Chapter 25 The Last Years of Wu Pian An

When Song Lizong came to the throne, the whole of China was already in great turmoil, and the source of the turmoil was Mongolia, which was expanding wildly.In the process of attacking the Kingdom of Jin, Mongolia sent people to contact the Southern Song Dynasty many times, asking Song to attack the Kingdom of Jin.The court of the Southern Song Dynasty saw that Mongolia was powerful and the Jin Kingdom was dying, so they wanted to unite with Mongol to destroy the Jin and use the "Shame of Jingkang" a hundred years ago.It can be said that the "Gou'an" without initiative is the Song Dynasty's consistent foreign policy. It started from Song Zhenzong's reign and almost ran through the entire history of the Song Dynasty.The saddest thing is that the court of the Southern Song Dynasty could not learn from the lessons learned from the Northern Song Dynasty's alliance with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty, which led to the introduction of wolves into the house, and the tragedy was inevitably repeated.

At that time, the Kingdom of Jin had moved its capital to Kaifeng under the oppression of Mongolia, and Jin Aizong Wanyan Shouxu’s order was limited to a small corner south of the Yellow River and north of the Huaihe River. .In the sixth year of Shaoding (1233), that is, the year when Shi Miyuan, the power minister of the Song Dynasty, died, Mongolia attacked Kaifeng, and Jin Aizong abandoned his army and fled to Guide (now Shangqiu South, Henan).The emperor fled, and the hearts of the people in Kaifeng were floating. Jin general Cui Li had a coup and surrendered to Mongolia.At that time, Yuan Haowen, a famous literati in the Kingdom of Jin, was also in Kaifeng, and thus became a captive of the Mongols.

In the past, the Mongolian army had a system of "everything that does not surrender when attacking a city will be slaughtered with a single arrow and stone", which means that when the Mongolian army approaches the city, as long as the city defenders have the slightest resistance, the Mongolian army will surely slaughter the city after the city is broken.Mongolian Minister Yelu Chucai (descendant of the royal family of the Liao Kingdom) urged the Mongolian Great Khan Okuotai (the second generation Khan of Mongolia, the third son born to Genghis Khan’s wife Boertai) to abolish the old system of massacring the city after breaking the city, and entered Kaifeng from the Mongolian army At the beginning, Mongolia's barbaric "massacre" system was abolished.At that time, there were 1.4 million households in Kaifeng fleeing the war, and all of them were saved because of Yelu Chucai's positive suggestions.

Jin Aizong continued to flee to the south and arrived in Caizhou (now Runan, Henan).Mongolia was oppressed by the Jin people at first, and had a sworn enemy with the Jin State. Because of its eagerness to destroy the Jin, it sent an envoy Wang Ji to Xiangyang (Xiangfan, Hubei) in the Southern Song Dynasty to ask the Southern Song Dynasty to send troops for assistance.The Southern Song Dynasty was trying to use the power of Mongolia to destroy the Kingdom of Jin, so it naturally agreed.Song and Mongolia signed a military alliance in this regard: Mongolia agreed that the land south of the Huaihe River would be owned by the Southern Song Dynasty after the Jin Dynasty was destroyed; the Southern Song Dynasty would supply the Mongolian army with food and fodder;

In September of the sixth year of Shaoding (1233), the Mongolian army built a long fortress and besieged Caizhou where Jin Aizong was located.The Jin army tried to break out of the siege, but failed.In October, Song generals Meng Gong and Jiang Hai led 20,000 troops and transported 300,000 shi of grain to Caizhou to supply the Mongolian army.Under the command of the Jin general Wanyan Zhongde, the Jin army held on to the city and repelled the attacks of the Song and Mongolian allied forces many times.In autumn, the Song and Mongolian allied forces felled trees outside Caizhou City to make weapons such as ladders for attacking the city.Jin Aizong felt hopeless and desperate.Jinchen Wanyan and Ahu offered advice, suggesting to reunite the Southern Song Dynasty and beg for peace from the Southern Song Dynasty. Even if it cannot delay the enemy, it can still drive a wedge between Song and Mongolia.Therefore, Jin Aizong wrote a letter to the court of the Southern Song Dynasty, in which he clearly mentioned that Song and Jin were in fact bitter, and hoped that Song and Jin could unite.Seeing that Jin was about to destroy the country, the court of the Southern Song Dynasty rejected Jin's begging and begging for food.

