There are many battles of Xiangyang in history, and the battle of Xiangyang that we want to talk about today is the war between the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia. This war was very important, and it can be said that the Battle of Xiangyang determined the fate of the Southern Song Dynasty. If the Battle of Xiangyang is won, then the Southern Song Dynasty can continue to be in a quiet corner, but if the Battle of Xiangyang is lost, then the Southern Song Dynasty can pack up and prepare for surrender. That's not my family's word, history does. The Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia have been facing each other for many years, although the Southern Song Dynasty is a bit stubborn, but the good villains can still be in a corner. However, after the destruction of Xiangyang City, the defense system of the Southern Song Dynasty collapsed in an instant, and the Mongols marched south, and in less than three years, the Southern Song Dynasty was completely destroyed. Why did Mongolia win the war? Why did the Southern Song Dynasty fail? How much impact will this war have on both sides? Today we will take a look at the Battle of Xiangyang.
Mongolia's strategy
After the completion of Mongolia's unification, it began to expand wildly, so the question is, why did Mongolia complete unification? Why is Mongolia expanding wildly? This is actually a strategy that is ultimately formulated due to the influence of the system and the environment. First of all, when we open the historical climate change map, we can find that as long as the climate cools down, there will be a "Hu riding south" event. Why? The reason is very simple, the cooling weather causes the northern water and grass to be insufficient to support the needs of the nomadic people, but subject to the majestic Great Wall in the south, the cost of going south is too large, and eventually only the tribes can kill each other and plunder a number of survival resources. In this case, Temujin dragged the tribe around to fight, and eventually unified the steppe. But the water and grass of the steppe are still limited, and the winter in the north can really freeze people to death, in order to avoid freezing to death in the grassland, Temujin began to plunder the survival resources everywhere, which is why after the unification of Mongolia, it began to conquer the four sides without resting.
The Mongols plundered to obtain a large number of subsistence resources (land, population, food), and the war-loving mood was very high. Once the pace of expansion is stopped, internal contradictions (lack of food, lack of people's hearts, shortcomings of tribal systems) will emerge. Pulling back into the history of nomads, you will find that this situation is all too common, the Xiongnu are divided into two, the Turks are divided into two, and the Wallachian division is a lesson from the past. To avoid these problems, Mongolia has been expanding from its inception. It could not be stopped, because if it did, the Mongol Empire could fall apart. Based on this background, a republic of nomadic and agrarian peoples is basically impossible, which in itself is a matter of life and death. So Mongolia's foreign policy has always been expansion, maybe it will be temporarily peaceful, but eventually it will be expansion. Therefore, Mongolia's enthusiasm for launching a war was very high, and because the dominance of the war was in its own hands, the preparation for the war was also very sufficient.
The strategy of the Southern Song Dynasty
The farming peoples had two military defense lines against the nomads, the first line of defense was the Great Wall, but the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures of the Song Dynasty were always in the hands of the nomads, so this defense line did not exist for the Song Dynasty at all; the second line of defense was the Yangtze River, which was the last line of defense of the Southern Song Dynasty, so the Southern Song Dynasty attached great importance to it. After Yue Fei's Northern Expedition took back Xiangyang, the Southern Song Dynasty established a military defense system with Xiangyang as the core, and relied on this defensive line for a long time. The foreign strategy of the Southern Song Dynasty was basically carried out with the main purpose of being in a corner of the security, on the one hand, strengthening the garrison of the Yangtze River defense line, and on the other hand, actively seeking peace. At first, it was against the Jin Dynasty, and then against the Mongols, there was no firm strategy for the Northern Expedition. In this case, the Southern Song Dynasty is very passive, because your defense system is fixed, and the enemy's attack point is constantly changing, and there is no breakthrough in the Yangtze River. In this case, the two sides engaged in several confrontations, but in the end the two sides set the decisive battle site in Xiangyang.
Why Xiangyang?
