Jia Sidao

Jia Sidao (August 25, 1213 – October 1275), courtesy name Shixian, was a Chinese government official who served as chancellor of the Southern Song dynasty of China.

[citation needed] Jia pioneered a policy of land nationalization highly unpopular among the Confucians, who favored low taxes and a small role for the state.

[citation needed] During the siege of Ezhou, Jia Sidao's offer to Kublai Khan to partition China was rejected, however due to Mongke's failure of the Yunnan campaign, and a redirection of massive troops to the Ezhou frontier, Kublai decided to offer Jia Sidao a deal that he would return to Karakorum for his kurultai due to the succession dispute with Ariq Böke.

The troops, seeing that their commander had abandoned them, retreated hastily; the result was a defeat whereby the remnants of the Song army were routed, allowing the Mongols to advance on the capital, Lin'an.

[citation needed] The possibility of executing Jia Sidao for his court failures was hotly debated in Lin'an (now Hangzhou) on the verge of its fall.

Dowager Empress Xie objected to this as a cruelty, but issued progressively severe decrees of banishment and property confiscation that included Jia Sidao and his family under the pressure of the public.