Mongol conquest of the Song Dynasty
Encyclopedia
The conquest of South China
's Song Dynasty
under Kublai Khan
(r.1260-1294) was the final step for the Mongols to rule the whole of China
. It is also considered the Mongol Empire
's last great military achievement.
refused, on his death in 1227 he bequeathed a plan to attack the Jin capital by passing through Song territory. Subsequently, a Mongolian ambassador
was killed by the Song governor in uncertain circumstances. Before receiving any explanation, the Mongols marched through Song territory to enter the Jin's redoubt in Henan
. In 1233 the Song Dynasty finally became an ally
of the Mongols, who agreed to share territories south of the Yellow River
with the Song. Song general Meng Gong defeated the Jin general Wu Xian and directed his troops to besiege the city of Caizhou, to which the last emperor of the Jurchen had fled. With the help of the Mongols, the Song armies were finally able to extinguish the Jin Dynasty that had occupied northern China for more than a century. A year later, the Song generals fielded their armies to occupy the old capitals of the Song, but they were completely repelled by the Mongol garrisons under Tachir, a descendant of Boorchu, who was a famed companion of Genghis Khan. Thus the Mongol troops, headed by sons of the Ögedei Khan
, started their slow but steady invasion of the south. The fierce resistance of the Song forces resulted in the Mongols having to fight the most difficult war in all of their conquests.
, governor Yu Jie adopted the plan of the brothers Ran Jin and Ran Pu to fortify important locations in mountainous areas, like Diaoyucheng (modern Hechuan/Sichuan). From this point, Yue Jie was able to hold Sichuan for a further ten years. In 1239, General Meng defeated the Mongols and retook Siangyang, contesting Sichuan against the Mongols for years. The only permanent gain was Chengdu
for the Mongols in 1241. In the Huai River
area, the Mongol Empire
's commanders remained on the defensive, taking few major Song cities, although Toregene and Guyuk Khan
ordered their generals to attack the Song.
The conflicts between the Mongols and the Song troops took place in the area of Chengdu
. When Toregene sent his envoys to negotiate peace, the Song imprisoned them. The Mongols captured Hangzhou
and invaded Sichuan
in 1242. Their commanders ordered Zhang Rou and Chagaan (Tsagaan
) to attack the Song Dynasty
. When they pillaged Song territory, the Song court sent a delegation to negotiate a ceasefire
. Chagaan and Zhang Rou returned north after the Mongols accepted the terms.
An account was given of the Mongol attack on Nanjing, and of the Chinese defenders using gunpowder against the Mongols: "As the Mongols had dug themselves pits under the earth where they were sheltered from missles, we decided to bind with iron the machines called chen-t'ien-lei. . . and lowered them into the places"
as Great Khan in 1251. Passing through the Chengdu Plain in Sichuan
, the Mongols conquered the Kingdom of Dali
in modern Yunnan in 1253. Möngke's brother Kublai and general Uriyangqadai pacified Yunnan and Tibet and invaded the Trần Dynasty in Vietnam
. The Mongols besieged Ho-chiou and lifted the siege very soon in 1254.
In October 1257 Mongke set out for South China and fixed his camps near the Liu-pan mountains in May. He entered Sichuan in 1258 with two-thirds of the Mongol strength. In 1259 Möngke died of cholera
or dysentry during the battle of Diaoyucheng
that was defended by Wang Jian. The Chinese general Jia Sidao
collaborated with Kublai and took the opportunity of Möngke's death to occupy Sichuan as subject of the Mongols.
The central government of the Southern Song meanwhile was unable to cope with the challenge of the Mongols and new peasant uprisings in the region of modern Fujian led by Yan Mengbiao and Hunan. The court of Emperor Lizong was dominated by consort clans, Yan and Jia, and the eunuchs Dong Songchen and Lu Yunsheng. In 1260 Jia Sidao became chancellor who took control over the new emperor Zhao Qi (posthumous title Song Duzong) and expelled his opponents like Wen Tianxiang and Li Fu. Because the financial revenue of the late Southern Song state was very low, Jia Sidao tried to reform the regulations for the merchandise of lands with his state field law.
Gunpowder weapons like the t'u huo ch'iang were deployed by the Chinese against the Mongol forces. The weapon consisted of firing bullets from bamboo tubes.
In 1260 Kublai was elected as Great Khan of the Mongols and founded the Yuan Dynasty
in 1271. The skirmishes of the early 1260s led a major confrontation in Diaoyu, Sichuan in 1265. The Mongolians defeated the Song land and naval armies and captured more than 100 ships. The Chinese utilized gunpowder weapons for defence during the conquest.