The main breakthrough points of the Yangtze River defense line are: Bashu (Diaoyu City), Xiangyang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Why did Mongolia choose to go to war in Xiangyang? Is Xiangyang geographically good? No, Xiangyang's geographical location is not good, but compared with the other two breakthroughs, Xiangyang is the least difficult.
As shown in the figure, the geography of Bashu is the most difficult to attack, and the phrase "Shu Dao is difficult to go to The Qingtian" is not an empty phrase. Zhong Hui once walked through the Shu Dao, and as a result, he was blocked by Jiang Wei in the Sword Pavilion, if it were not for Deng Ai's smuggling of Yin Ping, most of them would have returned in vain; Zhuge Liang had made many northern expeditions, but because of the difficulty of the Shu Dao, he had returned many times without success. Ancient Chinese military experts have long reached a consensus on this point that "the world has been determined and shu will be determined", because the Shu Dao is too difficult. The military advantage of the Mongols was the cavalry, and it was difficult for people to cross the Shu Road than the blue sky, let alone horses. And the Mongols have a bloody lesson at this point, that is, Möngke died under the Fishing City. The same pit Mongolia would not jump twice, so mongolia abandoned the plan to break through the Yangtze River defense line from Bashu and chose other breakthroughs.
Similarly, it is more difficult to break through in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The dense water network in Jiangsu and Zhejiang greatly limited the combat effectiveness of the Mongol cavalry. At that time, Liu Zhen said upwards: "I am a crack soldier, and the only one who should be broken is not as good as Song Er in water warfare." This sentence tells us that at that time, the Mongolian water army was inferior to the Southern Song Dynasty, and if the breakthrough point was chosen in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, it was to avoid the light and the heavy, and to add trouble to themselves. The Mongol general (Wuliangha Ashu) also believed that Xiangyang should be besieged, and he and Liu Zhen reached a consensus that Xiangyang was broken and the Yangtze River would not belong to the Song. Although Mongolia has no advantage in choosing Xiangyang as a breakthrough, this breakthrough is already the best of the three breakthroughs. As for the Southern Song Dynasty, it was forced, and the dominance of the war was not in its hands, so it had no choice at all.
The Battle of Xiangyang passed
First Phase (1235–1239)
Before this, the Jin Dynasty was still there, and the Southern Song Dynasty and mongolia jointly destroyed the Song Dynasty, and the two sides cooperated with each other. However, after the destruction of the Jin Dynasty, the alliance between Mongolia and the Southern Song Dynasty was broken, and the prelude to the Mongol and Song Wars was first opened. The Mongol Zhonglu army pointed directly at Xiangyang, and the Xiangyang defender (Zhao Fan) at that time was drunk, and the Mongol army took advantage of Zhao Fan's drunkenness to attack the city, and Xiangyang fell. The fall was caused by the lack of ability of the generals, a problem that accompanied the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty. However, at that time, Mongolia had not yet gone all out to destroy the Song Dynasty, and the Southern Song Dynasty actively defended, so the Mongol and Song wars fell into a state of stalemate.
Second stage (1239–1257)
During this period, the Southern Song Dynasty actively attacked, and under the leadership of Meng Jue, the Southern Song Dynasty successfully recaptured Xiangyang. However, before the defeat, the Mongols wantonly destroyed the walls of Xiangyang, and also plundered the grain, population, and military equipment, so Meng Jue believed that Xiangyang City had no ability to defend, so he voluntarily abandoned Xiangyang City. However, Li Zengbo believed that Xiangyang City was very important, so after recovering Xiangyang, he began to strengthen the city wall, hoping to build a barrier to protect the Southern Song Dynasty for thousands of years. In order to strengthen the defense of Xiangyang City, Li Zengbo put forward five suggestions, namely:
1: Strengthen the city wall, after the reinforcement of Xiangyang City around the long nine miles, the defense ability is greatly improved.
2: Tax exemption for three years, this is to stimulate the economy, so that Xiangyang's economy can quickly recover.
3: Reward Tun Tian, the importance of grain is self-evident, in order to improve the grain storage in Xiangyang, the imperial court allocated a million taels of Tun Tian and the construction of ditches.
