Kublai Khan's full name is Yuan Dynasty Ancestor Only Jin Kublai Khan, the fifth khan of the Great Mongol State, whose conquest of the Southern Song Dynasty, the destruction of the Dali State, and the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty are well read in the history books, but rarely mention the key turning point before he became a khan. The famous general Wang Jian we are going to talk about today has a close connection with this.
In 1257, the Mongol Khan Möngke decided to launch a large-scale war against the Song Dynasty. Möngke (grandson of Genghis Khan of the Yuan Dynasty, then the Great Khan of the Great Mongol State) ordered his brother Kublai Khan to lead the Eastern Route Army to attack Ezhou (present-day Wuchang), Tachaer (grandson of Genghis Khan's younger brother Temuge Chijin), Li Xuan and others to attack Lianghuai and disperse the Song forces; at the same time, he also ordered the Southern Route Army Wuliang Hetai (subutai eldest son) to send troops from Yunnan to the north of Guangxi; Möngke himself led the main mongolian army to attack Sichuan from the Western Route Army.
With Sichuan as a strategic point, Meng Ge intended to give full play to the characteristics of the Mongol cavalry being better than land field battles and shorter than water battles, and then taking Sichuan with the main force, then going down the east side of the river, meeting with the troops of the various roads, and directly attacking the Song capital Lin'an (present-day Hangzhou). Meng Ge won the battle all the way and went very smoothly until the end of 1258, when he approached the Diaoyu City of TongchuanFu Road. More than 100,000 people and horses of the Mongol army were blocked one after another, and they could not be broken until their deaths, and this battle was the famous "Battle of Diaoyu City" in history.
The route of attack of the Mongol three-way army
The defender of Diaoyu City at that time was the Wang Jian we are going to talk about today, who sternly refused and killed the emissary who came to surrender at that time, the Southern Song Dynasty general Jin Guobao, and also completely angered Meng Ge, so he decided to conquer Diaoyu City by force.
Famous general Wang Jian
Diaoyu City is located on Diaoyu Mountain, 5 kilometers east of the city in present-day Hechuan District, Chongqing, with a relative height of about 300 meters. The Jialing River, Qu River and Fu River under the mountain converge, and are surrounded by water on the south, north and west sides. The natural environment here is steep, but the traffic is in all directions, through the waterway and land road, it can reach all parts of Sichuan, which is difficult to defend and easy to attack.
The core of the Sichuan-Shu defense system - Diaoyu City
In 1243, Yu Jiu, the envoy to pacify Sichuan and the prefect of Chongqing, adopted the suggestion of the magis Ran Ji and Ran Pu of Bozhou (present-day Zunyi), and sent the Ran brothers to rebuild Diaoyu City and move the governors of Hezhou and Xingyuan to it. Divide Diaoyu City into inner and outer cities. The outer city is built on a cliff face, and the walls are made of stone. The city has large fields and abundant water sources throughout the year, and there are many arable fields in the surrounding foothills. All these changes have made Diaoyu City have the necessary geographical conditions for long-term adherence, relying on natural dangers and becoming a city that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Diaoyu City Overview
In 1254, Wang Jian appointed a defender to further improve the city. Farmers in the border areas of Sichuan avoided military chaos here, and Diaoyu City gradually became a strong fortress with sufficient food for soldiers.
On February 2, 1259, in the first year of the Song Dynasty (1259), Möngke Khan led his army across the canal from Ji'an Beach and marched to Shizi Mountain in the east of Diaoyu City to camp. The Mongol general Wang Dechen was stationed in the western part of Diaoyu City, Shi Tianze occupied the south bank of the Jialing River, and Meng Ge personally supervised the various armies to fight under Diaoyu City, and about 100,000 Mongol troops surrounded Diaoyu City.
Reference map of the siege of the Mongolian army
After three reinforcements, Diaoyu City has a solid defense system, consisting of five parts: the main city ring mountain wall, the south outer city wall, the east inner city wall, the northwest inner city wall and the north one-character city wall, with a total length of 8,000 meters.
The one-word city walls in the south and north of the city are directly connected to the South Water Army Wharf and the North Water Army Wharf respectively. (The one-character city wall is also called the horizontal city wall, and its role is to hinder the movement of the enemy outside the city, and at the same time, the defenders inside the city can move through the outer city wall to resist the enemy, and can also connect the water army outside the city and form an angled cross attack point with the outer city wall.) ）
Diaoyu City was heavily defended, the Mongol army was bound to win, and the two sides fought a protracted battle here.
On February 7, the Mongolian generals Wang Dechen and Shi Tianze attacked from the west and south respectively, and then occupied the entire southern outer city, the Song army suffered huge losses, the southern navy docks were also occupied, and hundreds of warships were destroyed.
