Generals of the Yang Family

Historical background

In 907, when the once-glorious Tang Dynasty officially ended, imperial China entered the chaotic and fragmented phase known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The decades that followed were marked by regional warlords, many legitimizing themselves as emperors, fighting amongst one another for power and territories. The year 907 also marked the beginning of such a militaristic state — officially called the Liao after 947 — established by Khitan people in roughly today's Liaoning and Inner Mongolia. The Khitans were largely nomadic people and frequently engaged in raids of the more affluent agricultural Han Chinese and Korean people in the south for wealth.

The southern area known as the Central Plain, or the Chinese heartland, defended against the Khitan incursions with strategical points or passes established roughly along the line of the old Great Wall. However, the area including these passes, known as the Sixteen Prefectures, were given to the Liao Dynasty in 936 by general Shi Jingtang, in exchange for military aid in Shi's personal war against the Later Tang. With no more passes impeding their army, the Khitans gained unlimited access to the Central Plain: just a decade later, they easily took their army south to extinguish the same Later Jin they helped Shi establish.

Even though the Khitans did not occupy the Central Plain, partially because their constant looting had caused unmanageable unrest, the sad fate of Later Jin already illustrated the danger looming in the north for any succeeding Chinese dynasty. When the Song Dynasty was established in the Central Plain in 960, it first tried to appease the Liao Dynasty to focus on campaigns against the states in southern China, but the goal of recovering the Sixteen Prefectures had always been there.

The Yang family

Yang Ye, a general of the Northern Han Kingdom, was nicknamed "Invincible" (無敵) due to his tactical prowess and unmatched gallantry in battle. He came to serve Song Dynasty after Liu Jiyuan, the ruler of Northern Han surrendered. Emperor Taizong of Song placed great faith in Yang Ye and commissioned him to defend Song's northern border from the Khitan-ruled Liao Dynasty. Yang Ye proved his capability by defeating the Khitans in a battle at Yanmenguan, instilling fear in the enemy but incurring the jealousy of some Song officials as well.

In 986, during a northern campaign against the Liao forces, the Song force commanded by general Pan Mei was attacked by the main enemy force along the way. Pan Mei and others forced Yang Ye to lead an army to resist the much larger enemy despite Yang Ye's opposition. Yang Ye engaged the Liao forces in a bloody battle at Chenjiagu (陳家谷), but the reinforcements did not arrive as promised. Surrounded by the much larger army, Yang Ye was captured by Liao forces and starved himself to death. One of Yang Ye's seven sons was killed. Pan Mei was later relegated by Emperor Taizong for Yang Ye's death.

The most outstanding of Yang Ye's seven sons was Yang Yanzhao, who continued defending Song's northern border from the Liao for more than two decades and the Khitans feared him. Yang Yanzhao's son Yang Wenguang also became an important general and followed Di Qing on a southern campaign against Nong Zhigao. He also defended Song's western borders from Western Xia.

Early development: 11th to 13th centuries

Legends on the Yang family began very early. In 1051, even before Yang Wenguang distinguished himself in the military, scholar Ouyang Xiu had inscribed the following on the tombstone of a Yang family relative. He was clearly referring to Yang Ye and Yang Yanzhao:

Father and son were both famous generals, and their tactical knowledge and bravery are known as being without equal. To this day gentlemen throughout the empire and even village kids and country yokels can all speak about them.

The earliest reference to the saga were from the so-called Southern Song (1127–1279), when the Song Dynasty had to relocate its capital to Southern China in Lin'an (modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang), for its northern territory had been conquered by the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty. Among a recorded list of stories told by Lin'an storytellers, two titles clearly involved the Yang family:

Yuan/Ming Dynasty plays: 14th to 15th centuries

In a list of plays from Southern Song Dynasty's northern neighbor Jin dynasty (1115–1234), one title probably refers to an episode in the Yang saga:

By the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), plays in the form of zaju on the Yang saga appeared. Many scripts survived in its entirety, almost all compiled the Ming Dynasty so their authenticity have

Ming/Qing Dynasty novels: 16th to 19th centuries

In Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), a number of novels on the Yang family began to appear. The two that have survived to this day both appeared during Wanli Emperor's reign (1572–1620):

These novels would become the primary source materials for the legends. In Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), more novels appeared. Some are modifications of the previous novels, some retold particular stories, while some are sequels. Other novels with similar settings would also feature characters from the Yang family, for example the novels featuring Zhao Kuangyin (927–976) or Di Qing (1008–1057) as their main character.

Other novels in later settings also included characters who were alleged descendants of the Yang family:

Qing Dynasty opera: 19th century

The Jiaqing Emperor, who reigned from 1796 to 1820, ordered the compilation of a Song Book to Enlighten Generations (昭代箫韶), containing 240 plays in kunqu about the generals of the Yang family. The compilation was published in 1813 and attributed to Wang Tingzhang (王廷章) and Fan Wenxian (范聞賢). Over the years the opera series was only performed 3 times due to its length. Later, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered its modification into the Peking opera version, a huge project that lasted from 1898 until 1900 when it was interrupted by the Boxer Rebellion and subsequent foreign invasions.

In addition to the plays shown in the Forbidden City, qinqiang, yuju, pingju and many other local Chinese opera forms have all throughout the centuries developed their own stories about generals of the Yang family. Many of the stories aren't found in novels and have vastly enriched the legends. In the 20th century, the stories were greatly popularized in China through the performing art pingshu (storytelling).

