The Battle of Caishi (, approximately ) was a major naval engagement of the
Jin–Song Wars
The Jin–Song Wars were a series of conflicts between the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and the Han-led Song dynasty (960–1279). In 1115, Jurchen tribes rebelled against their overlords, the Khitan-led Liao dynasty (916–1125) ...
of China that took place on November 26–27, 1161. It ended with a decisive Song victory, aided by their use of gunpowder weapons.
Soldiers under the command of
Wanyan Liang
Digunai (24 February 1122 – 15 December 1161), also known by his sinicised name Wanyan Liang (完顏亮) and his formal title Prince of Hailing (海陵王, ''Hǎilíng Wáng''), was the fourth emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. H ...
, the emperor of the
Jurchen-led
Jin dynasty, tried to cross the
Yangzi River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
to attack the
Southern Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
.
Chen Kangbo, prime minister of the Song dynasty, was chief military strategist and commanded the navy.
Yu Yunwen
Yu Yunwen (; 1110–1174) was a Chinese official and general of the Song dynasty. He fought in the Jin–Song wars and led the Song forces in the Battle of Caishi against an army of the Jurchen Jurchen may refer to:
* Jurchen people, Tungusic ...
, a
civil official, commanded the defending
Song army. The
paddle-wheel
A paddle wheel is a form of waterwheel or impeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are:
* Very low-lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than abo ...
warships of the
Song fleet, equipped with
trebuchet
A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weigh ...
s that launched
incendiary bomb
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, t ...
s made of
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
and
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
, decisively defeated the light ships of the Jin navy.
Overview
Starting in 1125 the Jin had conquered former Song territories north of the
Huai River
The Huai River (), Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in China. It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins ...
. In 1142,
a peace treaty settled the border between the two states, putting the Jin in control of northern China and the Song in control of the south. In 1150, Wanyan Liang became emperor and planned to unite northern and southern China under a single emperor. In 1158, he asserted that the Song had violated the 1142 treaty, a
pretext for declaring war on the Song. He prepared for the war in the following year. He instituted a
draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
where all able-bodied men were required to enlist. The draft was unpopular, precipitating revolts that were later suppressed. The Jin army left the capital of
Kaifeng
Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nort ...
on October 15 1161, and pushed through from the Huai to the Yangzi.
The Song were fortified along the Yangzi front. Wanyan Liang planned to cross the river at Caishi, (modern day
Ma'anshan
Ma'anshan (), also colloquially written as Maanshan, is a prefecture-level city in the eastern part of Anhui province in Eastern China. An industrial city stretching across the Yangtze River, Ma'anshan borders Hefei to the west, Wuhu to the south ...
) south of modern-day
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
. He embarked from the shore of the Yangzi on November 26, and clashed with Song forces led by
Yu Yunwen
Yu Yunwen (; 1110–1174) was a Chinese official and general of the Song dynasty. He fought in the Jin–Song wars and led the Song forces in the Battle of Caishi against an army of the Jurchen Jurchen may refer to:
* Jurchen people, Tungusic ...
and
Chen Kangbo in a naval engagement. Wanyan Liang lost the battle and retreated to Yangzhou.
Wanyan Liang was assassinated in a military camp by his own soldiers shortly after the Caishi battle. A military coup had taken place in the Jin court while Wanyan Liang was absent, enthroning
Emperor Shizong as the new emperor. A peace treaty signed in 1165 ended the conflict between Song and Jin.
At Caishi, the Song led an army of 18,000, whereas Wanyan Liang reportedly led an army of 600,000 Jin soldiers. Over the course of the battle, many Jin soldiers deserted—bringing down the total Jin force—as they realized their northern steppe cavalry was inadequate for naval battles on rivers and lakes. The Song won mainly through its superior navy, gunpowder, and firearms. The victory boosted the morale of the Song infantry and pushed back the southern advance of the Jin army.
Background
Jin-Liao-Song
The
Song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
(960–1276) was a Han-led dynasty that ruled over Southeast China. To their north was the Jin dynasty, a Jurchen-Han mixed dynasty that ruled over Northeast China. The Jin were led by the
Jurchens
Jurchen (Manchu language, Manchu: ''Jušen'', ; zh, 女真, ''Nǚzhēn'', ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian people, East Asian Tungusic languages, Tungusic-speaking peoples, descended from the Donghu people. They ...