On February 9, the Mongolian army increased its strength to attack the west gate of the town, the cliff where the west gate of the town was located was nearly 20 meters high, only one mountain beam led to the city gate, the cliff was steep, the Mongolian army was extremely difficult to attack upwards, the Song army in Diaoyu City was condescending, and the Mongolian army that died in the rain of arrows and artillery of the Song army was countless, and the Mongolian army suffered heavy losses, and it failed to conquer the town west gate for more than a month.
In March, Möngke decided that the Mongol army would attack Dongxinmen, Qishengmen and Zhenximen Xiaobao at the same time, and the Mongol army launched a charging attack, leaving behind a mountain of Mongolian corpses after each siege. However, he was repeatedly defeated by the diaoyu city defenders led by Wang Jian and failed to capture them.
From April 3, the sudden heavy rain lasted for more than 20 days. Möngke decided to change the strong attack battle, using sneak attacks and night attacks instead, and quietly dug tunnels on the gentle slope north of the Qisheng Gate.
On the night of April 23, the Mongol army led by Wang Dechen sneaked closer to the Gate of Defense. The warriors led by Wang Jian engaged in close combat with the Mongol army, and resisted to the death, and the surprise Mongol army led by Wang Dechen was severely damaged and forced to retreat to the outer city.
Wang Dechen night raid road map reference
Huguomen is the most dangerous of the eight gates of Diaoyu City, and the cliff where it is located is more than 40 meters, not a steep slope, of which the vertical height is as high as more than 20 meters. ）
On the night of April 24, Wang Dechen attacked qishengmen at night from the north of Diaoyu City, and this surprise attack was almost successful, and Wang Dechen successfully climbed the wall of qishengmen. At the moment of crisis, Wang Jian personally led the death squad to fight with his life and once again repelled the Mongol army.
In May, the Mongolian army attacked Diaoyu City countless times, and a large number of Mongolian families and soldiers died under the Diaoyu City, but they were repeatedly defeated. Since Meng Ge led his army into Shu, the Mongolian army had sufficient food and grass and excellent weapons, and most of the mountain fortresses along the way were easily won because the Southern Song Defenders were afraid of surrender, and they had not yet encountered a real hard battle. In the face of such a hard bone as Wang Jian, Meng Ge became more and more stubborn as the number of defeats became. Although he has been under the fortified city for a long time, he is not willing to abandon it.
The war lasted for more than three months, and the defenders of Diaoyu City, under the joint command of the main general Wang Jian and the deputy general Zhang Jue, reached the ears of Song Lizong, who was far away in Lin'an (Hangzhou), and immediately issued an edict to commend them.
As the weather became hotter and hotter, the hot and humid climate in the south had a fatal impact on the Foreign Mongol army, and epidemic dysentery and cholera began to appear in its army, which greatly weakened the combat effectiveness of the Mongol army. In contrast, the Song army in Diaoyu City, the soldiers and civilians defending the city after several months of victorious battles, the morale is getting higher and higher.
In mid-May, Wang Jian personally led the death squad and quietly left the city from the Imperial Cave and attacked the unprepared Mongolian army camp at night. This unexpected initiative attack of Meng Ge almost killed him under Wang Jian's sword, forcing him to withdraw his army overnight and migrate to the south of Jialing River, and his morale was greatly reduced. Möngke was uneasy and summoned the generals to discuss countermeasures.
Wang Jian and his men led the night raid to refer to the road map
The Mongol general Shusu Kuri believed that it was extremely unfavorable for the Dun army to strengthen the city, and it was better to leave a small number of troops to garrison, and the main force would go east along the Yangtze River and land, and meet with Kublai Khan and other military divisions to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty in one fell swoop. This suggestion was not supported by the rest of the battalion, and the arrogant and conceited generals still advocated a strong attack, but instead ridiculed shu shu and timidity.
Möngke Khan did not take the advice of Shusukuri and insisted on continuing the siege. Since the Mongol army attacked Shu on a large scale, the Southern Song Dynasty has carried out a large-scale rescue operation against Sichuan, but the Song army reinforcing Diaoyu City was blocked by the Mongolian army detachment and never reached the Diaoyu City. Despite this, the Diaoyu City, which had been besieged for months, was still well stocked, the defenders were still highly motivated, and it was not easy to take it.
On June 5, Wang Dechen passed through the tunnel located on the gentle slope of Qishengmen, entered the outer city, and broke through the outer city of Majunzhai by night, in the continuous attack, the Song army Majiazhai zhongzhai lord and his subordinate soldiers were all killed, Wang Jian arrived in time after receiving a letter, and after being seriously injured, handed over the command to the deputy general Zhang Jue, the Song army continued to fall, the attacking Mongolian army continued to flow, and the form of Diaoyu City was not optimistic.
