In 1126, in Taiyuan, Wang Yu was wounded dozens of times, but still engaged in street battles with Jin Bing, and refused to complete Yan Zonghan's surrender. Blood stained the battle robes red, and when Wang Yu had more than ten golden soldiers in his hand and retreated to the Fenhe River, Wang Yu and his son Wang Xun committed suicide by throwing themselves into the river together and serving the country. At this point, the taiyuan defense battle that lasted for more than 250 days came to an end, and the soldiers and horses of the Jin Soldiers and Horses on the West Road drove straight in, converging with the Eastern Route Army, and Kaifeng was in danger.
Wang Yu was a famous general of the Northern Song Dynasty and a descendant of Wang Dao, a chancellor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In 1121, Tong Guan led an army of 200,000 to the south and engaged Fang La, the "King of Yongle". Tong Guanbing divided into two routes, and Wang Yu and Liu Zhen each led a road of soldiers and horses, and killed Fang La's headquarters in Hangzhou. Wang Yuxiao was brave and good at war, and the Song army was invincible all the way, Liankexiu Prefecture, Huzhou, Hangzhou, Fang La fled to Bangyuandong, and was defeated and captured.
After pacifying Fangla, Emperor Huizong of Song decided to go north to conquer the Khitan and regain the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. In 1122, Tong Guan led the Song army north, and the Liao army guarding Yanjing was less than 2,000 people, and actually killed the Song army and fled. The Song army was defeated, and Tong Guan had to turn to his ally in the north, Jin Guo, and agreed to capture Yanjing together. Ah Kuanta sent troops across the Great Wall, and the Liao army collapsed at the touch of a button, and Yanjing was breached.
In the Battle of Yanjing, the weakness of the Northern Song Dynasty was exposed, and the alliance between Song and Jin was not stable. In 1125, the Jin army attacked the Northern Song Dynasty in two ways, and Tong Guan directly abandoned Taiyuan and ran back to Kaifeng. In this way, Wang Yu, who followed Tong Guan north, became the defender of Taiyuan City, responsible for the defense of the city and defending against the Jin soldiers.
Attacking Taiyuan, the commander of the Jin soldiers was the famous general Yan Zonghan, with about 60,000 soldiers and horses. There were not many Song troops in Taiyuan City, including less than 20,000 residents, and the balance of forces was very different. Jin Taizong's plan was to complete Yan Zonghan's march from the west road, capture Taiyuan, sweep through Shanxi, prevent the Song Dynasty's northwest defense army from reinforcing Kaifeng, and then quickly move south to join forces with Yan Zongwang's Eastern Route Army to take Kaifeng.
The gains and losses of Taiyuan are related to the safety of the capital city of Kaifeng. However, neither Emperor Huizong of Song nor Emperor Qinzong of Song had the courage to hold on to Taiyuan and fight the Jin soldiers to the death. Taiyuan's troops were insufficient, the city had fallen into disrepair, and Wang Yu's pressure was very great, but he had nothing to fear.
Wang Yu built another earthen city in Taiyuan City, dug trenches, and built fences to prevent the outer city from being attacked by Jin soldiers after the breakthrough. Boys over the age of fifteen and under the age of sixty were all given weapons, encouraging them to go up to the city to defend, defend their homes, and fight bloody battles with the golden soldiers. I personally patrol the city every day to boost morale.
60,000 jin soldiers were killed, and the momentum was fierce, and Yan Zonghan believed that the Song army was vulnerable, and it was not difficult to take Taiyuan City, which was only 20,000 people. The Jin soldiers attacked using ladders, partial bridges, and stone throwers, and the Song army returned fire with a dense rain of arrows. The Jin soldiers showed no sign of retreating, and they went directly to the city wall and set up ladders to attack the city.
Wang Yu asked the Song army to spray the boiling water and hot oil prepared in advance, and smashed stones and rolling wood, and the Jin soldiers suffered heavy casualties and cried bitterly, and could only retreat. Unconvinced, Yan Zonghan asked Jin Bing to lift out the stone thrower, loot the stones near the Fenhe River, and use the stone thrower to launch towards the city wall in an attempt to destroy the Song army's fortifications.
