Biography
Family Background and Early Years
Jia Sidao was born on the eighth day of the eighth lunar month in the sixth year of Jiading, corresponding to August 25, 1213, in Tiantai, Taizhou. His father Jia She rose to Military Commissioner of Huainan East Circuit and Commissioner for Jingdong and Hebei circuits, retired as Academician of the Xianmo Pavilion, and was posthumously promoted through several honors to Grand Preceptor, Prince of Wei Commandery, with the posthumous title Zhongsu. Jia Sidao was born to Jia She's concubine Lady Hu. His father died when Jia Sidao was eleven, and the family's circumstances declined.
In 1234, the first year of Duanping, Jia Sidao entered official service through hereditary privilege as a granary official at Jiaxing, beginning his career as a low-ranking local official.
Advancement through His Sister's Favor and Provincial Experience
In 1238, the second year of Jiaxi, Jia Sidao's elder sister entered the palace as a favored consort of Emperor Lizong of Song. Jia Sidao was therefore summoned for a court examination and promoted to an office in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and then to the Armaments Office. At this stage, however, accounts describe him as still behaving like a pleasure-seeking young aristocrat, spending days among courtesans and nights boating and reveling on West Lake. On one occasion, Emperor Lizong saw West Lake brilliantly illuminated from a height and concluded that Jia Sidao was responsible. When this was confirmed the next day, he ordered the metropolitan governor Shi Yanzhi to admonish him. Shi instead defended Jia Sidao, saying that although he retained youthful habits, he possessed talent that could be put to major use. Emperor Lizong therefore sent Jia Sidao to govern Lizhou so that he might gain experience.
For more than a decade thereafter, Jia Sidao held provincial posts, including fiscal commander of Huguang, Vice Minister of Revenue, Deputy Military Commissioner along the Yangzi, Military Commissioner of Jinghu and Prefect of Jiangling, Grand Pacification and Military Commissioner of Jinghu, and Academician of the Duanming Hall in command of the Huai region. He gradually became one of the highest military and civil authorities on the Southern Song frontier. While in provincial office, he continued agricultural-colony measures associated with Meng Gong. The area reportedly remitted as much as 300,000 *shi* of grain each year, sufficient not only for local provisions and fortifications but also to support other regions, earning praise from Emperor Lizong.
Battle of Ezhou and Consolidation of Power
In 1258, Möngke, Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, launched a large-scale war against the Southern Song. In 1259, Kublai Khan led forces south and besieged Ezhou in the ninth lunar month. Jia Sidao, serving as Right Chancellor and Military Affairs Commissioner, went to direct relief operations and was promoted to Duke of Mao. The fighting at Ezhou lasted for months with heavy casualties on both sides. In the eleventh lunar month, Möngke died during the campaign at Diaoyu Fortress. Kublai was anxious to return north to contend for the khanate, and Jia Sidao took the opportunity to reach an agreement with him, promising submission and annual payments of 200,000 taels of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk. After the Mongol troops withdrew, Jia Sidao pursued them and killed more than 170 enemy soldiers, but reported to the court that the various armies had won a great victory and the siege of Ezhou had been lifted, concealing the private negotiations.
Emperor Lizong rewarded Jia Sidao lavishly, promoting him to Duke of Su and then Duke of Wei, with court officials greeting him outside the capital according to a precedent associated with Wen Yanbo. Jia Sidao increasingly monopolized power. He removed opponents, exiling officials such as Cao Shixiong and Xiang Shibi on corruption charges after they had shown him disrespect in the army. His associates also compiled the *Fuhua Bian* to celebrate his supposed military exploits.
Government and Reforms
In 1261, Jia Sidao introduced an accounting audit policy for military finances, targeting false expense claims and the practice of maintaining fictitious soldiers on the rolls. In 1263, the source states that, together with Censor Chen Yaodao and Right Remonstrant Cao Xiaoqing, he implemented the Public Fields Law. It limited the amount of land private owners could hold and required the state to purchase holdings above the limit for military supply. Jia Sidao himself donated 10,000 *mu* of good land in western Zhejiang as public fields. In 1264, he implemented a land reassessment method and issued *guanzi* currency in an effort to restrain inflation.
In 1265, after Emperor Duzong of Song ascended the throne, Jia Sidao was appointed Grand Preceptor and Duke of Wei and was compared by the emperor to the Duke of Zhou. In 1267 he became Grand Preceptor and Director of State and Military Affairs, with the special privilege of attending the Classics Mat three times a month, appearing at court once every three days, and handling affairs in the main government hall. Jia Sidao thereafter dominated court politics and excluded opponents. Accounts describe a luxurious lifestyle and an intense enthusiasm for cricket fighting. He wrote the *Cuzhi Jing*, a two-volume work on crickets described in the source as the world's first specialized study of the insect.
Defeat at Dingjiazhou and Death in Exile
In 1274, Emperor Duzong died and Yuan troops captured Ezhou. Students of the Imperial University insisted that only the chief minister's personal leadership could save the situation. Jia Sidao reluctantly established a supreme military headquarters at Lin'an but, fearing Yuan commander Liu Zheng, delayed taking the field. Liu Zheng died in the first lunar month of 1275. Jia Sidao rejoiced and declared that Heaven was helping him, then submitted a memorial announcing his departure. He assembled 130,000 elite troops from several circuits, with boats carrying money, provisions, and equipment said to stretch for more than one hundred *li*.
In the second lunar month, Song and Yuan forces fought at Dingjiazhou. Jia Sidao sent Song Jing to the Yuan camp seeking peace and asking to resume the Kaiqing arrangement of tribute and submission, but Yuan chancellor Bayan refused. The more than seventy thousand soldiers under Song commander Sun Huchen collapsed, and Jia Sidao fled by small boat to Yangzhou. The defeat at Dingjiazhou was devastating, with uncounted deaths, wounds, and desertions, while Yuan forces advanced directly toward Lin'an.
Officials throughout court demanded that Jia Sidao be executed to answer to the realm. Empress Dowager Xie cited his service to three reigns and at first merely removed him from the posts of Director of State and Military Affairs and supreme commander. Under continued impeachment, he was demoted to Training Commissioner of Gaozhou, ordered to reside in Xunzhou, and had his property confiscated. Zhao Yurui, Prince of Fu, had long hated Jia Sidao and sought someone willing to kill him while escorting him into exile. Zheng Huchen, county commandant of Kuaiji, volunteered. During the journey, Zheng repeatedly humiliated Jia Sidao, removed the canopy from his sedan chair to expose him to the autumn sun, and ordered bearers to sing Hangzhou songs mocking him. In the eighth lunar month, at Mumi'an in Zhangzhou, Zheng repeatedly hinted that Jia Sidao should kill himself. Jia Sidao refused, saying the Grand Empress Dowager had promised he would live. Zheng Huchen then killed him. Jia Sidao was sixty-three.