Zhao Xun

Timeline

1. 1036–1040Bianjing · BianjingAt sixteen, Emperor Renzong summoned him for an examination in the informal palace hall and appointed him Acting Officer of the Three Commands. He submitted the five-volume Illustrated Classic of Piled Grain and the Diagram of Five Formations; Lü Yijian and others praised his strategies as surpassing ten thousand men, and he was promoted to Translator-Attendant and Pacification Commissioner, commanding ten thousand troops at Jingyuan while also administering Longgan Fortress.
2. 1040–1041Jingyuan Circuit · Jingyuan CircuitLeading twenty thousand troops, he attacked and broke through Qiang camps near the frontier, rescuing the besieged forces of Liu Hu; he also used letters to secure the surrender of Xia Zhan. Transferred to Commissioner of his own circuit, he repeatedly clashed with Western Xia border tribes.
3. 1042Dingchuan Fortress · Dingchuan FortressYuan Hao launched a major invasion; Zhao Xun stayed to assist Ge Huaimin. Xun advised holding the enemy in check and defending Zhenwu to keep supply lines open, but Huaimin refused to listen. In the Battle of Dingchuan the Song army was surrounded and cut off from water; the breakout failed, and Ge Huaimin, Zhao Xun, and sixteen other commanders were killed.