10. Conquest of Southern China

The economical value was also great if a victory over Song was accomplished. Merchants from Southern China had developed a very profitable trade with Southeast Asia, India and even so far away as the Middle East. These products, profits and treasures that one could gain from this trading were with no doubt other reasons for Khubilai to attack the Song Empire. The land in Southern China was also much more fruitful than the land in northern China, where the population often had shortages in their food supplies. If Khubilai expanded south, he could ensure a more than adequate supply of grains to his subjects in Northern China.

But the conquest of Southern China would not be easy. The Mongolian armies and the cavalries were neither used to the temperatures or landscapes that existed in Southern China. The Mongolians horses also met many difficulties. The hot temperatures and the forests were much harder environments than the steppes that the horses was used to, the horses also had a difficult time to get used to the heat. There was hardly any forage for the horses because crops were planted on every piece of land that was arable. The Mongolians themselves were not ready for the diseases that ravaged in the subtropical climate, were parasites and mosquitoes spread diseases, against which the Mongolians had not yet evolved any immune defense.

Furthermore, the Mongolian troops would also have to use military strategies that they had hardly used yet. Appropriate for a state that was so involved in the trade over the oceans Song had a very strong fleet, furthermore would most of their larger cities demand attacks from naval war forces. The Mongolians now had to build ships, recruit sailors and become more efficient in warfare at sea. The Mongolians did in fact develop a strong fleet, that with the help of their Chinese and Korean subjects manage to subdue the naval forces of the Song Empire. The Mongolians also had a border over land against the Song Empire and those battles that were on land were usually to the Mongolians advantage. But the conquest of the Song Empire would take great tax- and military resources. Despite its military weakness in the end of the 13th century, the Song Empire, because of their wealth, was still a formidable adversary.

Khubilai had earlier sent an emissary, Hao Ching, to the court of the Song Empire with the hope of a peaceful solution, but he never came further than the border where he was detained as a spy. The premier minister of Song, Chia Ssu-tao, considered that the Song Empire was strong enough to risk a confrontation with Khubilai. Instead, Chia began his own military preparations in case of an attack from Khubilai.

Chia went through with these preparations by using a landreform that involved confiscation of land from great landowners, but this made the larger part of the higher class hostile against Chia. The Song generals, whom Chia had disbelief in, also had many complaints, which can explain why a large number of them later surrendered to Khubilai without a fight.

Early in 1265 CE, the first great battle between Khubilai and Song occurred near Tiao-yü shan (in the province of Sichuan), where Khubilai’s troops not only was victorious but they also managed to seize 146 ships. The confiscation of the ships also demonstrates Khubilai’s growing attention on the need of a strong fleet.

Khubilai had at this time realized that a victory over Song would demand a strong naval force and aimed for hijacking or building ships. His efforts were impressive, for as a historian in the subject “Fleets of China” writes, “The readiness that the Mongolians, a nation of riders, took to the arts of naval warfare is astounding.” A defector from Song, Liu Cheng, was one of those who propagated most for the building of a strong fleet. Without ships, the Mongolians would never be able to subdue the Song Empire.

The battle at Hsiang-yang, which started in 1268 CE, marked the turning point in the war against Song. It would become the longest campaign in the war and is a battle that Yuan shih (History of the Yuan dynasty), Rashid al-Din and Marco Polo all describes in some way. Marco Polo even says that he took part of the siege, which is impossible since the siege ended in a Mongolian victory two years before he would have arrived to China. Hsiang-yang, and the nearby city of Fan-ch’eng were situated along the northern border of today’s province Hubei. They faced each other on each side of the Han River, which united itself with the Yangtze River further south at the city of Wu-ch’ang, today’s Wuhan.

Their importance was composed by their strategic location: they were the last fortifications on the way to the Yangtze’s river basin. These cities protected the means of transportation towards the middle and the southeastern river basin of the Yangtze River as well as the western regions of the Song Empire. Conquering these two cities could offer the Mongolians a strong base to further attacks to the rest of Southern China. The Chinese had constructed extremely good fortifications at Hsiang-yang, it had a stronghold, a sturdy wall and a deep moat. The Song emperor appointed Lü Wen-huan as commander over this well defended and apparently invincible fortress.

