After the fall of the Jin Dynasty in 1234, the Mongols pointed the spearhead of the war at the Southern Song Dynasty, which was in a remote corner.
In the first year of Duanping (1234 AD), the Song army launched the Battle of Duanping into Luo, intending to recover the homeland south of the Yellow River but was defeated, but instead gave the Mongol army an excuse to break the covenant. At the end of the following year, the Mongol Great Khan WoKoutai ordered his eldest son Kuoduan to send troops to Bashu, thus opening the prelude to the Mongol and Song Campaign in Sichuan.
In the smoke of the Mongolian-Song Sichuan War, a mountain city with steep terrain has become the focus of China and even the world.
Diaoyu City, a place that changed the course of Chinese and even world history.
The site of the Battle of Diaoyu City
Prologue to the Great War
From July to October 1236, the popular Mongol army officially launched an offensive against the Southern Song Dynasty. Among them, the Mongol Western Route Army entered Shu from ChenCang Road, and Lianke Xianren Pass, Yangping Pass and Jianmen Pass occupied Hanzhong and then entered the hinterland of Sichuan and Shu.
The Sichuan Basin of pingchuan is undefendable, and the Mongolian iron horse sweeps through all parts of Bashu like a tide. After the capture of Chengdu, the Mongol cavalry was reduced to pieces, divided into troops and plundered, and the whole territory of Sichuan and Shu fell into a sea of corpses and fire.
In just one month, all 54 states of Sichuan and Shu were broken, except for the easternmost Prefecture (Fengjie, Chongqing), none of which was spared. It was written:
The former capital of Dayi is now a field of rubble; the former Woyang Ao District is now a field of anointing blood
”。 The brutality of the Mongol army is evident.
Broad-ended attack on the Battle of the Song Dynasty
The Southern Song dynasty army was always extremely painful to fight against the Mongol army that came and went freely.
Since the loss of the northwest horse-producing land in the last years of the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty's military horse gap is huge, and tens of thousands of army cavalry are no more than a hundred ears.
Therefore, when the Southern Song army, which was mainly infantry, confronted the Mongolian army, the Mongol cavalry "formed a column without fighting, retreated and took advantage of it, retreated without defeat, defeated without shame, scattered and reunited", making the Southern Song army tired of running for its life.
However, the crazy slaughter stimulated the fighting spirit of the Sichuan and Shu soldiers and civilians, and the Mongolian army was unpopular with the people, and after looting, they could only withdraw from the Sichuan Basin, but left Tahai and others to garrison Shukou. From 1237 to 1239 AD, the Mongol army swept through the Bashu region almost every year like a hunt, plundering money and grain and killing people.
Mongol cavalry
In 1241, Tahai once again invaded Sichuan, destroyed the city of Chengdu, and plundered more than 20 cities in Xichuan, and the Sichuan Basin suffered again. In that year, the Mongol Great Khan Wokoutai died of illness, and there was another dispute within Mongolia over the position of the Great Khan, and the Southern Song Dynasty court gained a chance to breathe.
The following year (1242), Emperor Lizong of Song sent Yu Jiu, who had distinguished himself on the Lianghuai Battlefield, into shu to take power in order to reverse the decline of the Sichuan battlefield and consolidate the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
After Yu Jie entered Chongqing, he recruited talents and accepted the suggestion of the brothers Ran Ji and Ran Pu of Bozhou to use the natural geographical environment of Sichuan to build a fortress of Mountain City and move the prefecture to rule on it, so as to offset the field advantage of the Mongol cavalry.
At that time, the Ran brothers of Bozhou took Hezhou as an example and said:
Shukou shaped resort, Mo Ruo Diaoyu Mountain, please migrate here. If you let them go, accumulate millet to keep it, and the wise are far away from the 100,000 divisions, and the Bashu is not enough to keep it. ”
Surrounded by rivers on three sides and steep terrain, Xiongguan - Diaoyu Mountain
Under the premise of synthesizing the suggestions of many parties, Yu Jiu adopted a complete set of military and political measures in Sichuan, especially the creation of the mountain city defense system.