Kublai did eventually conquer the south, but not without a great deal of tribulation. First there was the war with Ariq Boke
, who had been left in command of the north and stationed in the Mongol capital, Karakorum
; then in 1268, there was the Mongol advance stopped at the city of Xianyang situated on the Han river controlling access to the Yangtze river, the gateway to Hangzhou
(Canton).This city was linked to the city of Fencheng situated on the opposite bank connected by a pontoon bridge spanning the river Han. The walls of Xianyang were some six to seven meters thick encompassing an area of five kilometers wide,the main entrances leading out to a waterway impossible to ford in the summer, in the winter an impassable swamp and series of ponds and mud flats.
The defenders of twin-cities, Xianyang and Fencheng, attempted to break the siege but the Mongols under Aju
defeated them each time. The Mongol crushed all reinforcements from the Song, each numbering in thousands. After Aju asked Kublai, the Emperor of the Mongol Empire, the powerful siege machines of the Ilkhanate
, Ismail
and Al-aud-Din from Iraq
arrived South China to construct a new type of trebuchet which used explosive shells. These Persian engineers built mangonels and trebuchets for the siege. Explosive shells had been in use in China for centuries but what was new was the counterweight type of trebuchet
as opposed to the torsion type giving greated range and accuracy as it was easier to judge the weight of the counter weight than the torsion generated by repeated windings. The counterweight trebutchet built by the Persians from Mosul were longer in range, and assisted in destroying Fancheng. Chinese and Muslim engineers operated Artillery and siege engines for the Mongol armies. The design was taken from those used by Hulegu to batter down the walls of Baghdad
. The Chinese were the first to invent the traction trebuchet, now they faced muslim designed counterweight trebuchets in the Mongol army. The Chinese responded by building their own counterweight trbuchets, an account from the Chinese said "In 1273 the frontier cities had all fallen. But Muslim trebuchets were constructed with new and ingenious improvements, and different kinds became available, far betterthan those used before."
Both the Song and Mongol forces had thunder crash bombs during the siege, a type of gunpowder weapon. the Mongols also utilized siege crossbows and traction trbuchets. The Song forces used fire arrows and fire lances in addition to their own thundercrash bombs. The Song forces also used paddle ships
. Siege crossbows and firebombs were also deployed on Song ships against Mongol forces, in addition to fire lances. The name of the bombs in Chinese was Zhen tian lei. They were made from cast iron and filled with gunpowder, the Chinese Song forces delivered them to the enemy via trebuchets. Armor made out of iron could be penetrated by pieces of the bomb after the explosion, which had a 50 kilometer noise range.
Political infighting in the Song also caused the fall of Xiangyang and Fancheng, due to the power of the Lu family, many questioned their alleigance to the Song, The Emperor barred Jia Sidao himself from the command, so Li Tingzhi, an enemy of the Lu family, was appointed commander. Jia permitted the Lu to ignore Li's orders, resulting in a fractitious command. Li was then unable to relieve Xiangyang and Fancheng, managing in only temporary resupply during several breaks in the siege.
Bayan of the Baarin
, the Mongol commander, then sent half of his force up river to wade to the south bank in order to build a bridge across to take the Yang lo fortress. Three thousand Song boats came up the Han river and were repulsed; fifty boats destroyed with 2,000 dead. Xianyang's commander then surrendered to the Mongol commander, the entire force including the surrendering commander sailing down the Yangtze, the forts along the way falling as this commander, now allied with the Mongols, had also commanded many of the down river garrisons. In 1270, Kublai ordered the construction of five thousand ships. Three years later, an additional two thousand ships were ordered to be built; these would carry about 50,000 troops to give battle to the Song. In 1273, Fencheng capitulated, the Mongols putting the entire population to the sword to terrorize the inhabitants of Xianyang. After the surrender of the city of Xiangyang, several thousand ships were deployed. The Song fleet, despite their deployment as a coastal defense fleet or Coast Guard more than an operational Navy
, was more than a match for the Mongols. Under his great general Bayan Khublai unleashed a riverine attack upon the defended city of Xiangyang on the Han River. The Mongols prevailed, ultimately, but it would take five more years of hard combat to do so. By 1273, the Mongols emerged victorious on the Han River. The Yangtse River was now open for a large fleet that could conquer the Southern Song empire. A year later, the child-prince Zhao Xian was made emperor. Resistance became stiffer, resulting in Bayan's massacre of the inhabitants of Changzhou
