Yue Fei and the Song–Jin Treaty

Yue Fei (1103–1142), courtesy name Pengju, from Tangyin, Xiangzhou (present-day Tangyin, Henan), was an outstanding Southern Song general against Jin and a national hero. Tradition says his mother tattooed four characters on his back, “serve the country with utmost loyalty”, to encourage him. In early Southern Song, when Jin forces made several large southward drives, Yue Fei fought in many places, repeatedly distinguished himself and recovered Jiankang, Xiangyang and other places. He ran his army with strict discipline, and the “Yue Family Army” was disciplined and fierce; among the Jin it was said, “It is easier to shake a mountain than the Yue Family Army.” In 1140 the Jin broke the treaty and invaded in force; Yue Fei led a northern campaign and defeated the main Jin force at Yancheng and Yingchang, shattering the Jin elite cavalry, the “linked horses” and “iron pagodas”, then pursued to Zhuxian Town, only forty-five li from Kaifeng. Volunteer armies everywhere responded and recovering the Central Plains seemed near. But Emperor Gaozong and Qin Hui sought peace and ordered Yue Fei to withdraw, and he lamented that all had been “ruined in a single day”. Back in Lin'an, Yue Fei was relieved of command and Qin Hui and others had him falsely accused of treason and jailed. In early 1142 Yue Fei, his son Yue Yun and his subordinate Zhang Xian were killed; Yue Fei was only 39. In 1141 Song and Jin made the “Shaoxing Treaty”: Southern Song became a subject of Jin and paid it 250,000 taels of silver and 250,000 bolts of silk a year, with the border along the Huai River to Dasanguan, and the confrontation between Song and Jin took shape. Under Emperor Xiaozong, Yue Fei was exonerated and posthumously given the title “Wumu”, later also made Prince of E.