In 1274 and 1281, the Yuan Dynasty crossed the sea twice to launch expeditions against Japan, but both ended in defeat. Japanese history refers to these two wars as the Battle of Bunei and the Battle of Hong'an, respectively. At that time, the Yuan Dynasty was the hegemon of Asia, and its Mongol cavalry was invincible, so why did it suffer defeat in Japan?
First, the reason for the outbreak of the War of Conquest: Driven by the Mongol desire to conquer
In 1260, Kublai Khan declared himself Khan, and then Dingding Yanjing established the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, Kublai Khan believed that only Goryeo and the Southern Song Dynasty had not yet been conquered, and he wrote in his letter to Goryeo: "Now, those who have not submitted to the whole world, only the kingdom and the Song Dynasty." In 1265, Kublai Khan learned from the Goryeo zhao yi that there was another country in Haidong that japan, and that he often invaded the Coast of Goryeo and had the idea of conquering Japan. He once said to the captured Japanese: "The pilgrimage of the erguo to China is still here." Now that the kingdom of Er wants to come to the dynasty, it is not to force Ru Ye, but to hang its name on the back ear. ”
In 1266, Kublai Khan sent Kuro and Yin Hong to Japan with a letter of state, demanding friendly diplomatic relations with Japan, but also expressed a demand for Japan to submit. However, since the Sui Dynasty, Japan has favored China's vassal system and is unwilling to pay tribute to China, and Kublai Khan's move must not have been approved by Japan.
At that time, the ruler of Japan was not the emperor. As early as 1185, the power of the emperor was suspended, and the power was in the hands of the Kamakura shogunate. By 1261, his cousin Hojo Toshimune had the power of the Kamakura shogunate, the so-called "power of the emperor is in the shogun's house, and the shogun's power is in the Hojo family." When the Yuan Dynasty's letter of state was sent to Japan, the emperor advocated a gentle rejection of Kublai Khan's unreasonable demands, while Hojo Shizong chose to ignore them. In the years that followed, the Yuan Dynasty sent emissaries to Japan many times, but without success.
Under such circumstances, Kublai Khan decided to use troops against Japan. The "Travels of Marco Polo" also records another version of the Yuan Dynasty's use of Japanese soldiers. The travelogue mentions Japan's abundance of gold, pearls, and gemstones, and asserts that "such a treasure island of gold must have been conquered and annexed by Kublai Khan, the Great Khan of the Dynasty." However, this statement is difficult to convince. There is also a theory that the conquest was to isolate the Southern Song Dynasty, but after the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, Kublai Khan also launched a larger-scale campaign to conquer the Sun, which is obviously unreliable.
Therefore, Kublai Khan's desire to conquer Japan was entirely due to the tendency of the Mongols to conquer. Genghis Khan once said to his descendants: "The land under the heavens is vast, and the rivers are numerous, and you can expand your camp and occupy the land." Kublai Khan was also an ambitious politician who waged wars against southeast Asian countries throughout his life, which shows the strong desire for expansion.
Second, the process of the two wars against Japan
Because Japan repeatedly refused Kublai Khan's surrender, Kublai Khan began to prepare for the Eastern Expedition to Japan. Prior to his expedition to Japan, Kublai Khan decided to further conquer Goryeo. In 1260, Kublai Khan supported the ascension of the Goryeo prince Wang Yu to the throne, and required Goryeo to accept protons, assist in military service, lose grain, set up post stations, compile household registrations, and appoint governors. After 1268, Kublai Khan began to use Goryeo as a springboard to attack Japan, allowing Koryo to build thousands of warships.
The Yuan Dynasty built a large number of civil works in Goryeo, which caused dissatisfaction among the Goryeo people. In 1269, the chancellor Lin Yan deposed Wang Yu and established his brother as king. Subsequently, Kublai Khan sent an army to attack Goryeo and soon defeated the Goryeo resistance army, once again taking control of the situation, and Pyongyang was placed in Liaoyang Province. After that, the Yuan dynasty army attacked Ganghwa Island and Jeju Island, and by 1274, the remnants of Goryeo's resistance were completely eliminated, and Goryeo was completely reduced to a vassal state of the Yuan Dynasty.
The Japanese side, in preparation for the coming war, carried out a nationwide mobilization campaign. Hojo Toshimune recruited a large number of troops to Kyushu Island and built fortifications on Kyushu Island. The shogunate also organized large-scale religious prayer services.
In October 1274, Kublai Khan ordered the marshal Xin Du of the Expedition, the right and left deputies Hong Chaqiu and Liu Fuheng to command the Mongol-Han army of 20,000 people, the Goryeo army of 5,600 men, and the sailors 6,700 men. A total of 32,300 people set out from Hepu in Goryeo and began the first expedition to Japan. On the 19th of that month, the Yuan army landed in Japan, and the Japanese fought heroically under the command of the guardian Fujiwara Jingzi, but could not resist the gunpowder weapons and bows and arrows of the Yuan army, and suffered heavy casualties, and had to retreat to the mountains of Kyushu Island.
However, the Yuan army could not go deep into the mountains to fight, and it was difficult to expand the results. As the war continued, the Yuan army gradually became tired, and its grain and grass gradually fell into crisis. There were also divergent views among the commanders-in-chief. In the evening, the Yuan army served as a Japanese sneak attack, so it retreated to the warship to rest. However, at night, there was a lot of wind and rain, and "the officers and soldiers' warships touched the cliffs and stones and destroyed a lot." Under such circumstances, the Yuan army decided to withdraw, declaring that the First Crusade had ended in failure. During the First Crusade, "more than 13,500 people were not worried about the return of the army."
