Aju

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Aju came from an aristocratic Uriyangkhai military family. His grandfather Subutai was one of Chinggis Khan's famous “Four Dogs,” renowned for bravery and command ability. He participated in the first great western campaigns and was a founding commander of the Mongol Empire. Aju's father Uriyangkhadai was likewise an important general. He had joined Batu's western campaigns and later served as supreme commander in charge of military operations in the southwest. Aju grew up in this martial family environment, accompanying his father in army camps from childhood and becoming familiar with campaigning and battlefield tactics.

In 1253, the third year of Möngke Khan's reign, the twenty-year-old Aju followed Uriyangkhadai in the Mongol conquest of Dali. This was a long-distance expedition intended to outflank the Southern Song from the west, with Kublai Khan as overall commander and Uriyangkhadai leading the vanguard. Aju “led elite troops as scouting cavalry” and served as the advance commander. During the attack on Yachi, present-day Kunming, he “secretly advanced and leapt inside,” becoming one of the first to enter the city. The following year, during the campaign against Qiandege, near modern Chengjiang, Uriyangkhadai fell ill and entrusted the army to Aju. Aju fulfilled the assignment, led troops in fighting on the walls, and broke into the city. He then successively captured Buhageyin and Aheayin, took the Chituge mountain stronghold, and pressed on against the states known in Chinese sources as Lulusi, or Luoluosi in the modern Xichang region, and Abo, both of which requested submission.

In 1257, the seventh year of Möngke's reign, Aju again accompanied his father, leading three thousand Mongol troops and more than ten thousand troops of various Dali peoples against Annam, present-day northern Vietnam. The campaign forced the Trần dynasty to submit and send tribute.

Breaking the Southern Song's Southwestern Defenses

In 1259, the ninth year of Möngke's reign, Uriyangkhadai was ordered to enter Song territory from the southwest and march north to join Kublai's main army at Tanzhou, present-day Changsha. Song forces deployed tens of thousands of troops along the defensive line of Hengshan Stockade and Laocang Pass near Yongzhou. Under his father's command, Aju “secretly took a side route” around the Song position and “struck its center,” routing the defenders. After the line collapsed, Uriyangkhadai's army advanced rapidly, taking Guizhou in modern Guangxi, Xiangzhou, and Jingjiang Prefecture before reaching the walls of Tanzhou. Aju remained the vanguard throughout this campaign and, according to the account, fought across a thousand li of Song territory in thirteen major and minor battles without defeat.

Aju later withdrew north with his father. Nearly a decade of campaigning transformed him from a young advance commander into a general capable of independent command.

Supreme Commander for the South and the Siege of Xiangyang

After Kublai Khan's accession, Aju entered the imperial guard and became a trusted military follower of the new ruler. In 1262, the third year of Zhongtong, the Shandong warlord Li Tan rebelled. Aju served under the princes Baichu and Tiege in suppressing the revolt and earned distinction. In the ninth lunar month that year, he was transferred from the imperial guard to the post of Supreme Commander for the Southern Campaign and based at Kaifeng. After taking office, he restored the administrative establishment of Suzhou north of the Huai and used it as a base for operations in the Huai region, where repeated captures and victories greatly enhanced his military reputation.

In 1267, the fourth year of Zhiyuan, Aju led forces against Xiangyang and Nanjun, seized strongholds including Xianren and Tiecheng, and took fifty thousand captives. On the return march, Song forces ambushed his army between Xiangyang and Fancheng. Aju countered with an ambush of his own and killed more than ten thousand opponents. In 1268, the fifth year of Zhiyuan, he built forts including Lumen and Xincheng on both banks of the Han River and constructed a fortified platform in the river to coordinate with the Jiājiang fortifications, cutting Xiangyang's supply and relief routes.

In 1269, the sixth year of Zhiyuan, prolonged rain caused the Han River to rise sharply. Song commanders Xia Gui and Fan Wenhu successively led relief armies toward Xiangyang. Aju recognized their feinting tactics, laid an ambush at a newly built fort, and inflicted a major defeat, killing, drowning, or capturing more than five thousand soldiers and seizing over one hundred warships. He then repaired warships, trained a naval force, and built an encircling fortification system for a long siege. Fan Wenhu again led a naval relief force, and Lai Xingguo brought one hundred warships against Baizhang Mountain; Aju defeated both forces at Tuantan.

