After Mongo Khan ascended the throne, Kublai Khan was responsible for governing the Southern Song Dynasty. Kublai Khan made a quasi-attack on Dali Kingdom (in present-day Yunnan Province), hoping to outflank the Southern Song Dynasty on a large scale. 1255 Dali Ping; Kublai Khan had returned to the north the year before. Soon, Mongo Khan attacked Song Xinfa. He ordered the left-wing army to March on Henan and recruited the Mongolian army in Dali to return to Jinghu from the southwest. He led the main force of the right-wing army south to east Sichuan. The three armies joined forces in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and then moved eastward. This strategic plan was suspended because Mongo died in Sichuan.
Appreciation of Ancient Landscape Paintings Kublai Khan was on his way to command the left-wing army to the south when he received the death of Mongo Khan. Still insist on crossing Huainan and entering Ezhou (now Wuchang, Wuhan City, Hubei Province). The Mongolian army surrounded Hubei for nearly two months and ran out of food; The Mongolian army from southwest to north was blocked in Tanzhou (now Changsha City, Hunan Province) and could not be reinforced; Coupled with the fear that his younger brother Ali would seize the sweat in Mobei, Kublai Khan decided to retreat. Go back to the north.
In the first seven or eight years after Kublai Khan proclaimed himself emperor, he first concentrated on dealing with Ali Buge, and then used the opportunity to quell the rebellion to solve the problem of taking power in North China, so he maintained a very restrained attitude towards the relationship between Song and China. Although he set up two governors, Jianghuai and Shandong, on the border of Mongolia and Song Dynasty, and stood in opposition to the two governors of Beijing, Hubei, Huai and Huai in Song Dynasty, his intention was only the edge of town, and he was not in a hurry to attack Song Dynasty. Hao Jing, the special envoy of Guo Xin, was detained in the border town by the Song Dynasty, but he sent officials for questioning. In Song Dynasty, private businessmen banned cross-border transactions, ordered pardons and returned goods. Even when the frontier soldiers were rubbing their hands and rubbing their hands, "they all wanted to travel south", he just wrote an imperial edict, falsely claiming that "autumn is high and horses are fat, and land and water are separated, thinking it is a guilty move" to comfort the military. During this period, the military confrontation between the two sides eased slightly.
Three or four years after the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan's rule in the Central Plains became more and more stable, and the Yuan Dynasty's war against the Southern Song Dynasty was rekindled.
At this time, the strategy of attacking the Song Dynasty in the Yuan Dynasty had a major change compared with the previous two great khans. Although Liu Zheng, commander-in-chief of Luzhou (now Sichuan) in the Southern Song Dynasty rebelled against the Song and Yuan Dynasties, at that time, part of Mongolia's land was under the jurisdiction of Luzhou, but because Luzhou City was difficult to defend, the Mongolian army took Liu Zheng out of the encirclement of Song Bing and abandoned it. Compared with before, the confrontation between Song and Yuan Dynasties in Sichuan has not changed much. Nevertheless, Kublai Khan decided to suspend the use of troops in Sichuan, concentrate on breaking through the Songjing Lake defense line from the middle road, and then push east and south to determine the great cause.
As early as when Kublai Khan was ordered by Mongo Khan to go south to command the left-wing army to fight the Song Dynasty, someone suggested to him in the Han Dynasty the strategy of "according to the upstream (the" upstream "here actually refers to the Jianghan Basin in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River), the Gechao master descended". At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, it was Liu Zhengli who advised him to discuss this issue. When he saw Kublai Khan, he encouraged him to say, "Since ancient times, emperors have not been cosmopolitan and unorthodox. There are seventeen or eighteen sacred dynasties in the world, so don't ask where to set up a corner (referring to the Southern Song Dynasty, it is Taiping Corner). And abandon orthodoxy! " His strategic policy of "attacking Xiangyang first and removing its cover" obviously suits Kublai Khan's mind. In the fifth year of Yuan Dynasty (1268), the second year after Liu Zheng called, he ordered Liu Zheng to lead the Han army to the front line of Henan Province and "discuss military affairs" with Asu stationed there, planning to attack Xiangfan, an important town of Songjing Lake (now Henan Province). In the same year, he sent Yao Shu to the Governor of Henan Province to reclaim land and named him "Zhang Songping Ben".
It is a very wise decision to shift the main target from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Shu is dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack, and destroyed by long-term war. Under the conditions at that time, even if we stormed at a huge price, it would not be of great benefit to change the overall strategic situation of the confrontation between Song and Yuan Dynasties. The battle of Jingxiang, the arrival of the enemy of the great river and the downstream, is a great war drama repeated again and again in the medieval history of China. Since Mongolia went south, Liupan Mountain has been the base camp for them to stay and graze and recuperate. It is very convenient for them to pass through Hanzhong and enter Sichuan from there. So attacking Shu seems to be a mindset in Mongolia's strategy of invading Song Dynasty. In the eyes of future generations, it is imperative to change course after many twists and turns, but it is still a major strategic shift for relevant parties.
