In 1273, After The
Capture Of Siang-Yang (Infra, Ch.
Lxx.) the Kaan named him to the chief
command in the prosecution of the war against the Sung Dynasty.
Whilst
Bayan was in the full tide of success, Kublai, alarmed by the ravages of
Kaidu on the Mongolian frontier, recalled him to take the command there,
but, on the general's remonstrance, he gave way, and made him a minister
of state (CHINGSIANG). The essential part of his task was completed by the
surrender of the capital King-sze (Lin-ngan, now Hang-chau) to his arms
in the beginning of 1276. He was then recalled to court, and immediately
despatched to Mongolia, where he continued in command for seventeen years,
his great business being to keep down the restless Kaidu. ["The biography
of this valiant captain is found in the Yuen-shi (ch. cxxvii.). It is
quite in accordance with the biographical notices Rashid gives of the same
personage. He calls him Bayan." (Bretschneider, Med. Res. I. p. 271,
note).]
["The inventory, records, etc., of Kinsai, mentioned by Marco Polo, as
also the letter from the old empress, are undoubted facts: complete stock
was taken, and 5,692,656 souls were added to the population (in the two
Chen alone). The Emperor surrendered in person to Bayan a few days after
his official surrender, which took place on the 18th day of the 1st moon
in 1276. Bayan took the Emperor to see Kublai." (E. H. Parker, China
Review, XXIV.
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