The stone thrower was very powerful, but Wang Yu still had a way, he asked the soldiers to put dirt, wood chips, waste, etc. into bags and arrange them on the city wall to ease the impact of the stones. In addition, Wang Yu formed a "death squad" and often attacked at night to harass the Jin soldier camp. After several months of fighting like this, the Golden Soldiers made no progress.
Continuing to attack the battle, the Jin soldiers suffered heavy losses, and Yan Zonghan had no way to complete it, so he adopted siege tactics. Yan Zonghan ordered his soldiers to dig long trenches outside the city, build fences, and surround taiyuan regiments, trying to kill the defenders inside the city, and fighting a war of attrition and protracted war. Yan Zonghan also sent troops to plunder the nearby counties, looted the people's belongings, and besieged the Song army while enjoying themselves.
Wang Yu insisted on fighting, and the Taiyuan Song army struggled to kill the enemy, dragging yan Zonghan's soldiers and horses on the western road, but the Zhao Song Emperor was too weak. Seed Master Dao, Yao Pingzhong, and others led the "King of Qin" army to reinforce Kaifeng, and the people also took up arms to fight against the Jin soldiers, and the situation was very good.
Who knows, in exchange for the retreat of the Jin soldiers, Song Qinzong did not hesitate to send people to loot the people's wealth in the city, and gave 200,000 taels of gold and more than a million taels of silver to Yan Zongwang, and also promised to cede the three towns of Taiyuan, Zhongshan, and Hejian and "give" them to the Jin Kingdom, which was really sad. Meeting the Emperor of Zhao and Song is the sadness of famous generals.
The Song Qin Sect sent the emissary Lu Yundi to Taiyuan and asked Wang Yu to give up his weapons and surrender, which was the emperor's holy will. Wang Yu paid no attention to it and rebuked him on the spot: "I would rather die than be a Jin man, the imperial court has abandoned its people so much, and he yan sees the subjects of the world." After saying this, Wang Yu drew his sword and cut off the table and chair, and vowed to coexist and die with Taiyuan and never give way to the city.
Lu Yundi was very embarrassed and had to leave Taiyuan overnight. In 1140, the Jin army went south again, and Lu Yundi sacrificed Nanjing and surrendered to the Jin State. Wang Yu did not give way to Taiyuan, and Yan Zonghan continued to attack the city, but still failed, so he left some soldiers and horses to garrison the city, and led the main force back to Liaodong.
The Northern Song Dynasty was weak and compromised, and did not exchange peace, and the Jin soldiers soon tore up the peace treaty and went south again. Wang Yu had been holding the city for nine months, and had already run out of grain, even the leaves, roots, and leather on the saddles had been eaten, and many soldiers were so hungry that they could not even pick up their weapons. Even so, Wang Yu still insisted, refusing to complete Yan Zonghan's surrender.
In September 1126, Taiyuan fell, and Wang Yu led his troops to engage in a street battle with the Jin army, with dozens of wounds on his body and blood staining his robes red. Wang Yu fought and retreated, and was also able to hand blade more than ten people, and then threw himself into Fenshui with his son Wang Xun and died. Father and son were martyred at the same time, which can be called loyal martyrs. Grandson Wang Xun was still young, taken out of the city by servants and raised. Mr. Wang Guowei, a famous scholar in modern times, is a descendant of Wang Xun and is said to be the 29th grandson.
When the Yuan Dynasty compiled the "History of Song", it did not give Wang Yu a biography, and Wang Guowei collected historical materials and wrote the "Song Shi Zhongyi Chuan Wang Yu Supplementary Biography", which can also be regarded as an explanation to the ancestors. After the fall of Taiyuan, Emperor Yanzong drove straight in and joined Emperor Yanzongwang in Kaifeng, where more than 3,500 people, including Emperor Huizong of Song and Emperor Qinzong of Song, as well as ministers, concubines, and palace women, were captured, and the Northern Song Dynasty perished.
Bibliography: History of the Song Dynasty