The Five-year Battle of Xiangfan in Song and Yuan Dynasties: The Battle of Life and Death in Southern Song Dynasty

The battle of Xiangyang was an important battle for the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty to destroy the regime of the Southern Song Dynasty, and it was also a key battle for the replacement of the feudal dynasties of the Song and Yuan Dynasties in China history. This campaign began in the third year of Xianchun in the Southern Song Dynasty (1267), when Mongolian general Asu attacked Anyang Beach in Xiangyang. It lasted for nearly six years, including the Lu counter-campaign in the Song Dynasty, the battle of Zhang Gui by Zhang Shunyuan, the battle of Longweizhou and the battle of Fancheng.

As early as in the process of destroying gold in Wokuotai, Mongolian nobles had already invaded and plundered the Southern Song Dynasty. However, due to the resistance of Jiangnan people, the Southern Song Dynasty still settled in Jiangnan until 127 1 established the Yuan Dynasty. However, at this time, the small court in the Southern Song Dynasty was gradually declining, and it was in a state of chaos and ruin, and it was doomed. The battle of Xiangfan was an important battle between the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia, and it was also an important battle for the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty and unify China. For the Southern Song Dynasty, Xiangfan fell, the gateway of the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River was opened, and the defense system of the Southern Song Dynasty was broken. The natural barrier of the Yangtze River could no longer stop the advance of the Yuan Army. For the Yuan Dynasty, the occupation of Xiangfan led the Yuan army to move south from the two lakes, which accelerated the process of the Yuan Dynasty's unification of China. To fully understand this period of history, we must trace back to the source, start with the war, deeply analyze the reasons for its victory and defeat, and learn from it.

First, the background of the Xiangfan campaign

1234 When Mongolia perished the Jin Dynasty with the help of the Southern Song Dynasty, it did not hand over the land south of the Yellow River to the Southern Song Dynasty as originally agreed. In the same year, the army of the Southern Song Dynasty launched the so-called "Pingping into Romania" war and recovered Bianjing and other places in the north. Song Jun was not fully prepared militarily, and the food didn't keep up, so it was badly beaten. This war started the war between Mongolia and the Southern Song Dynasty. Then the Mongolian army swept the southwest. After Tubo and Dali successively attached themselves to Mongolia, Mongolia has strategically surrounded the Southern Song Dynasty from the south, north and west except overseas countries in the east.

At this time, the Mongolian rulers thought that the time was ripe to attack the Song Dynasty. 1258, Mongolian Khan Mongolian soldiers attacked the Song Dynasty in three ways. 1259, when Mongo attacked Hezhou Fishing City, he was hit by a cannon stone from Song Jun and died in the army. The Mongols were defeated. At this time, Kublai Khan was also in trouble militarily, and at the same time, he had no intention of going south to compete for the position of Khan in the north. At this time, Jia Sidao, the prime minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, supervised the army to aid Hubei, and did not dare to fight, making people talk about peace, making him a vassal and drawing a river as the boundary. Kublai Khan took the opportunity to retreat to the north. The Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia maintained a confrontation in the Jianghuai area.

During Kublai Khan's period, the focus of the attack on the Song War was changed to Xiangfan, which realized the transformation from Sichuan-Shaanxi battlefield to Jingxiang battlefield. Xiangfan in the Southern Song Dynasty was located at the southern tip of Nanyang Basin. Xiangyang and Fancheng were dependent on the Han River in the north and south, inheriting Jing and Yu, and controlling the north and south. The so-called "west of Guanshan" can be called a soldier; To the north of Sandu, rescue can be sent. " The terrain is very dangerous, and it has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times, and it is also a border town that resisted the Mongolian army in the Southern Song Dynasty. In the third year of Xianchun (1267), Liu, commander-in-chief of the Southern Song Dynasty, said: "Since ancient times, emperors have not been one of the four seas and are unorthodox." Liu Zheng also offered Kublai Khan the strategy of attacking and destroying the Southern Song Dynasty, attacking Xiangyang first and removing its cover. He thought that there would be no Huai without the item, and there would be no Huai in the south, and Liu Zheng's suggestion of "attacking Song Bixian Xiangyang" was adopted by Kublai Khan, and song and yuan war entered a new stage of the Yuan Army's strategic attack on the Southern Song Dynasty.

Second, the process and results of the Xiangfan campaign

126 1 year, Liu, the ambassador of Tongchuan Anfu and the governor of Luzhou, was fighting against the Song Dynasty in the fifteenth county of Luzhou, and Kublai Khan took Liu Zheng as the governor and marshal. 1262 Uriyangqatai's son, Asu, commanded the Mongolian and Han armies in the south. Kublai Khan ended the struggle for Khan's status, stabilized his internal affairs, and focused his attention on the south. According to Liu Zheng's suggestion, Kublai Khan began to strategically encircle Xiangyang. Wang Fuzhi's analysis is helpful to evaluate Xiang and Fan's military geographical value: "The danger of Jiangdong lies in Chu, and the danger of Chu lies in the upper reaches of Jiang and Han. Those who depend on the river are not arrogant, and those who abandon the upstream abandon their dependence. " As Yuan General Guo Kan said, "Song occupied the southeast, wuyue was home, and its important place was Jingxiang. Today's plan should be to take Xiangyang first. And straight to Lin' an, the thunder covered your ears quickly, and Jianghuai and Bashu did not attack themselves. "From the fifth year of Zhiyuan (AD 1268), the Yuan army went all out to attack Xiang and Fan, mobilized more than 100,000 troops, and spent about half of its total fiscal revenue on Xiang and Fan every year. Its main strategic deployment is divided into the following aspects: First, establish a land stronghold as a base for attacking the Song Dynasty. As early as the summer of 126 1, Kublai Khan, at the suggestion of Liu Zheng, sent someone to bribe Lv Wende, the ambassador of Jinghu in the Southern Song Dynasty, and asked to set up an external meeting place in Xiangfan City. Lv Wende agreed. Mongolian emissary, in the name of anti-theft and cargo protection, asked to build an earth wall outside Xiangfan, and Lv Wende, who was short-sighted, agreed. So the Mongols built earth walls and fortresses in Lumen Mountain, southeast of Xiangfan, and established the first stronghold around Xiangfan. In the fourth year of Xianchun (1268), Mongolian general Asu built forts in Lumenbao in the southeast of Xiangfan and Baihe City in the northeast, cutting off the road to aid Song Jun. In the sixth year of Xianchun (1270), Mongolian generals built long walls around Baizhang Mountain and Wanshan Mountain in the west of Xiangfan, and built cities in Xianshan Mountain and Hutou Mountain in the south, connecting the forts and completely. At this point, the yuan army has been completed.