In the first month of the first year of Duanping (1234), Caizhou ran out of food, and the Jin army was exhausted. Jin Aizong officially located in Wanyan Chenglin.At this time, the Song army decided to open the pool of water into Rushui, and then filled the pool with salary to break through the west city of Caizhou.When Jin Aizong's abdication was completed, the Song army had already occupied Nancheng.Jin Aizong set himself on fire, and more than a hundred soldiers of the Jin army threw themselves into Rushui and died.The newly enthroned last emperor, Wanyan Chenglin, was killed in the chaos within less than half a day, becoming the emperor with the shortest reign in history.Mongols hated the Kingdom of Jin, and the Wanyan royal family was all killed by the Mongolian army, leaving no one behind.The Kingdom of Jin perished, and it was established for a total of 120 years.

Song General Meng Gong brought some of the charred bones of Jin Aizong back to Lin'an, and Song Lizong ordered it to be used as a sacrifice to the royal ancestral temple, saying that the "Shame of Jingkang" a hundred years ago finally got snow.Zhang Tiangang, the governor of the state of Jin (deputy prime minister), was also taken prisoner to Lin'an.Xue Qiong, the prefect of Lin'an, deliberately asked Zhang Tiangang, "What face do you have to come here?" Zhang Tiangang replied, "The rise and fall of the country, what generation does not exist? The fall of my Jin Kingdom is better than your two emperors (referring to Song Huizong and Song Qinzong)." Like?" Xue Qiong became angry from embarrassment, but had nothing to say.The next day, Xue Qiong played Zhang Tiangang's words to Song Lizong, with the original intention of urging Song Lizong to execute Zhang Tiangang.Unexpectedly, Song Lizong was very curious, so he summoned Zhang Tiangang and asked, "Is Zhang Tiangang really not afraid of death?"Song Lizong admired his integrity and did not kill him, but only imprisoned him.There are no records of Zhang Tiangang's later experience, and he probably died in prison in the end.

After the Song and Mongolian joint extermination of the Jin, the Southern Song Dynasty only obtained the southeast lands of Chen and Cai in Henan.Song generals Zhao Fan and Zhao Kui saw that Mongolia had returned to Hebei, and advocated taking the opportunity to appease the Central Plains, guarding the Yellow River, occupying Tongguan, and recovering the three capitals (Kaifeng in Tokyo, Luoyang in Xijing, and Shangqiu in Nanjing).A group of officials in the Southern Song Dynasty, led by Shenzhi Zhengshi (deputy prime minister) Qiao Xingjian and Jinghu system envoy Shi Songzhi (Shi Miyuan's nephew), opposed it, and only the newly appointed prime minister Zheng Qingzhi strongly supported it.Song Lizong, who had just been in power for a short time, was eager to make a difference, so regardless of the poverty of the country, the weakness of the army, and the dilapidated state of Henan, he planned to use all the strength of the Song army to regain the lost land in Henan that had been lost for more than a hundred years.

On the second day of June in the first year of Duanping (1234), Quan Zicai, the magistrate of Luzhou (now Hefei, Anhui), led 10,000 Huaixi soldiers as the vanguard, and was ordered to set off from Luzhou and cross the Huaihe River north.On the second day of July, Quan Zicai's army arrived in the east of Kaifeng City.Most of the officials in Kaifeng were the former ministers of the Kingdom of Jin. After surrendering to Mongolia, they accepted the appointment of Mongolia again.Most of these people did not sincerely surrender, but because of the situation, officials Li Boyuan and others took the opportunity to assassinate Cui Li and others who were left behind in Kaifeng established by Mongolia, and opened the city gate to welcome the Song army into the city.At the same time, Zhao Kui, the envoy of Huaidong, led 50,000 troops from Chuzhou (now Chuxian, Anhui) to Yuzhou (now north of Xuyi, Jiangsu), and arrived in Bianjing to join Quan Zicai.