In the third lunar month of 1272, the ninth year of Zhiyuan, Yuan forces broke through the outer defenses of Fancheng. Song commanders Zhang Shun and Zhang Gui led one hundred boats loaded with military clothing from upstream to aid Xiangyang. Aju intercepted them; Zhang Shun was killed. Zhang Gui broke through into the city but later sailed downstream and fell into an ambush set by Aju and the Yuan commander Liu Zheng, and was captured and killed. Aju then used saws and axes to cut through timber and chains and burned the floating barrier constructed by the Song on the river, completely severing contact between Xiangyang and Fancheng. In the ninth lunar month he received the additional title Co-Manager of Government Affairs. In the twelfth lunar month Yuan forces captured Fancheng, and Lü Wenhuan, the defender of Xiangyang, surrendered. The six-year campaign at Xiangyang and Fancheng ended in complete Yuan victory.

Crossing the Yangtze and the Destruction of the Southern Song

In the first lunar month of 1274, the eleventh year of Zhiyuan, Aju went to court and together with Councilor Ariq Qaya urged a full campaign against the Southern Song. Aju argued that he had long served in the field and had seen that Song forces were weaker than before; if the opportunity were lost, it would not return. Kublai accepted the recommendation, ordered an additional one hundred thousand troops, and sent Aju together with Chancellor Bayan, Ariq Qaya, and others against the Song. In the third lunar month, Aju was promoted to Manager of Government Affairs.

In the ninth lunar month, Yuan forces reached Yanshan at Yingzhou and learned that the elite troops of nine Song prefectures along the river had gathered in the eastern and western sections of Yingzhou, making a direct assault difficult. Aju advised bypassing the city, taking Huangjiawan Fort, dragging boats into the lake, and turning downstream. One thousand Song cavalry pursued. Aju, with only several dozen cavalry, counterattacked vigorously, killing more than five hundred and capturing two Song commanders surnamed Zhao and Fan. Yuan forces then took Shayang and Xincheng, and Zhai Gui, the Song defender of Fuzhou, surrendered.

Song commander Xia Gui used large warships to block the confluence of the Yangtze and Han rivers and strengthened defenses on both banks. Aju adopted a plan proposed by his subordinate Ma Fu, returned to the Lun River mouth, crossed through the lake, and entered the Yangtze from Xishawu west of Yangluo Fort. In the twelfth lunar month Yuan forces reached Yangluo but could not take the fort. Aju told Bayan that attacking the fort directly was the inferior strategy; if half the fleet moved west along the bank and anchored opposite Qingshanji, it could exploit an opening and force a crossing. Bayan agreed. The next day Aju saw a sandbank on the southern bank and moved swiftly to occupy it. Song commander Cheng Pengfei brought troops to resist, and a battle took place on the river. Cheng was defeated and fled. Yuan forces landed and pursued as far as the east gate of Ezhou. When Xia Gui learned that Aju had crossed the Yangtze, he panicked and fled with three hundred ships, after which Yuan forces captured Yangluo Fort.

Bayan assembled the generals to discuss the next move. Some argued for taking Qizhou and Huangzhou first. Aju argued that moving downstream would leave no secure base in the rear; taking Ezhou and Hanyang upstream might delay the advance by about ten days but would provide a firm base and was the safest course. On the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Yuan land and naval forces advanced directly on Ezhou and Hanyang, burned three thousand Song ships, and received the surrender of both cities.

In the first lunar month of 1275, the twelfth year of Zhiyuan, Huangzhou, Qizhou, and Jiangzhou surrendered one after another. Aju led the fleet toward Anqing, and Song commander Fan Wenhu submitted. When the army reached Chizhou, Song chancellor Jia Sidao concentrated a large force at Wuhu and sent Song Jing to seek peace. Bayan considered halting the advance, but Aju strongly argued for continuing. He warned that unless Jia Sidao was defeated, the prefectures that had already surrendered might be lost again by summer; moreover, the Song had sought peace while still shooting at Yuan ships and arresting Yuan patrol cavalry. He said they should advance and that he would accept responsibility for any failure.

In the second lunar month, Yuan forces reached Dingjiazhou and faced the Song vanguard under Sun Huchen. Xia Gui blocked the river with 2,500 warships, while Jia Sidao held troops in reserve. Aju boarded a vessel, personally took the helm, and drove into the enemy formation. The other Yuan forces followed, and the Song army collapsed. Jia Sidao fled east toward Yangzhou.

In the fourth lunar month, Kublai ordered Aju to detach forces to besiege Yangzhou. Aju constructed warships and military equipment at Guazhou, transported grain from Zhenzhou, and erected stockades to cut Song supply lines. Song commander Jiang Cai attacked with twenty thousand infantry and cavalry. Aju sent mounted troops across the river to engage him. After several clashes, the Yuan forces feigned retreat; Jiang pursued, the Yuan army turned back, and volleys of arrows broke the Song force. Deputy commander Zhang Lin was captured, and eighteen thousand enemy soldiers were reported killed.