To conquer the Song troops at Hsiang-yang, the Mongolian troops had to use their newly developed skills in siege and naval warfare. The Mongolians counted on starving the defenders of Song, but these got provisions that came from Song through the Han River south of Hsiang-yang, which the Mongolians soon discovered. What they really needed was a total control over the Han River as far south towards the Yangtze River as it was possible. Song would keep on trying sending troops and supplies through transports on the river. It was simply necessary for Khubilai’s forces to prevent Song from accomplishing this. Khubilai’s forces would also soon have to storm the stronghold. But the troops of Song was so well entrenched that the Mongolians realized that they would suffer severe casualties. They needed support from the artillery to be able to avoid these severe casualties.

Those commanders that Khubilai chose for this campaign once again reveals his prudence when it came to the recruiting of his representatives. He did not only choose Mongolian commanders, nor did he choose commanders from one single ethnic group. Liu Cheng, the defector from Song, whom had informed Khubilai about the Song Empire political and military weaknesses, and Shih T’ien-tse, whom had joined the Mongolians before Khubilai’s seizure of power, was among the more prominent of the Chinese generals.

Arigh Kaya, who showed himself as one of the most successful of the commanders, was an Uighur, A-chu (Aju in Mongolian) was the main representative of the Mongolians; and Isma’il and ‘Ala al-Din, who was behind the construction of the artillery that was used in the final attack of Hsiang-yang, was Persian Muslims. Koreans and Chinese from Northern China built the ships that were used during the siege. The commanders and troops that fell upon Hsiang-yang consisted of what one today would call an international force. Here was another example of how Khubilai enticed non-Mongolians to his cause and hired them for his own purposes. Khubilai was willing to recruit non-Mongolians and give them positions of authority, even over military matters. The forces that they commanded over were also of different ethnic groups.

It took them almost five years before they had vanquished Hsiang-yang. This long battle depended a great deal on that the city had stored large supplies and that some ships managed the break through the Mongolians blockade. One other reason was also the enemy’s strong fortress, the Mongolians could not make an attack without taking heave casualties. They needed something that could end this stalemate. This stalemate would be broken by the help of two Muslim engineers, Isma’il and ‘Ala al-Din that were sent to Khubilai from his nephew, the Il-Khan Abakha in the year of 1271 CE. After a short visit to the Mongolian court, they arrived to the battlefield in the end of 1272 CE. They looked over the battlefield area, planned and then began to build the war machines that they needeed.

These heavy catapults were able to send large boulders over considerable distances. In December 1272 CE, the troops began to use these machines of war against the city of Fan-ch’eng. With the aid of this heavy artillery, Arigh Kaya was able to storm the fortress. During the bombardment of rocks and other projectiles, the Song forces could not withstand the attacking Mongolian forces and the city fell within a few days. When the report came to Lü Wen-huan about the fall of Fan-ch’eng, he quickly realized that neither Hsiang-yang would be able to withstand such an attack of heavy artillery.

But he did not surrender immediately. The Muslim engineers therefore started to inspect the stronghold and later built a war machine in the southeastern corner of the city. The missiles could weigh about 90 kilograms and all that the missiles hit was destroyed. Late in March 1273 CE, Lü admitted to the superior firepower with his adversaries and finally surrendered. A siege of almost five years was finally over and an important status symbol for the Song Empire had fallen. Khubilai was so impressed by Lü Wen-huan’s persistence that he offered Lü a governor post in the same city that he so stubbornly had defended.

One of the most important strongholds of defense for the Song Empire had now been lost and the premier minister Chia Ssu-tao was now in trouble. He stepped in as the commander over the Song forces. He also tried to get in even more money for the military expenses by putting taxes on the Buddhist and Taoist monasteries. But both of these attempts just led to even more trouble instead, the religious leaders became more hostile towards him and his military attempts became complete fiascos.