The battle started smoothly, however, soon Xiao Qiang was troubled.Shi Songzhi, the envoy of the Jinghu system, refused to collect food and salaries for the troops in front, which directly caused Zhao Kui and Quan Zicai to run out of food and grass.Zhao Fan's army was originally deployed in the Huangzhou and Gwangju areas. According to the plan, it was supposed to march into Chen and Cai, but Zhao Fan suddenly changed his original intention inexplicably and temporarily opposed the deployment. Naturally, he did not send troops from the eastern front to contain the Mongolian army.Zhao Yanna, the commander of the Sichuan military, did not send out his troops to respond, which caused the Mongolian army on the western front to have no scruples.

Under such circumstances, Zhao Kui and Quan Zicai had neither food nor support, and were actually in a helpless situation.However, the Mongolian army won precious time, marched southward in a large scale, and dug the Cunjin embankment in the south of the Yellow River (north of Kaifeng County, Henan Province today), and flooded Henan to prevent the Song army from advancing westward and supplying food and wages. In his anxiety, Zhao Kui urged the troops to advance westward regardless of the lack of rations for a quick battle.Song generals Fan Yongji, Fan Xin, and Zhang Di led 13,000 troops, and Xu Minzi was the supervisor of the army. He only took five days of food and advanced from the west to Luoyang.The people of Luoyang opened the city gates to welcome the Song army into the city.Another Song general, Yang Yi, led an army of 15,000 people as Luoyang's backup. When he arrived at Longmen in the southeast of Luoyang, he was ambushed by the Mongol general Liu Heng'an.This was the first time the Song army had confronted the Mongolian army head-on, and it was the first time that they had experienced the power of the Mongolian iron cavalry. Yang Yi's army was defeated, and even Xu Minzi and other troops who had entered Luoyang were terrified. A few days later, the forward of the Mongolian army arrived at the city of Luoyang.Xu Minzi, the supervisor of the Song Dynasty, saw that the situation was not good, so he voluntarily gave up Luoyang and crossed Luoshui to the east to return to the army.On the way, the Song army encountered the Mongolian army, and the Song army was completely defeated. Fan Xin, Zhang Di and other generals fought to the death. Xu Minzi only led more than 300 people to break through.Zhao Kui and Quan Zi, who were stationed in Kaifeng, saw that the situation was over, and took the initiative to retreat from Kaifeng. This time, the Song army lost a total of more than 100,000 people, and the Southern Song Dynasty's plan to recover the "Three Capitals" ended in failure.The Southern Song Dynasty hurriedly sent envoys to apologize to Mongolia in order to ease the situation, but Mongolia just seized the handle of the Southern Song Dynasty's "starting disaster" and asked the teacher to ask the crime.Since then, the battle between Song and Mongolia has resumed, and there has been no peace between He, Huai, Sichuan, and Yang. Since the death of the Great Khan Wokuotai, Mongolia has been caught in a struggle for Khan status, and has no time to go south with all its strength. It temporarily relaxed its offensive against the Southern Song Dynasty, giving the Southern Song Dynasty a chance to breathe.Sichuan is in an important position strategically, and the Song Dynasty began to deploy defenses in Sichuan.Meng Gong, Yu Jie and others set up garrison fields in Sichuan, chose dangerous places to build villages, and built Chongqing City.When Yu Jie served as the appeasement envoy of Sichuan, he rectified the administration of officials, lightened taxes and reduced taxes, and set up a recruiting hall to extensively solicit suggestions for defending Sichuan.Brothers Ran Jin and Ran Pu from Bozhou suggested to Yu Jie to build a city in Hezhou (now Hechuan, Sichuan).Yu Jie adopted the suggestion and not only built Diaoyu Mountain City in Hezhou Diaoyu Mountain, but also built more than ten mountain cities in other dangerous places along the rivers.Diaoyucheng became a famous fortress, and later it was here that a miracle in the history of Chinese and foreign wars was created, so it was called "Oriental Mecca" and "the place where God broke the whip" by Europeans. While the generals of the anti-war faction were deploying to fight against Mongolia, the officials of the peace faction in the DPRK were engaged in conspiracy.The left minister Xie Fangshu vigorously