Chapter 33 6. Kill generals and surrender, Ali Hague takes Yingzhou

In the eleventh year of the Yuan Dynasty (1274), Boyan, the general marshal of the Yuan army conquering the Song Dynasty, used the strategy of attacking the east and attacking the west to break through the natural danger of the Yangtze River.In December of that year, after the Yuan army captured Ezhou (now Wuchang, Wuhan), Boyan immediately ordered General Ali Haiya to lead 40,000 troops to defend Ezhou, occupying the bridgehead along the Yangtze River, monitoring the land where Jinghu Lake had not yet descended, and blocking the river. Shu moved eastward along the river.He personally led the main force to march eastward along the river, and went straight to Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty.

In the twelfth year of the Yuan Dynasty, after the Yuan army captured Jiankang (now Nanjing) and Zhenjiang (now part of Jiangsu), Kublai Khan personally summoned Boyan and re-deployed the war plan to destroy the Song Dynasty: set up Jinghu Province, west Youcheng Ali Haiya used Ezhou as a base to continuously expand the results of the battle, control the two lakes, contain the Song army, and block the reinforcements from Sichuan and Shu; Cut off the channel of the Song army's southern aid in Huaidong, and responded to Boyan's attack on Lin'an on the middle road. Although Ali Haiya was guarding Ezhou, at this time, most of the states and counties in the Jinghu area had not surrendered, and all the states and counties were eyeing up, trying to jointly attack in order to pull out the thorn inserted into the interior of the Southern Song Dynasty by the Yuan army. Yingzhou (now Zhongxiang, Hubei) It is the forefront of their attack.

The old city of Yingzhou is located in the east of the Hanshui River. It was built on the hillside, and the city was built with stones. Neither arrows nor stones can get close to it, and it cannot be attacked by force.Hearing that the Yuan army changed its strategy of conquering the Song Dynasty and wanted to attack from Xiangfan, Zhang Shijie, who was in command of all the armies of Huangzhou and Wuding of the Song Dynasty, built a new city in Yingzhou in the west of Hanshui River. Thousands of warships were distributed on the river and the river was blocked.The elites of the nine counties along the river gathered here, and they were not worried about their military strength, so they accumulated food and grass, and deployed troops on both sides of the bank, making preparations to defend to the death. Generally cast iron.When Boyan Fuhan entered the river, he failed to take it, so he had to bypass Yingzhou, take the downstream Huangjiawan Fort, tugboat into the lake, and enter the river from Tenghu Lake.Therefore, the first goal of Ali Hague's defense of Ezhou is to take Yingzhou.

In the early spring of the twelfth year, Kublai Khan ordered Xuanfu Envoy Jia Juzhenqian to save trouble in writing and assist Ali Hague to station in Ezhou.Even so, he was still worried, so he continued to increase his troops and strengthen his defenses to ensure the safety of this bridgehead. Ali Hague also feels a great responsibility, guards carefully, and checks every day.At the same time, in order to better defend, he discussed with the generals to formulate a defensive principle of taking the initiative to attack. The pacifier Jia Juzhen said: "Offensive is the best defense. Now I am defending alone. Once we are content with the status quo of defending Ezhou, we will give the Song army an opportunity, and they can unite and surround Ezhou together without any effort. Eliminate us. Once you defeat us, take the opportunity to advance eastward, plus the Sichuan-Shu coalition forces, that will directly threaten Prime Minister Boyan to advance eastward, and they will be in the predicament of being surrounded by enemies, and our third-line offensive strategy will all collapse!"

Shige said: "The biggest threat to defending Ezhou lies in Yingzhou. Yingzhou is not only dangerous and impenetrable, but more importantly, it provides a platform for the Song army to attack. Therefore, in order to defend Ezhou, Yingzhou must be captured first. .” Xie Ruji, a sailor Wanhu, said worriedly: "The terrain in Yingzhou is dangerous, and Zhang Shijie's troubles make it very difficult for our army to win. Our navy has tried many times to break through the blockade to contact the enemy, but all failed. It seems that hard attack is not going to be cheap." Jia Juzhen said: "We have called for the second time, and asked the emperor to order Yingzhou to surrender, but they beheaded everyone who went. Hey, it seems that the way of surrendering is not feasible."

