the fourth led troops north against the allied forces of the Chin and the puppet Qi, taking Yingzhou, Xiangyangfu and Suizhou and being advanced to military commissioner; in the fifth year he was advanced to commissioner of two circuits and recruiting commissioner, pacifying Yang Yao in Dongting; in the sixth he marched north again, taking Zhenrujun, Guozhou, Shangzhou and Yiyang and Changshui; in the tenth year he marched north under the policy of joining with the region beyond the river, breaking the main force of the Chin at Yancheng and Yingchang; in the eleventh year he was removed from the deputy commissionership and on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth month was killed in the prison of the Grand Court of Revision at Lin'an at the age of thirty-nine, being cleared under Xiaozong with the posthumous name Wumu and posthumously created Prince of E with the name Zhongwu under Ningzong.