, a confederation of semi-agrarian tribes from
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
in northeast China. But many northern Han nobles were also part of the Jin. The
Liao were a
Khitan-led dynasty covering parts of Mongolia, West China, and Central Asia. Like the Jin, the Liao also adopted Han culture, spoke Chinese, and practiced Buddhism.
The Song and Jin had once been military allies. However, in 1114, the Jurchen, unified under the rule of
Wanyan Aguda
Emperor Taizu of Jin (August 1, 1068 – September 19, 1123), personal name Aguda, sinicised name Min (), was the founder and first emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He was originally the chieftain of the Wanyan tribe, the most ...
, plotted a revolt against their former overlords: the
Khitan-led
Liao dynasty
The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...
. In 1115, Aguda established the Jin dynasty and adopted the
title of emperor. The Jin negotiated a joint attack with the Song against the Khitans. They planned the attack for 1121 and then rescheduled to 1122.
In 1122, the Jin captured the Khitan Supreme and Western Capitals. The Song tried to capture the
Liao Southern Capital of Yan (modern
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
), but it fell later that year to the Jin. Negotiations between the Song and Jin produced a treaty in 1123, but bilateral relations deteriorated because of territorial disputes over the
Sixteen Prefectures
The Sixteen Prefectures () comprise a historical region in northern China along the Great Wall in present-day Beijing, Tianjin, and northern Hebei and Shanxi.
Name
It is more specifically called the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun or the Six ...
. In 1125, the Jin invaded the Song.
Start of Jin-Song wars
By 1127, Jin had unified most of northern China and besieged the Song capital of
Kaifeng
Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nort ...
twice. In the second siege of Kaifeng,
Emperor Qinzong of the Song was captured. The Jin took him and the Song royal family to Northeast China as hostages. Members of the Song court who had evaded capture fled south, where they established a temporary capital, first in the Song southern capital (modern
Shangqiu
Shangqiu (), alternately romanized as Shangkiu, is a city in eastern Henan province, Central China. It borders Kaifeng to the northwest, Zhoukou to the southwest, and the provinces of Shandong and Anhui to the northeast and southeast respectively ...
), and then in
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
in 1129.
The move of the Song capital south to Hangzhou signaled the transition from the
Northern Song
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a r ...
era to the Southern Song. Qinzong's younger brother, Prince Zhao Gou, was enthroned as Qinzong's successor in the southern capital in 1127. Zhao is
known posthumously as
Emperor Song Gaozong. The Jin general
Wuzhu
Jin Wuzhu (金兀朮, died 1148), also known by his sinicised name Wanyan Zongbi (完顏宗弼), was a prince, military general and civil minister of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He was the fourth son of Aguda (Emperor Taizu), the f ...
crossed the
Yangzi River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
in 1130 and tried to capture Gaozong, but the Emperor escaped. Wuzhu retreated north across the Yangzi, where he fought off a stronger Song fleet commanded by
Han Shizhong
Han Shizhong () (1089–1151) was a Chinese military general, poet, and politician of the late Northern Song Dynasty and the early Southern Song Dynasty. He dedicated his whole life to serving the Song Dynasty, and performed many legendary de ...
.
The Jin persisted with their advance into the remaining Song territories south of the Yangzi. They faced an insurgency of Song loyalists in the north, the deaths of some important leaders, and military offensives by Song generals like
Yue Fei
Yue Fei ( zh, t=岳飛; March 24, 1103 – January 28, 1142), courtesy name Pengju (), was a Chinese military general who lived during the Song dynasty, Southern Song dynasty and a national hero of China, known for leading Southern Song force ...
. The Jin created the puppet government of (大齊) to serve as a buffer state between Song and Jin, but Qi failed to defeat the Song. The Jin abolished Qi in 1137. As the Jin gave up advancing south, diplomatic talks for a peace treaty resumed.
Signed in 1142, the
Treaty of Shaoxing
The Treaty of Shaoxing () was the agreement that ended the military conflicts between the Jin dynasty and the Southern Song dynasty. It also legally drew up the boundaries of the two countries and forced the Song dynasty to renounce all claims ...
established the boundary between the two states along the
Huai River
The Huai River (), Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in China. It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins ...