in 1275 and mass suicide of the defenders at Changsha in January 1276. When the Yuan Mongol-Chinese troops and fleet advanced and one prefecture after the other submitted to the Yuan, Jia Sidao offered his own submission, but the Yuan chancellor Bayan refused. The last contingents of the Song empire were heavily defeated, the old city of Jiankang (Jiangsu) fell, and Jia Sidao was killed. The capital of Song, Lin'an (Hangzhou), was defended by Wen Tianxiang and Zhang Shijie. When Bayan and Dong Wenbing camped outside Lin'an in February 1276, the Song Grand Empress Dowager Xie
and Empress Dowager Quan
surrendered the underage Emperor Gong of Song
along the imperial seal. Emperor Gong abdicated, but faithful loyalists like Zhang Jue, Wen Tianxiang, Zhang Shijie and Lu Xiufu
successively enthroned the emperor's younger brothers Zhao Shi and Zhao Bing. Zhao Shi was enthroned as Emperor Duanzong of Song
far from the capital in the region of Fuzhou but he died soon afterwards on the flight southwards into modern Guangdong. Zhao Bing was enthroned as Emperor Huaizong of Song
on Lantau Island
, Hong Kong. On March 19th 1279 the Mongols defeated the last of the Song forces at the naval Battle of Yamen
. After the battle, as a last defiant act against the invaders, Lu Xiufu embraced the eight year old emperor and the pair leapt to their deaths from Mount Ya
, thus marking the extinction of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Empress Dowager Xie
had secretly sent the child emperor's two younger brothers to Fuzhou
. The strongholds of the Song loyalists fell one by one: Yangzhou in 1276, Chongqing
in 1277 and Hezhou
in 1279. The loyalists fought the Mongols in the mountainous Fujian
–Guangdong
–Jiangxi
borderland. On February 1279, Wen Tianxiang
, one of the Song loyalists, was captured and executed at the Yuan capital Dadu
.
The end of the Mongol-Song war occurred on 19 March 1279, when 1000 Song warships faced a fleet of 300 to 700 Yuan Mongol warships at Yamen
. The Yuan fleet was commanded by Zhang Hongfan
(1238–1280), a northern Chinese, and Li Heng (1236–1285), a Tangut. Catapults as a weapon system were rejected by Kublai's court, for they feared the Song fleet would break out if they used such weapons. Instead, they developed a plan called for a maritime siege, in order to starve the Song into submission.
But at the outset, there was a defect in the Song tactics that would later be exploited by Yuan at the conclusion of the battle. The Song wanted a stronger defensive position, and the Song fleet "roped itself together in a solid mass[,]" in an attempt to create what appears to be in a nautical skirmish line. Results were disastrous: the Chinese could neither attack nor maneuver. Escape was also impossible, for the Song warships lacked any nearby base to which they might take refuge. The course, then, was clear: the Song must stand and fight! Not all the Chinese did, though. On 12 March, a number of Song combatants defected to the Mongol side. On 13 March, a Song squadron attacked some of the Mongols' northern patrol boats. Lorge thinks this action was an attempted breakout, but if so, it failed. The Chinese squadron was crushed with an appalling loss of life. By 17 March, Li Heng and Zhang Hongfan opted for a decisive battle. Four Mongol fleets moved against the Song: Li Heng attacked from the north and northwest; Zhang would proceed from the southwest; the last two fleets attacked from the south and west. Weather favored the Mongols that morning. Heavy fog and rain obscured the approach of Li Heng's dawn attack. The movement of the tide and the southwestern similarly benefited the movement of the Mongol fleet which, in short order, appeared to the north of the Song. It was an unusual attack, in that, the Mongol fleet engaged the Song fleet stern first.
In hindsight, this was a very good tactic. It enabled the naval infantry archers to take full advantage of the ships' high sterncastles. Prior to the battle, the Mongols constructed archery platforms for their sea soldiers. As a result of this simple innovation, the archers atop the sterncastles were transformed into force multipliers against the Song. The position enabled the archers to direct a higher, more concentrated rate of missile fire against the enemy. Fire teams of seven or eight archers manned these platforms, and they proved devastatingly-effective as the battle commenced at close quarter.
Li Heng's first attack cut the Song rope that held the Chinese fleet together. Fighting raged with great intensity at a hand-to hand distance. The Song gave fierce resistance, but by eleven, they had lost three of their ships to the Mongols, though the outcome was still by no means certain. Then, by the forenoon, Li's ships broke through the Song's outer line, and two other Mongol squadrons destroyed the Song formation in the corner of the northwest. Around this time, the tide had shifted; Li's ships drifted to the opposite direction, the north.
The Song believed that the Mongols were halting the attack and, foolishly, dropped their guard. Their mistake was obvious when, suddenly, Zhang Hongfan's fleet, riding the northern current, slammed into the Chinese ships. Zhang was determined to capture the Song admiral, Zuo Tai. The Yuan flagship was protected by shields to negate the Song missile fire. Later, when Zhang did capture the Song flagship, his own vessel was riddled with arrows. Then, as if the Song did not have enough difficulties, Li Heng's fleet returned to the battle. By late afternoon, it was obvious to all observers that the battle was over. The Mongols had prevailed, and the Song navy surrendered.
