The siege of Diaoyucheng, alternatively the Siege of Diaoyu Castle, was a battle between the
Southern Song dynasty and the
Mongol Empire in 1259.
[History of Yuan vol.3] It occurred at the
Diaoyu Fortress
The Diaoyucheng (), or Diaoyu Fortress, is a fortress located on the Diaoyu Mountain in Heyang Town, Hechuan District, Chongqing. It is known for its resistance to the Mongol armies in the latter half of the Song dynasty.
History
The death ...
in modern-day
Hechuan District
Hechuan () is a district in the northern part of Chongqing Municipality, People's Republic of China, located at the meeting point of the Jialing, Fu and Qu rivers, with a history of 1,500 years. Hechuan is away from downtown Chongqing's Yuz ...
,
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Cou ...
, China.
Möngke Khan
Möngke ( mn, ' / Мөнх '; ; 11 January 1209 – 11 August 1259) was the fourth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire, ruling from 1 July 1251, to 11 August 1259. He was the first Khagan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms ...
, 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.
Background
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.
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.
[Songshi Jishi Ben mo(宋史紀事本末).vol.24]
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".
In Sichuan
After 1234, the Mongols launched an all-out war against the Song China. They attacked from both the east and west flanks, crippling the Chinese defenses. Despite these initial military successes, the Song army managed to retaliate. No significant advancement was made.
Under the command of Meng Gong,
Yu Jie, and other generals, the Song army fended off the advancing Mongols. In Sichuan, Meng Gong led the Song army as it held its position against the Mongols in 1239 and 1240.
Defense by Yu Jie
In 1243, Yu Jie was appointed the commander of the Song army in Sichuan.
When he actually came to Sichuan, he discovered that, due to the Mongol invasion, the Sichuan region was in a state of anarchy. The Song army was able to defend itself by forming smaller military units that did not have superiority over each other. In order to reverse the dire situation in Sichuan, Yu sought the advice of the people under his command. Ran Lian and Ran Pu, two hermits of Bozhou, came to his office and offered him the plan of building a castle in Hechuan. Specifically, the plan was to build a castle on Diaoyu mountain of Hechuan. Hechuan sits at the eastern entrance of Sichuan region, the Mongols had to pass it before advancing further into the interior of Sichuan. Thus, the Diaoyu mountain was a great defensive vantage point for the Song army.
Yu Jie ordered the construction of dozens of castles in different counties and made these castles the administrative centre of local government. All the castles that were built were situated on the tops of mountains which made them extremely formidable against any offensive.
Diaoyu Castle was built in March 1243 and became the administrative center of Hechuan county.
Meanwhile, the Mongols began to cultivate lands in occupied territories in Sichuan. This action distressed the Song army since they would not be able to recover these lost territories once the Mongols acquired a permanent source of food and supplies.
Offensive by Möngke
The long-term standoff between Song and Mongols lasted till
1258. After receiving the news of
Hulagu
Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulegu ( mn, Хүлэгү/ , lit=Surplus, translit=Hu’legu’/Qülegü; chg, ; Arabic: fa, هولاکو خان, ''Holâku Khân;'' ; 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of West ...
reporting the demise of
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
and its Khalifa,
Möngke Khan decided to break the standoff by leading a large army into Sichuan himself.
He also ordered his younger brother Kublai to march towards
Hangzhou, the capital of Song. The offensive consisted of three waves of armies. Möngke led his troop across
Dasan Pass and entered the city of
Hanzhong
Hanzhong (; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gansu to the west.
The founder of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, was once enfeoffed as th ...
while the other two waves of advancing forces made their way to Micang pass and Mianzhou.
The resistance of the Song army in Sichuan was ineffective. By the spring of 1259, Möngke reached the city of
Hechuan. In order to take Hechuan, the Mongols had to capture Diaoyu Castle.
Siege of Diaoyu Castle
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
The mangonel, also called the traction trebuchet, was a type of trebuchet used in Ancient China starting from the Warring States period, and later across Eurasia by the 6th century AD. Unlike the later counterweight trebuchet, the mangonel operat ...
.
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
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Cou ...
, 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 Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages ...
monk
Bar Hebraeus
Gregory Bar Hebraeus ( syc, ܓܪܝܓܘܪܝܘܣ ܒܪ ܥܒܪܝܐ, b. 1226 - d. 30 July 1286), known by his Syriac ancestral surname as Bar Ebraya or Bar Ebroyo, and also by a Latinized name Abulpharagius, was an Aramean Maphrian (regional prim ...
), while Persian sources suggest that Möngke died from infectious diseases like
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
or
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
(Chinese sources confirm the existence of an outbreak during the siege).
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. 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. 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.
Aftermath
From 1246 to 1279, the Chinese resistance to Mongol conquest in the region of
Sichuan lasted 36 years. The unexpected stubborn defense of the Chinese garrison in Diaoyu Castle caused the Mongols much trouble, such as the
Mongol defeat in Egypt as a result of Hulagu's sudden retreat after the death of Möngke.
The death of Möngke led to the
division of the Mongol Empire.
Hulagu
Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulegu ( mn, Хүлэгү/ , lit=Surplus, translit=Hu’legu’/Qülegü; chg, ; Arabic: fa, هولاکو خان, ''Holâku Khân;'' ; 8 February 1265), was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of West ...
remained in Persia permanently while
Kublai
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of the ...
and
Ariq Böke
Ariq Böke (after 1219–1266), the components of his name also spelled Arigh, Arik and Bukha, Buka ( mn, Аригбөх, Arigböh, ; ), was the seventh and youngest son of Tolui and a grandson of Genghis Khan. After the death of his brother the ...
tried to seize the title of Khan for themselves. The Song dynasty was temporarily rescued from the brink of destruction. However, Kublai eventually marked the end of Song dynasty in the year of 1279, 20 years after the siege of Diaoyu Castle. Both events were irreversible and had great significance in Chinese, Mongolian, and world history.
References
{{Reflist
Conflicts in 1259
Diaoyu
History of Chongqing
Military history of Sichuan
Mongol conquest of China
1259 in the Mongol Empire