Khubilai’s war against the Song Empire continued and in summer of 1273 CE, he appointed Bayan as his supreme commander. Bayan continued inevitable toward the heart of the Song Empire, in the middle of March 1275 CE, he finally met with his main antagonist, Chia Ssu-tao, at Yang-chou. It is told that Chia had 130,000 men under his command, the number of troops under Bayan’s command is not sure. But the fact that was decisive for the battle was not the number of men but what equipment the armies had. Chia suffered heavy casualties thanks to those war machines that Bayan had in his army. Chia soon became forced to gather the little forces that were left and then sound the retreat.

This finally meant that Chia would lose his post as premier minister and in the end, he was murdered. Chaos followed and many defected to Khubilai’s side instead. Soon, Bayan stood at the gates of the Song Empire’s capitol, Lin-an. The court of Song was now under a great confusion and chaos. The emperor of Song, Tu-tsung, whom had reigned since 1264 CE, suddenly died on August 12, 1274 CE. He had three sons, whom all were underage, the second son, the four-year-old Hsien (1270-1323, succeeded his father since he was legitimate heir.

But his grandmother, the empress Dowager Hsieh (1208-1282), had the real power.

After some persuasion she let the emperor’s brothers leave the court for a safer place south, she and the emperor stayed behind to keep the morale up. Meanwhile, Bayan conquered now one city after another and in most cases the military and the inhabitants surrendered without a fight. Song now lost strategically important places quickly. Despite this, the empress Dowager would not surrender but tried instead to settle the matter with Bayan. On December 23, 1275 CE, the empress sent a messenger to Bayan to persuade him to give up his campaign against he would receive yearly payments from the Song court. But Bayan was too close to victory to be able to accept such a poor offer and he refused. The Song court tried again with a new offer on January 11, 1276 CE, but Bayan was not interested. He demanded an unconditional surrender. After several effortless meetings, the empress finally gave up and gave the Song dynasty’s sigil to Bayan, an unambiguous symbol of surrender.

Bayan discovered within a week the imperial family’s double-dealing and started to search for the emperor’s brothers, but the retinue managed to escape. Bayan ordered his officers to complete a census of the inhabitants of the city and that they also should registry the city’s treasures and grain storages. At the same time, he also ordered that the imperial family would be treated with respect. He stopped his men to plunder the tombs of the Song dynasty and their treasure chambers. After exhorting his forces, Bayan returned, together with the emperor and the empress Dowager, north to the court of Khubilai at Shang-tu.

Khubilai cared for the Song leaders reasonably well, even if he confiscated some of the imperial family’s treasures, he was not so vindictive as he could have been. He gave the deposed emperor Hsien the title as Duke of Ying, and supplied the young man with all the luxuries that the young man had grown accustomed to. Khubilai promised the same well-meaning and generous treatment to ordinary officials of Song. All that had submitted themselves would be spared and Khubilai also gave orders that Confucians, Taoists and Buddhists would all be treated with respect. He promised government support or contributions to widows, orphans and childless old people. In this way, he sent an important message; he would not tolerate any plundering of the newly conquered areas. Instead he would use the same tactics that he had used in northern China, to encourage the recovery of the war infested country and support economical growth and development.

The imperial family was treated well and the empress Dowager Hsieh stayed in Dai-du until her death in 1282 CE. Her daughter, Ch’üan joined a Buddhist convent where she died sometime after 1296 CE. The benevolence that was shown to the Song family stored a huge supply of goodwill for the Mongolian rulers to come.

Despite the surrender at Hangzhou Song was not yet completely beaten, it would take another three years before the Song dynasty finally had fallen to the Mongolians. In 1279 CE, the Song Empire’s fleet was crushed at Kanton. And for the first time in its history, all of China (from 1279 CE) was conquered by a foreign people. All of China was once again reunited after 300 years.