, which runs north of the Yangzi. The treaty forbade the Song from purchasing horses from the Jin, but smuggling continued in the border markets. The relations between the two states were mostly peaceful from 1142 to 1161, the year Wanyan Liang went to war.
Jin preparations for Caishi
![Jurchen woodblock print](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Jurchen_woodblock_print.png)
Wanyan Liang was crowned Jin emperor in 1150 after killing his cousin and predecessor,
Emperor Xizong, in a palace
coup. Wanyan Liang considered himself more of a
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
authoritarian emperor than a Jurchen leader who ruled through a tribal council. The ''
History of Jin
The ''History of Jin'' (''Jin Shi'') is a Chinese historical text, one of the ''Twenty Four Histories'', which details the history of the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens in northern China. It was compiled by the Yuan dynasty historian and mi ...
'' contends that Wanyan Liang told his officials that the three desires of his life were conquest, absolute power, and women. His ultimate ambition was to rule over all of China, not just the north. In his childhood, Wanyan Liang adopted Song practices like drinking tea by learning from Song emissaries, and once he had become emperor, he pursued a policy of
sinicizing (汉化) the state. His affinity for Song culture earned him the Jurchen nickname of 'Han imitator'. He moved the Supreme Capital of the Jin from
Huining in the northeast to Beijing and promoted Kaifeng to his Southern Capital in 1157. He also moved government institutions south, tore down palaces of Jurchen chieftains in Manchuria, and constructed new palaces in Beijing and Kaifeng. He made plans to move the Jin capital further south to the center of China. Wanyan Liang's construction projects drained the Jin treasury.
Plans for a war against the Southern Song began in 1158. That year, Wanyan Liang claimed that the Song had broken the 1142 treaty that banned them from acquiring horses. In 1159, he began building up his army in preparation for an invasion. He acquired weapons, which he stored in Beijing, as well as horses allegedly numbering 560,000. Wanyan Liang understood that an invasion of the Song would require a lot of men. He ensured that Han soldiers were
drafted into the war effort alongside Jurchen soldiers. The recruitment drive lasted until 1161.
Naval confrontations were likely because the Jin planned on traveling by river. Ships were seized for the war and 30,000 of the recruits were assigned to the Jin fleet. Wanyan Liang authorized the building of ships for the war in March 1159, under the auspices of the Ministry of War. Construction began in the Tong () prefecture near Beijing. Wanyan Liang appointed himself head of the army and took personal command of the Jin forces. The draft was unpopular. Several revolts erupted against it, many of them in the Jin provinces neighboring the Song. But Wanyan Liang allowed no dissent. He had his stepmother executed after hearing that she was critical of the war effort.
In order to eliminate any challenge to his legitimacy as emperor of a united China, Wanyan Liang ordered the execution of all male members of the Song and Liao royal families residing in Jin territory. The execution of 130 members of the two royal clans in the span of a few months proved unpopular, and the Khitans soon revolted in Northeast China. They refused to be drafted into the army, maintaining that conscription would leave their homeland unprotected from rival tribes on the steppes. Wanyan Liang rebuffed their demands. The Khitan rebels then killed several Jurchen officials. The rebellion was fragmented, and there were separate plans either to spread the revolt further by operating from
Shangjing, the former Liao capital, or to move the Khitan people from Northeast China to Central Asia, where the
Western Liao
The Qara Khitai, or Kara Khitai (), also known as the Western Liao (), officially the Great Liao (), was a Sinicized dynastic regime based in Central Asia ruled by the Khitan Yelü clan. The Qara Khitai is considered by historians to be an ...
empire had formed after the demise of Liao.
Regardless, Wanyan Liang was forced to divert resources and men away from the war effort to suppress the rebellion.
Song preparations for Caishi
Diplomatic exchanges between the Song and Jin did not stop during the period preceding the war. The ''
History of Song'' claims that the Song realized that the Jin were planning for an invasion when they noticed the discourtesy of one of the Jin diplomats. Some Song officials foresaw the impending war, but Emperor Gaozong hoped to maintain peaceful relations with the Jin. His reluctance to antagonize the Jin delayed the fortification of the Song border defenses. The Song quickly built just three military garrisons in 1161. Wanyan Liang departed from Kaifeng on 1161 October 15. The offensive comprised four armies, and Wanyan Liang personally led the army that entered Anhui. The Jin passed the Huai River boundary on October 28, advancing into Song territory. The Song resistance was minimal because they had fortified the southern shore of the Yangzi River and not the Huai.
