Chapter 29 2. Surround them together, wait for work with leisure, the battle of Xiangfan in Song and Yuan Dynasties

After Liu Zheng's suggestion of "strategy of attacking the Song Dynasty, we should first engage in Xiangyang" was adopted, Kublai Khan immediately ordered Marshal A Shu and Deputy Marshal Liu Zheng to drive an army of 100,000 Mongols and Hans, traveling starry night and night, approaching the north bank of the Han River. Xiangyang City.A battle to perish the Southern Song Dynasty—the battle of Xiangfan kicked off... Liu Zheng knew that Xiangyang was a military center. After long-term operation in the Southern Song Dynasty, the city was built tall and thick, and a large amount of combat materials and food were stored. The city was surrounded by water, and the water was covered with a large number of hidden reefs, wooden piles, and barbed wire.Not to mention siege, even getting close is very difficult.Hard attack is impossible.Therefore, he suggested to Kublai Khan that the Xiangfan campaign should adopt a strategy of besieging the enemy and then besieging the enemy for reinforcements.First, by bribing Lu Wende, the envoy of Jinghu in the Southern Song Dynasty, he set up a market outside Xiangfan City for business and trade. Then, in the name of preventing thieves and protecting goods, he built earthen walls around Xiangfan to encircle Xiangyang.Lu Wende, ignorant of tricks, agreed.Therefore, the Yuan people built earthen walls and built fortresses on Lumen Mountain in the southeast of Xiangfan, and established the first stronghold to surround Xiangfan.In this way, the Mongolian army pushed the battle line to the foot of Xiangfan City without a single soldier.

A Shu and Liu Zheng arrived outside Xiangyang City, Shi Tianze was also sent to the Xiangyang battlefield soon, the three of them climbed to Mount Xian, which is far away from Xiangyang City, to observe the terrain while discussing countermeasures. Liu Zheng pointed to the cobweb-like waterways outside Xiangyang City, and said to A Shu: "Look, Marshal, Xiangyang is surrounded by water. It is difficult to approach without a capable navy. Our army has excellent cavalry and is invincible. Only the navy It is not as good as Song. Therefore, I suggest not to attack by force for the time being, but to besiege first, and then quickly train the navy and build ships. After the navy is trained, we can attack the enemy by land and water."

Shi Tianze said: "The reason why Xiangyang has been trapped for a long time is that it is not a dead city, and it still has blood connections with the outside world. To really trap Xiangyang to death, it is necessary to further strengthen the construction of the encirclement circle, enclosing Xiangyang by land and water, Cut off all contact with the outside world, so that it can be effective." "What's the general's opinion?" A Shu was very interested in Shi Tianze's suggestion, and asked, "Tell me, how to trap Xiangyang to death?" Shi Tianze said: "Look, Marshal, although our army has built some walls, these walls cannot be connected together. Especially the waterways, there are no defensive facilities, and this is precisely the blood of Xiangyang City's connection with the outside world. Therefore, our army should further improve the siege method and strengthen the siege measures, mainly divided into three points, that is, building a new city to trap Xiangyang, building a fortress on Wanshan to break the westward traffic of the Han River, and erecting a fence to block the eastward flow of Guanzitan. The specific method is to build a long fence with wooden piles and iron cables in the river from Wanshan to Baizhangshan, build a high platform at the throat of the river center, place artillery and crossbows on it, and place stone piers on both sides of the high platform to prevent The enemy ships rushed to aid Xiangyang, cutting off Xiangyang's connection with the outside world through water.

In terms of land routes, on the basis of the original Tucheng, build forts at Baihekou and Lumen Mountain in the east of Xiangyang City to cut off the connection with the Eastern Han area; Not connected; build a one-character city on Mount Xian and Hutou Mountain, connect the forts, and cut off the road to Xiangxiang and Fanqiaosu; build a new city to the west of the Han River to complete the encirclement of the two cities.In this way, the whole Xiangyang is like an iron bucket, and even a bird cannot fly out.Then, it is only a matter of time before Xiangyang City is broken. " Ashu was overjoyed and acted according to plan immediately.

Therefore, Liu Zheng built warships and studied the navy.He successively built 5,000 ships, drilled the navy day and night, and obtained 500 warships built in Sichuan Province, and soon established a large-scale navy. Outside Xiangyang City, the construction of the fortress is also proceeding as scheduled.Shi Tianze personally supervised, and soon more than a dozen castles were built around Xiangfan, connecting the old earthen cities, and establishing a stronghold to besiege Xiangfan for a long time, completely cutting off Xiangyang from the northwest and southeast, and Xiangfan became an isolated city.At this time, the Yuan army basically achieved the strategic encirclement goal of Xiangfan.

The Yuan army built forts and locked the river. Lu Wenhuan was very anxious and sent people out many times to ask for help.However, Lu Wende lost his due vigilance and military judgment, and mistook the Mongols' war of aggression aimed at destroying the Song Dynasty as frequent military harassment in the border areas. Wait for false claims to claim credit! If there is such a thing, it is just a fake city. The military reserves of Xiangyang and Xiangfan can last for ten years! Go back and tell Lu Liu (Lv Wenhuan) that you just need to stick to it. If Liu Zheng dares to act rashly, when the spring flood arrives, I'm going to fight myself, I'm afraid they will run away when they get wind of it."

Fortunately, Lu Wende died of illness soon. The government of the Southern Song Dynasty received news of help. In order to save the crisis, the government had to continuously send troops to fight against the Yuan army in an attempt to break the siege of Xiangfan. Therefore, the Battle of Xiangfan entered a tug-of-war between encirclement and anti-encirclement, which opened the first chapter of the Battle of Xiangfan. The curtain of the second stage. In the autumn of 1267, Ashu led an army to attack Xiangyang and cleared the peripheral facilities of Xiangyang, with a small victory.However, when the Song army returned to the army from Mongolia, they sent water troops to Anyangtan, west of Xiangyang, to block their retreat, and then sent cavalry to charge straight into the formation.General Meng Huaidu selected soldiers with good water skills to swim and win the battleship of the Song army, and the rest of the generals fought bravely to repel the Song army and turn defeat into victory.

In the winter of 1267, the Southern Song Dynasty appointed Lu Wenhuan to know the Fuyang Prefecture and also to be the deputy envoy of Beijing Xi'an.In November of the following year, in order to break the siege of Lumen and Baihe by the Mongolian army, Lu Wenhuan ordered the Xiangyang defenders to attack the Mongolian army, but was defeated by the Mongolian army, and the Song army suffered heavy casualties. In March of the fifth year of Xianchun (1269), Song general Zhang Shijie led his army to fight against the Mongolian army that surrounded Fancheng, but was defeated by Ashu.In July, Xia Gui, the envoy along the river, led his army to rescue Xiangyang by taking advantage of the continuous autumn rain and the surge of the Han River.Xia Gui adopted the strategy of attacking the west from the east, dispatching boats to haunt the forests and valleys on the east bank, trying to attract the attention of the Mongolian army, and then unexpectedly attacked the castle built by the Mongolian army on the west bank.But this plan was seen through by Ashu, and he ordered the Yuan army's boat division to gather at Huweizhou, opening a pocket for the Song army who was about to attack.The next day, Xia Gui's main force entered the ambush circle of the Yuan army, and was completely defeated. More than 50 warships were sunk, and countless people were drowned.

In the spring of the sixth year of Xianchun (1270), Lu Wenhuan sent troops out of Xiangyang to attack Wanshan Fort in an attempt to tear open the encirclement.The Mongolian army lured the enemy deep and defeated the Song army. In September, Fan Wenhu, the deputy commander of Song Dianqian, led a water army of more than 100,000 people to reinforce Xiangyang. The Mongolian army's land and water armies attacked, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses were wiped out. The only successful rescue during this period was in April 1271, the legendary operation of the famous "Er Zhang Aid Xiang".