Horrified, the ruling elite, unwilling to submit to the Mongol rule, opted for death by suicide. The Song councilor, an important post, in that, he was tasked with literally holding the infant child-emperor of the Song in his arms during the battle, also elected to join the Song leaders in death. Not only did he plan his own death, he, or perhaps others, decided to take the infant Emperor to his royal destruction, too. As harsh a decision as this sounds, it is not without its own cruel logic. Presumably, the councilor did not wish to see a mere baby trampled to death in Mongol tradition, as undoubtedly the Yuan would have done to the child-emperor, to leave no doubt that the Song Dynasty was literally dead. Tragically, the councilor jumped into the sea, still holding the child in his arms. Both would die; the Song Dynasty would die with them.; Lorge described the scene and its aftermath: Tens of thousands of Song officials, and women threw themselves into the sea and drowned. The last Song emperor went to the bottom with his entourage, held in the arms of his councilor. With his death, the final remnants of the Song dynasty were eliminated. The victory of this naval campaign marked the completion of Kublai's conquest of China, and the onset of all of China under the Mongol Yuan Dynasty for 97 years until the rise of the Ming Dynasty
established under the House of Zhu
.
Northern and southern China
Northern China and southern China are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions has never been precisely defined...
's Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
under Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
(r.1260-1294) was the final step for the Mongols to rule the whole of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. It is also considered the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
's last great military achievement.
Background
Before the Mongol-Jin War escalated, an envoy from Song China arrived at the court of the Mongols, perhaps to negotiate a united offensive against the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234). Although Genghis KhanGenghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
refused, on his death in 1227 he bequeathed a plan to attack the Jin capital by passing through Song territory. Subsequently, a Mongolian ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
was killed by the Song governor in uncertain circumstances. Before receiving any explanation, the Mongols marched through Song territory to enter the Jin's redoubt in Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
. In 1233 the Song Dynasty finally became an ally
Ally
Ally is a common unisex given name. It is a variant of Allie. It can also refer to:* Ally, a 1999 American TV sitcom that was a spin-off of Ally McBeal.* Ally Bank, an internet bank, formerly the banking unit of GMAC....
of the Mongols, who agreed to share territories south of the Yellow River
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
with the Song. Song general Meng Gong defeated the Jin general Wu Xian and directed his troops to besiege the city of Caizhou, to which the last emperor of the Jurchen had fled. With the help of the Mongols, the Song armies were finally able to extinguish the Jin Dynasty that had occupied northern China for more than a century. A year later, the Song generals fielded their armies to occupy the old capitals of the Song, but they were completely repelled by the Mongol garrisons under Tachir, a descendant of Boorchu, who was a famed companion of Genghis Khan. Thus the Mongol troops, headed by sons of the Ögedei Khan
Ögedei Khan
Ögedei Khan, born Ögedei was the third son of Genghis Khan and second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire by succeeding his father...
, started their slow but steady invasion of the south. The fierce resistance of the Song forces resulted in the Mongols having to fight the most difficult war in all of their conquests.
The first phase of the Mongol-Song war (1235-48)
From 1235 on, the Mongol general Kuoduan Hequ started to attack the region of Sichuan through the Chengdu plain. The occupation of this region had often been an important step for the conquest of the south. The important city of Xiangyang, the gateway to the Yangtze plain, which was defended by the Song general Cao Youwen, capitulated in 1236. In the east, meanwhile, Song generals like Meng Gong and Du Guo withstood the pressure of the Mongol armies under Kouwen Buhua because the main Mongol forces were at that time moving towards Europe. In SichuanSichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
, governor Yu Jie adopted the plan of the brothers Ran Jin and Ran Pu to fortify important locations in mountainous areas, like Diaoyucheng (modern Hechuan/Sichuan). From this point, Yue Jie was able to hold Sichuan for a further ten years. In 1239, General Meng defeated the Mongols and retook Siangyang, contesting Sichuan against the Mongols for years. The only permanent gain was Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
for the Mongols in 1241. In the Huai River
Huai River
The Huai River is a major river in China. The Huai River is located about mid-way between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the two largest rivers in China, and like them runs from west to east...
area, the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
's commanders remained on the defensive, taking few major Song cities, although Toregene and Guyuk Khan
Güyük Khan
Güyük was the third Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. As the eldest son of Ögedei Khan and a grandson of Genghis Khan, he reigned from 1246 to 1248...
ordered their generals to attack the Song.