Chen Kangbo (
陈康伯), prime minister (宰相) of the Song dynasty, commanded the
Song navy and designed the anti-Jin offensive strategy.
Yu Yunwen
Yu Yunwen (; 1110–1174) was a Chinese official and general of the Song dynasty. He fought in the Jin–Song wars and led the Song forces in the Battle of Caishi against an army of the Jurchen Jurchen may refer to:
* Jurchen people, Tungusic ...
, a
civil official, commanded the defending
Song army. The
paddle-wheel
A paddle wheel is a form of waterwheel or impeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are:
* Very low-lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than abo ...
warships of the
Song fleet, equipped with
trebuchet
A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weigh ...
s that launched
incendiary bomb
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, t ...
s made of
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
and
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
, decisively defeated the light ships of the Jin navy.
Naval battle of Caishi
Wanyan Liang's army built its encampment near
Yangzhou
Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yan ...
on the northern side of the Yangzi River. The Jin advance had been slowed by Song victories in the west, where the Song captured several prefectures from the Jin. Wanyan Liang commanded his forces to cross the Yangzi at Caishi, south of modern
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
. A naval battle between Jin and Song took place on November 26 and 27, 1161.
The Song strategy was planned by
Chen Kangbo (
陈康伯), prime minister and naval leader of the Song dynasty.
Chen led a naval regiment of his own, dispatching general Yu Yunwen (a
scholar-official
The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class.
Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...
), his lieutenants Dai Gao, Jian Kang, Shi Zhun, and others to lead the rest of the army. Yu, who was a Drafting Official of the Secretariat (), was at Caishi to distribute awards to Song soldiers who had been selected for their outstanding service. It was by chance that his visit coincided with Wanyan Liang's campaign. When Yu first arrived, there were various scattered Song forces at Caishi, so Yu took command and built a cohesive unit.
The Jin performed a ritual sacrifice of horses a day before the battle (
animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of one or more animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spr ...
). On November 26, Jin troops embarked from the shore of the Yangzi and engaged the Song fleet. Some of the ships they boarded were shoddily built. The Jin had lost several ships in
Liangshan, where they were bogged down by the shallow depths of Liangshan Lake as they were being transported to the
Grand Canal. Wanyan Liang had urgently requested the construction of more ships in 1161 to compensate for those still stuck in Liangshan. One account of the war contends that the Jin ships were constructed in a week with materials recycled from destroyed buildings. The shortage of vessels and the poor quality of those available prevented the Jin from ferrying more soldiers needed for fighting a naval battle with the Song.
The Song military response was stronger than Wanyan Liang had anticipated. The paddle-wheel ships of the Song navy could move more rapidly and outmaneuver the slower Jin ships. The Song kept their fleet hidden behind the island of Qibao Shan. The ships were to depart the island once a scout on horseback announced the approach of the Jin ships by signaling a concealed flag atop the island's peak. Once the flag became visible, the Song fleet commenced their attack from both sides of the island. Song soldiers operated
traction trebuchets that launched incendiary "thunderclap bombs" and other soft-cased explosives containing
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
and sulphur, which created a noxious explosion when the casing broke. The Jin soldiers who managed to cross the river and reach the shore were assaulted by Song troops waiting on the other side. The Song won a decisive victory. Wanyan Liang was defeated again in a second engagement the next day. After burning his remaining ships, he retreated to Yangzhou, where he was assassinated before he could finish preparations for another crossing.
Another account tells of General Chen Lugong (
Chen Kangbo)「陈鲁公(陈康伯)采石」and how he also led naval regiments to defeat the Jin and defend the Song.
[[南宋]罗大经 撰,王瑞来 点校:《鹤林玉露》][《朱子语类》]
Casualties
Estimates for the number of soldiers and casualties at the battle vary widely. A Song source reports that there were 18,000 Song soldiers stationed in Caishi. One document claims that 400,000-600,000 Jin soldiers were present at the battle.
Herbert Franke argues that the Song had only 120,000 soldiers fighting on the entire front and that the half million figure could have referred to the number of soldiers that the Jin army had before crossing the Huai River toward the Yangzi. The desertions and casualties from suppressing revolts while advancing southward would have shrunk that number by the time the Jin reached the Yangzi.