Basic story

During the Song Dynasty's invasion of the much weaker Northern Han Kingdom, Emperor Taizu of Song's army was surprised by Northern Han general Yang Ye and suffered a major defeat. Song general Pan Renmei was almost killed by Yang Ye and the Song army had no choice but to retreat. Years later, Emperor Taizu's successor Emperor Taizong initiated another invasion, again stopped by forces led by Yang Ye, his wife She Saihua, and their 7 sons. Pan Renmei was injured by an arrow from She Saihua. Emperor Taizong had to bribe corrupt Northern Han officials who spread rumors to create distrust between Northern Han's ruler Liu Jiyuan and Yang Ye. This eventually led to Liu Jiyuan's defeat and surrender.

After Yang Ye's reluctant surrender, Emperor Taizong awarded his family an impressive mansion in the capital Kaifeng called "Heaven Wave House". Gratified, Yang Ye swore allegiance to the emperor and defeated the Liao Dynasty forces from Song's northern borders again and again. The jealous Pan Renmei, also the emperor's father-in-law, offered to the emperor to name his son Pan Bao the vanguard, but the other ministers were not convinced since Pan Bao had no experience. Pan Renmei then offered to start a martial arts tournament in Kaifeng's Tianqi Temple, but specified that the Yang family shall not participate. The emperor agreed. Yang Ye locked his sons at home, but on the last day the 7th son sneaked out the house, joined the tournament, and killed Pan Bao who had been using underhand means to defeat his opponents.

After several attempts to kill Yang family members failed, Pan Renmei turned to the Liao army for help and assisted them in luring and besieging the outnumbered Yang Ye, his 7 sons and Emperor Taizong in the border city of Youzhou. With no better options available, Yang Ye's 1st son volunteered to dress as the emperor and meet the Liao prince for a risky peace talk called the "Double-Dragon Meet" in Golden Beach, while the real Emperor Taizong escaped. As feared, the meeting turned out to be a trap, and only his two youngest sons remained when Yang Ye and his men retreated to Twin Wolves Mountain. Yang Ye asked his 7th son to fight a way out to Pan Renmei's camp for reinforcement. The 7th son managed to reach Pan Renmei, but was drugged, tied up and shot to death by countless arrows.

Severely outnumbered in the trap and with no sight of reinforcement, Yang Ye also learned the confirmed deaths of his eldest 3 sons. To avoid being captured, he committed suicide by knocking his head against a stone tablet bearing Li Ling's name. His 6th son managed to fight a way out back to the Song territory, but was confronted by generals ordered by Pan Renmei to kill him. Instead, the generals who all respected Yang Ye told him about his 7th brother's death and let him go. On the way back to Kaifeng, the 6th son also befriended a man named Wang Qin, who unbeknownst to him was a Liao spy.

When Emperor Taizong received the 6th son's report about Pan Renmei's crimes, he also received a report by Pan Renmei accusing the Yangs of treason. The first judge of the case was bribed by Pan Renmei's daughter Consort Pan and tried to help the Pans but that was stopped by the emperor's nephew Zhao Defang, also known as the "Eighth Virtuous Prince". The second judge escaped from his post for fear of offending the Pans. After a long time, the Eighth Virtuous Prince finally located a candidate for the post, a provincial official named Kou Zhun, who despite having only held tiny posts before, had a reputation of intelligence and moral principles. Finally Kou Zhun convicted Pan Renmei of multiple crimes and executed him with the help of the Eighth Virtuous Prince.

As the new commander of the Song army succeeding his father, the 6th son Yang Yanzhao continued to fight the Liao forces under the new emperor. Emperor Zhenzong honored the Yang family by building a stone epitaph, which was disrespected by Xie Jinwu - the son-in-law of Wang Qin who had since become a high official. After Xie Jinwu received a heavy beating by the women in the Yang household, trouble began to arise which resulted in Yang Yanzhao being notified at the border. Worried about his mother, he, without permission, violated the military rules to rush back to the capital with a subordinate Jiao Zan, who couldn't control his anger and killed Xie Jinwu, creating more trouble.

Finally reinstated, Yang Yanzhao accidentally noticed that his 5th brother was a monk at Mount Wutai. Having given his soul to the Buddha in despair after the fighting at Golden Beach, the 5th brother now refused to participate in the Song army or return home, but he proved that blood is thicker than water by helping his brother at a critical time and killing the enemy. Meanwhile, their sister - Yang Ye's 8th child - learned that her father's remains and golden sabre were kept by the Liao in Haotian Pagoda so she went across the border by herself in an attempt to retrieve the items. She was arrested but escaped with help from someone who turned out to be her 4th brother, now under the false identity "Mu Yi" and had married a Liao princess.

When Yang Zongbao, the son of Yang Yanzhao and Princess Chai, travelled to the Muke Fort in search of the Dragon Subduing Wood, which would help in breaking Liao army's Heaven Gate Formation, he met Mu Guiying, who married him after capturing him. Mu Guiying would prove instrumental in breaking the Heaven Gate Formation with the rest of the Yangs. When Yang Yanzhao died, there were few males left in the Yang family. Around that time, Western Xia invaded Song, and Yang Zongbao had been killed in action, so the twelve women in the family participated in the campaign against Western Xia. The women generals of the Yang family proved that they were not inferior to their male counterparts.

Historical and cultural sites

Due to the popularity of the stories throughout the Chinese-speaking world, numerous memorial sites including temples and tombs have been built over the centuries throughout China to commemorate Yang Ye and the Yang family. Many locations have no known and realistic relationship with the Yangs, yet still claim that events from the stories occurred there. Some of the most well-known sites include: