Chapter 18 three

Diaoyu City is surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on one side, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Jialing River and the Qujiang River flow down from the north, and after joining the Fujiang River at the foot of Hezhou City, they take a V-shape and just surround Diaoyu City, then rush down to the southwest and flow into the mighty Yangtze River. The nearest part of the south and north walls of Diaoyu City is 240 steps away from the Jialing River. The circumference of the city is more than 40 miles. There are inner city, outer city, and north and south walls. There is Shiguan Gate in the south, Dongxin Gate and Qisheng Gate in the east, Zhenxi Gate in the southeast, and the famous Huguo Gate in the southwest.Along the Jialing River in the north and south, there are navy wharfs, martial arts arenas, enemy towers, and forts.The city walls, piers, forts, gates, and watchtowers are all made of basalt stone, and were once called "the Mecca of the East" by Europeans.

The main buildings in the city are the Imperial City, the Loyalty Temple and the Huguo Temple. In the spring of the ninth year of Mengge Khan (1259), Mengge Khan personally led an army to attack Sichuan. After trying to capture Sichuan, he went down the river and completely destroyed Song's defense line on the Yangtze River.Since western Beijing, Hubei, and Hunan were attacked by the Mongolian army at the same time, the Song army in the Yangtze River area was unable to mobilize heavy troops to rescue Sichuan. By the end of the year, most of western Sichuan, northern Sichuan, and central Sichuan had fallen one after another.

So far, the only area actually controlled by the Song army in Sichuan is Diaoyu City in Hezhou Prefecture in eastern Sichuan. The situation is urgent! Hezhou and Chongqing, one north and one south, are important towns along the Jialing River, so they naturally became the supporting core of the Song army's defense system in eastern Sichuan.Hezhou is located in an important point, guarding Chongqing, and its geographical location is extremely important.In the fourth year of Jiaxi (1240), in order to enhance the defense capability of Hezhou, Peng Daya, the deputy envoy of Sichuan Zhizhi, appointed General Gan Run to build a fishing cottage in Diaoyu Mountain, ten miles east of Hezhou.Afterwards, the Sichuan envoy moved the prefecture of Hezhou to Diaoyu Mountain, and expended manpower, material and financial resources to expand Diaoyu City.

After several years of operation, Diaoyu City has become an important military town in eastern Sichuan with more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians stationed beside the Jialing River, with abundant water sources, sufficient food and fodder, and a prosperous market. The Mongolian army entered and besieged Diaoyucheng.Mengge Khan sent General Song Jiang into the city to recruit Wang Jian. In order to strengthen the determination of the army and people in Hezhou to resist Mongolia, Wang Jian executed the envoy in public at the military parade in Diaoyu City. Mengge Khan was furious when he heard the news. On the third day of February, he personally led his army to the foot of Diaoyu Mountain and commanded all Mongolian troops to attack Diaoyu City.

On this day, on the tower of the Huguomen Gate, Wang Jian was wearing a gold-ridged iron armor and a battle helmet, stroking the hilt of his sword with his right hand, and patrolling the battlefield amidst billowing gunpowder smoke.He saw a soldier moaning in pain after being hit by a Mongolian artillery stone.It was a face whose chin had been scorched by gunfire, and the face was covered with scorching blisters, blood and pus mixed together, making it look even more hideous and terrifying. Wang Jian watched the medical officer clean his wound, and whispered to the medical officer, "Stay here and try to relieve the wounded as much as possible. Is there any shortage of medicine?"

The medical officer said: "It's just that there is a shortage of manpower. The old and weak, women and children have all gone to the front to help in the battle. There are not enough personnel on site to direct the evacuation of the wounded. Please inform Hezhou to solve it as soon as possible." "Herald!" "Here!" A young man from Hudun stood in front of Wang Jian. "Pass my order, immediately dispatch 500 soldiers from the reserve team to the seven city gates to rescue the wounded. Make no mistakes!" "Yes!" The herald stepped back quickly.

After the medical officer took care of the wounded, he hurried to the front, but Wang Jian stopped him. "What's your name?" "Zhao Zhe." "How high is the official residence?" "A seventh-rank security doctor." "When did you come to Hezhou?" "On the eve of the war." "What's the current casualty situation?" "Of the 7,893 people injured, 903 died of ineffective medical treatment." "What weapon caused the injury?" "Cannon and bolts." "Well—" Wang Jian looked at the medical officer's blood-stained and pus-stained shirt, "Go, go rescue the wounded."

"yes." "Zhang Jue!" "Here! Zhang Jue, the seventh-rank Wulue Lang, is waiting for your lord's instruction." Zhang Jue, known as "Sichuan Nine Tiger Generals", stood in front of Wang Jian majesticly. "How is the battle today?" "Report to my lord: Up to now, the gate of the country has repelled 28 attacks by the Mongolian army in one day. Our side has injured 169 people and killed 8 people. The enemy's casualties are at least six times that of our army. .” "How is the situation in other defense zones?" Zhang Jue replied: "Qinghuamen, Nanbeiyizicheng, Chuqimen, Qishengmen, Shiguanmen, Zhenximen, and Dongxinmen were all attacked by the enemy today, but the number and intensity of attacks were obviously not as good as those of Huguomen. , It seems that the enemy has decided to adopt the tactics of attacking from east to west, and the two wings cooperate, so the main force is used on the Huguomen and Dongxinmen."

"Brother Meng used all the main force of the 100,000 troops in the battle of Hezhou. It really cost a fortune. According to reports, in the past two months, the Mongolian army has lost more than 37,000 people in combat. The number of combat personnel was also more than this." Wang Jian unbuttoned the cloak, and the mountain wind picked up the black shirt, and the scarlet lining trembled with the wind, like a ball of dancing flames. "Send to all the soldiers of the army to continue their efforts, fight bravely, resist tenaciously, and swear to protect their homeland. Victory is at hand!"

A series of thunderclaps suddenly sounded in the sky, the earth trembled, and the air was filled with a strong smell of sulfur.In an instant, it rained heavily and the wind raged.The battle flag shook violently in the storm, as if it was about to be torn apart by the strong wind. It was dusk on the first day of April, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River had entered the long rainy season. In his early years, Wang Jian served under the famous anti-gold general Meng Gong.Once under the order of Meng Gong, he led his troops to attack the Mongolian army logistics base in Shunyang Town, Dengzhou, and set fire to the shipbuilding materials gathered there.Later, Meng Gong sent 6,000 troops to aid Shu, and Wang Jian entered Sichuan with his entourage. In the following years, he led the charge in the Anti-Mongolian War in Sichuan and made many military exploits. Make.

In the summer of the fourth year of Mengge Khan (1254), Wang Dechen, the commander-in-chief of the Mongolian general Gongchang, led the army to make a tentative attack from the northern Sichuan that he controlled to the eastern Sichuan.The Mongolian army marched down the Jialing River until they reached the front line of Hezhou and Guang'an. Wang Jian and others led the generals of the Song Dynasty to resist tenaciously, defeating the rapid offensive of the Mongolian army in one fell swoop.When the good news came, Song Lizong, in recognition of Wang Jian's military exploits, issued an edict to promote Wang Jian to two ranks, and immediately appointed him as the governor of Xingyun and the governor of Hezhou. This time, Wang Jian was ordered in the face of danger, which can be said to have pinned all the hopes of the Song court to keep Sichuan.