The ''
History of Jin
The ''History of Jin'' (''Jin Shi'') is a Chinese historical text, one of the ''Twenty Four Histories'', which details the history of the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens in northern China. It was compiled by the Yuan dynasty historian and mi ...
'', a document written from the perspective of the Jin, reports Jin casualties between one ''meng'an'' (
猛按 Jurchen unit of a thousand soldiers) and a hundred men, and two ''meng'an'' and two hundred men. The ''
History of Song'' reports Jin casualties numbering four thousand soldiers and two commanders of ''wanhu'' (万户 ten thousand men) rank. An account of the battle by a different Song source holds that 24,000 Jin soldiers died and that 500 combatants and five ''meng-an'' were taken as prisoners. A more conservative Song source estimates that the Jin only had 500 soldiers and 20 ships at Caishi.
Military and naval technology
![武经总要全前集卷十二 霹雳火球图](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/%E6%AD%A6%E7%BB%8F%E6%80%BB%E8%A6%81%E5%85%A8%E5%89%8D%E9%9B%86%E5%8D%B7%E5%8D%81%E4%BA%8C_%E9%9C%B9%E9%9B%B3%E7%81%AB%E7%90%83%E5%9B%BE.jpg)
An account of the Song's technological capabilities is given in the ''Hai Qiu Fu'' (《海鳅赋》"Rhapsodic Ode on the Sea Eel Paddle Wheel Warships") by
Yang Wanli
Yang Wanli (or Yang Wan-Li) (楊萬里) (1127–1206), Courtesy name Yanxiu (延秀), was a Chinese poet and politician, born in Jishui, Jizhou (today Jishui County, Jiangxi). He was one of the "four masters" of Southern Song Dynasty poetry.
Wr ...
:
[《 海鳅赋》]
There were up to 340 ships in the Song fleet during the battle of Caishi in 1161. The Song fleet used trebuchets to bombard the Jin ships with incendiary bombs (''pili huoqiu'' or ''huopao'' ; "thunderclap fire balls") that contained a mixture of gunpowder,
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
, scraps of iron, and a poison that was likely
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
. Reports that the bomb produced a loud sound suggests that the
nitrate
Nitrate is a polyatomic ion
A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...
content of the gunpowder mixture was high enough to create an explosion. The powdered lime in the bombs at Caishi generated a cloud of blinding smoke similar to tear gas. The ''huoqiu'' released the smoke once the casing of the bomb shattered.
Fuses
Fuse or FUSE may refer to:
Devices
* Fuse (electrical), a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current
** Fuse (automotive), a class of fuses for vehicles
* Fuse (hydraulic), a device used in hydraulic systems to protec ...
activated the bombs after launching.
The Jin conscripted thousands of blacksmiths to build the armor and weaponry of the fleet, and workers to dig out the canal necessary for transporting the ships from Tong to the Grand Canal through the northern port of Zhigu (), modern
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
. The Jin armored their light ships with thick rhinoceros
hides. The ships had two stories; on the lower deck were the
oarsmen responsible for rowing the ship, while soldiers on the upper deck could fire missile weapons. Three different variations of the warships were constructed. Several of the ships became bogged down in Liangshan, and the ships built to replace them were of an inferior quality. The Jin fleet were unable to defeat the larger and faster warships of the Song.
The battle is significant in the technological history of the Song navy. The technological advances of the Song navy ensured its access to the East China Sea, where they competed with the military forces of Jin and Mongol rivals. Although ''huopao'' launched by the ship-mounted trebuchets had been invented decades earlier, the bombs did not become mandatory on Song warships until 1129. Paddle-wheel ships operated with
treadmills
A treadmill is a device generally used for walking, running, or climbing while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of ...
were constructed continuously in various sizes between 1132 and 1183. The engineer
Gao Xuan
Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley.
For much of its history Gao was an impor ...
devised a ship outfitted with up to eleven paddle wheels on each side, and Qin Shifu, another engineer, designed the iron plating for armoring the ships in 1203. All these advances supported a rapid increase in the size of the force; according to
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, in ...
, "From a total of 11
squadrons and 3,000 men
he Song navyrose in one century to 20 squadrons totalling 52,000 men".
