Wen Tianxiang, courtesy name Song Rui and nickname Wenshan, was born in 1236 to a landlord family in Futian Village, Chunhua Township, Luling, Jiangxi (now south of Ji'an, Jiangxi). His father loved reading and attached great importance to his children's studies, and tried to hire famous teachers to teach them. No matter whether it was cold or hot, Wen Tianxiang would read, write, and talk about the past and the present with his brother in a study full of aphorisms.
At the age of 18, Wen Tianxiang won the first place in the Luling Township School Examination. At the age of 20, he entered Bailuzhou Academy in Jizhou (now Ji'an, Jiangxi) to study. In the same year, he was selected as a tribute scholar in Jizhou and went to Lin'an (now Hangzhou) with his father. Test taking.
In the palace examination, he made "imperial examination strategies" that addressed the current shortcomings, proposed reform plans, and expressed political ambitions. He was praised by the examiner as "loyal to the emperor and patriotic as solid as iron stone", and was personally designated by Emperor Lizong. The number one scholar among 601 Jinshi. Unfortunately, his father died of illness four days later, and Wen Tianxiang returned home to mourn for three years.
The ups and downs of the officialdom
Later, the Mongolian army attacked the Song Dynasty in two directions, and Meng Ge led the west route into Sichuan to attack Chengdu. Kublai Khan led the east route and crossed the Yangtze River to encircle Ezhou (today's Wuchang) with another Mongolian army that came north from Yunnan to Tanzhou (today's Changsha). The Nanjing government and the public were shocked, and the eunuch Dong Songchen requested to avoid the army and move the capital to Siming (today's Ningbo) so that Lizong could escape to the sea at any time. To this. Wen Tianxiang only boldly wrote a letter as a Jinshi: "As the Lord of China, you must protect China; as the parents of the people, you must protect the people." Please kill Dong and Songchen to calm people's hearts. Later, when Meng Ge died of illness, Kublai Khan wanted to return north to fight for the throne, so he allowed Jia Sidao, the right prime minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, to secretly surrender and pay tribute before withdrawing his troops.
Jia Sidao then lied to the court about "a great victory on all fronts" and was named the Duke of Wei, giving him monopoly power. Then Du Zong ascended the throne and indulged in drinking and sex. Jia Sidao deceived the superiors and concealed the situation, which made the country more chaotic. Wen Tianxiang's memorial was ignored and he was only sent on an idle mission.
In the following ten years, Wen Tianxiang served intermittently as the magistrate of Ruizhou, Tixing of Jiangxi, and Zuo Silang of Shangshu, for half a year or more than a month. Later, he was dismissed from office for ridiculing Jia Sidao.
National disaster shows loyalty to ministers
After Kublai Khan ascended the throne, he changed the name of the country to Yuan. In 1274 AD, he sent 200,000 Yuan troops to advance by land and water and march directly to Lin'an. The Southern Song Dynasty regime was in chaos, Du Zong died, and Zhao Xi, who was only 4 years old, came to the throne as Emperor Gong. The Empress Dowager Xie came to court and asked various places to raise troops to "King Qin".
The following year, Wen Tianxiang, who was appointed magistrate of Ganzhou (today's Ganzhou, Jiangxi), spent all his family resources to recruit troops and organized 30,000 rebels within a few months. With the confidence and courage to succeed, he began his military career. The rebel army rushed to Jizhou, and Wen Tianxiang was appointed as the minister of the Ministry of War. He was ordered to station the army in Longxing (now Nanchang, Jiangxi Province) on standby. After several obstacles, he was able to enter Lin'an to defend Lin'an. Soon he was appointed as the magistrate of Pingjiang (now Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province) and was ordered to rush to Changzhou to aid. In Changzhou, the rebels fought hard, but Huai general Zhang Quan led his troops to watch the fire from across the bank, and then escaped before the battle. As a result, all but four of the 500 rebels died heroically. In the winter of this year, Wen Tianxiang was ordered to quickly reinforce Dusongguan, the gateway to Lin'an. Three days after leaving Pingjiang, Pingjiang City surrendered. Before reaching the destination, the pass has been lost. He returned to Lin'an in a hurry, preparing to fight to the death, but saw that all civil and military officials in the court had abandoned their official positions and fled, leaving only 6 officials in the civil class.
