Chapter 30 3. The east hits the west, and Boyan floats into the river

After the fall of Xiangfan, the court and opposition parties of the Yuan Dynasty asked Kublai Khan to take advantage of the victory of the Southern Expedition and march into Lin'an to completely wipe out the Southern Song Dynasty.Kublai Khan was eager to put the boiled duck in his bag, so he decided to attack the Southern Song Dynasty with all his troops. However, Kublai Khan hesitated on the issue of who to use as the commander in chief to destroy the Song Dynasty. The war against the Song Dynasty is a big war, and the key to victory is to choose a good commander-in-chief.For whom?Among the Han generals, he first thought of Shi Tianze.Although Jinan's murder of Li Fen made him have opinions on Shi Tianze, Kublai Khan did not pursue it too much. Shi Tianze was really panicked, and he tried his best to show his loyalty.Shi Tianze was resourceful and decisive, measured the enemy's use of troops, advocated attacking the mind first, and tried his best to refrain from killing and looting. These were exactly what Kublai Khan needed to pacify the Southern Song Dynasty.

However, Shi Tianze, an old man in his sixties, had lingering fears after going through the political ups and downs, and understood the status of the Han people in Kublai Khan's eyes, so he resolutely declined and recommended An Tong and Boyan. Needless to say, An Tong is the grandson of Mu Huali. He became the head of Qixue at the age of thirteen, and the right prime minister of Zhongshu at the age of eighteen. Duan is well-known, and later when he was the envoy of Xu Liewu, he was appreciated by Kublai Khan and left as a courtier to seek state affairs. An and Bo are both in their thirties, in the prime of life and full of energy.What's rare is that both of them considered things carefully and handled things safely. After careful consideration, Kublai Khan still decided to let Boyan be the supreme commander of the Song Dynasty.

Before leaving, Kublai Khan once again summoned Boyan, and said to him earnestly: "This attack on the Southern Song Dynasty is different from the past. All the cities captured are my king's land; all the captured people are my subjects. You To avoid indiscriminate killing, do not burn or loot, do not harm innocent people, be my 'Cao Bin', and go to the south of the Yangtze River without bloodshed!" Boyan said: "Your Majesty captured Dali back then, and he personally wrote the word 'stop killing' to show the three armies. It was a good story for a while. In this expedition, Boyan must take His Majesty as an example, not to hurt innocent people, and to be His Majesty's 'Cao Bin'." .”

In September, Boyan mobilized 200,000 soldiers of water, infantry, and cavalry to attack the Song Dynasty in three ways.Boyan lived in the middle of the road, and his deputy commander-in-chief A Shu led the main force to march southward along the Han River and launched a full-scale attack on the Southern Song Dynasty. After the fall of Xiangfan, Yingzhou commanded Zhang Shijie to make preparations.He piled stones into the city, reinforced it again and again, and built a new city in the south of the Han River. The warships were locked with horizontal iron cables, and a large number of wooden piles and deer villages were densely planted in the Han River, defended with artillery and crossbows.

Boyan's army attacked Yingzhou, and saw that the city of Yingzhou was tightly guarded. Although they attacked several times, it was ineffective.So, under the guidance of the local farmers, they detoured to Huangjiawan in the lower reaches of Yingzhou. Taking advantage of the wide and deep West Ditch from the rain, they ordered the soldiers to repair the Pingjiang Weir, broke the bamboo as a mat, laid the ground, and joined the tugboats into the Tenghu Lake. (now southeast of Zhongxiang, Hubei), detoured into Han, occupied Shayang, and then put Yingzhou on hold, turned the front of the army to the east, and pointed directly at Yangluo Fort.This move avoided the strong city without attacking, and quickly moved south, which further disrupted the defensive deployment of the Song army.

Huaixi Zhizhi, the guard of Yangluo Fort, surprised Xia Gui. He couldn't understand how the Yuan army entered Hanshui, so he hurriedly mobilized more than 100,000 Han and Hubei sailors and more than 10,000 warships to defend.He knew that Yangluo Fort was the bridgehead of Ezhou and the place where the Yuan army must pass through to cross the river. Once it was lost, the entire Yangtze River defense line would cease to exist.Therefore, he specially appointed Du Commander Wang Da to lead the elite imperial army to guard.In order to prevent omissions, he also ordered Jinghu Xuanfu envoy Zhu Sisun to lead the guerrilla army to cruise in the middle and provide support at any time.The surface of the river for more than thirty miles is full of warships, defended like iron barrels.