4: Increase troops to assist in defense, xiangyang's population is very small, in order to avoid the dilemma of no one to defend the city, the imperial court must send more troops.
5: Increase the war preparedness, this is to avoid the city after being besieged and the loss of food will cause the military to float.
At this time, there was civil strife within Mongolia, so it left a breathing space for the Southern Song Dynasty, which could actively strengthen the defense of Xiangyang. However, the Southern Song Dynasty selectively adopted Li Zengbo's suggestions, resulting in limited defensive capabilities in Xiangyang in the future.
Phase III (1257–1267)
The main battlefield of the third stage is Diaoyu City, we also said above that there are three main breakthroughs in the Yangtze River, and Mongolia cannot break through in Xiangyang, so it is changed to Diaoyu City. However, the diaoyu city breakthrough is more difficult, and instead of breaking through, Mongolia has killed a Mongolian han. After that, Kublai Khan was anxious to compete for the throne, so he panicked and retreated. At this time, the Southern Song Dynasty did not seize the opportunity to expand the results of the battle, and neglected to strengthen the defense of Xiangyang City, and the internal Jia Xiangdao dictatorship led to a large number of excellent generals (Gao Gao who recaptured Xiangyang, Yu Jie who defended Diaoyu City, etc.) were idle. This opportunity was a pity, and the neglect of the Southern Song Became the fatal weakness in the future, because at this time Kublai Khan changed the policy of the Mongols, treated the surrendered Han Chinese kindly, and also placed the strategic goal on Xiangyang, which the Southern Song Dynasty ignored.
Fourth stage (1267–1273)
At this time, Xiangyang Shou would be Lü Wende, and his relationship with Jia Xiangdao was very good, and he learned Jia Xiangdao to exclude dissidents, resulting in a large number of outstanding generals like Kublai Khan (including Liu Zhen). This Liu Zhen was the deputy general of the song dynasty in the future, and even proposed the strategy of taking Xiangyang.
In 1267, the Mongols requested that a market (a market for mutual trade) be set up outside Fancheng. At that time, Lü Wende made a big mistake, that is, he agreed to the Mongolian request. Later, the Mongols built a fortress outside Fancheng, cutting off the grain route in Xiangyang in one fell swoop. The fortress must not be repaired in a day or two, why didn't Lü Wende stop it in time? There are only two possibilities, one is to make money (bribes from Mongolia, or to extract taxes from transactions), and the other is to fail to check. Lü Wende was very suspicious of the fact that the Mongols had set up a field, and without checking it when the Mongolian farm was set up, he actually let the Mongol soldiers cut off the grain route in Xiangyang without bloodshed, which was either stupid or bad.
In 1268, Kublai Khan ordered Ah Shu and Liu Zhen to besiege Xiangyang, and the Southern Song Dynasty also hurriedly sent reinforcements from Lianghuai and Sichuan to Xiangyang. At that time, Lü Wende led several breakthroughs, but never broke the Mongol siege. In December of the same year, Lü Wende fell ill and died, and the death of the military commander who had been on the border for 40 years caused a great loss of confidence in the Xiangyang defenders. Moreover, the reinforcements of the two Huai and Sichuan provinces were all blocked out, and they were unable to break through the Mongol encirclement.
After that, the two sides continued to increase their troops, and the defense of Xiangyang was protracted. By 1273, the city of Xiangyang had been starved of food for a long time, and the fall of Fancheng had led to a low morale of the defenders in the city, and the Mongols began to persuade them to surrender. In February 1273, Lü Wenhuan raised the head of the city, and the Xiangyang War officially ended.
