Han Shizhong

Han Shizhong (Chinese: 韓世忠) (1089 – 16 September 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 deeds. It is said that he had scars all over his body and, by the time he retired, there were only four fingers left on both of his hands. General Han distinguished himself in the Jin–Song wars against the Jurchen Jin dynasty, and was reputed to win battles in situation where he had to face a larger number of enemies with a smaller numbers of soldiers.

He was also known as a military inventor: his inventions including various modified bows, chain-like armor, a horse jumping obstacle course for cavalry training, and an archery range for archery practice. His wife, Liang Hongyu, was also known to have an exceptional military mind.

Through the tragedy of Yue Fei's execution, Han realized the extent of the rampant corruption throughout the Song imperial court, and retired from military service afterward.

Han Shizhong was born to a poor farming family in a village of the Shanxi province in the year 1089. He was born in a time when China was under constant threats by stronger bordering nations: notably the Tanguts' Western Xia, the Khitans' Liao dynasty and the Jurchens' Jin Empire. In 1105, the Tanguts' kingdom of Xi Xia attacked China and Han Shizhong was conscripted into military service.

In 1105 AD Han Shizhong, responded to the call for military service in his hometown and enlisted in the army of Yan'an Prefecture to resist against Xi Xia invasion. He distinguished himself in this conflict for his courage among the three armies of Song, where he became renowned for his archery skill. At one time, the Song army xperinced stalemate at Yinzhou. Han Shizhong personally breaking into the city, killed an enemy general defending the city, and threw his head outside the city. The Song army was encouraged and rushed forward to capture the city. Later, Han Shizhong led his elite troops in resisting large numbers of Xi Xia army's counter attack from Haopingling twice. During this battle, he manage to personally kill a Xi Xia's military supervisor's son-in-law, causing the enemy foces to retreat. After the battle, the Jinglüe Si reported Han Shizhong's achievements to the court and requested for his promotion. However, Tong Guan, who was in charge of border affairs at the time , doubted the authenticity of the report and only agreed to promote Han Shizhong promoted to lieutenant. Han Shizhong's colleagues felt dissatisfied with this decision.

Later, Han led Song Jiang's army offensive against the Liao and these stories were written in the Water Margin.^{[citation needed]}

In 1117 AD, Han Shizhong followed Liu Yanqing, a Song local official, to attack the Xi Xia forces, where he climbed the wall of enemy's city on valley at night, killing two enemy soldiers, and allowed paving the way for Song's soldiers to enter the city. In 1118 AD, he followed Liu Yanqing to Tianjiang Mountain to build a garrison city, repelled the Xi Xia raiding parties that came to obstruct his job, and killed many. Subsequently, Zhong Shidao, the chief general of Jingyuan Road, led the seven armies of Shaanxi and Hedong to attack Zangdihe City. Liu Yanqing led the Fuyan soldiers to participate in the battle. Han Shizhong was awarded three ranks in this battle. Later, Han Shizhong was promoted further deputy lieutenant of Yi and deputy lieutenant of Wu in succession for his military exploits.

In 1120, Han was sent as a deputy of General Wang Yuan (王渊) to suppress a local rebellion. It was reputed that he alone infiltrated a rebels' stronghold and captured the leader, Fang La. Han was nicknamed, "Able to defeat ten thousands" (萬人敵) and was rewarded handsomely for his efforts. However, Han's biography in Song Shi went on to indicate that Han was denied credit for capturing Fang La by Xin Xingzong (辛兴宗); Xin took the credit for himself Instead. It was not until Yang Weizhong , the commander-in-chief of the Right Army , returned to the court and reported the matter that Han Shizhong was granted the official rank of sanguan (散官).