Chapter 32 Chapter 32 Famous Han Generals in the Mongolian Army

There is a story that has been passed down for a long time about Mongolia’s destruction of the Southern Song Dynasty: During the Battle of Yashan, the Han general Zhang Hongfan of the Yuan Dynasty wiped out Zhang Shijie’s navy, forcing the last emperor of the Song Dynasty to jump into the sea on Lu Xiufu’s back to die for his country. There is a stone tablet left on Yashan: Zhang Hongfan, the general of the Song Dynasty, exterminated the Song Dynasty here. The joke is clearly untrue.In the process of Mongolia destroying the Southern Song Dynasty, there were many Han generals who were true, but most of the Han generals came from northern China. Except for a few people such as Liu Zheng, they basically didn’t have much affection for the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, the statement of "Song general Zhang Hongfan" is obviously distorted.

But it is undeniable that Mongolia's war against the Southern Song Dynasty was the most difficult battle in Mongolia's sweeping war.This war lasted for more than half a century, from the Mongol Empire to the Yuan Dynasty.The rulers of Mongolia, from the khan to the emperor.Whether it was the Mongolian cavalry that swept across Central Asia, the brave and invincible Azov army, the fierce and roaring return artillery, and all the special weapons of the Mongols, it seemed that none of them could break through the iron wall of the Southern Song Dynasty.The real turning point of the war was that in the last battle of Xiangyang, Mongolia changed its tactics and used a large number of Han soldiers as the main force to deal with the Southern Song army, which was also Han.Unexpectedly, this approach would have immediate results, and then the Great Yuan Dynasty marched all the way southward, occupying the provinces of the Southern Song Dynasty one after another. In the end, it was Zhang Hongfan, a Han Chinese, who sent the last leg of the tragic Southern Song Dynasty on the cliffs and seas.

However, these Han soldiers, why did they choose to serve the Mongolian army?What experiences did each of them have in their life? Speaking of the Han soldiers and generals in the Mongolian army, although Zhang Hongfan was often ridiculed by later generations, at that time, Shi Tianze was the oldest, most outstanding and most respected Mongolian Han general. Shi Tianze, courtesy name Runfu, was born in Yongqing, Hebei.Since the Northern Song Dynasty, historians have been aristocratic families in the local area.In the early days of the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, militia groups were also organized to participate in the Anti-Golden War.Their village is similar to "Zhujiazhuang" in Water Margin, and almost the whole village practices martial arts.Shi Tianze, who grew up in such an environment, has been powerful since he was a child.In 1213 A.D., when the Mongolian general Mu Huali led his troops to the south, Shi Tianze's father, Shi Bingzhi, surrendered, and Shi Tianze was among them.At this time, Shi Tianze was only 11 years old, but he was mature and physically strong.Mu Huali was very surprised when he saw it, and said to his father: "You son has the appearance of a general." Afterwards, the historian's army was incorporated into the battle sequence of the Mongolian army and the Han army, with the historian as the core Continue to grow and develop.At first, the Mongolian army thought they were brave and good at fighting, and looked down on the Han army. The young and energetic Shi Tianze took the initiative to challenge the Mongolian warriors for riding and shooting competitions, and most of the time he was able to win. At the age of 18, Shi Tianze took part in the Mongolian Army's riding and archery competition and won the first place in one fell swoop. He was also the first foreigner to win the first place in this competition.The news shook the entire Mongolian army.Since then, Shi Tianze has stood out.Afterwards, Shi Tianze went south and north with the army, mainly to help the Mongolian army put down the Red Coat Army uprising that the Han people in the north rebelled against the Mongols.Although he is brave, he is also full of strategies. He often makes plans before acting, and calculates every detail before the battle.At the same time, he loves reading and is a rare "intellectual" in the Mongolian army.Although he is a Han, Shi Tianze has a bold personality and a generous personality. He often gets along well with Mongolian generals, and the Mongolian generals from all walks of life are also happy to fight hand in hand with him.In 1217, Shi Tianze's elder brother, Shi Tianni, was killed in battle. Shi Tianze inherited his brother's position and became the highest officer of the Shijia Army.In 1229 A.D., Shi Tianze hit a snag for the first time with the Zhongxiao Army led by Monk Wanyan Chen.In this tragic fight, Shi Tianze's troops were completely defeated, only leading a thousand people to break out.But Shi Tianze, who refused to admit defeat, did not retreat because of this. On the contrary, he gathered these thousands of people together, using the slogan of avenging his shame, and took advantage of the opportunity of the Jin army's squadron to surprise Weizhou and Weizhou Jiancheng in one fell swoop, and it fell into Shi Tianze's hands. . Three years later, Shi Tianze finally avenged himself in the Battle of Junzhou. His troops took part in the battle to besiege his old enemy, Monk Wanyan Chen, and finally defeated Monk Wanyan Chen completely.After that, Shi Tianze's troops participated in the Battle of Caizhou, which finally destroyed the Jin Dynasty.At this time, Mongolia and the Southern Song Dynasty were still allies, but Shi Tianze predicted that the relationship between the two would inevitably change after the Jin Dynasty was destroyed, so he planned ahead. When the Battle of Caizhou was just over, before the Southern Song Army recovered, he made a surprise attack Shouzhou, an important town in the Southern Song Dynasty.Defeat tens of thousands of Southern Song troops with inferior forces. Although this method of undeclared war is cheap, it gave the Mongols later to cross the river and lay down an important bridgehead.