rejected Zhao Kui, the right minister and privy envoy who was in the main battle, and Zhao Kui was dismissed from office.Uncle Xie Fang and others also falsely accused Yu Jie (the Minister of the Ministry of War at the time) of holding great power and not knowing the etiquette of being a king.In the first year of Baoyou (1253), Yu Jie was forced to commit suicide by taking poison in Sichuan. In the same year, Kublai Khan of Mongolia was ordered to lead an expedition to Dali.He led his army to set off from Liupan Mountain, falsely passed Tubo, and marched in three routes from Tula (now Songfan, Sichuan), crossing the snow-capped mountains, crossing the Jinsha River, and attacking cities and territories along the way.In the winter of that year, he arrived in Dali.Dali Xiangguo Gaoxiang stationed troops to defend Dali City.In December, under the siege and attack of the three-way expeditionary force, the city of Dali was broken, King Duan Xingzhi went to Shanchan (now Kunming City), Gao Xiang fled to Tongyaluo (now Yao'an, Yunnan) and was hunted down.Kublai Khan immediately commanded the Mongolian army to plunder and occupy Dali except Shanchan.In the autumn of the following year (1254), Shanchan was defeated by the Mongolian army, and Duan Xingzhi, king of Dali, was captured.So far, Dali, which was founded more than three hundred years ago, perished. Song Lizong himself was in the face of the enemy, but indulged in sensual pleasures, and overhauled the palace and temples. He loved Yan Guifei the most, which made her powerful.Ding Daquan and Ma Tianji, the officials of the Privy Council who signed the letter, specialized in framing Zhongliang, and once forced Prime Minister Dong Huai to be expelled.At that time, someone wrote an inscription on the gate of the court: "Yan Martin is the king, and the country is about to perish." Song Lizong also loved the eunuch Dong Songchen.Dong Songchen was known as "Dong Yanluo". He colluded with Yan Guifei and Ding Daquan to seize people's land, recruit power and accept bribes, and did everything.In addition to Concubine Yan, Concubine Jia was also favored by Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty. Because of this, her younger brother Jia Sidao was also highly valued and appointed an ambassador for the Jinghu appeasement system.Due to the decay of the Southern Song Dynasty, the day of its demise is getting closer. After Meng Ge came to the throne, he stabilized the political situation and began to plan a large-scale attack on the Song Dynasty.At this time, the Western Expedition of Mongolia had been roughly completed; it also built a city in Huaibei, garrisoned fields, and established a base for attacking the Song Dynasty. The dark horse initially settled in Chengdu and consolidated its rule over northern and western Sichuan. Wuliang Hetai, Tiege Huoluchi, and Dai Daer realized a joint north-south attack on Sichuan, opening up another front to outflank the Southern Song Dynasty from the south of the Sichuan River.Meng Ge believes that the time is ripe to map the whole of Shu first, and then go down the river to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty. In the sixth year of Baoyou (1258), the new Mongolian Great Khan Meng Ge sent three armies to invade Song Dynasty: Meng Ge personally led the main force to invade Sichuan, the emperor's younger brother Kublai Khan led the army to attack Ezhou (now Wuchang), and the Yunnan Grand Marshal Wu Lianghe attacked Tanzhou in Taipei, and joined forces with Kublai Khan in Ezhou. Mengge Khan led 40,000 troops and set off from Liupan Mountain to Dasan Pass.At the same time, Niu Lin, who was ordered to stay in Chengdu, led the army to attack Chongqing to contain the Song army in Sichuan and prevent the troops from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River from aiding Shu.Since then, a large-scale offensive against Sichuan has been launched.The Song army was defeated and surrendered steadily.At the end of the year, Meng Ge attacked Chongqing along the Jialing River. When he arrived in Hezhou, he was resisted by Wang Jian (Meng Gong's general) who knew Hezhou Prefecture.Meng Ge came to supervise the division in person and besieged him from all sides.Wang Jian refused to surrender. With the courageous support of the army and people in the city, he resolutely resisted by virtue of the dangerous terrain of Diaoyu Mountain City.From February to July, many attacks by the Mongolian army were repelled.In the end, Meng Ge was injured in the battle and died in the army after returning to the