The Collapse of an Empire: Jin Dynasty’s Desperate Hour

In the 2nd year of Tianxing (1233), the Jin Dynasty stood on the brink of annihilation. As Mongol forces under Ögedei Khan tightened their noose around the capital Nanjing (modern Kaifeng), the city—once a glittering symbol of Jurchen power—had become a dystopian wasteland. Famine turned streets into graveyards where citizens gnawed on wild vegetables and tree bark. The government, led by incompetent officials like Wanyan Nushen and Xinia Abu, offered no solutions while hoarding grain. Into this vacuum of leadership stepped Cui Li, a low-born military officer whose opportunistic coup would briefly make him the most powerful—and reviled—man in a dying empire.

The Making of a Rebel: Cui Li’s Path to Power

Born in poverty in modern Shandong’s Lingcheng District, Cui Li grew up among street gangs, earning meager wages as a helper at Buddhist rituals. The Mongol invasions provided his path upward—he joined warlord Zhang Kai’s militia, rising through ranks with a mix of cunning and brutality. By 1233, he commanded the western garrison of Nanjing’s outer walls, surrounded by loyalists like the brutish Yao Anguo, a former prisoner whose strength made him invaluable.

Historical records paint Cui Li as “lustful, treacherous, and constantly scheming.” As the city’s collapse became inevitable, he moved his family to his military quarters, hedging bets between rebellion and defection to the Mongols. His moment came on January 23, 1233, when—exploiting public fury over the government’s inaction—he launched a coup with 200 soldiers.

Blood in the Halls of Power: The Coup Unfolds

That morning, as scholar Liu Qi (who witnessed events firsthand) hurried through rain-soaked streets to submit reform proposals, Cui struck. Yao Anguo stormed the尚书省 (Central Secretariat) with a bloodied sword, decapitating Wanyan Nushen and Xinia Abu. The rebels slaughtered officials indiscriminately, including left/right department directors Nahe Dehui and Yang Juren. Cui then proclaimed himself the city’s savior:

“The two chancellors sealed the gates and doomed you all! I kill them to plead for your lives!”

Miraculously, the downpour ceased as Cui’s manifesto spread. Starving citizens cheered, believing deliverance had come.

The Illusion of Salvation: Cui’s Early Reforms

Initially, Cui played the populist:
– Appointed puppet ruler Wanyan Congke (son of deposed Emperor Weishao) as “supervisor of the state,” leveraging his sister’s marriage to Genghis Khan for Mongol favor.
– Allowed foraging, lifting the siege briefly so citizens could gather wild wheat and greens.
– Cracked down on looting, decreeing death for soldiers stealing even a single coin.

For three days, Cui basked in adulation. Officials kowtowed, hailing him as “Grand Preceptor” and “Prince of Zheng.” He redistributed titles—making his wife a princess, brother a chancellor—while co-opting respected figures like scholar Yuan Haowen into his regime.

Descent into Tyranny: The Unmasking

The turning point came on January 27, when Cui donned imperial robes to meet Mongol general Subutai at Qingcheng. Their secret pact triggered a monstrous transformation:

1. Dismantling defenses: Ordered the burning of Nanjing’s towers and battlements, signaling surrender to the Mongols.
2. Betraying the royals: Rounded up 500 imperial clansmen—including the empress dowager and princes—sending them to Subutai for execution.
3. Plundering the city: Launched house-to-house confiscations of gold and silver, torturing wealthy families like left chancellor Li Xi’s widow to death.
4. Sexual predation: Forcibly took wives and daughters of officials for his harem, later reserving widows/virgins as “tributes” to Mongol troops.

Resistance and Martyrdom

Amid the horror, acts of defiance shone:
– Pucha Qi, a Jurchen scholar, hanged himself rather than adopt Mongol hairstyles: “I inherited my brother’s rank—how could I disgrace it?”
– Pucha Mingxiu, wife of general Wanyan Changle, committed suicide after vowing: “I will not let Cui Li defile my body!”
– Nie Shunying, daughter of slain official Nie Tianji, ended her life after burying her father.

The Mongol Entry and Cui’s Downfall

On April 20, 1233, Mongol troops entered Nanjing. Thanks to Khitan advisor Yelü Chucai’s intervention—who argued skilled laborers were more valuable than corpses—wholesale slaughter was avoided. Instead:
– Elites deported: Scholars, doctors, and artisans (including Confucius’ descendant Kong Yuancuo) were marched north.
– Cui’s humiliation: His own palace was looted by Mongol soldiers as he wept helplessly.

By June 1234, when Southern Song envoy Zou Shenzhi visited, Nanjing was a ghost town: palaces overgrown with weeds, Mongol horses trampling throne rooms, arrows marking looted homes. Cui—still styling himself “Chancellor”—was a ruler of ruins.

Legacy: The Tyrant in History’s Mirror

Cui Li’s brief rule (he was assassinated in 1234) became a cautionary tale about power’s corruption. Like Wang Mang in Han Dynasty, he began as a “savior” before revealing monstrous ambitions. His betrayal accelerated the Jin Dynasty’s fall, while his victims—from martyred officials to nameless famine victims—epitomized the human cost of collapse.

As Yuan Haowen’s poems lament, the true tragedy wasn’t just fallen dynasties, but the ordinary lives ground between empires:

“June winds carry bones ten thousand miles,
Turning all to dust in time’s embrace…”

The ruins of Nanjing stood as mute witnesses to an eternal truth: in the ashes of order, tyrants rise—but their flames always consume themselves.