In the seventh lunar month, Song commanders Zhang Shijie and Sun Huchen stationed ten thousand warships east of Jiaoshan, linking every ten vessels with iron chains. After observing from Shigong Mountain, Aju recommended fire attack. He selected one thousand strong archers, placed them aboard large warships in two wings, and advanced in the center. Fire arrows set the Song formation ablaze; the chained ships could not maneuver, the forward crews drowned, and the rear units scattered. Yuan forces pursued to Tushan and captured more than seven hundred Huanghu vessels. The Song navy never recovered from this defeat.

In the tenth lunar month, Aju was appointed Left Chancellor of the Central Secretariat but was ordered to remain in Huainan to contain the Song commander Li Tingzhi. While the main Yuan army advanced on Lin'an, Aju held Guazhou and severed the possibility of reinforcement from Yangzhou. The source credits his control of Yangzhou's relief forces as an important reason Bayan was able to force the Southern Song capital to submit without a major battle.

Pacification of the Huai Region and Final Years

In the second lunar month of 1276, the thirteenth year of Zhiyuan, Xia Gui surrendered the cities of western Huai. Aju told the generals that although the Song state had now fallen, Li Tingzhi remained undefeated because outside forces still supported him. Aju therefore sought to sever those reinforcements, block supplies, and prevent Li from escaping east through Tongzhou or Taizhou toward the sea. He stationed troops at Dingcun northwest of Yangzhou to cut grain routes from Gaoyou and Baoying, stored provisions at Wantou Fort for a long defense, and garrisoned Xincheng to threaten Taizhou.

In the sixth lunar month, Song commander Jiang Cai learned that grain from Gaoyou was approaching and attacked Dingcun at night with five thousand infantry and cavalry. At dawn Bayanchar arrived with reinforcements consisting of Aju's elite troops. The Song soldiers fled on seeing them. Yuan forces killed four hundred Song cavalry in pursuit, and fewer than one hundred infantry escaped. In the intercalary eleventh lunar month, Li Tingzhi left Zhu Huan to hold Yangzhou and fled with Jiang Cai to Taizhou. In the seventh lunar month, Zhu Huan surrendered Yangzhou. Sun Liangchen, the Song commander at Taizhou, also surrendered, and Li Tingzhi and Jiang Cai were captured and executed in Yangzhou.

After Yangzhou and Taizhou fell, Aju strictly prohibited plunder. When an officer of the Wuwei Army seized two horses from civilians, Aju had him executed as a warning. The Huai region was pacified, with two prefectures, twenty-two subprefectures, four military districts, and sixty-seven counties brought under control. On 30 September, Aju entered court and met Kublai at Daming Hall. Kublai rewarded him with a two-thousand-household fief in Taixing County.

In 1286, the twenty-third year of Zhiyuan, Aju was ordered to campaign north against the rebel prince Xilamu. In 1287, the twenty-fourth year of Zhiyuan, he was again ordered to campaign against Nayan's rebellion. He fell ill and died at Halahuo Prefecture on the way, aged fifty-four. He was posthumously created Prince of Henan and granted the posthumous name Wuxuan, later changed to Wuding.

Major Activities

Military Campaigns

Aju was regarded as one of the outstanding military commanders of the early Yuan. The History of Yuan says that during forty years of campaigning north and south he fought more than 150 major and minor battles “without once being defeated.” His career may be divided into four broad phases. First, he accompanied his father in the campaigns against Dali and Annam, helping open a southwestern route around the Southern Song. Second, as Supreme Commander for the Southern Campaign, he operated in the Huai region and contested western Huai with the Song. Third, he directed the long siege of Xiangyang and Fancheng, which lasted six years and ended with the capture of the Southern Song's most important strategic stronghold. Fourth, he joined Bayan in the final conquest of the Song and served as a principal front-line commander in the crossing of the Yangtze, the Battle of Dingjiazhou, the Battle of Jiaoshan, and the siege of Yangzhou.

Siege of Xiangyang and Fancheng

The Xiangyang-Fancheng campaign was the defining operation of Aju's career. From 1267 to 1273, he served as a front-line commander and pursued a strategy of prolonged blockade and progressive encirclement. He first built forts such as Lumen and Xincheng on both banks of the Han River to cut Xiangyang off from the outside, then built a platform in the river to coordinate with the Jiājiang fortifications and close the water route. Against repeated Song relief attempts, Aju used ambushes, interception, and fire attacks and defeated commanders including Xia Gui, Fan Wenhu, Zhang Shun, and Zhang Gui. The Yuan finally captured Fancheng and forced Lü Wenhuan to surrender Xiangyang. The six-year struggle was one of the longest and fiercest operations of the Song-Yuan war, and Aju's persistence and tactical skill played a decisive role.