camp (one said he died of illness), and the Mongolian army had to retreat.This is the famous Hezhou Defense Battle.This victory reversed the entire situation, and the Mongolian aggressive attack on the Song Dynasty ended with Mengge's death in Diaoyuchengxia. Kublai Khan was on his way to Ezhou when he got news of Mengge's death.Kublai Khan continued to march and besiege Ezhou, preparing to win and then go north to seize the Khan throne.Song Prime Minister Jia Sidao, who was supervising the battle on the front line in Ezhou, was afraid of the enemy and death, and dared not fight. He even sent envoys to Kublai Khan's barracks to seek peace without authorization. The Yangtze River was the boundary, and the Southern Song Dynasty ceded all the land in Jiangbei; the Southern Song Dynasty paid 200,000 taels of silver coins and 200,000 pieces of silk to Mongolia every year.At this time, the Mongolian kings planned to support Ali Buge (Meng Ge, brother of Kublai Khan, seventh son of Tuo Lei) in Mobei.Kublai Khan was so anxious that he rushed back to fight for the position of Khan, so he accepted Jia Sidao's conditions, and then led his army back to the north. The other Wulianghetai army was resisted by Song general Xiang Shibi in Tanzhou, and also withdrew its troops to the north to join Kublai Khan. After Kublai Khan returned to Mongolia, he became the Great Khan in Kaiping (on the north bank of the East Shanhe River in Zhenglan Banner, Inner Mongolia today) by force.Ali Buge is standing alone in Helin, and he joins the kings of Mobei and Central Asia to start a war with Kublai Khan.Not long after, Ali Buge failed and was forced to surrender to Kublai Khan, and died of illness two years later.After Ali Buge's defeat, Kublai Khan gradually consolidated his Khan position. After the Mongolian army retreated, Jia Sidao not only concealed the fact that he had privately sought peace, but also intercepted and killed the Mongolian soldiers in the back of the palace, using their heads to lie about the victory of the war against Mongolia.Song Lizong didn't distinguish between right and wrong, and believed that Jia Sidao had made great contributions, so he issued an imperial edict to praise him, and granted him the title of Shaoshi and Duke of Wei.When Jia Sidao returned to Lin'an, Song Lizong ordered his officials to meet the "hero" Jia Sidao in the suburbs to celebrate the hard-won "victory". After Kublai Khan became Khan, he sent an envoy Hao Jing to negotiate peace. Jia Sidao was afraid that the previous peace talks would be leaked, so he secretly arrested Hao Jing and detained him in the Zhenzhou military camp (now Yizheng, Jiangsu).Hao Jing was released after fifteen years of detention, and Bei Huan died of illness soon after returning to China.In this way, Jia Sidao monopolized the government and covered the sky with one hand.Song Lizong ignored this and only cared about his own pleasure. Soon, Song Lizong, who had been in power for forty years, died of illness. Because he had no heirs, his younger brother Rong Wang Zhao Yurui's son Zhao Yu came to the throne. It is said that Huang Dingxi, the birth mother of Song Duzong Zhao Yu, felt hopeless because of her low status. When she was pregnant, she took medicine to have an abortion, but the result was unsuccessful. The child she gave birth to was Zhao Yu.However, due to the influence of drugs before she was born, Zhao Yu was mentally retarded and could only speak at the age of seven.Therefore, when Song Lizong decided to make Zhao Yu the prince, many ministers firmly opposed it.But Zhao Yu was the nephew who had the closest blood relationship with Song Lizong. Song Lizong insisted on his own opinion, and because of this, he dismissed the prime minister Wu Qian, and finally made Zhao Yu the prince. But Zhao Yu's crown prince has not always been stable, and there is also a very weird saying of "Wei Zi Yao Huang".According to Song Dynasty Zhou Mi's "Guixin Miscellaneous Knowledge", Song Lizong had a nephew named Wei Guansun, who was the child of Song Lizong's sister, and was very popular with Song Lizong's mother Quan.The whole family asked Song Lizong for an official for his grandson Wei Guansun, and Song Lizong decided to call Wei Guansun into the palace.According to the usual practice, only the descendants of the clan surnamed Zhao don't need to wear a belt when they enter the Palace of Song Dynasty.In order to save trouble, Song Lizong let Wei Guansun enter the palace under the name of Zhao Mengguan.But this incident was accidentally learned by Prince