After the failure of the First Crusade, Kublai Khan suspended the war against Japan and began the Southern Song Dynasty and the Pacific Rebellion in the Northwest. In 1279, the Yuan army eliminated the remaining 100,000 troops of the Southern Song Dynasty at the Battle of Yashan, declaring the official unification of the country. In 1280, Kublai Khan quelled the rebellion of the northwestern kings. At this time, the Yuan Dynasty was able to free up its hands to continue the crusade. On the Japanese side, nationwide celebrations were held after the victory at the Battle of Bunei, and the typhoon was even worshipped as a "kamikaze". Kublai Khan again sent emissaries to Japan, but was killed by the Japanese.
In 1280, Kublai Khan, furious when he heard that his emissaries had been killed, changed the kingdom of Goryeo to the province of Dongxing (or Japanese province), and decided to launch a second expedition. This time, Kublai Khan expanded the crusade army to 140,000, including a large number of newly recruited Jiangnan troops (recruited from the Southern Song Dynasty). The army was divided into two routes: the 42,000 troops of the Eastern Route Army, which set out from the Korean Peninsula, and the 100,000 troops of the Jiangnan Army, which departed from Zhejiang.
In 1281, the Crusade officially began, and the Koryo army of the Eastern Route Army first landed on Tsushima, but was defeated. Subsequently, the Eastern Route Army captured Iki Island and instead reached Kyushu Island, landing in different places. However, the Yuan Dynasty army once again appeared in the situation of the first crusade, and had to retreat to the ship at night. The Eastern Route Army was unable to set off due to the sudden death of its commander Alahan. By the time the Jiangnan Army arrived, the Eastern Route Army was exhausted. After that, the army was defeated by the Japanese army many times, and the main general also had an argument. On the night of August 1, the typhoon struck again, and the Yuan army "destroyed all the warships and finally destroyed them."
Under such circumstances, Fan Wenhu and other commanders of the Jiangnan Army abandoned the Eastern Route Army and fled the battlefield. In the end, the Eastern Route Army drowned most of the soldiers in Japan, and the rest were also besieged by the Japanese, and eventually the entire army was destroyed. In the Second Crusade, the Yuan Dynasty army suffered heavy losses, "100,000 people, three people's ears."
Later, Kublai Khan prepared for the Third Crusade, but was forced to stop due to the outbreak of the Annan War. In 1286, Kublai Khan issued an edict to stop the crusade against Japan, marking the complete failure of the Yuan Dynasty's crusade.
Third, the causes and effects of the failure of the Yuan Dynasty's Crusade
Judging from the process of the Crusade, the main reason for the failure of the Yuan Dynasty's Crusade was that the Mongol army was not suitable for cross-sea operations and landing operations. Mongol cavalry was good at fighting in the steppes and plains, and once they entered the southern rainforest and mountains, they were dissatisfied with playing to their strengths. The Japanese archipelago is far from Chinese mainland and the terrain is rugged, so it can only rely on the navy to land and then conduct landing operations. However, the terrain of Japan was also not conducive to the use of cavalry.
The second is the lack of reserve strength. China is a typical continental civilization that has not been good at sea conquest since ancient times. Attacking Japan across the East China Sea and the Korean Strait required a large number of troops to be transported at once, as well as a steady supply of soldiers and grain and grass. The preparations for the Yuan Dynasty's Eastern Crusade were all one-time, and the army was easily caught in the problem of shortage of soldiers and grain and grass. Because of the lack of support, it was difficult for the Yuan army to build a strong castle on the coast of Japan, so it could not confront the Japanese army, and could only retreat to the warship at night.
Third, Japan is relatively unified and united, and there has been no civil unrest. During the wars of conquest by the Mongol Empire, the countries encountered were largely moribund dynasties, and they were terminally ill enough to resist the Mongol army. However, Japan was generally stable and was able to mobilize for large-scale war and resist stubbornly. The Yuan Dynasty has only just been unified, the people in the south still do not agree with the Yuan Dynasty, and the ethnic contradictions are still relatively sharp, which is also the fundamental reason for the contradictions between the Eastern Route Army and the Jiangnan Army.
The above three reasons are the main reasons for the failure of the Yuan Dynasty's Crusade. Weather reasons, on the other hand, are superficial causes and do not require too much interpretation.
The two crusades consumed a great deal of manpower, material and financial resources, slowed down the economic recovery of the whole country, and caused social contradictions to intensify. The Eastern Expedition to Japan and the Southern Expedition to the Southeast Asian States were manifestations of Kublai Khan's exhaustive military efforts and accelerated the demise of the Yuan Dynasty. After the Crusades, the Activities of the Wokou became more frequent, and the area around Goryeo and Liaodong was troubled. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, in view of the rampant Wokou, it was helpless to implement the policy of sea prohibition.
On the Japanese side, the Mongol Crusades also depleted Japan's national strength and shook the rule of the Kamakura shogunate. In 1333, the Kamakura shogunate finally collapsed. However, the Yuan Dynasty showed Japan many advanced weapons and technologies, which stimulated the progress of Japanese weapons manufacturing technology. Japan captured many Jiangnan troops, and these people brought many Chinese inventions to Japan and promoted the progress of Japanese society.
At the same time, the defeat of the Yuan Dynasty strengthened Japan's national consciousness. Since then, Japan's "concept of the kingdom of God" has been strengthened, and they believe that Japan has the protection of the gods, which continued until World War II. After the victory, Japan's ambitions for foreign expansion began to intensify, and they tried to land in Korea and fight against China. During the Ming Dynasty, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched the Korean War twice, but ultimately suffered defeat. Japan's expansionist ambitions continued until the end of World War II, and even now they are still undeterred.
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