When Boyan's army arrived at Yangluo Fort, seeing that the Song army had been prepared for a long time, they had to station there. Boyan, A Shu, Ali Haiya and others sat around the map and studied the countermeasures. At the same time, they sent local soldiers to visit the old boatmen and helmsmen along the Yangtze River and asked them where they were suitable for crossing the river. Suddenly it was reported that a boatman asked to see him.It turned out that the old boatman had a daughter, who was quite pretty, and was taken by Xia Gui's general and occupied.The old boatman had nowhere to appeal, so he turned to hold a grudge against the Southern Song Dynasty.Seeing that the Yuan army was stationed outside Yangluo Fort and unable to cross the river, I came to offer advice, only asking the Yuan army to rescue my daughter.

Boyan was overjoyed when he heard that, so he hurriedly asked. The old boatman came in and said: "Actually, you don't have to go to Yangluo Fort to cross the river. There is another place, which is Shawukou on the west side of Yangluo Fort. You can cross the Lun River, cross a lake area, and go to Shawukou. Cross the river." Boyan rewarded the old boatman heavily, and immediately sent spies to reconnaissance along the route pointed out by the old boatman. Soon, the spies sent came back and reported that Shawukou was also heavily guarded, but compared with Yangluobao, the terrain was not very dangerous. , the defensive force is also much weaker.

A Shu was very hesitant: "Shawukou is adjacent to Yangluo Fort. Once Shawukou is well-defended and cannot be attacked, and Yangluo Fort sends troops to help, our army will be in a dilemma." Ali Haiya said: "Comparatively speaking, Shawukou is still good for our army to fight, but how to restrain the enemy army in Yangluobao so that they cannot send help?" Shi Tianze said: "There was a Banchao in the Han Dynasty who used the tactic of attacking the west from the east, using the few to win the many, and defeated Shache and Qiuci. Crossing the river, the enemy will not dare to send aid, and even the enemy at Shawukou will send aid to Hanyang, if we attack again at this time, we can take it in one fell swoop."

Boyan was overjoyed, and immediately ordered Ali Haiya to lead the main force to surround Hanyang, and personally command the attack on Hankou.Along the way, the Yuan army built up momentum, saying that they would resolutely take Hankou and cross the river from then on.Xia Gui didn't like it, so he quickly asked all the surrounding bases to send troops to help, of course, Shawukou was no exception.Shawukou was empty of troops. At this time, Boyan secretly sent Ashu to lead five thousand elite soldiers, and sent out surprise troops to attack Shawukou, and they were defeated in one battle.

