Drunk on both sides of a drink, injured on both sides of a fight.

- Buyi proverb

In 1251, after a bloody battle between the Mongol royal families, the 42-year-old eldest son of Tulei, Möngke, finally became the fourth Great Khan of the Great Mongolian State. Meng Ge can also comfort his father under Jiuquan, because the supreme leadership of the country has been transferred from the Ogedai family to the Tuolei family.

The Mongol boy Dahai and the Salta boy Nuhai came to the army of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan and the son of Tulei, and participated in the war of the Great Mongols to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty.

In Nuhai's eyes, Möngke was a taciturn man. He was of medium height, with slender eyes, a flat nose, and a strong and resolute personality, disliking aristocratic extravagance and banquets.

His tent was hung with a golden curtain, and in the center was a small stove with twigs, wormwood roots, and cow dung for the fire.

Dressed in a smooth fur robe, Möngke sat on a small wooden bed and discussed with his courtiers on the affairs of the state, or received foreign envoys who came to visit.

In the spring of 1258, Meng Ke launched a full-scale war of aggression against the Southern Song Dynasty, and decided to completely conquer the Southern Song Dynasty, which had been haunting his heart for many years.

Meng Ge divided the Mongol army into two routes, personally led Kublai Khan and the Western Route Army to attack Sichuan from the west, and planned to conquer Ezhou, an important town in the central part of the country, with the Eastern Route Army led by King Tachar, after pacifying Sichuan and Shu, and then attacking the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin'an (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province).

According to the pre-war deployment, the Eastern Route Army led by Tachar attacked Jingshan (southwest of present-day Huaiyuan, Anhui Province), intending to disperse the defensive forces of the Southern Song Dynasty. However, the progress of the Eastern Route Army has not been very smooth, and by the winter there has been no great improvement.

Meng Ge was so anxious in Sichuan that he stomped his feet, immediately removed the ineffective Tachar, and assigned Kublai Khan and Dahai to lead the Eastern Route Army and enter the battle as soon as possible. Nuhai remained in Mönggo's name.

In the summer of the following year, Meng Ke saw that the siege of the rear of the Southern Song Dynasty had been completed, and officially announced an attack on the Southern Song Dynasty under the pretext that the Southern Song Dynasty had imprisoned the Mongol envoys.

He ordered one Mongol army to open the road from Yunnan to Sichuan, and ordered another army to march south, join up with the previous army, and advance from the southwest to the east.

Meng Ge himself led more than 40,000 officers and soldiers, including Nuhai, from Liupan Mountain in southern Ningxia, and divided his troops into three routes to attack Sichuan. The Mongol army soon captured most of the prefectures and counties in western and northern Sichuan, and successfully reached Wusheng Mountain, preparing to attack Hezhou (present-day Hechuan District, Chongqing).

At that time, Hezhou was in the hands of the Southern Song Dynasty army.

There is a Diaoyu Mountain 5 kilometers east of Hezhou City. The mountain is abrupt and towering, the relative height is about 300 meters, it is located at the confluence of Jialing River, Qujiang River and Fujiang River, surrounded by water on three sides in the south, north and west, and the barrier hangs the river.

At the top of the hill is the Diaoyu Castle. The city was built with stone walls several zhang high, and a one-word city wall extending to the middle of the river was built in the north and south. There are 13 large and small ponds and 92 wells in the city, which can be said to be sufficient for soldiers and sufficient water.

There is a naval wharf built on the riverside, and there are warships, which can control the three rivers on the top and shield Chongqing on the bottom, which is the defensive fortress that supports the Sichuan war situation, and the terrain is very dangerous.

Meng Ge first sent Jin Guobao, a general who surrendered to Mongolia in the Southern Song Dynasty, to Diaoyu City to persuade him to surrender, but was killed by Wang Jian, a strong-willed Southern Song defender.

Seeing that it was not good, Meng Ge relied on the strength of his army and horses, and did not take Nuhai's suggestion to avoid the fortified city and make a detour to the east, ignoring the unfavorable conditions of weather and geography, and determined to conquer the fortress Diaoyu City. He sent a three-way army to raid the old city of Hezhou, cutting off the outer cities from Diaoyu City. At the same time, Meng Ge ordered the marshal of Sichuan to cut off the rescue of the Southern Song Dynasty, and took a dangerous base in Tongluo Gorge to prevent the Southern Song army in Chongqing from advancing northward.