In April 1271, Song general Li Tingzhi recruited more than 3,000 militiamen from Xiangyang, Yingzhou and other places, led by Zhang Shun and Zhang Gui, and spontaneously organized a rescue operation in Xiangyang. At this time, Xiangyang had been trapped for five years, and the city ran out of ammunition and food.Lu Wenhuan asked the court for help several times, but they all fell into the sea like a mud cow.People of insight also wrote letters one after another asking the court to send troops, but they all ended in vain. Both Zhang Shun and Zhang Gui were generals of local armed organizations in the Southern Song Dynasty. They had resisted the Mongolian invasion for a long time and had rich practical experience.They and the 3,000 soldiers under their command knew very well that this rescue was a disaster.What they have to face is an almost insurmountable blockade composed of hundreds of thousands of fierce Yuan troops.Facing such a powerful enemy, breaking through the blockade with a mere 3,000 people is tantamount to dying.However, they are more aware of the long-awaited desire for reinforcements from the soldiers and civilians of Xiangyang who have been under siege for five years.Therefore, before the expedition, Zhang Shun, as the chief general, encouraged the soldiers of the army with the determination to die.He clearly told the soldiers: "The task of rescue Xiangyang is very arduous. Everyone must have the determination and fighting spirit to die. Some of you did not do it voluntarily, so leave as soon as possible and don't affect this rescue. "