Hearing that Shawukou had been captured, Boyan immediately ordered the soldiers to open a dam to divert water from the lower reaches of the Han River and connect it to the lower reaches of the Lun River.One hundred thousand troops opened up the waterway overnight, and the Yuan army's boat division was able to enter the Yangtze River. Boyan then relieved the siege of Hanyang and led a large army to the mouth of Lunhe Bay. Thousands of warships and hundreds of thousands of infantry marched to Chen Bing on the north bank of the Yangtze River. So far, the next goal of the Yuan army is how to cross the river. Let's take Yangluo Fort first. Boyan sent someone to surrender, but the guard Wang Da sternly refused.Boyan had no choice but to attack, but the terrain of Yangluo Fort was difficult, the castle was strong, and the defenders were heroic. After three consecutive days of attacking, they failed to capture it. Seeing that he couldn't attack hard, Boyan made another idea of ​​attacking east and west. He fixed his eyes on a place called Qingshanji upstream of Yangluo Fort. So, he discussed with Ah Shu in secret. Boyan said: "Xia Gui thought we had to capture Yangluo Fort in order to cross the river. But it is strong and difficult to attack, and it would be futile to attack again. There are thousands of miles of river banks, why don't we come here to avoid reality and find another way to cross the river?" what time?" A Shu said, "I don't know where the Marshal plans to cross the river?" Boyan pointed on the map and said, "What do you think of this place?" A Shu lowered his head, looked seriously at this small spot on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and nodded slightly. "This place is located in the upper reaches of Yangluo Fort. The wind is high and the waves are rough, and the boat is going against the direction. Xia Gui will never think that we will cross the river from now on, so we will cross the river here. The general can personally lead three thousand cavalry and go up the river by boat. Our main force fought against the enemy of Yangluo Fort, and when the enemy was neglecting to defend, we took the opportunity to cross the river here, occupy Qingshanji, establish a stable bridgehead, and then try to build a pontoon bridge, waiting for the large forces to cross the river." Ashu was very excited when he heard this, and said in admiration: "This tactic of attacking east and west was completely used by the marshal. No matter how cunning Xia Gui was, he would never have thought that our army would use the tactic of attacking east and west this time." Boyan laughed and said, "Soldiers never tire of cheating, haha..." Therefore, on the one hand, Boyan ordered Ali Haiya to urge Zhang Hongfan, a ten thousand household, to continue to attack Yangluo Fort, and on the other hand, he secretly sent Ashu to lead 3,000 troops and more than ten warships to go up the river and head towards Qingshanji. This is a cold winter night with howling north wind.The gloomy sky had no bright colors at all, and the bitter cold wind was mixed with tiny icicles, which made people's hands and faces feel like needles.The water waves on the river were turbulent, together with the wind, pushing the boat back.Thanks to the large number of soldiers, the warship still moved forward bit by bit against the wind under the cover of the dark night and cold wind. At dawn, the military ships arrived at Qingshanji one after another. Seeing Qingshanji from a distance is flat, the vast snow has already covered this place with a layer of white, and there is no sign of the boat on the shore. Didn't the enemy notice it? In any case, let's talk about occupying the beachhead. Therefore, A Shu ordered Shi Tianze's son, Shi Ge, to lead the fleet ahead, seize the beachhead, and clear the way for the follow-up troops. After receiving the order, Shi Ge immediately turned the bow and headed towards the south bank at high speed.Cheng Pengfei, the commander of the Jing'e capital, had already been reported in detail. He hurriedly assembled the warships of his headquarters and braved the wind and snow in the river to stop the Yuan army from crossing the river. As soon as Scott saw the enemy fleet, he immediately ordered the fleet to charge.With a dull loud noise, the two ships collided, followed by the desperate shouts of the soldiers, the clash of swords and the screams of the soldiers. This sound was like the roar of a tiger and thunder, overwhelming the sound of the waves and the roar. the north wind. A new blush suddenly appeared in the river water. After a long night's trek, the Yuan army exhausted a lot of physical strength. In addition, the Song army waited for work with ease, and the Yuan army gradually became exhausted.Fortunately, A Shu led the follow-up troops to arrive in time. He immediately went into battle, and at the same time disembarked the soldiers on the follow-up warships, and swam across the Yangtze River with men and horses to seize the beach. Seeing the Yuan army descending into the piercing river, the defenders on the bank quickly shot arrows.However, since the large forces had already embarked to fight, these defenders could not stop the fierce attack of the Yuan army at all.As soon as the Yuan army reached the opposite bank, they immediately jumped on their horses and fought cavalry against infantry. The Song army was even more powerless to support them, so they had to run away and fled to Ezhou. The Song army in the middle of the river saw that the south bank was occupied by the Yuan army and was afraid of being flanked, so they had no intention of fighting and retreated downstream. Ashu didn't chase after him, and took the opportunity to command the boat to rush ashore. After landing, he sent someone to report that Boyan had successfully crossed the river, and at the same time ordered the erection of a pontoon bridge, waiting for the large troops to cross the river. Boyan was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately ordered his generals to storm Yangluo Fort, while leading a large army to march quickly across the river from Qingshanji.Xia Gui, the general of the Song Dynasty who went to aid, heard that the Yuan army had crossed the river, and was shocked. He hurriedly led 300 warships under his command to escape first, and went eastward along the current, and was defeated back to Luzhou.Ali Haiya, who was besieging Yangluo Fort, took the opportunity to step up his attack. He first bombarded the weak defense with artillery, and then took advantage of the momentum to enter the city. They all commanded Wang Da and the 8,000 Song army led by him. After a desperate fight with the Yuan army, they all died in a heroic battle. The troops of the Yuan army crossed the Yangtze River smoothly, and Yangluo Fort was successfully captured again, which greatly boosted the morale of the Yuan army.Many generals asked the Generalissimo to pursue Xia Gui.After Boyan heard this, he thought to himself, Xia Gui fled downstream and chased after him, and it may not be the best strategy to work hard and not necessarily achieve great results.But he didn't say that, but replied: "Our army successfully captured Yangluo Fort, such a big victory, such good news, I was worried that no one would report to Song Ting. Xia Gui's escape happened exactly at that time. The messenger who sent the message for me!" When the generals heard this, they laughed. This battle was an important battle for the Yuan army to capture the Yangtze River, and it was also a major turning point in the war to destroy the Song Dynasty.Boyan achieved a record of winning more with less, successfully breaking the Song army's land and water defense, and breaking through the natural danger of the Yangtze River with his tactics of attacking the west and avoiding the strong.Since then, the Song army has no danger to defend, and it is only a matter of time before the country is subjugated.