Xiangyang was undoubtedly a focal point in the Mongol-Song Wars, but for the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a city besides Xiangyang that may be more memorable. It was the Diaoyu City, where the Mongol Khan Möngke was killed. Möngke's death brought countless changes to that era and later, so it is not an exaggeration to say that the Battle of Diaoyu City changed the world.
Kublai Khan's preparations
Before Möngke moved toward his death, his younger brother Kublai Khan made two major contributions to the Mongols' southern expedition. The first was to capture Yunnan and take the base for the Mongol army to detour to the rear of the Southern Song Dynasty. The second was to stabilize the Huai River defense line, giving the Mongol army the opportunity to enter the Yangtze River and threaten the Song Dynasty's Jiangnan.
In 1253, Kublai Khan marched south from Longxi and took the State of Dali, which had lasted for 600 years. Because the king of Dali was dimwitted and the country was controlled by powerful ministers, the Mongol army occupied Dali almost effortlessly. Three years later, in 1257, the Mongol army continued its march eastward and occupied Jiaotong, thus completing the largest roundabout operation in Mongol history.
Kublai Khan's detour was of great strategic importance, and the operation directly threatened the rear of the Southern Song Dynasty. In this way, the Southern Song Dynasty was completely ineffective against the Mongol defense line, and it was necessary to draw out soldiers and horses to defend the rear. Kublai Khan's detour has not been realized in the history since then, which can be described as a feat of no one before or after the ancients.
On the other hand, there was the action of Kublai Khan's subordinate Zhang Rou. Mongolia has always been a people who mainly plundered and did not take the defense of the city as their occupation. However, in the era of stalemate with the Southern Song Dynasty, the Mongols also had to change their strategy, the front line began to garrison the army to oppress the Song Dynasty, and Kublai Khan also gained a lot of wealth by governing the Han Dynasty.
As a general on the Huai River front, Zhang Rou had to think about how to limit the Song Dynasty in the south and lay the foundation for the next southern expedition. The first thing Zhang Rou did was to dig a grain road, he dug a grain road to Henan in Shandong, with which the Mongol army was able to stay on the front line for a long time. Later, Zhang Rou also learned from the Song people to build forts, and built the fortress on the waterway where the Song army gathered ships, limiting the maneuverability of the Southern Song water division in the Huai River area.
After a series of operations by Kublai Khan, the Southern Song Dynasty had become a trapped beast strategically. Coupled with Kublai Khan's emphasis on the Great Achievements of the Han People, and the attachment of the Han people in the north to Kublai Khan, could the old Southern Song Dynasty withstand this Mongol attack?
Möngke went south
In October 1257, Möngke swore an oath to the south. He ordered the army to attack in three ways. Meng Ge led the main force into Sichuan, and this way the Mongolian army intended to break through the Diaoyu City defense line from Sichuan. Kublai Khan led the Han army from Henan to the Yangtze River, and the troops pointed directly at Ezhou in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Wuliang Hetai set out from the newly conquered Yunnan Jiaotong to the north, and this force targeted the rear of the Song army, intending to reach Ezhou to form a joint force with Kublai Khan, and then go down the river to occupy the entire Southern Song Dynasty.
Möngke's road was divided into two more roads, one east and one west. Its Middle East Route Army entered Sichuan first, and the troops reached the bank of the Suining River. The Song general Liu Zhen resisted at Suining River, and after a day of fighting, he was finally defeated and the entire army was destroyed. The Western Route Army, led by Meng Ge himself, led the army directly to the Jianmen Pass, took the Jianmen under the First World War, and the two armies met and began another looting of Sichuan.
At the same time, the troops sent by Wuliang Hetai also marched north to Chongqing, and the large army stopped on the south bank of the Yangtze River to wait for the meeting with the Meng Ge army, but this army could never wait for Meng Ge. Because Mungo is about to embark on the end of his life. At this time, Meng Ge only needed to capture Diaoyu City to join Wuliang, as long as the two Mongol armies met, the upper reaches of the Yangtze River would no longer belong to the Southern Song Dynasty. Meng Ge first sent people to persuade Wang Jian, who was stationed in Diaoyu City, to surrender, but Wang Jian was not moved.
In February 1259, Möngke personally led his troops south to attack Diaoyu City. But Diaoyu City was a key fortress built by the Song army, and from February to May, the Meng Ge army attacked from February to May, and even the outer city could not be breached, and the continuous heavy rain also caused countless injuries and illnesses to the Mongolian army.
In June, the Song general Lü Wende led more than a thousand warships of the Song army to support Diaoyu City, but was defeated by Shi Tianze. As a result, diaoyu city's foreign aid was cut off, and the situation began to develop in the direction of the Mongols. Taking advantage of this favorable opportunity, wang Dechen, the vanguard of the Mongol army, attacked the Majun village outside diaoyu City, but the Song army defender Wang Jian personally led his own army to fight and repelled the Mongol army. Later, he killed Wang Dechen. Although the Mongol army was defeated, the angry Möngke was even more obstinate and determined to fight the Song army here. However, an unexpected accident occurred, on July 21, Möngke was hit by a flying arrow of the Song army, and died of serious wounds in August, and the Mongol army that attacked Sichuan immediately retreated north, except for the Mongols themselves, and many of the generals who accompanied the expedition died in battle. The Mongol army suffered the greatest defeat since the Invasion of the Song Dynasty.
Worried
On September 19, Kublai Khan on the yangtze River met an emissary sent by his half-brother Mo ge, who received news of Möngke's death, and the emissary also asked Kublai Khan to immediately return north to succeed him to the Khan's throne. Kublai Khan, however, said: Since I have come, I must not return in vain, and I must fight a victorious battle to retreat. Kublai Khan did not retreat but continued to attack Ezhou.
Kublai Khan sent his generals to take the initiative to attack, taking advantage of the rapid maneuvering speed of the boat to rush the beach and land, leading hundreds of death squads to attack the Song army on the south bank. The Song army was defeated in the First World War, and Kublai Khan was able to cross the Yangtze River and begin the siege of Ezhou.
Although the Ezhou defender Zhang Sheng vowed to resist to the death, the powerful Mongol army destroyed more than 10,000 defenders in the city in less than three days, and the Song army's combat effectiveness dropped sharply, and the city was about to be destroyed. Kublai Khan gave up his attack at this time, because news came from the north that the Mongol nobles in Helin were plotting to establish his younger brother Ali Buge to succeed him as Great Khan. Kublai Khan woke up like a dream, realizing that he had been foolish to pretend before. Impatient, he immediately reached a peace agreement with Jia Rudao, and the army returned to the north to compete with Ali Buge for the Khan's position.
In this way, the thousand-mile roundabout army of Wuliang Hetai was abandoned in Jiangnan, and Wuliang Hetai became a lone army, fortunately Kublai Khan left a pontoon bridge. However, the Song army, which had just suffered pain, did not give up, the pontoon bridge was destroyed by the Song Dynasty sailors, and Wuliang Hetai had to lead his troops to fight desperately to cross the river.
God once again cared for the Southern Song Dynasty, but this was the last time it favored the Southern Song Dynasty.