The battle between the Mongol army and the Song Dynasty lasted for decades, and the Song Dynasty could not hold out for so long, but because of a small city in Sichuan, it extended the fortunes of the country, and this small city that changed the fate of the Song Dynasty and even the fate of the world was only 2.5 square kilometers, called Diaoyu City.
Diaoyu City is both a new city and a strong city
Diaoyu City is built on Diaoyu Mountain, the name of Diaoyu Mountain comes from a legend, there was a famine in Diaoyu Mountain one year, the residents of Diaoyu Mountain were about to be starved to death, at this critical juncture, a fairy descended on Diaoyu Mountain, he sat on the top of the mountain every day to fish, the fish were distributed to everyone to fill the hunger, this mountain was later called Diaoyu Mountain.
Diaoyu Mountain's geographical location is relatively special, is a three-river confluence, surrounded by water, and is in the upper reaches of the Jialing River, the special geographical location determines that Diaoyu Mountain is destined to be a military stronghold, and it is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The first person to discover this dangerous place in the Song-Mongol War was named Peng Daya, who was the prefect of Chongqing at the time, he looked like a torch, saw the important strategic location of Diaoyu Mountain, he thought that building a city in Diaoyu Mountain was the most important thing, but although he had vision and ability, it was not long before Peng Daya, the prefect of Chongqing, was impeached and failed to complete the feat of building Diaoyu City.
Later, an important figure came from Sichuan, named Yu Jie, who was a soldier's attendant, and this time he vowed to recover the lost land and return the complete Shu land to the motherland. Yu Jiu built fortifications throughout Shudi, known in history as the "Eight Pillars of Sichuan", and played an important role in the fight against the Mongol army.
In the process of construction, Diaoyu City was also favored by Yu Jie and listed as a top priority. In order to build the Diaoyu City, he specially invited the Ran brothers, the architects at that time. With the help of the Ran brothers, diaoyu city was completed. At this time, although Diaoyu City was a newly built new city, its defensive capabilities had reached a certain height. There are inner cities and outer cities, and the thickness of the city walls reaches 1.5 meters. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, Yu Jiu was also about to be recalled to Beijing because of rumors about the small people in the dprk, seeing that his efforts were about to be wasted, the worried Yu Jiu fell ill, during this time, he ushered in an important person, he is Wang Jian. After Yu Jie entrusted his painstaking Fishing City to Wang Jian, he died.
The Diaoyu City arrived at Wang Jian's place and was finally built, and on the basis of Yu Jie's construction, Wang Jian increased the thickness of the city wall from 1.5 meters to a thickness of up to 5 meters, so that the Diaoyu City completed the final reinforcement and completely became a veritable fortified city.
Diaoyu City is blessed with unique advantages
Surrounded by water on all sides and built on a mountain, such a city is simply a natural barrier. However, we must pay attention to one point, although the condescending one is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is easy to be surrounded by the enemy army and not attacked, and eventually the cities built on the high ground will voluntarily surrender due to lack of water and food. This is almost a military attempt, and diaoyu city has been built by generations of officials, and naturally has its unique advantages, and having a water source is one of them.
Although the Diaoyu City is built on the top of the mountain, because it is surrounded by water on all sides, the plants on the mountain are luxuriant and the water resources are abundant, and there is a heavenly pond in the city, which not only drinks water worry-free, but also raises fish to supply fresh fish for the military and civilians in the city. With water sources, a large area of farmland has been reclaimed in and around the city, which looks like an isolated city, but has the advantage of self-sufficiency, and this innate advantage has also become the foundation that Diaoyu City can hold on to for many years.
Why did the Mongol army have to take Diaoyu City?
Diaoyu City, the city is strong, but also self-sufficient, the defender of the city Wang Jian is also a master. The Mongol army that attacked Diaoyu City at that time was an army personally commanded by the Mongol Great Khan Möngke. Although diaoyu city is strong, it is not so insistent in other parts of Sichuan, so the places have not been able to block the Iron Horse of Mongolia, and it is not surprising that they have been pushed by Mongolia. Therefore, Diaoyu City soon became an isolated city, and although the imperial court had support troops from the waterway, it failed to break through the Mongol army surrounding Diaoyu City.
