The Battle of Caishi was a major naval engagement of the Jin–Song wars that took place on November 26–27, 1161. Although a peace treaty in 1142 had settled the border between the two states, putting the Jin in control of northern China and the Song in control of the south, Prince Hailing of Jin was intent on uniting them under a single emperor. Without much resistance, his army pushed through to the Yangtze River, which he planned to cross at Caishi, south of modern-day Nanjing. The Song were fortified along the Yangtze front. Hailing embarked from the shore of the Yangtze on November 26, but the Song fleet, equipped with trebuchets(example pictured) that launched incendiary bombs made of gunpowder and lime, decisively defeated the light ships of the Jin navy. Hailing was assassinated by his own men shortly after the battle. A military coup had taken place in his absence, enthroning Emperor Shizong, and a peace treaty signed in 1165 ended the conflict. Modern studies suggest that the battle was smaller and that both sides were more evenly matched than traditional accounts suggest. Nonetheless, the victory boosted the Song infantry's morale and halted the Jin's southern advance. (Full article...)
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