Meng Ke led the army across the Chicken Paw Beach (now the northeast of Diaoyu City), personally supervised the battle, and planned to take Diaoyu City in one fell swoop.

However, the Diaoyu City seemed to be an iron wall, and the Mongol army could not attack it for a long time.

Möngke ordered his generals to discuss a good strategy for the battle.

Nuhai boldly proposed that it would be a waste of time and troops for us to attack the fortified Diaoyu City, so it would be better to leave a small number of troops to trap and harass the enemy, and send the main force along the Yangtze River to the east by land and water, join forces with Kublai Khan's army, and destroy the Southern Song Dynasty in one fell swoop.

The arrogant and conceited generals insisted on a forcible attack on Diaoyu City, and ridiculed Nuhai for its undried milk and pedantic.

Meng Ge did not take Nuhai's advice at the critical time and decided to continue the attack on Diaoyu City.

Nuhai was anxious and angry, but there was nothing he could do about the majestic Great Khan.

After Meng Ke's large-scale attack on Sichuan, the Southern Song Dynasty court took a large-scale rescue operation in Sichuan, but the army reinforcing Diaoyu Cheng was blocked by the Mongol army halfway and never reached Diaoyu City. Despite this, the Diaoyu Castle, which had been besieged for months, was still well stocked, and the morale of the defenders was very high.

One day, Nu Hai went to inspect outside Diaoyu City and suddenly saw the Southern Song Dynasty defenders in the city throwing out large bags of things. He ran up to see that it was two fresh fish weighing 15 kilograms and more than 100 pieces of bread. As he wondered, a bow and arrow landed at his feet, wrapped in a note. He took down the note and unfolded it, and saw that it read: Mongolian Tartars, even if you wait another 10 years, you will not be able to capture the fortified Diaoyu City.

Nuhai was so angry that he tore the note to shreds.

In contrast, the situation of the Mongol army was indeed very poor. They were surrounded outside the city for a long time, and it was the scorching summer season, and they were already afraid of heat and dampness, which led to the fact that they were not accustomed to the water and soil, and caused epidemics of heatstroke, malaria, cholera, and other diseases in the army, and their combat effectiveness was greatly weakened.

The army of the Southern Song Dynasty seized the opportunity to drive a large number of warships up the river, broke through the blockade of the Mongol army, entered the Chongqing River, and then went north along the Jialing River to rescue the trapped Hezhou.

Nuhai didn't dare to relax at all, and patrolled the defense line every day with bloodshot eyes. The defenders of the Southern Song Dynasty in Diaoyu City took the opportunity to attack the city many times in the middle of the night, causing the Mongolian officers and soldiers to be frightened and unable to sleep at night.

Meng Gelongyan was furious and ordered the officers and soldiers to build a platform and build a building outside the Diaoyu City, and condescendingly spied on the reality inside the city, so as to decide whether to continue the siege.

One day, Meng Ge, accompanied by Nuhai and others, came to the scene to command, and was suddenly hit in the neck by a sharp stone thrown from the city. Due to the improper treatment of the military doctors, coupled with the humid and hot weather, Meng Ge's wounds unfortunately became infected, and he died two days later.

The Mongol army lost its great commander and had to withdraw from the encirclement and retreat north.

At this time, Kublai Khan's army had just arrived in Runan (present-day Zhumadian, Henan Province). When the sea heard that Möngke Khan had died of his injuries in Diaoyu City, he hurriedly reported to Kublai Khan.

Kublai Khan laughed when he heard this: "It's purely a rumor! How could the Great Khan, whose body was stronger than that of a bull, die suddenly? This is a rumor deliberately released by the Southern Song Dynasty in a vain attempt to disturb our military morale. We must learn from the good methods of the old-timer Mu Huali, grasp the surrender with one hand, and attack with the other, and continue to make great strides forward, forward! ”

Kublai Khan saw that the surrendered Han Chinese Zhang Rou and his son Zhang Hongyan led their troops to break through Hutou Pass (northeast of present-day Macheng, Hubei Province) and Shawo (southwest of present-day Shangcheng, Henan), clearing the obstacles in the way of the Mongol army's advance.