The Song army used the steep mountain passes to build cities and villages along various rivers in Sichuan (minjiang, Tuojiang, Fujiang, Jialingjiang, Yangtze and Tongjiang, Nanjiang, Bajiang, etc.) and on major transportation routes, and supported each other, which can be found in historical records such as Chongqing, Diaoyu, Daxiaoliangcheng (Guang'an), Qingjucheng (Nanchong), and PengxiCheng (Pengxi).
Cities rely on the interconnection of traffic arteries and waterways, and the combination of dots and lines.
Among them, Yu Jiu appointed the Ran brothers of Bozhou as the assassin and judge of Hezhou (合川区, in present-day Hechuan District, Chongqing) and appointed them to supervise the construction of Diaoyushan City. Subsequently, Diaoyu City became the core of the defense system and the strongest fortress of Yujiu Mountain City, and also became the biggest obstacle for the Mongol army to conquer Sichuan and Shu.
Map of the defense system of Chuanshu Mountain City
God breaks the whip
By 1250 AD, Yu Jiu took advantage of the internal power struggle between the Mongols to complete the overall construction of the Sichuan-Shu defense system, and even once sent troops to Xingyuan (present-day Hanzhong, Shaanxi), intending to recover the lost land in order to achieve the goal of completely defending the Shu Road, although it did not win, but it showed that the land of Sichuan and Shu had been initially restored after several years of cultivation.
However, at this time, the power struggle within Mongolia also came to an end.
After a brutal struggle, Möngke, the eldest son of Tuolei, succeeded the Mongol Khan in the summer of 1251 AD, becoming the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Möngke Khan
。
Möngke Khan
After Meng Ge took the throne, he immediately adjusted his strategy toward the Song Dynasty and prepared to repeat the "conspiracy to destroy the Jin Dynasty" in that year, with the intention of making a deep breakthrough in the hinterland of the Southern Song Dynasty from the southwest.
In 1252, Möngke sent Kublai Khan and Wuliang Hetai to lead the Mongol army south from liupan mountain, along the Songpan steppe and the valley of the Hengduan Mountains, and occupied the whole territory of Dali two years later, completing the strategic package of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Gu Zuyu of the Qing Dynasty commented on the Mongol strategy and Kublai Khan's expedition to Dali in the Minutes of Reading the History of Public Opinion, saying:
I look at the use of soldiers from ancient times, haunted by trance, and can not be seen, like the Mongol Kublai Khan's destruction of Daliye.
”
In 1258, the Great Khan of Möngke, who had been preparing for many years, launched a large-scale attack on Shu. Meng Ge divided his army into three routes into Shu: Meng Ge led an army from Longzhou (present-day Long County, Shaanxi) into Dasanguan and took Chen Cang's hometown road straight to Ba Shu; the kings Mo Ge (also known as Mo Ge Du) entered Micang Pass from Yangzhou (Xixiang County, Shaanxi), and Wanhu Boli Fork entered Yuguan (Luoyang County, Shaanxi Province).
Möngke attacked Song
The Mongol iron cavalry was highly effective, and the main force led by Möngke crossed the Jialing River, broke through the sword gate pass and the bitter bamboo pass, and broke through the first line of defense of the mountain city defense system. Subsequently, the Mongol army marched south along the Jialing River and successively attacked Yunshan City (Peng'an County), Qingju Mountain City (Nanchong City), and Daliang Mountain City (Guang'an County) along the river.
Finally, on December 19 of that year,
Meng Ge followed the Jialing River to Diaoyu City, the seat of hezhou city in the Southern Song Dynasty
One more step forward, the Mongol army could capture the city of Chongqing, and then go down the river to carry out the final blow of the autumn wind sweeping leaves against the Southern Song Dynasty.
Topographic map of Diaoyu City
Diaoyu City was located on Diaoyu Mountain, about five kilometers northeast of the hechuan district of present-day Chongqing. According to the literature, "Its mountains are thousands of feet high... The three rivers (Qujiang, Jialing and Fujiang) on the three sides of the southwest, south and north are cliffs and cliffs, which are steeply blocked. "Diaoyu Mountain is more than forty miles around, and the terrain in the southwest is slightly lower, and the soldiers and civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty built a city here, twenty feet high.
