The Siege Begins: Jin Forces Close In on the Song Capital

In the fourth year of the Jin dynasty’s Tianhui era (1126 CE), on the second day of the intercalary eleventh month, General Nianhan’s army advanced toward the Northern Song capital of Bianjing while simultaneously launching a final assault on Huaizhou north of the Yellow River. This strategic location at the foot of the Taihang Mountains served as the vital corridor connecting Shanxi and Henan provinces. Without capturing Huaizhou, the Jin forces could not establish complete control over the western approach to the Song capital.

Under the leadership of Prefect Huo Anguo, Song defenders initially repelled the Jin attacks. The delay in Nianhan’s arrival at Bianjing—nearly ten days behind schedule compared to his counterpart Wolibu—resulted directly from Huaizhou’s stubborn resistance. However, as Jin forces intensified their assault, the city’s fall appeared imminent.

Desperate Measures: The Night Raid That Failed

Facing imminent defeat, Huo Anguo devised an audacious plan to shift from defense to offense. He selected General Fan Zhongxiong to lead a nighttime raid with over two hundred elite soldiers. Their objectives were twofold: first, to set fire to Jin tents and create chaos; second, to destroy the Jin artillery that had caused such devastation to Song defenses.

The raid unfolded disastrously. Fan’s forces found Jin numbers overwhelming and struggled to remain undetected. By the time they reached the artillery positions near the third watch (around midnight), only a dozen men managed to ignite fires before Jin troops surrounded them. What began as a stealth mission turned into brutal hand-to-hand combat. At dawn, only twenty-four of the original two hundred raiders returned alive.

The Final Hours of Huaizhou

On the day following the failed raid, hope briefly flickered when white banners—purportedly Song reinforcements—appeared southeast of the city. As Huo Anguo prepared to open the northern gates, Jin forces launched their final assault. Black Jin banners soon flew from the city walls as Huaizhou fell. The supposed reinforcements proved to be irregular troops who dispersed upon seeing the city’s capture.

Fan Zhongxiong fought through the streets before being captured. His subsequent interrogation by Jin commander Gushe revealed an unexpected dimension of Jin military culture. Rather than executing the captured officer, Gushe praised Fan’s bravery while criticizing Song unreliability, stating: “When we Jurchens give our word, we keep it—unlike you Song people who cannot be trusted. Since I promised to spare your life, I shall.”

The March on Bianjing

With Huaizhou secured, Nianhan’s vanguard reached Bianjing’s outskirts by the second day of the intercalary eleventh month. Unlike during the first siege when Jin forces only occupied the northwest, Nianhan’s decision to establish headquarters at Qingcheng—the Song emperor’s southern ceremonial complex—allowed complete encirclement of the capital.

Qingcheng’s history reflected shifting Song imperial attitudes. Initially constructed simply during the dynasty’s frugal early years, the complex had been lavishly expanded under Emperor Huizong’s extravagant reign. Ming dynasty scholar Li Zhen would later satirize this transformation through poetry, contrasting early Song simplicity with later excess that invited disaster.

The Defense of Bianjing

Emperor Qinzong attempted to bolster morale by personally inspecting defenses from November 29 to the third day of the intercalary month, visiting each city wall amid heavy snowfall. Sharing soldiers’ rations and distributing imperial household textiles, he projected solidarity while privately relying on increasingly desperate measures.

The defense relied heavily on commanders like Yao Youzhong, who innovated tactics including constructing new bastions at water gates. Song forces employed massive “Nine Oxen” catapults—dubbed “Great General Protector of the State”—that hurled millstones at Jin siege engines. Yet shortages of both manpower and ammunition plagued the defenders. Eventually, the emperor ordered stones from his father’s extravagant Genyue pleasure garden used as catapult ammunition.

The Turning Tide

Jin siegecraft proved devastatingly effective. They constructed “stacked bridges” across moats by layering rafts with branches, mats, and earth—impervious to Song catapults. Specialized siege engines like fire ladders, scaling ladders, and movable shelters called “tunnels” allowed Jin troops to approach walls under cover.

By the twentieth day of the intercalary month, Song defenses neared collapse. Catapults launched continuous barrages killing dozens daily, while defenders—reduced by 50-60% casualties—fired arrows randomly in panic. Repair crews avoided damaged sections where predecessors had been crushed by projectiles.

The Last Hope: Daoist Miracles and Military Collapse

With conventional defenses failing, Song officials turned to mystical solutions. The “Marvelous Troops” under Guo Jing—a charismatic charlatan claiming mastery of “Six Armor” divination tactics—promised victory through occult means. On the twenty-fifth day, with Jin forces breaching walls elsewhere, Guo’s forces marched out the Xuanhua Gate amid great spectacle.

The result proved catastrophic. Jin cavalry easily routed the “Marvelous Troops,” and Guo fled southward. In the chaotic aftermath, Jin soldiers scaled undermanned walls and planted their black banners. Though initially only about fifty Jin troops gained the walls, the absence of defenders allowed them to consolidate positions. By nightfall, fires raged across Bianjing as both Jin soldiers and Song deserters looted the city.

Aftermath and Legacy

The fall of Bianjing marked a watershed in Chinese history. Emperor Qinzong’s indecision—rejecting escape plans even as defenses collapsed—sealed the Northern Song’s fate. Within months, the Jin would capture both Qinzong and his father Huizong, ending the Northern Song dynasty.

The siege demonstrated critical military developments: the importance of siege engineering in medieval warfare, the limits of mystical solutions against disciplined forces, and the catastrophic consequences of failed civil-military relations. It also revealed the Jin as more than mere “barbarians”—their disciplined approach to siege warfare and selective punishment of resisters showed sophisticated statecraft emerging from the steppe tradition.

For China, the loss of its capital—the world’s largest city at the time—traumatized the national psyche. The Southern Song that emerged would never fully recover northern territories, establishing a cultural and political divide between north and south that would influence Chinese history for centuries. The siege’s lessons about preparedness, the dangers of court factionalism, and the limits of imperial authority continued to resonate long after the last catapult stones fell on Bianjing’s battered walls.