When the attack could not be carried out for a long time, Möngke's general Shusu Kuri had suggested that Möngke abandon the attack on Diaoyu City, but chose to divide his troops to trap Diaoyu City to prevent the Song army from leaving the city, and the main force went down the Yangtze River to join Kublai Khan's troops, and then came back after the Song Dynasty to slowly clean up the Diaoyu City.
Möngke did not take the advice of Shu Suoli, he still chose to continue to attack Diaoyu City, and even personally went to the battle to beat the drum to cheer, which eventually led to being hit by Wang Jian's cannon stone and died soon after.
As the Great Khan of Mongolia, and Mongolia was a powerful nation that swept through Europe at that time, Möngke could become the Great Khan, and naturally he would not be a fool. Many people think that the reason why Meng Ge had to destroy Diaoyu City at that time was because Meng Ge was self-conscious, stubborn, and obstinate, but I think otherwise.
What is the significance of capturing Diaoyu City? First, get rid of the worries of the Mongol army going down the river to the east. The significance of this point is actually not great, because he can completely follow the advice of Shu Suoli, and the destruction of diaoyu city is no longer a necessary condition for destroying the Song Dynasty, and there is no need to pay attention to it; second, if diaoyu city has always existed, even if Meng Ge destroys the Song Dynasty imperial family and capital, it is not really the destruction of the Southern Song Dynasty, because there are still Southern Song forces in diaoyu City waiting for the return of the Son of Heaven, or someone is self-reliant. For Möngke, this point can also first converge with Kublai Khan to destroy the Song, and then slowly conquer diaoyu City and complete the grand plan of complete conquest. From these two points of view, it is not the real reason why Möngke must destroy the Diaoyu City, if Möngke is not reckless and stubborn, then what is the real reason why he would rather die than destroy the Diaoyu City?
Mungo's situation and dignity
Since the military side has not found a reasonable explanation for Möngke's destruction of Diaoyu City, let's look at the environment that Möngke was in Mongolia at that time.
When the Mongol Great Khan Wo Kuotai was alive, he wanted to make his grandson Fu Liemen the heir, but due to the operation of his eldest son Guiyu's mother, Empress Mazhen, Guiyu eventually became the Great Khan, but doing so went against the will of Wokoutai Khan and caused many people to be dissatisfied.
Guiyu later died suddenly, and did not leave a will, originally Guiyu's Khan position was quite controversial, after his death, Batu believed that the candidate for the Great Khan should be inherited by the descendants of Genghis Khan, so he recommended Möngke to be the Great Khan. If Möngke is a great khan, it will be extremely unfavorable to the wokoutai, so the wokoutai is strongly opposed to Möngke as a khan, but in the end Möngke succeeded in becoming a khan, but many people were not convinced.
In this situation, Möngke needed a victory in a war to prove himself, he needed to let all the Mongols see that he Möngke deserved the position of Great Khan, but when Kublai Khan and other brothers were successful, Möngke, as the Great Khan, encountered Diaoyu City, a city of "oil and salt can not enter the projectile". The Mongol army has always been victorious in battle, attacking Bike, as the Great Khan of Möngke, at this time if you bypass the Diaoyu City, the original unstable Khan position is likely to be impacted, in addition, Möngke also has his dignity, once the king came to the world, swept through a thousand armies, suddenly beaten by people with a gray face, he fought to maintain his dignity, is also one of the important reasons.
In fact, for Meng Ge, Diaoyu City is a battle of status and a war to maintain its dignity; for our Southern Song Dynasty Diaoyu City, why not gamble on the last dignified war? The Southern Song Dynasty perished, but the Diaoyu City did not die, which is pride, but also a kind of desolation.