The general is not afraid of life and death, and the soldiers are naturally excited. The 3,000 soldiers share the same hatred, and their morale is greatly boosted. They have expressed their desire to fight the enemy to the death. After everything was ready, in May, Zhang Shun and Zhang Gui assembled a fleet of more than a hundred light ships in Gaotou Port, and the ships were fully loaded with food, medicine, salt, salary, cloth and other materials.Zhang Shun and Zhang Gui connected the ships into a square formation, with Zhang Gui in front and Zhang Shun behind, and led the fleet to rush into the encirclement of the Yuan army.They used the three-bow ballista to fire rockets at the enemy ships. The dense rockets roared and flew towards the Yuan army fleet. After hitting the target, dense explosions occurred and caused a fire.A large number of large warships of the Yuan army were quickly ignited, becoming "volcanoes" floating on the water.Flames soared to the sky on the surface of the river, and thick smoke billowed into a sea of ​​flames!On the one hand, the Song army bombarded the Yuan army's ships with muskets and artillery, and on the other hand, they used the prepared axes to cut off countless intercepting iron chains laid by the Yuan army in the river. Arrived in Xiangyang today!This is the first time that Xiangyang has received external reinforcements in the five years since it was trapped, which greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Xiangyang and Fan.The supplies they sent eased the crisis of the army and civilians in the city.All the soldiers of the Song Army's support fleet used their lives to complete an epic voyage that was impossible for both sides! During the fierce battle, Zhang Shun, the captain of the fleet, was unfortunately shot four times and six arrows in the battle, and died heroically for his country.A few days later, Xiangyang soldiers and civilians found his body.Zhang Shun, who died in battle, was still wearing armor and holding a longbow, maintaining his combat posture.In memory of Zhang Shun, the soldiers and civilians in Xiangyang buried him generously and set up a temple to worship him.The other general, Zhang Gui, fell into the siege of the Yuan army because of the betrayal of the traitors in the battle to open up the water line of communication between Xiangyang and Yingzhou.After being shot more than ten times in Li Zhan's body, he was captured, brave and unyielding, and was brutally killed.From then on, the Xiangyang and Xiangfan front lines were permanently cut off from the outside world until the fall of Xiangyang in February 1273. During this period, although the two armies of Song and Mongolia fought a three-year tug-of-war on the outskirts of Xiang and Fan, the Song army failed to rescue or break out of the siege because the Mongolian army was encircling it. Siege in Xiangyang, the defeat is set. Seeing that the conditions for launching a general offensive are ripe, the Mongolian and Han generals in Yuan Junxiang and Fandu Marshal's Mansion are discussing again. Ali Haiya first said: "Xiangyang has Fancheng, but its teeth have lips. Besides, there is a saying that 'Xiangyang is made of iron, and Fancheng is made of paper'. We should first take down Fancheng and remove the barriers of Xiangyang, then Xiangyang will not attack And get it." Zhang Hongfan said: "General Ali Haiya is right! Xiang and Fan are the horns of each other and support each other. It is difficult for our army to gain a foothold between the two cities. The pontoon bridge on the river is the passage between the two cities. We should send death squads to cut down the pontoon bridge. , Cut off the connection between the two cities, and then concentrate our forces to capture Fancheng, so that Xiangyang can't do it alone, and naturally it will collapse without a fight." Suddenly it was reported that the gunsmiths sent by Kublai Khan rushed to help with cannons. Ashu was overjoyed and immediately ordered to go to Fancheng first to isolate Xiangyang. At the beginning of the ninth year of Xianchun (1273), more than 30,000 elite troops of the Yuan army attacked Fancheng from the northeast and southwest.The Yuan army first burned down the pontoon bridge between Fancheng and Xiangyang, cut off the rescue of reinforcements in Xiangyang city, and then violently bombarded Fancheng with powerful artillery. This powerful artillery was obtained from the Ilkhanate, and it was the most advanced weapon at that time.It has a heavy throw and a long range. It can launch a boulder weighing about 150 kilograms, and it hits a depth of more than 7 feet when it hits the ground.Every time a cannon is fired, the sound shakes the world, and everything hit is destroyed. Under the blow of the fierce artillery stone, the southwest corner of Fancheng was breached.The guard Fan Tianshun fought hard for three days, but finally failed, and hanged himself to death.The deputy general Niu Fu led the army to fight in the streets and competed with the Yuan army for the houses in the alleys, but in the end he was outnumbered and finally threw himself into the fire and died in the line of duty, and Fancheng fell. Fancheng was taken, and Xiangyang was even more isolated and helpless, but Lu Wenhuan still went to the city day and night, defending unremittingly.The Yuan army attacked the city day and night, but Xiangyang still stood firm. Lu Wenhuan was in a hurry.However, under the control of Prime Minister Jia Sidao at this time, the Southern Song court blocked news, fought crickets all day long, played with women, and sang songs day and night.At that time, Yang Qian judged that there was a poem "Yijianmei" to ridicule this matter: Xiangfan has been engaged in fighting for four years, but there are no fisherman's songs or woodcutter songs.May I ask how things are now?Gold wears away, and grain wears away. "Zhezhi" doesn't need dancing, there can be more ugliness and more evil!Rich men buy Zhu E every day.How about the military?How about civil? The army and civilians in Xiangyang City demolished houses for firewood. They had no strength to hold on, and no reinforcements to rescue them. They were in a desperate situation. In February 1273, Ali Haiya attacked Xiangyang from Fancheng and bombarded Xiangyang City Tower.At this time, Kublai Khan asked Ashu to follow the example of Cao Bin, and the people of Xiangyang heard that he should not kill anyone indiscriminately. As a result, the soldiers and people in the city were shaken and they all left the city to surrender.The Yuan army gave both kindness and power, and persuaded Lu Wenhuan to surrender. Lu Wenhuan was isolated and helpless. Seeing that he was powerless, he surrendered the city to the Yuan Dynasty.The Battle of Xiangfan ended with the final fall of the two cities of Xiang and Fan in the Southern Song Dynasty. The Battle of Xiangfan began with the Battle of Anyangtan, and went through the Song Lu Wenhuan Anti-Siege War, the Battle of Zhang Gui and Zhang Shun's Assistance to Xiangyang, the Battle of Longweizhou and the Battle of Fancheng. , which lasted nearly six years, ended with the failure of the Southern Song Dynasty and the fall of Xiangfan.This battle cleverly practiced the strategy of "taking with ingenuity and taking with force". First, they joined forces to encircle Xiangfan, built a fortress to surround Xiangfan, waited for work with leisure, and then encircled the points for reinforcements, smashing the anti-encirclement attempt of the Southern Song Dynasty.In terms of tactics, they paid attention to training, built warships, made up for the shortage of the Yuan army, and finally opened the door to the Southern Song Dynasty. After the fall of Xiang and Fan, the door of the Southern Song Dynasty was opened, and the situation took a turn for the worse.The Yuan army drove east along the Han River and crossed the Yangtze River by force. Ezhou surrendered the following year.So far, Kublai Khan's established goal - the strategic goal of blocking Sichuan and going down to Jiangzuo has been realized.