Summary of the Battle of Xiangyang
Mongolia's strengths and weaknesses
Mongolia's disadvantage was that it was geographically inferior, and there was internal civil strife. The geographical advantage cannot be solved, and the conquest of Xiangyang is also piled up with corpses. But Mongolia's advantage is that the Southern Song Dynasty did not seize the disadvantage of Mongolia, and the Southern Song Dynasty was frequently tricky. When the Great Khan of Mongolia died, the Southern Song Dynasty did not take advantage of the void; when the Mongols set up a field outside Fancheng, the Southern Song Dynasty let it go; when the Mongols lacked understanding of the Southern Song generals, the Southern Song Dynasty forced Liu Zhen away; when the Southern Song Dynasty was strong in military ability, the Southern Song Dynasty destroyed the Great Wall and squeezed out a large number of outstanding generals. The Southern Song Dynasty was prone to attack the Mongols in the process, and it was a pity that it could not seize the Mongol weak period to attack.
Advantages and disadvantages of the Southern Song Dynasty
Generals and soldiers can't
It is recognized that the Southern Song Dynasty was heavily literate and light on martial arts, and the farming peoples themselves were inherently insufficient against the nomads, and the Shangwu Han Dynasty fought the nomads with half a pound and eight or two, not to mention the weak and martial Southern Song Dynasty. Lü Wende's mistake is an example of the general's inability to do so, and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers is even more unbearable to look at. The combat effectiveness of the regular army in Xiangyang to defend the war was not as good as those miscellaneous armies that smuggled tea, do you think such an army could defeat the Mongol cavalry that swept across Eurasia?
Jia Xiangdao monopoly
Jia Rudao's dictatorship and the loss of discipline in Taiwan were at the same time, because Jia Xiangdao's exclusion of dissidents caused Taiwan officials to dare not speak out and lost the integrity of the literati. You must know that the officials of the Taiwan Advisory Committee are the eyes and ears of the emperor, and they dare not speak directly, do you think the emperor can still get any real information? This is why the emperor in the south was still addicted to wine when the soldiers on the front line of the Xiangyang Defense War were in deep water, not because the emperor did not pay attention to it, but because Jia Rudao shielded the holy hearing. The emperor's inability to deal with the situation in a timely manner was a problem, and Jia Xiangdao's dictatorship was even more of a big problem. Under the operation of Jia Rudao, a large number of high-quality generals were suppressed and squeezed out, and the level of southern Song generals became lower and lower, and the combat effectiveness was naturally worse than a day. Moreover, under the influence of Jia Xiangdao, a large number of "Jia Xiangdao" appeared in the imperial court, and the harm of these people was not small at all, the most obvious example of which was Lü Wende's persecution of the generals and liu Quan's escape.
Reformed people were suppressed
"Talented people in the south, generals in the north" In the long history, people have also summarized the regional differences between the north and the south, and the final result is that the south produces talented families, while the north is rich in brave generals. Although the Southern Song Dynasty lost the north, there were still a large number of people in the north who went south, and these people were called "reformed people". These people had loyalty to the Southern Song Dynasty, otherwise they would not have returned to the Song Dynasty in the south. But the Southern Song Dynasty did not treat them well, but instead suppressed them. The famous general Xin Abandoned Disease was suppressed because he was a reformed person, and he died of depression in his later years. These people were not used by the Southern Song Dynasty, but the Mongols actively used the Han people in the north, and many of the water troops in the Xiangyang defense war were Han Chinese from the north.
The impact of the Battle of Xiangyang on future generations
The most direct impact of the Battle of Xiangyang was to cause the complete collapse of the Defense System of the Yangtze River in the Southern Song Dynasty, after which the Mongol army drove straight in, which eventually led to the outbreak of the Battle of Yashan, Lu Xiufu jumped into the sea with the Southern Song Emperor on his back, and the Southern Song Dynasty fell. The Mongols were the first nomadic people to completely destroy the Central Plains Dynasty, and it was a unique thing before that. Therefore, after the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, some conspirators advocated the remark that "there is no China after the cliffs and mountains", the purpose of which was to reduce the national pride of the Chinese nation and carry out ideological brainwashing. The demise of the Southern Song Dynasty was also a great pity, the budding commercial ideas of the Southern Song Dynasty were destroyed by barbarians, and China returned to the small peasant economy and society.