In the early gold war, although Shi Tianze made a lot of contributions, he was not the most prominent in the Mongolian army.He really found his place in the subsequent war against Song Dynasty.After riding a horse all his life, he discovered that he knew nothing about water warfare.In the early days of the Song-Mongol War, the Mongols had suffered enough from the Song Dynasty navy and decided to form their own navy, and Shi Tianze took on this important task.The sailors he trained were no worse than the elite sailors of the Southern Song Dynasty in terms of the size of the warships and the quality of the sailors.In 1252 AD, when the Mongols attacked Hezhou Diaoyu City, Shi Tianze's navy made amazing moves, and his troops were responsible for fighting in the Yangtze River.For several months, the elite navy of the Southern Song Dynasty was unable to advance under his blocking, and the small Diaoyu City was completely cut into an isolated city by the Mongolian army.After the failure of the Battle of Diaoyu City, the Mongolian Khan Mengge Khan died on the battlefield, and many people in the Mongolian army were punished, but Shi Tianze was rewarded by five cities for his meritorious service.But Shi Tianze refused to accept it, insisting that the Southern Song Dynasty was not destroyed, and he had no face to accept the reward.After Kublai Khan came to power, Shi Tianze became more important. In the key battle of Mongolia’s attack on the Southern Song Dynasty—the Battle of Xiangfan, Shi Tianze proposed a strategy of long-term siege, cutting off foreign aid, and pressing step by step, and advocated the method of ants eating elephants. Surround Xiangfan, and then use the absolute superiority of troops to gnaw down the strongholds one by one.It was under this plan that after five years of siege, the Mongolian army finally succeeded in capturing the Xiangfan Plain and opened the door to the Southern Song Dynasty.When the Mongolian army entered Ezhou, Shi Tianze returned to the front line due to illness and died of illness soon.At this time, he was already the grand master of the Yuan Dynasty, and he could be said to be the first person who went out of the Han generals in the Yuan Dynasty.

Shi Tianze is a man who values ​​loyalty, has a generous personality, and generously donates money.He once used his own family wealth to repay the debts of the people who had no money to pay taxes. Although he made great contributions, he was humble, so he was not suspected by Kublai Khan. Among the Han generals in the Mongolian army, Zhang Hongfan is also a very important one. Zhang Hongfan is from Dingxing, Hebei. Like Shi Tianze, his family is also a well-known Han military leader in the local area. When Mongolia went south, he became a subordinate of the Mongolian army.But unlike Shi Tianze, Shi Tianze took the initiative to defect, while Zhang Hongfan's family was defeated and captured.In 1213 AD, Zhang Hongfan's father, Zhang Rou, led an army to fight against the invasion of the Mongolian army. Unfortunately, he was defeated and captured. However, the tenacious combat effectiveness of this army left a deep impression on the Mongolian army.Therefore, the Mongolian army took the initiative to appease, and Zhang Hongfan's family was incorporated into the Mongolian Han army.