In the first month of 1276, Queen Mother Xie insisted on surrendering. Yuan general Boyan designated that the prime minister should go out of the city to discuss the matter, but the prime minister Chen Yizhong actually escaped overnight. Wen Tianxiang was immediately appointed as the right prime minister and the privy envoy to the governor to discuss peace. During the negotiation, Wen Tianxiang was not afraid of the Yuan army's force, denounced Boyan, and expressed his determination to fight to the end. He was detained and taken on a boat to the north. Wen Tianxiang initially went on a hunger strike to protest, but later escaped at the tiger's mouth in Zhenjiang. Due to the Yuan army's counterintuitive plot, Wen Tianxiang falsely claimed that Wen Tianxiang had surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty and that he was returning south to gain the city and land for the Yuan army. Wen Tianxiang was repeatedly suspected and wary, and was displaced from place to place. He died in numerous difficulties for two months before arriving in Wenzhou. At this time, the imperial court had surrendered, and Emperor Gong was taken to Dadu (today's Beijing). Lu Xiufu and others supported the 7-year-old Zhao Duanzong to ascend the throne on Fu 30. Wen Tianxiang was ordered to enter Fuzhou again and served as the privy envoy. At the same time, he supervised all the troops and horses. He went to Nanjianzhou (today's Nanping, Fujian) to establish a governor's office, sent people to various places to recruit troops and raise pay, and called on various places to raise troops to kill the enemy. In the autumn, the Yuan army invaded Fujian, and Duanzong was forced to flee to the sea, drifting by boat in Guangdong.
In 1277, Wen Tianxiang led his army to move to Longyan and Meizhou (Meixian County, Guangdong) and advance into Jiangxi. Defeated the Yuan army in Yudu (now south of Jiangxi Province), captured Xingguo, and recovered 10 counties in Ganzhou and 4 counties in Jizhou. People's hearts were greatly boosted, and various parts of Jiangxi responded. The anti-Yuan struggle was revived across the country. Wen Tianxiang ordered to reach the Jianghuai area. This was his Maintain the most favorable situation since the Anti-Yuan War. The main force of the Yuan army began to attack Wen Tianxiang's Xingguo camp. Wen Tianxiang was outnumbered and led his army to retreat north. They were defeated in Luling and Hezhou (today's Changting, Fujian). They suffered heavy losses, and his wife and children were also kidnapped by the Yuan army.
Defeated and captured
In the late spring of 1278, Duanzong died of illness. Lu Xiufu and others established a 6-year-old little emperor, and the court moved to Xinhui County, more than 50 miles away from Guangdong. In a small place in the sea, Wen Tianxiang was given the title of Duke of Xinguo. In winter, Wen Tianxiang led his army to Chaoyang County, Chaozhou, hoping to take advantage of the dangerous mountains and seas to collect grain and recruit troops, looking for opportunities to rise again. However, the Yuan army advanced by land and water and launched a fierce attack.
At the end of the year, Wen Tianxiang was suddenly attacked by the Yuan army at Wupoling in the north of Haifeng. He was defeated and captured. He immediately committed suicide by taking borneol, but failed. Zhang Hongfan, who had surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty, tried to persuade him to surrender, but was severely rejected. Wen Tianxiang once wrote "Crossing the Lingding Ocean" to express his ambition: "After a hard encounter, the stars fall all around in the fight. The mountains and rivers are broken, the wind flutters, and the life experience is ups and downs. The rain beats the raft. I am scared on the beach, and I sigh in the Lingding Ocean. Who has nothing in life since ancient times? Die, leaving a loyal heart to illuminate history.
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