Kublai Khan led his main army across the Huai River at a rapid pace, breaking through the Dasheng Pass (present-day Luoshannan, Henan Province), and was invincible along the way, driving all the way to the north bank of the Yangtze River.

The defenders of the Southern Song Dynasty abandoned the battle and fled in all directions.

The kingdom will be unfortunate, and heaven and earth will be in harmony. There are strong enemies outside, and corrupt officials inside.

At that time, Yuan Jue, who served as the deputy envoy of the Southern Song Dynasty along the Yangtze River, was a henchman of Ding Daquan, a powerful minister of the imperial court.

The local people, who had been oppressed and exploited, were disappointed and hated by the Southern Song Dynasty court and officials, and were optimistic about the success of the Mongol army.

When Kublai Khan led his army to the banks of the Yangtze River, he was afraid that there were Southern Song ambushes buried in the fishing village. He ordered the main force to stand by and sent Nuhai with about 20 soldiers into the village to inquire about the situation.

Nuhai led the people to cautiously enter the fishing village, and found that the Han fishermen were not afraid, but gathered to welcome the Mongol soldiers.

Nuhai suspected that there was fraud in it, so he asked the Han soldiers to come forward and question the fishermen.

The fishermen shed tears of sorrow, recounted the crimes of the government to oppress the people and were insatiable, and finally could not help but lament: "The harsh government is fiercer than the tiger!" ”

Nu Hai asked suspiciously: "We Mongolians are good at fighting on horseback, and we can't cross the river by boat, so how can we go to the other side to avenge you?" ”

The fishermen said, "It doesn't matter, we are your guides." Our fishing boats are your warships that cross the river. ”

At this time, the messenger Nuhai, who was stationed in Sichuan, arrived to officially announce the death of Möngke Khan and asked Kublai Khan to return north to the Mongol headquarters to compete for the throne.

Kublai Khan believed that the battle for crossing the river was well prepared and that the opportunity to create a military exploit must not be missed. He climbed the incense burner mountain in the north of the river (located in the north of present-day Yangluobao, Hubei Province) overlooking the river, and saw that the Southern Song army used large ships to guard the ferry, 100,000 officers and soldiers stood on 2,000 warships, and the land and water lineup was grand and orderly.

Kublai Khan immediately ordered the sea to lead the assault team to set off immediately.

The commandos led by the sea rode in the fishermen's small fishing boats, shuttled flexibly and quickly among the shallows and reeds, and unexpectedly captured two large ships from the hands of the Southern Song Dynasty army.

In the early morning, the wind and rain were dark.

The sea and other generals thought that the weather was bad and they could not cross the river.

Kublai Khan ordered his soldiers to raise their banners and drums, divide their troops into three ways, seize the stronghold of Yangluo Fort, and force the Yangtze River.

Hundreds of daredevils rushed to the front, taking advantage of the hazy sky to reach the military camp of the Southern Song Dynasty. Other teams competed to capture more than 1,000 Southern Song Dynasty ships, killed the Southern Song Dynasty general Lu Wenxin and countless officers and soldiers, and captured 200 people.

The other armies of the Southern Song Dynasty rushed to meet the battle, but they were all defeated in battle, and the defense line of Yangluo Fort also failed frequently.

The main Mongol army quickly crossed the Yangtze River.

When Kublai Khan heard the news, he ordered the whole army to besiege the city of Ezhou, and at the same time instructed Zheng Ding to lead a team to attack Jiangxi, and send officers and soldiers to Hunan to meet the Mongol army that was attacking the hinterland of the Southern Song Dynasty by detouring Dali.

After Kublai Khan crossed the river, he strictly enforced military discipline and ordered that "any sergeant who trespasses into people's homes shall be subject to military law, and all those who are captured shall be connived." ”

Ezhou was surrounded by Mongol troops. The troops in the city were very empty, and the garrison suddenly became critical.

The emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty was very panicked and depressed when he heard the news that Ezhou was besieged, and once planned to move the capital to Ninghaijun (now Ninghai, Zhejiang Province).

The Empress Dowager and ministers opposed the relocation of the capital. Wen Tianxiang, who was the judge of the Ning Navy at the time, was even more fierce, and wrote a letter demanding that Dong Songchen, who proposed to move the capital and shake the hearts of the people, be beheaded for public display.

The emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty saw that the crowd was excited, so he calmed down a little, on the one hand, organized the volunteer army, and on the other hand, ordered all parts of the country to send troops to support the front line. He issued an edict appointing Jia Rudao to control the people of Jiangxi and Liangguang, and immediately assist the middle stream to enhance the ability to resist the attack of the Mongol army.

Jia Rudao is a native of Songxi, Tiantai Tunqiao, Zhejiang, the son of Jia She, the envoy of Jinghu System, who lost his father at the age of 11, and his sister was the concubine of Song Lizong. After Jia Yidao was instructed, he led Gong Runzu and other soldiers from Hanyang to enter the critical city of Ezhou to supervise the battle, and personally commanded the defense of Ezhou.

Accompanied by the sea, Kublai Khan climbed the Cloud Pressing Pavilion in the northeast of Ezhou City every day, and stood on a tall building to observe the dynamics of the Southern Song Dynasty defenders in the city. He said to Zhang Rou: "I am a warrior hunting in the wild, and it is not appropriate to catch the pigs in the pen." and thou shalt rush into the pigsty and catch the swine for me. ”

Therefore, Zhang Rou ordered his subordinates to build a goose cart that could dig a cave, dig a tunnel into the city, and select warriors to risk death to enter the city. After fierce fighting, Zhang Rou's army finally broke through the southeast corner of Ezhou City, but still did not take the entire Ezhou City.

Some generals blamed the defeat on the staff officers, saying that it was the staff officers who urged Kublai Khan not to kill people, which caused the Southern Song army in Echeng to refuse to surrender.

Kublai Khan immediately refuted: "The person who guards the city is just a staff officer, and you have an army of 100,000 but you can't defeat it." You can't conquer it even after killing people for months, is your sin the sin of the staff officer! ”

The Mongol army, which made a detour through Yunnan, reached the capital of Tanzhou (present-day Changsha, Hunan Province), on the Jinghu South Road. The Jiangxi region was also harassed by the Mongol cavalry.

As the time entered winter, the Mongol army repeatedly launched strong attacks on Ezhou. Plague and lack of food reduced the Mongol besieging forces by nearly half. The number of dead and wounded officers and soldiers in the Southern Song Dynasty has reached more than 13,000.

Kublai Khan encountered a new problem: his wife, Chahan Song, wrote a letter saying that his younger brother Ali Buge was plotting to succeed the Great Khan.

Since Möngke's death, the throne of the Great Mongol Khanate has been vacant. Meng Ge's sons had just reached adulthood and did not yet have the strength to compete for the throne. The third brother of the expedition to West Asia, Hulegu, was in a hurry halfway to the Mongolian headquarters, and it was difficult to immediately claim the throne. The battle for the throne was actually a game between Kublai Khan and the brothers Ali Buge.

Dahai and Nuhai believed that the war to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty was a protracted war, and advised Kublai Khan to return to China first to seize the throne.

At this time, Jia Rudao sent an envoy to the Mongol army to negotiate peace. He clearly knew that Meng Ge had died, and the Mongol army had no intention and no ability to fight again, ignoring the request of Gong Runzu and other generals to ask for war, not only did not take advantage of the victory to counterattack, but secretly sent an envoy to the Mongolian military camp to negotiate peace: "If the northern army is rotated, they are willing to cut the river as the boundary, and give 200,000 silver and silk horses each." ”

Kublai Khan was forced by the situation to agree to Jia Rudao's request. He decided to leave the general Batuer and others to continue the siege of Ezhou, while deliberately claiming to go to Lin'an, while privately withdrawing his troops and returning to the north to compete for the throne of the Great Mongolian State.

The interruption of the Battle of Ezhou by the Great Mongol State freed the Southern Song Dynasty from a crisis that was close to the collapse of the country.