Facts have proved that the Mongols did not miss the mark.After Zhang Rou surrendered, she repeatedly made military exploits and defeated the Jin Dynasty army and the northern anti-Mongolian army many times. In less than a few years, the Zhang family's private army captured more than 30 cities centered on Baoding.The Mongols also followed suit and delegated the management of these cities to them.Afterwards, Zhang Rou participated in the Mongolian occupation of Bianjing, the capital of the Jin Dynasty, and the battle of destroying Caizhou, and was promoted to Wanhu, becoming the largest branch of the Han army.It is worth mentioning that Zhang Rou is still a cultural person.After taking down Bianjing, everyone was busy snatching gold, silver and jewels, but Zhang Rou first rescued the Jin Dynasty Record from the Jin Dynasty warehouse. Without this, the history of the Jin Dynasty would probably be a mystery in the world now.At this time, Zhang Rou's family had become the "Marquis" in the Mongolian army, that is, they occupied a piece of land in the Central Plains and had their own independent right to rule. The Mongols only sent Dalu Huachi to supervise them.In this way, Zhang Rou established his position in the Central Plains.When he was 49 years old, Zhang Hongfan was born.Because his father was already in Wanhu at this time, Zhang Hongfan had received a good education since he was a child. Hao Jing, a university student, had been his master, and his extensive reading of poetry and books also made Zhang Hongfan more wise and calm in his actions.Afterwards, Zhang Hongfan became an official. He served as the general manager of Shuntian Road. He disregarded the Mongolian hierarchy and severely punished the Mongolian soldiers who harmed the people. This incident almost made him lose his head.Fortunately, at this time Shandong warlord Li Tan rebelled, and Zhang Hongfan was ordered to put down the rebellion together with Shi Tianze.This was also the first time he participated in a battle. Compared with Shi Tianze who had made great achievements at that time, Zhang Hongfan was still a junior at that time. Because of his meritorious service in conquering Li Tan, Zhang Hongfan was not only pardoned for his crimes, but was also re-appointed as the general manager of Shuntian Road.After that, he did something extraordinary again, reducing or exempting the local people's taxes without asking for instructions. Kublai Khan asked him, but he replied, "If the people have no food, how can the country have food?" Turning anger into joy, he sighed: "A minister who is really loyal and honest."

In 1269 A.D., the Mongolian war against Xiangyang started again. One of the troops was Li Tan’s former army in Shandong who had rebelled. Zhang Hongfan was the only one who could suppress this army because of his meritorious service in suppressing Li Tan, so he was transferred to him. For the commander.Unexpectedly, Jinlin is not a thing in the pool. Zhang Hongfan followed Xianyu and turned around. First, when he was in charge of fighting for aid, he wiped out Fan Wenhu's troops on the outskirts of Xiangyang, and then adopted split tactics to occupy the fortress between Xiangyang and Fencheng, cutting off the connection between the two cities.Then, it was Zhang Hongfan's overwhelming battle process. He first pacified Xiangyang, and then conquered Lin'an. No exaggeration.

However, Zhang Hongfan, who had outstanding military exploits, fell after the victory.In 1279 AD, Zhang Hongfan, a class teacher, fell ill not long after he came back. Kublai Khan was very concerned and ordered the imperial physician to examine Zhang Hongfan once a day.Before he died, he gave his son the Shangfang sword given to him by Kublai Khan, and encouraged him to serve the country, and he died soon after.To the Yuan Dynasty, from childhood to adulthood, from birth to death, he was 100% loyal. Among the generals of the Han nationality in Mongolia, compared with Zhang Hongfan and Shi Tianze, there is a very special one, Liu Zheng, who was a descendant of the Southern Song Dynasty.

In the early days of the Song-Mongol War, Liu Zheng was once a very troublesome figure for the Mongols.He is a native of Dengxian County, Henan Province. When he fought against the Kingdom of Jin in his early years, he once staged a good show where 18 people defeated hundreds of cavalry of the Jin Army. He was also a brave and fierce man.In the early battle of Meng Gong's recovery of Xiangyang, he was still the forward general of the Song Army. In the first battle of the Song Dynasty's recovery of Xiangyang, Liu Zheng personally led a death squad to forcibly ascend the city. Individual, finally succeeded in recovering Jingxiang.By 1260 AD, he had been promoted to the magistrate of Luzhou and the pacifier of Sichuan, and he was also a force in the Southern Song army.

But Liu Zheng was very unsuccessful in the Southern Song Dynasty. One of the reasons was that he was from the north.The army of the Southern Song Dynasty was very concerned about the politics of the villagers. The northerners, especially the soldiers who fled from the north to the south, were very excluded in the army of the Southern Song Dynasty. There is no problem, and many soldiers who fled from the north to the south will not even get the chance to be promoted for the rest of their lives.Liu Zheng's promotion was all due to his one blow.Liu Zheng didn't care about it, he just wanted to fight honestly and guard the border seriously.However, the Southern Song Dynasty government did not give him this opportunity. At this time, when Jia Sidao was in power, the Southern Song Dynasty was in financial difficulties. In order to raise funds, they even came up with a "strategy". You have to pay back every penny, otherwise you will be imprisoned and beheaded without discussion.Jia Sidao did this because, as the emperor's cousin, he became a chancellor and had no cronies in the army. He just took this opportunity to eliminate dissidents and install private forces; Dao's illness went to the doctor in a hurry, hoping that the Southern Song Dynasty could take the opportunity to make a fortune, and he could also take the opportunity to make a fortune.However, the military generals in the Southern Song Dynasty were also stubborn. Some of them wanted money rather than their lives. For example, famous generals such as Cheng Shibi and Yu Jian were all killed by Jia Sidao under the pretext of using this as an excuse, especially Cheng Shibi, who was Liu Zheng’s old superior. The whole backing suddenly collapsed, and I am afraid that death is not far away.