Zhao Yu, who was terrified because of this, thinking that Song Lizong gave the name of Wei Guan's grandson to replace him.After that, rumors of "Prince Wei" began to spread between the ruling and opposition parties, saying that Song Lizong intended to make his nephew Wei Guansun the prince.Although Song Lizong came forward to refute the rumors, saying that there was no such thing, but the folks began to "have the legend of Wei Ziyao and Huang". "Wei Zi Yao Huang" are two rare varieties of peonies in Luoyang in the Song Dynasty: Wei Zi refers to the red peony with thousand leaves, which came from the family of Wei Renpu, the Prime Minister of the early Song Dynasty;Wei Zi represents Wei Guansun, because his surname is Wei, his mother is Song Lizong's sister, and she is a princess, which implies a noble family background; Yao Huang represents Zhao Yu, because his mother's surname is Huang, but a maid with a low status, which implies that he came from ordinary people Home.Not long after, Wei Guansun drowned inexplicably in the Yaopu pool of Zhao Yurui's biological father, Zhao Yurui's family, and the threat to Zhao Yu's crown prince status was naturally lifted. Song Lizong came from the common people with a weak foundation. In order to maintain the throne of his own lineage, he also took great pains in choosing a queen for Zhao Yu.He also understood that Zhao Yu's qualifications were too poor to become a great talent, so he always wanted to choose a smart concubine for Zhao Yu, after thousands of choices, he finally chose Quan Jiu, the grandniece of Song Lizong's mother Quan's family.Quan Jiu's father died early, and when she first entered the palace, Song Lizong comforted her and said: "Your Honor died loyally, every time I think about it, I feel deeply saddened." As an ordinary person, he would cry in grief and say some words of gratitude Unexpectedly, Quan Jiu replied: "It is true that my concubine's father is worth remembering, but the people in the Huai and Hu areas are even more worth remembering." Song Lizong admired Quan Jiu from this, so he named him the crown prince. After Zhao Yu ascended the throne as Song Duzong, he was more addicted to wine and sex than Song Lizong.All the concubines who were lucky enough to pass by the emperor should go to thank them the next morning according to the usual practice, and the officials in charge will record them.At the beginning of Song Duzong's accession to the throne, there were more than 30 concubines who came to thank him at one time, which shows how licentious this emperor is.Song Duzong devoted himself to having fun and was busy with drunkenness, dreaming and dying. He handed over all the government affairs to Jia Sidao, calling him a teacher and minister, and never called him by name.The courtiers had to call Jia Sidao the Duke of Zhou.He also added Jia Sidao as Pingzhang Military and State Important Affairs, Taishi, and Wei Guogong. Jia Sidao held great power, but he was afraid that his position would not be secure, so he tried his best to do so.After he supervised the construction of Song Lizong's tomb, he deliberately resigned from office and returned to his hometown, and secretly ordered Lu Wende, the guard general of Xiangfan, to lie about the military situation.Song Duzong and Empress Dowager Xie were horrified, and immediately issued an edict to invite Jia Sidao back without distinguishing the authenticity.Jia Sidao was still not satisfied, and threatened Song Duzong by resigning from office many times. In order to keep the power minister, Song Duzong even wept and begged to stay.Jia Sidao's shameless behavior of trying to get him angered Jiang Wanli, a member of the Privy Council, who was a member of the Privy Council. was dismissed from office. At that time, Jia Sidao had many luxurious halls in Geling, West Lake, and he himself was busy drinking and having fun all day long, regardless of the government.Someone wrote a poem mocking Jia Sidao and said: "On the mountain and on the boat on the tower lake, Pingzhang is lazy and lazy. Don't report the rush to Fancheng in the feather book. The new one is a young man with crescent eyebrows." Liao Yingzhong, a guest of the museum, and Weng Yinglong, an official of the hall, were dealt with.Therefore, people at the time sarcastically said: "There is no prime minister in the court, but there is a Pingzhang on the lake." Although Mongolia was once caught in the chaos of fighting for power and profit, Kublai Khan gradually stabilized the political situation after he succeeded the Great Khan, and