"The big rope is fluttering, the three armies are using their lives, the swords and swords are shadows, and the twisting is dry." Throughout the ages, there have been many battles that have profoundly affected our world, and in these classic battles, siege warfare is one of the most representative modes of operation.
In a classic siege battle, there are collisions of different cultures, there are also contests of good and evil, and human wisdom and will are vividly displayed in three-dimensional attack and defense.
In the 13th century, the Mongol Empire rose and began to expand rapidly, and under the iron hooves of the machetes of the steppe cavalry, the cities of Eurasia fell one after another. In 1259, in order to launch the War of annihilation of the Song Dynasty, the Mongol Great Khan Möngke divided his troops into three routes:
The Eastern Route Army under Kublai Khan set out from Henan and marched south to capture Xiangyang and Ezhou;
The army commanded by Wuliang Hetai attacked Changsha from Yunnan via Guizhou;
The Western Route Army, under the personal command of Meng Ge, entered the Sichuan River from Shaanxi, captured Chongqing, opened the Gate of Chumen, and then went down the east side of the river.
The ultimate goal of the Three Roads Army is only one, that is, Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty.
At that time, Sichuan was the second largest source of financial revenue in the Southern Song Dynasty, and its strategic position was very important. In order to defend this important place of money and grain, Sichuan's pacification system made Yu Jiu build a set of mountain city defense system, and the mountain city fortresses were built on the mountain to guard the official road channel into the river.
However, in the face of the menacing Meng Ge army, many mountain cities fell without a fight. Soon, the Mongol army surrounded Diaoyu City, directly threatening the important town of Chongqing to the south.
Möngke's Western Route Army had more than 100,000 men, while the Southern Song Army defending the city was less than 20,000, of which the regular army was only 4,600. However, the Diaoyu City, built on the mountain, could be defended by layers of walls between the outer and inner cities, and under the leadership of Wang Jian, the defensive general of the Zhi yong and Yong Dynasty, the Mongol army was blocked out of the wall for several consecutive days.
Although the Southern Water Army docks were finally lost, but the city's grain and grass reserves were sufficient, it could still be held for a long time, from the beginning of February three to the beginning of April three, Möngke's army has been resisted under the Diaoyu City for two months, affected by the rain, the offensive was suspended.
On April 22 and 24, the Mongol army, led by the fierce general Wang Dechen, used siege equipment to launch two attacks and sneak attacks on Diaoyu City, both of which were repelled by the defenders. Subsequently, Wang Jian took the initiative to attack and led a death squad out of the city from the secret road to sneak into the Meng Ge tent, but was repelled.
At the beginning of June, the soldiers and civilians of Diaoyu City, who had been holding out for 4 months, finally looked forward to reinforcements, but the sailor brothers were very weak and were quickly driven back to Chongqing by Mongolian warships. At the same time as the victory on the water, Möngke also prepared another surprise for the defenders of Diaoyu City.
Through the secret earthwork industry, in the middle of the night of the fifth night of the first month of June, Wang Dechen led the Mongol army through the tunnels, crossed the city wall, and attacked the outer city in the northwest. The Ma army defending the city was caught off guard and all were killed in battle, Wang Jian led his army to reinforcements, and fought fiercely with the Mongol army for one night, but finally failed to drive the Mongolian army out of the northwest outer city, and could only retreat into the inner city to continue to hold.
Even so, Diaoyu City refused to surrender, and also used rolling wood and stones to smash Wang Dechen, the vanguard of the Mongolian army who was persuaded to surrender under the city. In July 21, Möngke, who had lost his general, moved northwest of Diaoyu City, personally beat the drum to help the army, and commanded the army to launch a general attack on the inner city, and the two sides fought a deadly battle. When the fighting was at its most intense, the army, the people, and the refugees in the city all joined the battle.
The impatient Möngke Khan continued to beat the drum as he asked his men to climb up the high watchtower to observe the battle. At this moment, the Song army's stone throwing machine in the city was launched, and the watchtower was smashed and smashed, and the drumming suddenly stopped. Although the fighting continued, the demoralized Mongol army was unable to capture the inner city.
A few days later, the Mongol army pulled out of the camp.
On August 11, Mungo died, and there have been different accounts about the cause of his death. The "History of the Yuan" records that Möngke died of illness, while some historical sources believe that Möngke was hit by a cannon and died of serious injuries. Whatever the cause, the death of Möngke Khan directly affected the world order.
In order to compete for the Khan's throne, Kublai Khan led the army north of the southern expedition. The soldiers and civilians of the Southern Song Dynasty used their stubborn resistance to temporarily survive, and the Southern Song Dynasty also continued to live for a full 20 years.
Also blessed was distant Egypt. As early as 1252, Möngke sent his brother Hulagu to launch the Third Western Expedition. Hulagu attacked the city all the way in West Asia, and the army pointed directly at Egypt. Seeing that the history of the Arab world was about to be rewritten, the news of Möngke's death came, Hulagu led his army back to the east, leaving only 5,000 people to stay in Syria, and finally these 5,000 people were defeated by the Arab army, the whole army was destroyed, and the pace of westward expansion of the Mongol army that almost entered Africa stopped.
A sudden cannon stone, while taking away a life, changed the course of history. While we praise the tenacity of the defenders, we also have to admire Möngke. In addition to the bad luck, from the overall strategy, There was nothing wrong with Möngke's command in the Battle of Diaoyu City. On the contrary, the use of some tactics is still quite clever, from the layout and application of siege vehicles, to the sneak attack of underground secret passages, to the reinforcements who repelled the surface, it has to be said that this set of three-dimensional attack strategies is impeccable.