The conflicts between the Mongols and the Song troops took place in the area of Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
. When Toregene sent his envoys to negotiate peace, the Song imprisoned them. The Mongols captured Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
and invaded Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
in 1242. Their commanders ordered Zhang Rou and Chagaan (Tsagaan
Tsagaan
- People :* Monguor or Tsagaan mongghol, a Mongol ethnic group in China* Okna Tsagaan Zam, a Kalmyk throat singer* Chagaan, the commander of the Mongol Empire, of Tangut origin.- Places :* Tsagaannuur, several places named "white lake"...
) to attack the Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
. When they pillaged Song territory, the Song court sent a delegation to negotiate a ceasefire
Ceasefire
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces...
. Chagaan and Zhang Rou returned north after the Mongols accepted the terms.
An account was given of the Mongol attack on Nanjing, and of the Chinese defenders using gunpowder against the Mongols: "As the Mongols had dug themselves pits under the earth where they were sheltered from missles, we decided to bind with iron the machines called chen-t'ien-lei. . . and lowered them into the places"
The second stage of the war (1251-60)
The Mongol attacks on Southern Song China intensified with the election of MöngkeMongke
Mongke means "eternal" in Mongolian language and may refer to:-Medieval:* Möngke Khan , Great khan of the Mongol Empire* Yesü Möngke, khan of Chagatai khanate, 1247-1252* Mengu-Timur Mongke (also Mönkh, Monkh, Munkh) means "eternal" in Mongolian language and may refer to:-Medieval:* Möngke Khan...
as Great Khan in 1251. Passing through the Chengdu Plain in Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
, the Mongols conquered the Kingdom of Dali
Kingdom of Dali
Dali or Great Li was a Bai kingdom centred in what is now Yunnan Province of China. Established by Duan Siping in 937, it was ruled by a succession of 22 kings until the year 1253, when it was conquered by an invasion of the Mongol Empire. The capital city was at Dali.- History :The Kingdom of...
in modern Yunnan in 1253. Möngke's brother Kublai and general Uriyangqadai pacified Yunnan and Tibet and invaded the Trần Dynasty in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. The Mongols besieged Ho-chiou and lifted the siege very soon in 1254.
In October 1257 Mongke set out for South China and fixed his camps near the Liu-pan mountains in May. He entered Sichuan in 1258 with two-thirds of the Mongol strength. In 1259 Möngke died of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
or dysentry during the battle of Diaoyucheng
Fishing town
Fishing Town or Fishing City , is one of the three great ancient battlefields of China. It is famous for its resistance to the Mongol armies in the latter half of the Song Dynasty...
that was defended by Wang Jian. The Chinese general Jia Sidao
Jia Sidao
Jia Sidao was a chancellor during the late Song Dynasty of China. He dominated the Song court from 1260 to 1273, after rising to the rank of chancellor due to his sister being a concubine of the Emperor Lizong...
collaborated with Kublai and took the opportunity of Möngke's death to occupy Sichuan as subject of the Mongols.
The central government of the Southern Song meanwhile was unable to cope with the challenge of the Mongols and new peasant uprisings in the region of modern Fujian led by Yan Mengbiao and Hunan. The court of Emperor Lizong was dominated by consort clans, Yan and Jia, and the eunuchs Dong Songchen and Lu Yunsheng. In 1260 Jia Sidao became chancellor who took control over the new emperor Zhao Qi (posthumous title Song Duzong) and expelled his opponents like Wen Tianxiang and Li Fu. Because the financial revenue of the late Southern Song state was very low, Jia Sidao tried to reform the regulations for the merchandise of lands with his state field law.
Gunpowder weapons like the t'u huo ch'iang were deployed by the Chinese against the Mongol forces. The weapon consisted of firing bullets from bamboo tubes.
Surrender of Song China (1268-76)
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
in 1271. The skirmishes of the early 1260s led a major confrontation in Diaoyu, Sichuan in 1265. The Mongolians defeated the Song land and naval armies and captured more than 100 ships. The Chinese utilized gunpowder weapons for defence during the conquest.
Kublai did eventually conquer the south, but not without a great deal of tribulation. First there was the war with Ariq Boke
Ariq Boke
Ariq Böke , the components of his name also spelled Arigh, Arik, Bukha, Buka , was the youngest son of Tolui , a son of Genghis Khan. After the death of his brother the Great Khan Mongke, Ariq Boke briefly took power while his brothers Kublai and Hulagu were absent...
, who had been left in command of the north and stationed in the Mongol capital, Karakorum
Karakorum
Karakorum was the capital of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, and of the Northern Yuan in the 14-15th century. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of Mongolia, near today's town of Kharkhorin, and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu monastery...
