Chapter 36 216 Zhang Shijie Defends Cliff Mountain

How did Zhang Shijie and Chen Yizhong go to Fuzhou?It turned out that after Lin'an was occupied by Yuan soldiers and the young emperor Zhao Xian was captured and sent to Dadu, Zhao Xian's two older brothers, nine-year-old Zhao Shi (sound xia) and six-year-old Zhao Bing (sound bing), lived in the royal family of the Southern Song Dynasty. He fled to Fuzhou under the escort of minister Lu Xiufu.Lu Xiufu sent people to find Zhang Shijie and Chen Yizhong and invite them to Fuzhou. The three ministers discussed and decided to support Zhao Shi as the throne, continue to raise the banner of the Song Dynasty, and resist the Yuan Dynasty.

Wen Tianxiang got the news, felt hope of recovery, and immediately rushed to Fuzhou to serve as a privy envoy in the new court.He suggested to Chen Yizhong to attack the Yuan army by sea and recover the Liangzhe area.But Chen Yizhong thought it was too risky to do so and disagreed with Wen Tianxiang. Wen Tianxiang had no choice but to change his mind, and went to Nanjianzhou (now Nanping, Fujian Province) to establish a governor's mansion, recruit troops, and prepare for a counterattack.In the second year, Wen Tianxiang marched into Jiangxi, and with the cooperation of the rebels from all over the country, he defeated the Yuan army in succession and recovered Huichang and many other counties.

At this time, another Yuan army had gone south to attack Fuzhou.The Song army retreated steadily, and Chen Yizhong saw that there was no hope of recovery, so he fled overseas by boat alone.Zhang Shijie, Lu Xiufu and others protected Zhao Shi to escape from the ship and transfer to Guangdong.Unfortunately, a hurricane blew up at sea and almost capsized the ship. The young Zhao was frightened and fell ill and died. Zhang Shijie and Lu Xiufu supported Zhao Bing to ascend the throne at sea, and transferred the navy to Yashan (in the south of Xinhui, Guangdong today, Yayin ya). General Zhang Hongfan of the Yuan Dynasty reported to Yuan Shizu that if the small courts in the south were not quickly extinguished, more Song people would probably respond.Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty appointed Zhang Hongfan as the marshal and Li Heng as the deputy marshal, leading 20,000 elite soldiers to go south by land and water.

Zhang Hongfan first sent troops to attack Wen Tianxiang who was stationed in Chaozhou.Wen Tianxiang had few troops and was alone, so he was forced to move to a barren mountain in Haifeng.The Yuan army arrived suddenly, and Wen Tianxiang was captured. Yuan soldiers sent Wen Tianxiang to Zhang Hongfan's camp. Zhang Hongfan pretended to be courteous, untied Wen Tianxiang, and kept him in the camp. Then, he ordered the concentrated water army to sail to Yachu. When the Yuan army arrived at Yashan, Zhang Hongfan first sent someone to persuade Zhang Shijie to surrender.Zhang Shijie said: "I know that by surrendering to the Yuan Dynasty, not only can I live, but I can also gain wealth. However, I would rather lose my mind than pretend to be honest."

Zhang Hongfan knew that Zhang Shijie admired Wen Tianxiang very much, so he asked Wen Tianxiang to write to Zhang Shijie to surrender.Wen Tianxiang sneered and said: "I can't save my parents myself, so will I persuade others to betray their parents?" Zhang Hongfan asked someone to bring a pen and ink, and forced him to write a letter.Wen Tianxiang took the pen and wrote two lines of poems without hesitation: Since ancient times, no one has died in life, so keep your loyal heart to reflect the history! (It means: Since ancient times, people have been bound to die. I want to leave my sincere loyalty to shine through the ages. There are eight lines in the original poem, which were written by Wen Tianxiang when he crossed Lingdingyang.) The soldiers gave Zhang Hongfan the lines he wrote, and Zhang Hongfan I had to smile wryly after reading it.Seeing that there was no hope of persuading him to surrender, he had no choice but to attack desperately.

Yashan is in the bay in the south of our country, with the mountain on its back and the sea facing, and the terrain is dangerous.Zhang Shijie lined up more than a thousand warships in a line on the sea, connected them with ropes, and built towers around the ships, determined to fight the Yuan soldiers to the death.The Yuan army filled the boat with thatch, poured enough oil, lit the fire, and took advantage of the wind to launch a fire attack on the Song army.Zhang Shijie had been prepared for this move early on, and coated the boat with a thick layer of wet mud, and tied long logs to withstand the fire boat of the Yuan army.

Zhang Hongfan's fire attack failed, so he blocked Haikou with a fleet and cut off Zhang Shijie's traffic to the land.Song soldiers ate dry food when they were hungry at sea, and drank sea water when they were thirsty. The sea water was salty and bitter, and the soldiers vomited after drinking it.Zhang Hongfan launched Yuan soldiers to launch a fierce attack, Song soldiers resisted to the death, and the two sides were at a stalemate. At this time, Li Heng, the deputy commander of the Yuan army, also traveled from Guangzhou to Yashan to join forces with Zhang Hongfan.Zhang Hongfan increased his strength and reorganized his attack.He divided the Yuan army into four groups and besieged the Song army.When the tide fell, the Yuan army attacked from the north; when the tide rose, the Yuan army followed the tide and attacked from the south.

The Song army was attacked on both sides and was desperately parrying.Suddenly I heard Zhang Hongfan's boat playing music.After hearing this, Song Jun thought that General Yuan was holding a banquet, so he relaxed a little.Who would have thought that this musical sound was the signal for the general attack of the Yuan army.With the sound of music, Zhang Hongfan's boat launched an attack, shooting arrows at Song boat like rain.Under the cover of random arrows, the Yuan soldiers captured seven warships of the Song army.Yuan troops from all walks of life attacked together. From noon to evening, the sea on Yashan was raging, and the sound of killing was loud.

Zhang Shijie was commanding the battle when he suddenly saw a Song ship lower its flag and stop resisting, and other warships also lowered their flags one after another. Zhang Shijie knew that the situation was over, so he hurriedly gathered the elite soldiers in the central army and sent people to drive the small boat to pick up Zhao Bing. Come here, organize a breakout. Zhao Bing's boat was guarded by Lu Xiufu.He was confused about the authenticity of the boat Zhang Shijie sent to pick up Zhao Bing, fearing that the little emperor would fall into the hands of the Yuan army, so he refused the envoy's request.He turned his head and said to Zhao Bing: "The country has reached this stage, and His Majesty has no choice but to die for the country." Then, he jumped into the sea with Zhao Bing on his back, and drowned in the rolling waves.

Zhang Shijie did not receive Zhao Bing, so he had to command the warship to break through and retreat to Hailing Mountain in the dim night.He clicked on the warships, and there were only a dozen warships left out of a thousand.At this time, another hurricane was blowing on the coast, and someone advised Zhang Shijie to go ashore to avoid the wind.Zhang Shijie insisted on refusing to go ashore.A huge wave came and sank his boat.The Song general who resisted to the death finally fell into the water and died. In February 1279, the Yuan Dynasty unified China, and the Southern Song Dynasty declared its demise.