Ali Haiya took over the words and said: "Yingzhou's failure to surrender, on the one hand, depends on the advantages of geographical advantages, and our army cannot coordinate; Yingzhou, Jiangling and other areas, Yingzhou may surrender by then." Shi Ge said: "Yes, the key is because of the support of Yuezhou and Jiangling. If we come to the bottom of the pot, first destroy the surrounding Song army cities and isolate Yingzhou, then even if Yingzhou does not surrender, it will be fine." Ali Haiya went on to say: "It's just the beginning of spring, and the river is in a dry season. Our army should seize this favorable opportunity, use offense as defense, and make a difference. Take Yuezhou, Jiangling and other places to expand the results of the battle, so as to disrupt the Song army's attempt. A joint conspiracy to force them to surrender to Yingzhou!"

Jia Juzhen said: "Before leaving, the emperor allowed me to act cheaply. Why don't we first persuade the states and counties in the name of the emperor to surrender first, and promise not to kill or rob, the officials will return to their posts, and the people will settle their jobs. .If anyone dares to block my army, after the city is broken, the policy of beheading and extermination will be implemented, and no dog will be left behind!" "Okay! Let's do it like this!" Ali Hague paused, and then said: "Immediately write a book to report to the court, and report our battle plan to the emperor in detail. All armies are ready for battle. Once the emperor gives permission, we can march. .”

Therefore, Jia Juzhen was in charge of drafting the imperial edict. On the one hand, he reported the strategic plan, and asked to take advantage of the momentum to attack Jiangling, the capital of the Song Jinghu System Department, to ensure the safety of Ezhou; Tang Yongjian, a relative of Zhongcheng Zhang Shijie, went to persuade him to surrender.At this time, Zhang Shijie was planning to unite with Jiangling to garrison troops. When the spring flood came, he would join forces to surround Ezhou and destroy the Yuan army.When Zhang Shijie saw the Yuan envoy, although he was his relative, he also killed his relatives righteously. Without saying a word, he immediately withdrew and beheaded, and hung a flagpole to show the public.

Ali Hague was furious when he heard that the envoy had been beheaded again.At this time, Kublai Khan issued an edict to agree to his combat deployment.So he decided to leave Jia Juzhen to guard Ezhou, and led Shi Ge and other generals to advance westward. At this time, Gao Shijie, the deputy envoy of Hubei's appeasement and the governor of Yuezhou, was ordered by Zhu Sisun, the appeasement envoy of Jinghu and Sichuan, to gather more than 1,600 warships and 20,000 soldiers from Ying, Fu (now Tianmen, Hubei), Sanzhou, and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. People guard the Jingjiang Estuary, waiting for the spring flood to rise and attack Ezhou.Seeing the Yuan army coming to attack, they were not surprised, thinking that the plan had been detected by the Yuan army, so they hurriedly ordered to withdraw their troops and retreated to Dongting Lake for defense.

Seeing the retreat of the Song army, Ali Haiya immediately led his army to occupy Jingjiang Estuary, and stationed infantry and cavalry on the east bank.The water army was stationed on the spot to prevent the Song army from fleeing. At dawn the next day, the warships of the Song Army lined up at the mouth of Dongting Lake. The Song Army arranged the giant ships in a "line" shape, and arranged medium-sized ships on the two wings to echo each other. Each ship was equipped with arches and artillery. attack. Ali Haiya saw the formation of the Song army in this way, so he discussed with the navy Wanhu Xie Ruji, Zhang Rongshi and others how to defeat the enemy.