1in the autumn of 268, the yuan army began to carry out military operations surrounding Xiangfan. Fancheng is in the north of Hanshui River and is easily controlled by the Yuan Army, so the focus of siege is Xiangyang. The Yuan army quickly captured all the important passes around Xiangyang, built a village for defense, and the encirclement was dozens of miles long. 1269 Spring, Fancheng was besieged again. But Xiangyang and the Southern Song Dynasty were still communicating. In addition, Xiang and Fan are separated by the Han River, and they are connected by iron cables by planting a pontoon bridge in the middle of the river. Therefore, the relationship between the term and the norm and with the outside world has not been completely interrupted. /kloc-at the beginning of 0/269, the highest bureaucrat in northern China was sent to take the Senate deputy, and the Senate deputy, together with Xu, suddenly stabbed him to the front line inspector. After Shi inspected the situation, he built siege fortifications in the peripheral areas of Xiangyang, "building Wanshan to break its west and building fences to irrigate its east", while on the southern line, Baizhang Mountain, more than 30 miles south of the city, was also surrounded. In the second year, a solid platform was built in the middle of the Hanshui River, and crossbows were put on it to hold the enemy ships. Next year, that is, 127 1 year, Xianshan and Hutou Mountain in the south of Xiangyang will build a "one-word city". Xiangyang's external land route was basically cut off. Before that, Liu Zheng, who was bent on building and destroying the Duke of Song Dynasty, began to build ships and train the water army. Even if you can't get out of the water because of rainy days, you still insist on practicing "painting the land as a boat"
Since the Yuan army besieged Xiangfan in the early spring of the following year, it has continuously reinforced Xiangfan by land and water. At the beginning of the war, the Song navy probably still had certain advantages, so attacking the Yuan army and transporting clothes and food into Xiangyang was more about using the boat division to take the Hanshui action. Zhang Shijie, Fan, Xia Gui and other famous soldiers all participated in the War of Aid Korea. In the autumn of 1270 and the summer of 127 1 2000, Fan came to the rescue twice, with a strength of about 654.38+million, but both were repelled by the Mongolian army. Even in the autumn of 127 1, after the Yuan Army placed seven huge stones in the Hanshui River to block the river, Song Jun still broke through the water barrier by canoe in the late spring of the following year and sent his salary to Xiangyang City. At this point, the outer city of Fancheng has been breached by the Yuan Army.
The most tragic scene of Song Jun's aid to Xiangfan was Li Tingzhi's feat of recruiting 3,000 militiamen, led by Zhang Shun and Zhang Gui, and rushing into Xiangyang. /kloc-in the summer of 0/272, two ships full of munitions floated down from Xiangyang at night. In the spirit of "this trip is only a dead end", they rushed into the Hanshui Yuan Army water array, fought hand-to-hand with the enemy sailors, and even fought their way out and crossed the defense line. At dawn, we sailed to Xiangyang at the gates. By this time, Zhang Shun was already dead. Zhang Gui lived in Xiangyang for several months. In autumn, he went out of the city by boat and went down the river, fighting the besieged Yuan Navy for dozens of miles, in deus ex. After that, Song Jun, who was waiting for him, was captured by the Yuan Army and died unyielding.
/kloc-in the autumn of 0/272, because Xiangyang had not been besieged for a long time, the Yuan army decided to take Fancheng first to win the morale of Song teachers. In winter, the Yuan army broke the wood and sank the cable, burned the pontoon bridge on the Hanshui River, and fought a tough battle against Fancheng. They stormed Fancheng with a huge western trebuchet, and at the same time launched an attack around Fancheng, attacking the inner city from three sides. 1273 In early February, Song Shoujun failed in the street fighting in Fancheng. The soldiers and civilians who have not yet died in the south of the city were all slaughtered by the Yuan Army.
Militarily speaking, the fall of Fancheng did not have any significant impact on the survival of Xiangyang, but it greatly strengthened the despair of Xiangyang defenders because of isolation. Xiangyang is really dangerous now.
After the Yuan army captured Fancheng, it immediately moved to attack the city and returned the cannon to Xiangyang at the gates. At this time, the food in the city can still be supported, and the firewood for clothes has been cut off. At the end of winter, soldiers and civilians were forced to demolish houses and live on firewood. Every time Xiangyang satrap Lu boarded the tower, he couldn't help crying.
