Du Chong杜充

History vs. fiction

Du Chong. Succeeded Zong Ze as Defender-in-Chief, later surrendered to the Jin. A Song general, surrendered with Jiankang to the enemy. Defender-in-Chief of Beijing. Commander-in-Chief of the Yangtze River, surrendered the Yangtze...

• based on factSucceeded Zong Ze as Defender-in-Chief, later surrendered to the Jin.; A Song general, surrendered with Jiankang to the enemy.; Defender-in-Chief of Beijing. | Commander-in-Chief of the Yangtze River, surrendered the Yangtze to the Jin; originally a Song general, after surrendering he led the way to pursue Prince Kang, and was killed by Hu Yanzhuo.

  Historically, Du Chong indeed existed. His deeds are recorded in historical sources such as the History of Song. For example, in the Annals of Gaozong, Volume 2, it is recorded: 'In the autumn, on the jiashen day of the seventh month, Ye Nong entered Ningde County and then returned to Jianzhou; Zhang Jun was ordered to join with Zhao Zhe, the judicial inspector of the two Zhe circuits, to lead troops to suppress him. On bingxu, an edict ordered the Ministry of Personnel to review capital officials; only those who had not presented writings or directly taken the palace examination after the Zhenghe era were allowed to participate in selection. Zong Ze died. On dinghai, an edict ordered that officials who had been dismissed for sitting with Cai Jing and Wang Fu could repent and be reinstated. On wuzi, the punishment of gouging eyes and cutting out hearts in the military was prohibited. On renchen, one-sixth of the regular and local troops from Jiang and Zhe prefectures were selected to go to the temporary residence. On yimao, Guo Zhongxun was appointed as Deputy Defender of the capital. On wuxu, merits of officers and soldiers inside and outside were recorded. On xinchou, due to spring rains, summer drought, and locusts, an edict ordered supervisors and prefects to report administrative shortcomings, and for prefectures with severe disasters, land taxes were reduced. On jiachen, Du Chong, who had been demoted to Defender of Beijing, was restored to the position of Direct Scholar of the Privy Council and appointed as Prefect of Kaifeng and Defender of the Eastern Capital.' In the novel The Story of Yue Fei, Chapter 36 describes: 'It is said that when Wuzhu's troops reached the Yangtze River, the marshals and princes were searching for boats everywhere to cross. The Commander-in-Chief of the Yangtze, surnamed Du named Chong, seeing Wuzhu's formidable force, thought to himself: "Zong Liushou has died, and Yue Yuanshuai is in Huguang; how can the court full of treacherous ministers withstand Wuzhu's great army? Wuzhu has ordered that any Song official who surrenders will be enfeoffed as a prince. I might as well surrender the Yangtze to seek wealth and honor." Having decided, he ordered his troops to raise the surrender flag, took a small boat to see Wuzhu, and said: "Du Chong, Commander-in-Chief of the Yangtze, specially surrenders the Yangtze to welcome the Wolf Lord across." Wuzhu was greatly pleased and immediately appointed him as King of the Yangtze. Du Chong thanked him and said: "My son Du Ji holds the post of Commander of Jinling and currently guards Fengtai Gate. Let me go and open the city gate to welcome the Wolf Lord into the city." Wuzhu said: "If your son is willing to surrender, he will also be enfeoffed as a prince." Then he ordered Du Chong to be the guide, and the army marched towards Fengtai Gate.'