But Liu Zheng didn't want to die, he didn't want to die, but Jia Sidao let you die, what to do, it's useless to sue, you can only surrender.Liu Zheng made a decisive decision and got in touch with the Mongolian army opposite Luzhou, expressing his willingness to surrender to Mongolia with 300,000 soldiers and civilians in Luzhou.The Mongolian side was suddenly confused. For many years, Liu Zheng has been the strongest opponent of the Mongolian army. mine?The Mongols suspected at first that Liu Zheng was a false surrender, but Liu Zheng became anxious, swore for a long time, and repeatedly expressed his loyalty.In June 1261 AD, the Mongolian general Liu Heima came to Luzhou to accept the surrender. This Mongol built a strong city that the Khan did not open. In such a funny way, he became the possession of the Mongols. . It wasn't until Liu Zheng surrendered that the Song Dynasty came back, but the reaction was quick, and immediately mobilized heavy troops to attack Luzhou.The Mongols played tricks this time and did not send troops to help, they were just watching the fun.Seeing that Liu Zheng's army fought with the Southern Song army for a long time, and finally Liu Zheng was outnumbered and forced to flee north. At this time, he was already a polished commander, and his capital for surrender was greatly reduced.The Southern Song Dynasty is also satisfied, I have taken back your place, I have wiped out your people, how many days can you play? If they knew the consequences of Liu Zheng's surrender to the Mongols, they would probably regret it even in their intestines.Although the general trend of the Southern Song Dynasty was over at that time and the fate was approaching, Liu Zheng's rebellion accelerated all this.The Jingxiang defense line used to be an iron wall that the Mongols could not break through. Because of Liu Zheng's arrival, it has been flat since then. The biggest impact of Liu Zheng's surrender was that he proposed a complete strategy for the Mongols to take Xiangyang. If Shi Tianze formulated the general framework, then Liu Zheng formulated the details of the entire strategy, so that the Mongolian army could go step by step and finally get Xiangyang as they wished.Without Liu Zheng's plan, I am afraid that all of this would not have been realized at all. The Mongolian army could only conduct back and forth drills of attacking and retreating on the banks of the Yangtze River again and again. However, although Liu Zheng made great contributions, he was actually not happy in the Yuan Dynasty.In the Southern Song Dynasty, he was not seen because he was from the north, but in the north, he was also not seen because he was from the Southern Song Dynasty.After Liu Zheng broke through Xiangyang, he led his army to attack Lin'an, but the coach Boyan ordered him to stand by.Liu Zheng knew that the people of Yuan Dynasty didn't want him to make meritorious service, so he burst into tears on the spot, knowing that the trust he got was limited, and he was so angry that he died all of a sudden.In fact, from betrayal, to making contributions, to sacrificing, he did it all for one breath.First he couldn't bear Jia Sidao, and finally he couldn't bear Boyan, the people who forced him to live in the north and south, one Han and one Meng, turned out to be the prime minister. Liu Zheng's life is probably a crime against the prime minister. But Liu Zheng is doomed to be a human being at both ends.Not only the Mongols didn't want to see him, but the adherents of the Southern Song Dynasty hated him even more.Wen Tianxiang, the prime minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, still couldn't forget Liu Zheng after his arrest. He shouted in prison: "The crime of subjugation is the top one." To be honest, Liu Zheng made a great contribution to the Yuan Dynasty's unification of the country, but the Southern Song Dynasty was mainly self-inflicted. Impossible to live, if it is counted on Liu Zheng, it may be too much.After Liu Zheng's death, the Yuan Dynasty bestowed on him the positions of General Dragon and Tiger, and Zhongshu Youcheng. Although it was a serious condolence, compared with Shi Tianze and Zhang Hongfan, the degree of trust was indeed far inferior.After all, he was more like a traitor than those two Han futures.