; then in 1268, there was the Mongol advance stopped at the city of Xianyang situated on the Han river controlling access to the Yangtze river, the gateway to Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
(Canton).This city was linked to the city of Fencheng situated on the opposite bank connected by a pontoon bridge spanning the river Han. The walls of Xianyang were some six to seven meters thick encompassing an area of five kilometers wide,the main entrances leading out to a waterway impossible to ford in the summer, in the winter an impassable swamp and series of ponds and mud flats.
The defenders of twin-cities, Xianyang and Fencheng, attempted to break the siege but the Mongols under Aju
Aju
Aju was a general and chancellor of the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty. He was from the Jarchud clan of the Mongol Uriankhai....
defeated them each time. The Mongol crushed all reinforcements from the Song, each numbering in thousands. After Aju asked Kublai, the Emperor of the Mongol Empire, the powerful siege machines of the Ilkhanate
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
, Ismail
Ismail
Ismail may refer to:*Ismail , people with the name*Ishmael, the English name of Ismail*Ismael Village, in Sangcharak District at Sar-e Pol Province of Afghanistan...
and Al-aud-Din from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
arrived South China to construct a new type of trebuchet which used explosive shells. These Persian engineers built mangonels and trebuchets for the siege. Explosive shells had been in use in China for centuries but what was new was the counterweight type of trebuchet
Trebuchet
A trebuchet is a siege engine that was employed in the Middle Ages. It is sometimes called a "counterweight trebuchet" or "counterpoise trebuchet" in order to distinguish it from an earlier weapon that has come to be called the "traction trebuchet", the original version with pulling men instead of...
as opposed to the torsion type giving greated range and accuracy as it was easier to judge the weight of the counter weight than the torsion generated by repeated windings. The counterweight trebutchet built by the Persians from Mosul were longer in range, and assisted in destroying Fancheng. Chinese and Muslim engineers operated Artillery and siege engines for the Mongol armies. The design was taken from those used by Hulegu to batter down the walls of Baghdad
Battle of Baghdad (1258)
The Siege of Baghdad, which occurred in 1258, was an invasion, siege and sacking of the city of Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate at the time and the modern-day capital of Iraq, by the Ilkhanate Mongol forces along with other allied troops under Hulagu Khan.The invasion left Baghdad in...
. The Chinese were the first to invent the traction trebuchet, now they faced muslim designed counterweight trebuchets in the Mongol army. The Chinese responded by building their own counterweight trbuchets, an account from the Chinese said "In 1273 the frontier cities had all fallen. But Muslim trebuchets were constructed with new and ingenious improvements, and different kinds became available, far betterthan those used before."
Both the Song and Mongol forces had thunder crash bombs during the siege, a type of gunpowder weapon. the Mongols also utilized siege crossbows and traction trbuchets. The Song forces used fire arrows and fire lances in addition to their own thundercrash bombs. The Song forces also used paddle ships
Paddle boat
Paddle boat may refer to:* Paddle steamer or paddleboat, a boat propelled by a paddle wheel* Pedalo, a boat propelled by pedalling with the feet* A boat which is paddled, such as a canoe or kayak...
. Siege crossbows and firebombs were also deployed on Song ships against Mongol forces, in addition to fire lances. The name of the bombs in Chinese was Zhen tian lei. They were made from cast iron and filled with gunpowder, the Chinese Song forces delivered them to the enemy via trebuchets. Armor made out of iron could be penetrated by pieces of the bomb after the explosion, which had a 50 kilometer noise range.
Political infighting in the Song also caused the fall of Xiangyang and Fancheng, due to the power of the Lu family, many questioned their alleigance to the Song, The Emperor barred Jia Sidao himself from the command, so Li Tingzhi, an enemy of the Lu family, was appointed commander. Jia permitted the Lu to ignore Li's orders, resulting in a fractitious command. Li was then unable to relieve Xiangyang and Fancheng, managing in only temporary resupply during several breaks in the siege.
Bayan of the Baarin
Bayan of the Baarin
Bayan of the Baarin , also known as "Bayan chingsang" or, to Marco Polo, as "Bayan Hundred Eyes" , was a Mongol general...
, the Mongol commander, then sent half of his force up river to wade to the south bank in order to build a bridge across to take the Yang lo fortress. Three thousand Song boats came up the Han river and were repulsed; fifty boats destroyed with 2,000 dead. Xianyang's commander then surrendered to the Mongol commander, the entire force including the surrendering commander sailing down the Yangtze, the forts along the way falling as this commander, now allied with the Mongols, had also commanded many of the down river garrisons. In 1270, Kublai ordered the construction of five thousand ships. Three years later, an additional two thousand ships were ordered to be built; these would carry about 50,000 troops to give battle to the Song. In 1273, Fencheng capitulated, the Mongols putting the entire population to the sword to terrorize the inhabitants of Xianyang. After the surrender of the city of Xiangyang, several thousand ships were deployed. The Song fleet, despite their deployment as a coastal defense fleet or Coast Guard more than an operational Navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
, was more than a match for the Mongols. Under his great general Bayan Khublai unleashed a riverine attack upon the defended city of Xiangyang on the Han River. The Mongols prevailed, ultimately, but it would take five more years of hard combat to do so. By 1273, the Mongols emerged victorious on the Han River. The Yangtse River was now open for a large fleet that could conquer the Southern Song empire. A year later, the child-prince Zhao Xian was made emperor. Resistance became stiffer, resulting in Bayan's massacre of the inhabitants of Changzhou
Changzhou
Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, Jinling, and Wujin. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhenjiang to the...
