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Yu Yunwen
Southern Song civil official who rallied leaderless troops to repel Wanyan Liang's crossing of the Yangzi at Caishi in 1161 and later served as chief councillor
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Also known as Zi Binfu · Duke of Yong · Shi Zhongsu
Yu Yunwen, courtesy name Binfu, came from Renshou in Longzhou and passed the jinshi examination in 1154; on an embassy to the Jin he noticed them building ships and on his return urged the court to prepare. When the Jin ruler Wanyan Liang invaded in 1161, Yu, then a secretariat drafter, arrived at Caishi in the eleventh month to reward the troops and found the old commander dismissed and the new one not yet come. He gathered the scattered soldiers, sent out the war boats and drove back the Jin crossing, and soon afterwards Wanyan Liang was killed by his own officers at Guazhou. Yu later served as pacification commissioner in Sichuan and Shaanxi, became chief councillor in 1169 and pressed for the recovery of the north. Sent to Sichuan as military commissioner in 1172, he died at his post in 1174 at sixty-five and was later named Zhongsu.
Life and times
Dates 1110 CE–1174 CE