Fortunately, it began to rain at dawn, and the Mongol siege ladder was broken in the rain and forced to withdraw.
The Song army was given a rare respite, quickly recuperated, and was able to restore combat effectiveness.
On the Mongolian side, in the face of the Diaoyu City that could not be captured for more than 5 months, it was decided to send Wang Dechen to the Diaoyu City to persuade him to surrender, and before he could succeed, he was hit by flying stones in the city, and died in the Jinyun Mountain Temple soon after.
When Möngke heard the news of the death, he sighed as if he had lost his left and right hands. Wang Dechen's death dealt a huge blow to Meng Ge, and he was restless and ordered his army to build a platform and build a building outside the Dongxin Gate to spy on the virtual reality in the city in order to fight a decisive battle.
Reference drawing of the tall wooden building built by Möngke
The Mongolian army under the long-defended Diaoyu City soon received a provocation from the Southern Song Defenders, and Wang Jian threw the 15-kilogram fresh fish and more than 100 pieces of steamed noodle cakes to the Mongolian army outside the city, and submitted a letter to the Mongolian army, saying that even if it was defended for another 10 years, the Mongolian army could not capture the Diaoyu City.
In contrast, the situation of the Mongolian army outside the city was indeed bad, and the fatigue of the long war was constantly killed by diseases such as heat, malaria, cholera and other diseases.
On July 21, Möngke Khan personally commanded the scene and was accidentally hit by a flying stone and was seriously injured. On 27 July, he died in the army (one said to have contracted an illness and died). The Mongol army then withdrew to the north.
The famous Battle for the Defense of Diaoyu City in the history of world wars ended with the death of Möngke. After Möngke's death, the Southern Route Army's Wuliang Hetai was defeated by the Song army, and then withdrew, and Kublai Khan of the Eastern Route Army had no intention of attacking the Southern Song Dynasty, and at the instigation of the Hanchen counselor generals, went north to compete with Ali Buhua (Kublai Khan's brother) in Helin for the position of Great Khan of mongolia.
Effects of the Battle of Diaoyu City
The impact of Möngke Khan's defeat under the Diaoyu City was enormous.
First, it led to the total collapse of the Mongol war against the Song Dynasty, initiated by Möngke, allowing the Song Zuo to continue for another 20 years.
Second, it provided an excellent opportunity for Kublai Khan to take power in Mongolia, and it had a major impact on the development of Chinese history. Möngke Khan was a Mongol conservative, and what he pursued was still a traditional policy, a policy with strong Mongol tribal and western overtones that was extremely unsuitable for the need to rule the vast Central Plains Han Dynasty. Kublai Khan, on the other hand, was one of the few admirers of Han chinese culture in the Mongol ruling clique. After Möngke became the Khan, Kublai Khan was put in charge of the Southern Han Dynasty, and he vigorously recruited Han Confucians and vigorously promoted the policy of Sinicization, achieving great results. However, it aroused the suspicion of Möngke Khan and his conservative ministers, and Kublai Khan was deposed as a result, and his sinicization policy was forced to be abolished. After Kublai Khan ascended to the throne of the Great Khan, he continued to implement his policy of Sinicization and gradually changed the policy of indiscriminate killing by the Mongolian army, so as to save the economy and culture of southern China from greater damage.
Third, it made Wang Jian a famous general and national hero of the Southern Song Dynasty against Mongolia, and wrote a rare example of defeating the strong with the weak in the history of Chinese and foreign wars.
Fourth, it brought the Mongolian army's third western expedition to a standstill and alleviated the threat of Mongol forces to Europe, Asia, Africa and other countries. In 1252, Möngke Khan sent his brother Hulagu to launch the Third Western Expedition, which conquered large areas of the Arabian Peninsula in present-day Iran, Iraq, and Syria. In 1259, just as Hulagu was preparing to march to Egypt, he learned of Möngke's death, so he left a small army behind and personally led a large army to seize power. As a result, the Mongol army was defeated by the Egyptian army because it was outnumbered, and the Mongolian army never penetrated into Africa. Mongolia's massive expansion has since gone into a downturn. The impact of the Battle of Diaoyu City is not limited to the Central Plains, it also occupies an important chapter in the history of the world. Therefore, Diaoyu City is therefore known by Westerners as the "Mecca City of the East" and "the place where God folds the whip".
Therefore, Wang Jian stubbornly defended diaoyu City and dragged Möngke Khan to death, saying that he saved the Eurasian countries at that time.