Zhang Rongshi said: "The Song army has a large ship. Compared with it, our army has no advantage. But they also have shortcomings, that is, they are inconvenient to maneuver, so our army should not attack from the front. It is better to attack from the two wings and concentrate our forces to destroy the two wings first. Once The retreat of the two wings will inevitably affect the central government, and our army will seize the opportunity to attack quickly, and great things will be accomplished." Shi Ge asked: "However, what should we do if the enemy changes formation? I see that the enemy army is arranged in a straight line, that is, to advance and attack, and to retreat and defend. Once the two wings are attacked, the middle can outflank and move forward. Therefore, I think our army should divide into three groups and attack at the same time, so as not to give the enemy any opportunity." "Yes!" Wanhu Xie Ruji responded: "I agree with General Shi's battle plan. We should advance in three ways to defeat the enemy's attempt to change formation. In addition, I think that naval warfare depends on momentum. On the one hand, our army must use its bows and arrows." The advantage is to arrange the firearms and crossbows in order. Once they touch the enemy, they can release the bows and arrows and rockets to kill the enemy; Momentum, boost morale, deter the enemy." "Okay!" Ali Haiya said, "Then our army will be divided into four groups. The sailor Wanhu will break up Ruji and lead the boat division into one group. The troops will be divided into two groups. First attack from the left and right wings to lure the enemy to change formation; Zhang Rongshi led the ships of the headquarters to attack from the middle, smashing the backbone, against their momentum. The enemy ships here are tall, and the Chinese army should send more hard archers to participate in the battle, with more artillery and rockets, and strive to wait for the enemy to turn around and change formation before engaging the enemy. In order to fight, take advantage of our army's long-range shooting, ignite its ships, and overwhelm the enemy first in terms of momentum; along the way, General Shi leads the cavalry, deploys defenses along the coast, prepares more drums and firecrackers, and shouts to cheer. Once the enemy retreats, use the speed of the cavalry Taking advantage of the advantage, attack quickly to prevent the enemy from going ashore and fleeing; and the reserve team will respond at any time after placing the Chinese army." After the arrangements were made, all the armies took action immediately. At about 9:00 in the morning, Xie Ruji launched the attack first. They arranged firearms, bows and crossbows in sequence, and launched a fierce attack when they approached the Song army.The Song Army's two-wing boat was small, and under the fierce artillery fire, it caught fire instantly.The Yuan army took the opportunity to board the Song ship and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy, beheading more than 1,500 Song soldiers and burning more than 20 enemy ships.Seeing the Yuan army attacking from both wings, the Song army's central army split into two, trying to outflank the Yuan army.As soon as the big ship turned its bow, the Yuan army Zhang Rongshi's middle army launched an attack.The Song army moved around, couldn't restrain themselves, and was in a hurry. Fortunately, the Song army's ships were tall and large, and they were condescending to meet Zhang Rongshi, so they didn't suffer much.Thus, a great battle began. Shi Ge on the shore saw that the two armies were on par, so he ordered nearly ten thousand soldiers to beat drums and shout together.That imposing manner swallowed mountains and rivers, and the sound shook the sky.The Song army was busy fighting, and the sudden shout really shocked them, thinking that the enemy's reinforcements were coming, they scattered and fled.The three armies of the Yuan army took the opportunity to hide and kill, and captured countless Song warships.Gao Shijie fought his way out and fled to Taohuatan with only dozens of ships. About half of the defeated soldiers retreated to Jiangxi under the leadership of Dutong Miyou and Liu Jun. The Yuan army was victorious, and immediately sent Langzhong Zhang Dingxin to summon Gao Shijie to surrender. Seeing that the army was defeated and alone, Gao Shijie had no choice but to surrender.Ali Hague looked down on people who fought and surrendered, so they still let everyone push him out and behead him. Ali Haiya ordered the soldiers to shoot Gao Shijie first to surrender to Yuezhou, saying that if he did not surrender, the whole city would end like this. The city gate surrendered.On the 27th, Ali Hague sent Wang Yan, the envoy of Shandong Economic Strategy, to Shu Yuezhou, and continued to attack westward. In April, when we arrived at Shashi, we ordered to surrender first, but the Song guards refused. The Yuan army attacked it with fire and slaughtered its city. Then they sent people to surrender to Jiangling. , Then entered Jiangling.He also sent envoys to tell many prefectures and prefectures in Hubei, and all prefectures surrendered one after another under the threat of Ali Hague's massacre.Therefore, Ali Hague asked to be demoted to an official position and continue to be stationed in various cities. Let’s say that in the city of Yingzhou, the surrounding area has been owned by the Yuan army, and Yingzhou has lost its support. In addition, Zhang Shijie responded to Chen Yizhong’s King Qin’s order in February and led 10,000 troops to King Qin in Lin’an. , the guard Zhao Mengsui surrendered to the city. Yuan Shizu originally worried that Boyan would lead the army to go east, and Ali Haiya would defend Ezhou with a single army. He would be attacked by Jing and Shu soldiers from Song Dynasty.Seeing that Ali Haiya not only successfully defended Ezhou, but also occupied Quanjing, confiscated a large amount of food and treasury silver as military rewards, and more importantly, ensured that the central line Boyan army attacked Lin'an "without any future danger", and I was overjoyed , I wrote the imperial edict in my own hand and didn't mention the rewards. In this campaign, Ali Hague took the initiative to attack without losing the opportunity, commanded decisively, defeated Gao Shijie, quickly occupied Yuezhou, Jiangling and other vast areas, made Yingzhou lose its support, and finally made the natural moat break down.Yingzhou was occupied by the Yuan army. On the one hand, it eliminated the worries of the Yuan army that their retreat would be cut off, and blocked the attempt of the Sichuan, Shu and Song troops to advance eastward to King Qin; at the same time, it also provided a solid rear for Ali Haiya to capture the two lakes.With this foundation, Ali Hague attacked from all directions, and soon the two lakes were owned by the Yuan army.