Aftermath
![Gaozong Of Song](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Gaozong_Of_Song.jpg)
Traditional Chinese historiography celebrated the battle of Caishi as an important victory for the Song. Caishi was held in the same esteem as the
Battle of Fei River
The Battle of Fei River, also known as the Battle of Feishui (), was a battle in AD 383 in China, where forces of the Di-led Former Qin dynasty was decisively defeated by the outnumbered army of the Eastern Jin dynasty. The location of the bat ...
in 383, when the
Eastern Jin
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air L ...
defeated the northern invaders of the
Former Qin
The Former Qin, also called Fu Qin (苻秦), (351–394) was a dynastic state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese history ruled by the Di ethnicity. Founded by Fu Jian (posthumously Emperor Jingming) who originally served under the Later ...
. It is portrayed as a victory against overwhelming odds, in which 18,000 Song soldiers overcame an army of nearly half a million men. Over the course of the battle, more and more Jin troops deserted in the face of the superior Song navy, thereby decreasing the total Jin force.
The Song possessed multiple advantages. The Song had larger ships and ample time to prepare, while the Jin army gathered supplies and ships for the crossing. It was also impossible for the Jin to use cavalry, the most important asset of the Jurchen military, during a naval engagement.
The battle was not solely responsible for devastating Wanyan Liang's military campaign. His own failings also led to his downfall. Wanyan Liang's generals detested him, and his relationship with his men had deteriorated over the course of the war as the Jin were losing. There was a widespread disapproval of his reign in the empire, and Wanyan Liang's policies had alienated Jurchens, Khitans, and Han alike. Disaffected officers conspired to kill him, and he was assassinated on 1161 December 15.
Emperor Shizong succeeded Wanyan Liang as ruler of the Jin. He had been enthroned weeks before the assassination, in a military coup that installed him as emperor while Wanyan Liang was absent from the court. Shizong eventually rescinded many of Wanyan Liang's policies.
The victory boosted the morale of the Song soldiers, improving confidence in the government and bolstering Song stability. The Jin gave up their ambitions of pushing south and reunifying China under their rule. The Jin army withdrew in 1162, and diplomatic relations between the two states resumed.
Song Gaozong
Emperor Gaozong of Song (12 June 1107 – 9 November 1187), personal name Zhao Gou, courtesy name Deji, was the tenth emperor of the Song dynasty and the first of the Southern Song period, ruling between 1127 and 1162 and retaining power as ret ...
retired nine months after the conclusion of the battle. The reasons for his abdication are complicated, but Gaozong's handling of the war with Wanyan Liang may have had a part in his decision to resign. He had ignored the warnings of a Jin attack, and his hopes for conciliation held back plans for strengthening the Song defenses.
Military clashes continued in Huainan and Sichuan, but Jin incursions after Caishi had no intent of reaching the Yangzi. The Jin had discovered that southern China's many lakes and rivers impeded their cavalry. After losing the battle, they signed a peace treaty with the Song in 1165, ending hostilities. The Huai River border remained the same.
See also
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Battle of Tangdao
The Battle of Tangdao (唐岛之战) was a naval engagement that took place in 1161 between the Jurchen Jin and the Southern Song Dynasty of China on the East China Sea. The conflict was part of the Jin-Song wars, and was fought near Tangdao I ...
*
Gunpowder warfare
Early modern warfare is the era of warfare following medieval warfare. It is associated with the start of the widespread use of gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive, including artillery and firearms; for thi ...
*
History of China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
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Jiao Yu
Jiao Yu () was a Chinese military general, philosopher, and writer of the Yuan dynasty and early Ming dynasty under Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the dynasty and became known as the Hongwu Emperor. He was entrusted by Zhu as a leading artillery ...
*
Military history of China (pre-1911)
The recorded military history of China extends from about 2200 BC to the present day. Chinese pioneered the use of crossbows, advanced metallurgical standardization for arms and armor, early gunpowder weapons, and other advanced weapons, but also ...
*
Naval history of China
The naval history of China dates back thousands of years, with archives existing since the late Spring and Autumn period regarding the Chinese navy and the various ship types employed in wars.Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 678. The Ming dynasty of Chi ...
*
Naval warfare
Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large la ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Caishi, Battle of
1161 in Asia
12th century in China
Battles involving the Song dynasty
Conflicts in 1161
Jin–Song Wars
Naval battles involving China
Naval battles of the Middle Ages
Yangtze River