Through the development of ancient history, we will find that war is inevitable. And in the Song Dynasty, there was such a battle, which was a tragic battle, after which China completely fell to foreign nations for the first time in history. But the national integrity and the courage to know what they can't do in this war in desperate circumstances cannot but be impressed.
This war is actually about the Battle of Yashan, which was also the last battle between the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia. At that time, the emperor was carried by Lu Xiufu and jumped into the sea with 100,000 soldiers and civilians, and the rule of the Song Dynasty was destroyed from then on.
Battle of Yashan Sea
The Battle of Yashan was indeed a tragic battle, and the emperor was martyred with 100,000 people. But does that raise a question as we look at this history? That is why, at this point, the 100,000 soldiers and civilians did not choose to fight with the Yuan army, but all jumped into the sea and committed suicide?
In 1297, the Song Dynasty also fought its last war here, and it was also a large-scale naval battle recorded in history. At that time, the commander of the Yuan army was called Zhang Hongfan, and Zhang Hongfan's father, named Zhang Rou, was Han Chinese. However, Zhang Rou belonged to the Jin Dynasty, and the Mongol army at that time was invincible and had the potential to sweep throughout China.
The Mongol army was already preparing to move south to the Central Plains, because fearing the power of the Mongol army, the Jin Dynasty was also preparing to move the capital south. And Zhang Rou is also a talent, because he can be regarded as a local strong, he has gathered the fathers and elders of the surrounding villagers, and this time he has gathered thousands of people, and he barely has the strength to protect himself.
But in 1218, Zhang Rou and the Mongol army also had a head-on collision, the two sides fought at the Wolf's Tooth Ridge, but the arm could not consume the thigh after all, Zhang Rou was defeated, he also surrendered to the Mongols. As Zhang Rou slowly gained a foothold in Mongolia, his son Zhang Hongfan also joined the ranks of the Mongol army.
Zhang Hongfan also slowly gained a position in the Mongol army, before, due to successive defeats, the Southern Song Court fled from Lin'an to Fuzhou, and then to Guangdong. However, in the face of the mongol army's poor pursuit and fierce attack, the Southern Song Dynasty had no foothold and could only choose to flee to the Yashan Sea. Although Zhang Hongfan is said to be a Han Chinese, he can be said to be unrelenting in the face of the same clan, even if he fled to the cliff mountains and seas, Zhang Hongfan also led the team to pursue and kill.
At this time, the main backbone of the Southern Song Dynasty court was Lu Xiufu, Zhang Shijie, and Wen Tianxiang. Because the emperor was only 8 years old, the military and political affairs were mainly based on the three of them, and Wen Tianxiang was captured before the Battle of Yashan. Therefore, Lu Xiufu was in charge of the affairs of the imperial court, and the military was entrusted to Zhang Shijie.
With the passage of time, the Yuan army and the Song army finally broke out into war, and the Battle of Yashan began. Because of the dangerous terrain of Yashan Mountain, Zhang Shijie arranged the only more than a thousand warships into a long snake array, and connected each search warship with iron cables, and also built a city tower around the ship, in order to break the kettle and sink the boat to fight with the Yuan army to the death.
The Yuan army had originally planned to attack with fire, but it did not expect that Zhang Shijie had already taken precautions. The Yuan army used the small boat that lit the fire to try to use the wind to attack the Song army, but did not expect that Zhang Shijie had smeared a thick layer of wet mud on the ship early, and the yuan army's fire attack was completely useless.
But Zhang Hongfan did have certain means, seeing that the fire attack could not be done, he let the Yuan army's fleet seal the entire Haikou, thus cutting off Zhang Shijie's transportation. This trick did have a miraculous effect, the Song army was hungry at sea to eat dry food, thirsty to drink seawater. The sea was salty and bitter, and the soldiers drank and vomited. At this moment, Zhang Hongfan also seized the opportunity to launch a fierce attack. Because the defeat was about to destroy the country, the Song army was also extremely brave, and the two sides began to stalemate.
However, the good times did not last long, and Li Heng, the deputy commander of the Yuan army, came with reinforcements, which made the situation begin to tilt towards the Yuan army. In the face of strong troops, Zhang Shijie was also difficult to support, many ships were breached, in order to leave a back road, Zhang Shijie sent someone to pick up the little emperor and Lu Xiufu. However, Lu Xiufu could not distinguish between true and false, and he was afraid that the little emperor would be captured by the Yuan army and rejected the emissary.
As the war became more and more favorable to the Yuan army, Lu Xiufu also felt that it was difficult to escape, so he drove his wives and children to the sea, and they also committed suicide by jumping into the sea. On March 19, 1279, the last day of Lu Xiufu's life, he put on his imperial clothes and carried the little emperor Zhao Fu to the bow of the ship, and in order not to let the emperor and the country be humiliated anymore, he jumped into the sea with the little emperor and committed suicide.
Seeing that the emperor and Lu Xiufu both jumped into the sea, the 100,000 soldiers and civilians also saw death as if they had jumped into the sea one after another, only to see more than 100,000 floating corpses floating on the sea, Zhang Shijie also jumped into the sea after getting the news, and since then the Southern Song Dynasty has perished, and the Battle of Yashan has also ended, what a tragic battle!
Then, the 100,000 soldiers and civilians chose to jump into the sea to commit suicide instead of choosing to fight with the Yuan army, I think there are several reasons: The Southern and Northern Song Dynasties have cultivated the indomitable national integrity of the Han nationality for more than two hundred years, because of this integrity and dignity, the 100,000 soldiers and civilians also have the idea of using the sea to commit suicide and collective martyrdom, that is, to preserve the integrity of the nation and their own dignity.
Most of the soldiers and civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty were infantrymen, they had little experience in naval warfare at all, continuous sea battles were coupled with water and soil disobedience, zhang Hongfan blocked the traffic, so that they had no logistical supplies at all, seasickness and normal people who drank seawater could not stand it at all, many soldiers had already fallen ill, and their combat effectiveness had greatly declined, even if they fought to the death, it was just a matter of death.
At that time, the emperor still had a very high status in people's hearts, because Lu Xiufu had taken the lead in taking the emperor to jump into the sea, which was equivalent to the fact that there was no leader in his own side, plus the news spread quickly, many people already felt that there was no future to speak of, and the military heart was suddenly scattered, anyway, it was better to die than to be a loyal subject, so he followed the jump into the sea.
The war between the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty was fought for too long, there were too many people on both sides of the dead in the past few decades, and a situation of endless death had been formed, and the Yuan Dynasty had also slaughtered the city many times, in order to cut the grass and remove the roots, I believe that the Yuan Dynasty would also kill them, even if they surrendered, it was better to die a little happier.
Cliff Mountain Naval Battle Lu Xiufu
After the great war, the Song Dynasty's troops were no longer enough, plus most of the warships were destroyed, according to the data, there were only more than a dozen warships left, and moreover, it was at sea, and it was not enough to train even the ships, even if you want to fight and fight with others at sea?
Because of the previous defeats and retreats, every time there is a Yuan army in pursuit, after so long, it is a person who will feel physically and mentally exhausted, and the emperor has also jumped into the sea, and the warship is gone, it can be said that the general trend has gone, and choosing to jump into the sea is also a relief.
Conclusion: In the face of war, it is indeed frightening, and hundreds of thousands of people collectively jumped into the sea to martyr the country, which is probably this time in the history of our country, the Battle of Yashan Sea is a tragic battle, but it also reflects that in ancient times, our national integrity is admirable!