Diaoyu City has a total of eight gates: Huguo, Qinghua, Zhengxi, Dongxin, Surprising, Qisheng, Xiaodong, and Shiguan. There is a "Heavenly Pond" within the West Gate, surrounded by more than a hundred steps, "the spring water is vast, the drought does not dry up, the fish and turtles in the pond, can be lifted by boat." Three of the ten small ponds were opened, and the well ninety-two springs were not dry in spring, summer, autumn and winter."
In addition to sufficient domestic water, there are also a large number of fields in the city for reclamation.
Diaoyu Mountain City has both the dangers of mountains and rivers, and sufficient sources of grain and grass, coupled with the solid mountain city built by the military and civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Mongolian iron horse that runs across the world has finally encountered hard bones.
On December 29, in the snowstorm before the New Year's Pass, Möngke Khan sent the Song general Jin Guobao to Diaoyu City to surrender. The guard general Wang Jian refused and threw the traitor down the mountain stream to feed the fish.
Schematic diagram of Diaoyu City attack and defense
The surrender was unsuccessful, and the great war broke out in the first year of Kaiqing (1259).
In February, the Mongol army crossed the Qu River from Ji'an Beach to the east and camped at Shizi Mountain on the east side of Diaoyu Mountain, across the hills from Dongxinmen to the east of Diaoyu City. On the seventh day, the Mongolian army began to attack the Yizi City Wall (also known as the Horizontal City Wall), and Diaoyu City built a one-character city wall in the south and north of the city, extending from the corner of the outer city wall to the riverside.
The one-word city wall can hinder the movement of the Mongol cavalry outside the city, and at the same time, the defenders inside the city can move through the outer city wall to resist the enemy, forming an angled cross-attack point with the outer city wall.
This design made the Mongol cavalry lose their superiority and could not enter the city.
Battle of Diaoyu City
In March, the Mongols besieged with additional troops, attacking Dongxinmen, Zhenximen and Qishengmen from the east and west.
Although the Mongol army was "all the tools for attacking the city were all refined", the terrain of Diaoyu City was precarious, "the artillery was unreachable, and the ladder rush was unattainable", the Song army gathered more than 10,000 elite soldiers in Diaoyu City, 170,000 people, and repelled the Mongolian army one by one under the command of the defender Wang Jian and the deputy general Zhang Yu.
In April, the spring rains in Bashu lasted for 20 days, and on April 22, the Mongolian army rushed from the southern cliff to defend the gate of the country, and on the night of the 24th, it boarded the outer city of Diaoyu City and fought fiercely with the Song army defending the city, but was once again driven down the city tower by the Song army.
The Mongol offensive did not improve until May, the war was still glued, and the Mongol generals could not cross the thunder pool for half a step.
Photo/ Diaoyu City Wall Ruins
Möngke Khan, who had been unable to conquer for a long time, summoned the generals to discuss, and the famous general Shusu Kuri believed that he should avoid Jiancheng and harass the troops between Diaoyu City and Chongqing, and then the large army went down the river and directly took the land of the Three Gorges of Padang, and joined forces with the Mongol troops in Jingxiang and Lianghuai to directly attack the Yellow Dragon, if so, Diaoyu City would fall without a fight.
however
Other Mongol generals believed that the siege was imminent and that they must break through the city with all their might in order to continue their advance
。 So Möngke Khan decided to continue the siege.
Ruins of the Diaoyu City Wall
The Mongol siege lasted from the first month of winter to the middle of summer in June, and the Diaoyu City remained unbreakable. The fiercely heat-resistant Mongol army was sharply reduced in combat under the hot and tidal weather of Bashu, and the water and soil were not satisfied, resulting in the epidemic of heat stroke fever, malaria, cholera and other diseases, and the situation was quite serious.
Wang Dechen, the son of the old Jin general, went to the city to persuade him to surrender, but was hit by the Flying Arrow of the Song Army and died in the army, killing the general zhongzhong and greatly damaging the morale of the Mongolian army. In contrast, the Diaoyu City was still full of supplies, and the defenders were highly motivated.