In February, the Yuan army returned to Xiangyang and hit the watchtower in the city, which was a great shock to the army. Lu was trapped in Xiangyang for six years and forced to land in Yuan. At this time, it was less than 20 days since Fancheng broke the game. At that time, people wrote a poem saying: "General Lu guarded Xiangyang for ten years. When I saw the news of the reinforcements, I shouted and killed Jia Pingzhang (referring to Jia Sidao). " The poem criticizes the Song authorities for sitting idly by Xiangyang. Although it is not entirely true, it shows that public opinion sympathizes with being forced to surrender.
The battle of Xiangfan once again exposed Song Jun's soft spot, and the senior generals of the Yuan Dynasty who had the experience of fighting in the front suggested that Kublai Khan take this opportunity to attack the Song Dynasty in an all-round way. A Shu, commander-in-chief of Xiangfan front line, said: "I know a little about Jianghuai, and I am going to see that Song Bing is not as good as before. If you don't take it today, you can't take it again. " Ali Haig said: "Jingxiang has been useful since ancient times. The upper reaches of the Hanshui River are already mine. If you drive down the river, Song will be flat. " Kublai Khan asked the ministers to discuss it, but it was not solved for a long time. Asu then protested: "Now the world is ruled by a wise monarch, but he spared this decadent little court from conquest. I'm afraid I'll attack Song again in the future. It will only be more difficult than today. " According to the inscription on his temple tablet, this is a tribute to Ashu's achievements, and Kublai Khan was overjoyed when he heard this sentence. He said, "Your words are just what I want." Yuan Ting was determined to destroy the Song Dynasty on a large scale.
In fact, there are two other people who should play a more crucial role in promoting Kublai Khan's decision. One is Lu who surrendered to Xiangyang. His brother Lv Wende was once a famous handsome man in the Song Dynasty, and his reputation and knowledge were slightly higher than those of the younger generation. Many front-line generals along the Yangtze River are former headquarters of Lu. Huan Wen himself led troops at the front for a long time, and he knew the southern song dynasty's defensive works like the back of his hand. Although he compared himself with Li Ling, believing that he had given in, he still did not forget to report to Song in his heart, but times changed and he finally could not control himself. At that time, people wrote poems to laugh at him and said, "You should know how Li Lingsheng and Xun died?" Before the consultation, Kublai Khan called Lu Huan Wen for an interview, which obviously increased his confidence in destroying the Song Dynasty. People in the Yuan Dynasty even attributed the downfall of the Song Dynasty to the downfall of Liu Zheng and Lu, saying that without Liu Zheng, the Yuan Dynasty could not know the truth and falsehood of the Song Dynasty. Without Lu, the Yuan Army "has no known plan to cross the river". The other person is respected Shi. Obviously, he is also in favor of destroying the Song Dynasty. He told Kublai Khan that as long as a Mongolian etiquette was appointed to command all the troops, "there is chaos in the four seas, and we can wait for one day." Although he was old, he volunteered to be the assistant coach. "It's enough for him." More than a century ago, most of the northern Han people who were officials in the Jin Dynasty strongly opposed the further crossing of the river by the Jin Army to destroy the Song Dynasty. Since the Jin Dynasty seized the Central Plains from the Northern Song Dynasty and forced the Song Dynasty to move south, although the Han people in the north could "do their own thing" with peace of mind, they still recognized the Southern Song Dynasty as a "land of parents". The yuan dynasty took gold from the central plains and replaced it. The Han people in the north completely regarded the Southern Song Dynasty as a "country with a country". Therefore, as long as you can, there is no other hesitation about "sweeping the three Wu".
In the second year after the battle of Xiangfan, that is, in March of the 11th year of Zhiyuan (1274), hundreds of thousands of soldiers were transferred. Shi, Shi (recalled soon due to an old illness), Asu and Lu went to Jinghu (later changed to Henan) and were transferred from Jianghan to Song. In order to answer, Liu Zheng and Dong Wenbing went to Huaixi (later changed to Privy Council, controlled by Henan Province), and Zhengyang, who was stationed on Huaishui, forced the river to go south, cutting off the connection between the two major protected areas established along the river in the Song Dynasty; Huai Dong Yuan Army was commanded by Cha Han. In this way, the situation of destroying Song San with Bo Yan as the main force was formed. In July, Bo Yan and other generals addressed Kublai Khan. At the beginning of this chapter, Kublai Khan instructed the generals to win Cao Bin, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Song Dynasty who attacked and destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty, and take Jiangnan with "no killing". In September, Bo Yan moved from Xiangyang front along Hanshui River (now Zhongxiang, Hubei). It opened the curtain of the large-scale destruction of the Song Dynasty in the Yuan Dynasty.