directed his troops directly to the Song Dynasty. At this time, the area around Xiangyang and Fancheng, the fortresses of the Song Army, became the focus of contention between the Song and Yuan Dynasties.Song Jiang general Liu Zheng made a policy to Kublai Khan, taking Xiangfan as a strategic breakthrough, taking Xiangyang first, crossing the Yangtze River from the Han River, and the Song Dynasty could be destroyed.However, the cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng are strong and deep, and the military reserves in the cities can be supported for several years, and they can be supplied by the states in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which is conducive to long-term defense.For this reason, Liu Zheng suggested adopting siege tactics to cut off his foreign aid so that he would be self-defeating. He also suggested: "The Song Dynasty only relied on Lu Wende (the general guard of Xiangfan), but Lu Wende can be lured, and he can send envoys to send him jade belts. Set up a trade market outside Xiangyang City." Kublai Khan acted according to his plan, decided to use Xiangfan as a strategic breakthrough, and sent someone to bribe Lu Wende, and Lu Wende agreed.Therefore, in the name of trade, the Mongolian army built a fort outside Xiangyang City, set up a base outside Fan City, and built an earthen castle on Lumen Mountain (southeast of Xiangfan, Hubei today), laying the first stronghold for attacking Xiang and Fan in the future.Lu Wenhuan, Lu Wende's younger brother, discovered the Mongolian army's conspiracy and reminded him, but it was too late. In September of the fourth year of Song Xianchun (1268), Kublai Khan took Liu Zheng as the capital marshal, and accompanied the Nandu Marshal Ashu (Wuliang Hetaizi) to attack Xiangyang.The Mongolian army first built cities in Lumen Fort and Baihekou (both in the northeast of today's Xiangfan), cutting off the aid of the Song army from the north and the south;From then on, none of the Song troops who aided Xiangxiang could enter.Liu Zheng also made a proposal to Ashu, thinking that water warfare is not as good as the Song army, so he built 5,000 warships and trained 70,000 sailors to prepare for crossing the river to destroy the Song Dynasty.Kublai Khan sent Shi Tianze and Zhang Hongfan (the ninth son of Zhang Rou) to lead troops to surround Xiangyang.Shi Tianze also built nearly ten castles in key points, starting from Wanshan (northwest of Xiangfan, Hubei today) and enclosing Baizhang Mountain, so that the north and the south were not connected.They also built Mount Xian (southeast of today's Xiangfan) and Mount Hutou (south of today's Xiangfan), forming a one-character city to connect the forts.The siege of Xiangyang was gradually completed. In the spring of the fifth year of Song Xianchun (1269), the Mongolian army surrounded Fancheng on the north bank of the Han River. The guards Lv Wende, Lv Wenhuan, Fan Tianshun (son of Fan Wenhu), Niu Fu and others commanded the army and civilians to defend bravely.The court of the Southern Song Dynasty successively sent Zhang Shijie (the former general of Zhang Rou, said to be Zhang Rou's nephew), Xia Gui, and Fan Wenhu to lead troops to rescue Xiangyang, but they were all defeated by the intercepted Mongolian army.Guard Fan Wenhu, whose son was in Xiangyang City, took the lead in escaping in a light boat after he himself was defeated. Lu Wende, commander of the Song Army in Xiangyang, accepted bribes earlier and agreed to the Mongolian army to open a trade market. Guard Xiangyang. In the sixth year of Song Xianchun (1270), the Mongolian army had besieged Xiangfan for two years.In the first month of that year, the Southern Song Dynasty sent Li Tingzhi, a general of Meng Gong's department, as the ambassador of the Jinghu system to supervise the rescue of Xiang and Fan.Fan Wenhu, the deputy commander of Song Dianqian, was worried that Li Tingzhi would take the first place, so he wrote a letter to Jia Sidao, the minister of power, expressing his unwillingness to listen to his restraint.Jia Sidao ordered Fan Wenhu to contain Li Tingzhi.Li Tingzhi asked many times to send troops, but Fan Wenhu refused to send troops because of his obsessive pleasure.After being impeached, he led his troops to aid Xiang in September. As a result, the Mongolian generals Ashu and Liu Zheng were defeated in Guanzitan (now south of Xiangfan, Hubei), and Fan Wenhu escaped by light boat. Since the founding of the country by Genghis Khan, Mongolia has always used the name of the clan as the name of the