In June, the southern Song Dynasty defenders threw 30 kilograms of fresh fish and more than 100 pieces of steamed noodle cakes to the Mongolian army outside the city, and wrote a book: "
Erbei soldiers can cook fresh cakes, and if they keep it for ten years, they will not be able to get it
”。
Diaoyu City – Where God breaks the whip
The Mongol army began in the first month of winter and besieged the city in May. Möngke Khan personally supervised the battle, and according to the "Records of Diaoyu City" in volume 1 of the "Hezhou Chronicle", Möngke was "shocked by the cannon wind and became ill" before the battle, and Marco Polo's Travels recorded that he died of an arrow wound in his leg and knee. The "Yuan Shi" and "History Collection" say that Möngke suffered from serious diseases such as dysentery.
Although historians have different opinions on this, Möngke Khan's injuries must have marked the complete defeat of the Mongolian Army's Battle of Diaoyu City. In July of that year, the Mongolian army retreated from Diaoyu City to Wentang Gorge (now Chongqing North Hot Spring) in Jinjian Mountain, where Möngke Khan died.
The Mongol army known as the Whip of God was under this Fishing City, and the whip was killed and fled in a hurry.
The military and civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty won this unparalleled epic war.
The aftermath of the Great War
The death of Möngke Khan shook every corner of the Mongol Empire's vast territory.
The Battle of Diaoyu City not only saved the Southern Song Dynasty, but also had an important impact on the war situation in West Asia and Europe at that time.
The butterfly effect of the Battle of Diaoyu City
Kublai Khan had already led his army across the Yangtze River and besieged Ezhou (Wuchang, Hubei), and the Mongol general Wuliang Hetai led his army from Guangxi to the Yueyang area of Hunan, and once the two armies met, Jingxiang was not owned by the Southern Song Dynasty. However, after the news of Möngke's death came, Ali Buge, who remained in Mobei, intended to inherit the Khan's throne in Hala and Lin, and Kublai Khan was forced to lead his army back to Mobei to participate in the Khan's struggle for the Khan's throne.
At this point, the second phase of the Mongol all-out war against the Song Dynasty (1251-1259) was over.
The Southern Song Dynasty lasted for more than twenty years
Kublai Khan's battle with Ali Bu brother
From a global perspective, Hulagu, who had been commissioned to conquer Africa at that time, had already occupied Persia, the Two Rivers Valley and even Syria, and intended to cross the Golan Heights, drink horses in the Mediterranean Sea and even enter Egypt, eliminating the Mamluk regime in North Africa. However, when the news of Möngke's death came, Hulagu was forced to return to the north of the desert, leaving only the deputy general timidly to continue the western expedition.
This partial division was eventually defeated by the Mamluk cavalry of Egypt, also
Africa was spared the fate of being conquered
The Mongol Expedition in the Eyes of the Islamic World
In addition, in the ensuing war between Ali Buge and Kublai Khan, Chincha Khan, Wokoutai Khan, and Chagatai all participated in the activities of supporting Ali Buge, thus setting off a protracted war throughout the Mongol Empire, and the Chincha Khanate had no time to conquer Europe because of its participation in the division of Eastern interests, which also allowed European civilization to breathe.
Finally, the war between Ali Buge and Kublai Khan marked a direct collision and conflict between the kings of the Western Dao and the Kublai Khan clan in the East. From this perspective,
The Battle of Diaoyu City indirectly led to the final division of the Mongol Empire and also saved the world
Photo/ General map of the Mongol Expedition to the West
Diaoyu City still stood firm on the Song and Mongolian fronts after the Great War, and the defenders of the city still held the city after the fall of Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and were loyal to the country.
It was not until the first month of 1279 AD that the defender Wang Li surrendered to the Mongol army on the condition of not killing a single person in the city, and the Diaoyu City, known as the "City of No Fall", finally came to an end.
In the same year, the exiled court of the Southern Song Dynasty collapsed at Yashan Mountain, and Lu Xiufu committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea behind the back of the last young emperor of the Song Dynasty. The magnificent story of the Southern Song Dynasty and Diaoyu City ends.
Monument to the Battle of Diaoyu City