Crossing the Yangtze and Destroying the Song

In 1274, Aju and Bayan led the main Yuan invasion. At Yangluo Fort, Aju proposed detaching troops toward Qingshanji and crossing at a weak point, successfully breaking the Yangtze defense line. At Dingjiazhou, he argued strongly for continued advance, personally led from the front, and routed Jia Sidao's main Song army. Aju then detached forces to besiege Yangzhou and held Guazhou, severing communications between the Huai region and Lin'an and creating conditions for Bayan's capture of the Song capital. Yuan historians credited Aju's containment of Yangzhou relief forces at Guazhou as an important reason Bayan was able to end the Song with little fighting at the capital itself.

Pacification of the Huai Region

After the Southern Song court collapsed, Li Tingzhi and Jiang Cai still controlled much of the Huai region. Aju was ordered to subdue them and adopted a strategy of cutting supply routes, blocking reinforcements, and preventing eastward flight. He garrisoned Dingcun northwest of Yangzhou, stored grain at Wantou Fort, and placed troops at Xincheng to threaten Taizhou. After months of pressure, Yangzhou and Taizhou fell, Li Tingzhi and Jiang Cai were captured and executed, and the Huai region was fully pacified.

Personal Relations

Family

• Grandfather: Subutai, founding commander of the Mongol Empire and one of Chinggis Khan's “Four Dogs”
• Father: Uriyangkhadai, supreme commander in charge of southwestern campaigns
• Son: Buliangjidai

Colleagues

• Bayan: supreme commander in the conquest of the Song, closely coordinated with Aju
• Ariq Qaya: one of the principal commanders in the Song campaign and a fellow Manager of Government Affairs
• Liu Zheng: former Song officer who defected to Yuan and cooperated with Aju in the Xiangyang-Fancheng campaign

Ruler–Subject Relations

• Kublai Khan, Emperor Shizu of Yuan: Aju's ruler, who trusted him greatly and successively appointed him Supreme Commander for the Southern Campaign, Manager of Government Affairs, and Left Chancellor of the Central Secretariat
• Möngke Khan: ruler during Aju's early campaigns with his father

Enemies

• Li Tan: rebelled in 1262 and was suppressed by Aju and others
• Li Tingzhi: Southern Song commander in the Huai region who defended Yangzhou and was ultimately captured and executed by Aju
• Jiang Cai: Southern Song general and subordinate of Li Tingzhi, captured and executed by Aju
• Jia Sidao: Southern Song chancellor defeated by Aju at Dingjiazhou
• Xia Gui: Southern Song commander who fought Aju repeatedly and later submitted to Yuan
• Fan Wenhu: Southern Song commander who fought Aju repeatedly and later submitted to Yuan
• Zhang Shijie: Southern Song commander defeated by Aju at Jiaoshan

Historical Assessment

Yuan / Contemporary

• The History of Yuan, “Biography of Aju,” says that “during forty years of campaigning north and south, in more than one hundred and fifty great and small battles, he was never defeated,” and states that Bayan's ability to destroy the Song without heavy fighting owed much to Aju's control of Yangzhou's relief forces at Guazhou.
• Kublai Khan relied heavily on Aju. When appointing him Left Chancellor of the Central Secretariat, he reportedly told him: “Huainan is a vital region, and Li Tingzhi is cunning. You must guard it.” The statement reflects the emperor's high confidence in his military ability.
• Yuan historians placed Aju alongside Bayan as one of the two great contributors to the destruction of the Song and described him as a commander who had fought a hundred battles without a defeat.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Ming historians often paired Aju with Bayan, presenting Bayan as the planner and Aju as the principal battlefield commander in the Yuan conquest of the Southern Song. The Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, for example, frequently praises Aju's military skill in its account of the Xiangyang-Fancheng campaign.
• Qing scholar Gu Zuyu, in Essentials of Historical Geography, wrote of the Xiangyang-Fancheng campaign that the Yuan “relied on Aju's skill in war and operated for six years before Xiangyang was taken,” praising his persistence and patience.
• Qing historian Bi Yuan, in the Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, recorded Aju's achievements in detail, describing him as exceptionally skilled in the use of troops and particularly adept at naval warfare, and emphasizing his role in the Yangtze crossing.

Modern Assessments

• Modern Yuan historian Han Rulin, in History of the Yuan Dynasty, described Aju as “one of the outstanding military commanders of the early Yuan” and regarded his performance at Xiangyang-Fancheng and in the Yangtze campaign as demonstrating both the resilience and tactical flexibility of Mongol commanders.
• Taiwanese scholar Hsiao Ch'i-ch'ing, in his study of Yuan military institutions, treated Aju as a representative of the Mongol hereditary military aristocracy and argued that his success reflected both family tradition and extensive practical battlefield experience.
• Chen Yuan, although not discussing Aju at length in A Study of the Sinicization of Western and Central Asian Peoples in the Yuan, grouped him with Bayan and Ariq Qaya as three major founding-era commanders.