country, calling it the Great Mongolia, and has not officially established a country name.In the seventh year of Song Xianchun (1271), Kublai Khan adopted the suggestions of Liu Bingzhong, Wang E and other Confucian officials. According to the meaning of "Qianyuan", the official name of the founding country was Dayuan.Kublai Khan is the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty.Pursue Genghis Khan as Yuan Taizu, Wokuotai Khan is Yuan Taizong, Guiyou Khan is Yuan Dingzong, Mengge Khan is Yuan Xianzong.In February of the ninth year of Zhiyuan (1272), Kublai Khan adopted Liu Bingzhong's suggestion of moving the capital, changed the capital to Dadu, and officially designated it as the capital of the Yuan Dynasty.During the Mongolian period, the ruling center was in Helin (now Mongolia). After Kublai Khan came to the throne, the ruling center of the Yuan Dynasty had moved southward. Helin, which was far in the north of Mobei, was no longer suitable for the capital. Kublai Khan began to look for a new building. all locations.He promoted Kaiping to Shangdu, replacing Helin, and then moved to the more ideal Yanjing (now Beijing), named Zhongdu. In the first month of the lunar year, he received congratulations from civil and military officials in the main hall of Dadu, and Dadu has since become the ruling center of the Yuan Dynasty. This year, the Yuan army intensified the siege of Xiang and Fan. Song general Fan Wenhu once led the army to supervise the transportation of food and salaries to Xiangyang, but was defeated by the Mongolian army. Fan Wenhu simply abandoned his warship and left with his luggage. In May of the eighth year of Xianchun (1272), Li Tingzhi was stationed in Yingzhou (now Zhongxiang, Hubei).Seeing that the Yuan army besieged Xiangyang like an iron barrel, and it was difficult for the Song reinforcements to approach, he wanted to find another way.After visiting, Li Tingzhi learned that there was a Qingni River in the northwest of Xiangyang, so he wanted to send plainclothes troops to assist Xiangyang by boat.After some preparations, more than 100 light boats were built and 3,000 militiamen were recruited.Militia leaders Zhang Shun (nicknamed Aizhang) and Zhang Gui (nicknamed Zhuyuanzhang) took the lead in boats and went down the river.The Yuan boat army blocked the Jiangkou, Zhang Shun and others cut off the iron chains and rafts set up by the Yuan army, fought for a hundred and twenty miles, and finally arrived at the city of Xiangyang at dawn.However, when the army was withdrawn, Zhang Shun was nowhere to be seen.A few days later, I saw Zhang Shun's body floating from the river. He was shot by six arrows, and he still held the bow and arrow tightly in his hand. After Zhang Gui led the militiamen to help Xiangyang, he sent two soldiers who could swim to Fan Wenhu to submit a letter, agreeing to send troops from Yingzhou to attack.Lü Wenhuan and Zhang Gui sailed out to battle at the due date, but Fan Wenhu missed the appointment and the soldiers from Yingzhou did not come.Fighting alone, Zhang Gui mistook Yuan soldiers for Yingzhou soldiers, and rushed to the front to fight, suffered dozens of wounds, was defeated and captured.Ashu persuaded Zhang Gui to surrender, but Zhang Gui refused to surrender and was killed.Yuan soldiers carried his body to Xiangyang City, and the guards all cried.Lu Wenhuan buried him next to Zhang Shun's tomb and set up two temples to worship him. Xiangyang was besieged for more than four years, food was exhausted, and the strength of the people was exhausted. The soldiers and civilians in the city had no choice but to develop to the tragic situation of eating the flesh of children and using human bones as salary. In fact, it has reached the most critical moment.Every time Lu Wenhuan inspected the city tower, he looked south and wept bitterly.Fan Wenhu's own aid to Xiang was ineffective, and Li Tingzhi was restrained, so that his aid to Xiang failed to make a difference.Xiangfan is in danger, but the powerful officials in Lin'an City are drunk every day, singing and dancing to promote peace, "discussing meritorious deeds, summoning, whitewashing peace" (Chen Shilong's "Suiyin Manlu Volume 2"), which is exactly what the predecessors called "warrior The first half of the army was dead and alive, and the young danced and danced under the beauties' tent."At that time, there was a Qianpan (an official) surnamed Yang, who heard about the tragic situation on the front line in Xiangfan, and saw that Jia in Lin'an seemed to be a powerful and treacherous man.