Yang Yansi

Yang Yansi
Generals of the Yang Family character
An illustration from an early copy of the novel Records of the Two Songs, South and North (兩宋南北志傳) depicting Yang Qilang's tragic death. The copy is dated between 1573 and 1620.
Information
Nickname(s)	Yang Qilang (楊七郎; "Yang's 7th son")
Aliases	Yang Xi (楊希) Yang Yanci (楊延慈)
Spouse(s)	Du Jin'e (杜金娥)
Children	Yang Zongying (楊宗英), son
Father	Yang Ye
Mother	She Saihua

Yang Qilang (楊七郎; literally "Yang's 7th son") is the 7th eldest and youngest son of Song Dynasty general Yang Ye in the Generals of the Yang Family legends. In these largely fictionalized stories, he was shot to death with countless arrows by the vengeful Song commander Pan Renmei while seeking reinforcement for his trapped father in battles against the Liao Dynasty army.

"Qilang" which means "7th son" is a nickname rather than an official given name. His official name is usually given as Yang Yansi (楊延嗣).

Born in a military family, Yang Qilang practiced martial arts from an early age after his parents Yang Ye and She Saihua, as well as his 6 elder brothers. The novel Records of the Two Songs, South and North (1593) portrayed him as young, impulsive and reckless, and mentioned a time in battle where he without notifying anyone decided to lead 3000 men for a night raid of the enemy's camp. He was ambushed and returned with only half the men, and was ordered to be executed by his father. He eventually received a severe beating of 40 blows which left him bloodied.

One day a martial arts competition was held in the Tianqi Temple (天齊廟) in the Song Dynasty capital Kaifeng, featuring Pan Bao (潘豹) from the powerful Pan family. With no sense of sportsmanship, Pan had made the rules "to the death", confident that nobody dared to kill him considering his background: his sister had married Emperor Taizong, while his father Pan Renmei was a high-ranking minister and military commander. Yang Qilang who had sneaked out of the house was angered by Pan's arrogance and joined the competition, defeating and eventually killing Pan when the latter continued to dare him and insult his family. Realizing what he had done, Yang Qilang voluntarily submitted to the local police.