The Mongol Empire under
Genghis Khan conquered vast lands and subjugated nations. Genghis Khan's last battle was fought in
Western Xia but his life had come to an end before he was able to conquer it. His
successors carried on his ambition. In the year 1234, the Mongols conquered the
Great Jin China with the assistance of
Song China.
[2]
In the same year, Song China attempted to take back its northern territories originally occupied by the Jin. In September 1234, the Mongols responded with the siege of Luoyang. The Song army holding Luoyang was short of food supplies. Additionally, the Mongols led the water of
Yellow River into the city causing great casualties among the Song army.
[3]
The fall of Luoyang was simply a prologue of a series of upcoming battles which lasted decades. The Mongols blamed the Song for "breaking the alliance".
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diaoyucheng
The
siege of Diaoyucheng, alternatively the
siege of Diaoyu Castle, was a battle between the
Southern Song dynasty and the
Mongol Empire in 1259.
[1] It occurred at the
Diaoyu Fortress in modern-day
Hechuan District,
Chongqing, China.
Möngke Khan, the fourth khagan of the Mongol Empire, lost his life in this battle, making it the only battle where the Mongols lost their khagan during their campaigns of conquest. This battle was preceded by the
siege of Baghdad in 1258. The siege of Diaoyucheng was a setback for the Mongol conquest.
Möngke's siege of Diaoyu Castle began sometime between 24 February and 25 March 1259. The siege lasted for approximately five months.
The commander of the Song forces in the castle was Wang Jian. Möngke sent his general
Wang Dechen as the vanguard of the Mongol army. The Mongols initially tried to break the castle's gates. When this strategy was proven ineffective, they started night raids on the outer part of the castle on minor defensive structures. Although these raids surprised the Song army at first, the Mongols were not able to break into the castle. During these attempts, Wang Dechen was killed by a Song
mangonel.
[5]
In the seventh month of the first year of Kaiqing, Möngke was giving up the original plan of capturing the castle and instead, to dispatch his remaining forces to attack
Chongqing, however, Diaoyu Fortress would soon prove to be his place of demise, as Möngke died during the siege. Sources differ on how Möngke actually died—Chinese sources claim that Möngke was mortally injured by artillery fire from either a shell or stone projectile from a
cannon shot or
trebuchet, or a bolt from a crossbow arrow (this claim is corroborated by the writings of the
Syriac monk
Bar Hebraeus), while Persian sources suggest that Möngke died from infectious diseases like
dysentery or
cholera (Chinese sources confirm the existence of an outbreak during the siege).
[6]
After receiving the news that his brother died, Kublai decided to withdraw his troops. He threatened the Song that he would attack Lin'an, the capital of Song, to deter any possible retaliation by the Song armies.
[7] His strategy proved effective. The prime minister of Song
Jia Sidao soon sent his ambassador to negotiate a peace treaty.
Diaoyu Castle remained in the hands of Song armies. Mongols under Kublai tried to take it in 1263 but failed again. In the following decade, the Mongols routinely returned to the castle every autumn.
[8] In 1279, the garrison of Diaoyu Castle surrendered to the Mongols two months before the end of the Song dynasty; the commanders committed suicide rather than swearing fealty to the Mongols.
[9]