in 1275 and mass suicide of the defenders at Changsha in January 1276. When the Yuan Mongol-Chinese troops and fleet advanced and one prefecture after the other submitted to the Yuan, Jia Sidao offered his own submission, but the Yuan chancellor Bayan refused. The last contingents of the Song empire were heavily defeated, the old city of Jiankang (Jiangsu) fell, and Jia Sidao was killed. The capital of Song, Lin'an (Hangzhou), was defended by Wen Tianxiang and Zhang Shijie. When Bayan and Dong Wenbing camped outside Lin'an in February 1276, the Song Grand Empress Dowager Xie
Empress Xie Daoqing
Empress Xie Daoqing was a Chinese Empress consort of the Song Dynasty, married to Emperor Lizong of Song. She was the regent of Southern Song China in 1264 and in 1274–1276.-Family:* Grandfather: Xie Xinfu, Prince Huizhen of Lü...
and Empress Dowager Quan
Empress Quan (Duzong)
Empress Quan was a Chinese Empress consort of the Song Dynasty, married to Emperor Duzong of Song.- Sources :...
surrendered the underage Emperor Gong of Song
Emperor Gong of Song
Emperor Gong of Song Emperor Gong of Song Emperor Gong of Song (1271- unknown (possibly 1323), born Zhào Xiǎn (趙顯), was the 7th Emperor of the Chinese Southern Song Dynasty. He reigned from 1274 until his abdication in 1276 CE when he was succeeded by his elder brother, Emperor Duanzong of Song....
along the imperial seal. Emperor Gong abdicated, but faithful loyalists like Zhang Jue, Wen Tianxiang, Zhang Shijie and Lu Xiufu
Lu Xiufu
Lù Xiùfū , courtesy title Junshi , was a statesman and military commander during the final years of the Chinese Song Dynasty...
successively enthroned the emperor's younger brothers Zhao Shi and Zhao Bing. Zhao Shi was enthroned as Emperor Duanzong of Song
Emperor Duanzong of Song
Emperor Duānzōng was the eighth and penultimate emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty of China who reigned from 1276 to 1278 and died at the early age of ten. He was also known as the "Nation Establishing Duke " ....
far from the capital in the region of Fuzhou but he died soon afterwards on the flight southwards into modern Guangdong. Zhao Bing was enthroned as Emperor Huaizong of Song
Emperor Bing of Song
Emperor Bing of Song was the last emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty of China. He was also known as Lord Perpetual-Nation ....
on Lantau Island
Lantau Island
Lantau Island , based on the old local name of Lantau Peak , is the largest island in Hong Kong, located at the mouth of the Pearl River. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands District of Hong Kong...
, Hong Kong. On March 19th 1279 the Mongols defeated the last of the Song forces at the naval Battle of Yamen
Battle of Yamen
The naval Battle of Yamen took place on 19 March 1279 and is considered to be the last stand of the Song Dynasty against the invading Mongol-controlled Yuan Dynasty...
. After the battle, as a last defiant act against the invaders, Lu Xiufu embraced the eight year old emperor and the pair leapt to their deaths from Mount Ya
Yamen (town)
Yámén is a town lying in the south of Xinhui District of Jiangmen, Guangdong, People's Republic of China. It covers an area of 281 square kilometers and has a population of 40,000....
, thus marking the extinction of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Last stand of the Song loyalists (1276-79)
Empress Xie Daoqing
Empress Xie Daoqing was a Chinese Empress consort of the Song Dynasty, married to Emperor Lizong of Song. She was the regent of Southern Song China in 1264 and in 1274–1276.-Family:* Grandfather: Xie Xinfu, Prince Huizhen of Lü...
had secretly sent the child emperor's two younger brothers to Fuzhou
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
. The strongholds of the Song loyalists fell one by one: Yangzhou in 1276, Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
in 1277 and Hezhou
Hezhou
-Administration:Hezhou has 2 urban district, 2 counties, and 1 autonomous county.Urban District:*Babu District *Pinggui District Counties:*Zhongshan County *Zhaoping County -Administration:Hezhou has 2 urban district, 2 counties, and 1 autonomous county.Urban District:*Babu District (八步区)*Pinggui...
in 1279. The loyalists fought the Mongols in the mountainous Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
–Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
–Jiangxi
Jiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...
borderland. On February 1279, Wen Tianxiang
Wen Tianxiang
Wen Tianxiang , Duke of Xinguo, was a scholar-general in the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty. For his resistance to Kublai Khan's invasion of the Song, and for his refusal to yield to the Yuan Dynasty despite being captured and tortured, he is a popular symbol of patriotism and...
, one of the Song loyalists, was captured and executed at the Yuan capital Dadu
Khanbaliq
Khanbaliq or Dadu refers to a city which is now Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China...
.
The end of the Mongol-Song war occurred on 19 March 1279, when 1000 Song warships faced a fleet of 300 to 700 Yuan Mongol warships at Yamen
Yamen
A yamen is any local bureaucrat's, or mandarin's, office and residence of the Chinese Empire. The term has been widely used in China for centuries, but appeared in English during the Qing Dynasty....
. The Yuan fleet was commanded by Zhang Hongfan
Zhang Hongfan
Zhang Hongfan was a Han Chinese general of the Mongol Empire in China. As commander of the Mongol army and navy, he annihilated the Southern Song by crushing the last Song resistance at the Battle of Yamen in 1279, where he is said to have captured 8000 enemy vessels...
(1238–1280), a northern Chinese, and Li Heng (1236–1285), a Tangut. Catapults as a weapon system were rejected by Kublai's court, for they feared the Song fleet would break out if they used such weapons. Instead, they developed a plan called for a maritime siege, in order to starve the Song into submission.
But at the outset, there was a defect in the Song tactics that would later be exploited by Yuan at the conclusion of the battle. The Song wanted a stronger defensive position, and the Song fleet "roped itself together in a solid mass[,]" in an attempt to create what appears to be in a nautical skirmish line. Results were disastrous: the Chinese could neither attack nor maneuver. Escape was also impossible, for the Song warships lacked any nearby base to which they might take refuge. The course, then, was clear: the Song must stand and fight! Not all the Chinese did, though. On 12 March, a number of Song combatants defected to the Mongol side. On 13 March, a Song squadron attacked some of the Mongols' northern patrol boats. Lorge thinks this action was an attempted breakout, but if so, it failed. The Chinese squadron was crushed with an appalling loss of life. By 17 March, Li Heng and Zhang Hongfan opted for a decisive battle. Four Mongol fleets moved against the Song: Li Heng attacked from the north and northwest; Zhang would proceed from the southwest; the last two fleets attacked from the south and west. Weather favored the Mongols that morning. Heavy fog and rain obscured the approach of Li Heng's dawn attack. The movement of the tide and the southwestern similarly benefited the movement of the Mongol fleet which, in short order, appeared to the north of the Song. It was an unusual attack, in that, the Mongol fleet engaged the Song fleet stern first.
In hindsight, this was a very good tactic. It enabled the naval infantry archers to take full advantage of the ships' high sterncastles. Prior to the battle, the Mongols constructed archery platforms for their sea soldiers. As a result of this simple innovation, the archers atop the sterncastles were transformed into force multipliers against the Song. The position enabled the archers to direct a higher, more concentrated rate of missile fire against the enemy. Fire teams of seven or eight archers manned these platforms, and they proved devastatingly-effective as the battle commenced at close quarter.
Li Heng's first attack cut the Song rope that held the Chinese fleet together. Fighting raged with great intensity at a hand-to hand distance. The Song gave fierce resistance, but by eleven, they had lost three of their ships to the Mongols, though the outcome was still by no means certain. Then, by the forenoon, Li's ships broke through the Song's outer line, and two other Mongol squadrons destroyed the Song formation in the corner of the northwest. Around this time, the tide had shifted; Li's ships drifted to the opposite direction, the north.
The Song believed that the Mongols were halting the attack and, foolishly, dropped their guard. Their mistake was obvious when, suddenly, Zhang Hongfan's fleet, riding the northern current, slammed into the Chinese ships. Zhang was determined to capture the Song admiral, Zuo Tai. The Yuan flagship was protected by shields to negate the Song missile fire. Later, when Zhang did capture the Song flagship, his own vessel was riddled with arrows. Then, as if the Song did not have enough difficulties, Li Heng's fleet returned to the battle. By late afternoon, it was obvious to all observers that the battle was over. The Mongols had prevailed, and the Song navy surrendered.
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
established under the House of Zhu
House of Zhu
Zhu was the family name of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty. The House of Zhu ruled China from 1368 until the Manchu Conquest of 1644....
.