Festival 135

Did the Song Dynasty perish?

In theory, there isn't yet.

At least it was not considered destruction before Zhao Qi was killed, but anyone knew that the destruction of the Song Dynasty had been pressed.

When the Mongol Yuan attacked the Jin Dynasty, he met with Xiao Heng and Qin Jian, especially Xiao Heng caused great losses to the Mongol Yuan, so the Mongol Yuan remained cautious when continuing to attack the Southern Song Dynasty.

At least, when there was insufficient supply, they were not confident that they could break the defense with Xiao Heng's subordinates as the main force. Qin Jian's tactics of firm walls and clearing the field did disrupt the rhythm of the Mongols' offensive, making them dare to build a forward base on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

However, after a brief renovation and supply replenishment, the Mongolian army immediately launched a large army to attack the city, and Pingjiang Prefecture once again faced the test of the out-of-stock invaders...

Faced with the Mongolian army's offensive, most of the government and the country were hoping for a miracle in Pingjiang Prefecture, hoping for a miracle that forced the Jin people to retreat.

However, without Qin Jian, miracles never happened again.

The Mongolian army easily broke through the defense of Pingjiang Mansion as if it had pierced a layer of window paper... Even they themselves did not expect the war to go so smoothly!

Next, what the Mongolian Yuan soldiers pointed to was Lin'an, the capital of the Song Dynasty.

Lin'an has a high wall and a deep city. In the era of cold weapons, it was a city that was almost unbreakable.

Normally speaking, the larger the city and the higher the city wall, the higher the cost of breaking it.

Large cities not only have strong defense, but most importantly, the materials they reserve can last for a long time.

Generally speaking, as long as the city is large enough and the city walls are high enough, it is impossible to be broken... If you want to break through a city of this size, you can only rely on siege, or even for years.

This siege strategy is actually to hurt people with its original intention, and it will cost far more than the defense, or even several times the defense's price to break it.

Therefore, in history, real supercities basically began to collapse from the inside, either because of civil strife or the surrender of the defenders. There are very few large cities that have fallen due to siege.

However, when the cannon was invented, everything was different.

When the solid walls are no longer strong, the price the attacking party has to pay is much smaller.

In addition, the Southern Song Dynasty had long lagged behind the Mongolian Yuan in the research and development of gunpowder weapons, so when the advantage of firepower was no longer there, the fragile defense system was worthless in front of artillery.

Although Xiao Heng collapsed the city gate tower and gave a strong warning to the Southern Song regime, no effective solution was found after continuous discussions.

——The Southern Song Dynasty neither had powerful cavalry like the Great Jin Dynasty nor armored vehicles like Xiao Heng. So they could not simply copy it whether it was the Battle of Zhongdu or the Battle of Yangzhou.

The inefficient court discussions exhausted the last vitality of the Southern Song Dynasty.

When the news of the city breaking in Pingjiang Prefecture just reached Lin'an Prefecture, the Mongolian and Yuan army had already arrived at the city... and they did not repair it on the spot, but began to attack the city overnight.

Lin'an's city walls are majestic, but they can't withstand the infinite bombardment of artillery.

Although the power of solid shells is not as powerful as that of flowering shells, they are not powerful enough to make up for the quantity. In order to make a concerted effort, the Mongolian Yuan called more than 100 light and heavy artillery to launch a violent bombardment on Lin'an City.

Lin'an City was broken in less than an hour.

Then the Mongolian army immediately rushed in from the gap and captured the imperial city like a staggering force.

If the ordinary "未"-shaped capital is broken by the invaders, it will be really beyond help.

But the wonderful thing about Lin'an City is that it generally has a shape similar to a kitchen knife. The upper part near the north is a thick "cutter body", while the part near the tail is a "cutter handle".

The imperial city of the Song Dynasty is at this "hilt".

If it is a normal "return"-shaped city - such as the Zhongdu City of Dajin, the invaders will start to clear the outer layer after breaking through the outer layer, and will only start to siege the inner layer after the war on the outer layer has subsided.

In this way, the emperor in the inner city did not even have a chance to escape.

However, for Lin'an City, it is close to West Lake to the west of Lin'an, which is not suitable for large army development at all. The "blade" direction east of Lin'an is densely populated with river networks, which is also not suitable for large army development. Only the front of the north is a narrow plain, which is more suitable for siege.

After the invaders break through the outer city, they have to cross the entire city to reach the north wall of Lin'an Imperial City... But outside the south wall of the Imperial City is Qiantang River! You can walk straight on the boat and you can't even catch up!

As for why there are ships here...

...That's not because of Xiao Heng!

The great escape caused by the newspaper left by Xiao Heng, Lin'an was already empty before the Mongolian army arrived.

All the ministers were not stupid. They sent their families to the south without saying anything on the surface.

After all, that information is so detailed. Anyone with a little brain can tell that the Song Dynasty will definitely not be able to resist the attack from the Mongolian Yuan.

So in the end, even Zhao Shi couldn't keep his last stubbornness and silently prepared several ships as a way to retreat.

So although the Mongol Yuan's attack was sharp enough, when the news of the breakup of Pingjiang Prefecture reached Lin'an, the big men in the court, including Zhao Shi, were ready.

When the news of the city breaking came, the senior officials and emperor Zhao Tsui of Lin'an City immediately set off to the riverside... When the Mongolian Yuan entered the imperial city, the ship shadow could not be seen.

But the emperor and the senior officials ran away, but the palace maids and eunuchs in the palace were kept.

After all, the capacity of several ships cannot transport everyone away. The Song Dynasty neither had the ability of Xiao Heng nor the nature of Xiao Heng. It would never be willing to leave with these ordinary people who could be abandoned at any time.

And these people who served the emperor all their lives were sold.

Corpse were everywhere where the Mongolian army passed.

Eunuch, palace maid.

I know, I don't know...

When the little eunuch saw the eunuch who helped him to the Imperial Medical Inspectorate, his expression also distorted.

People who were alive yesterday would still joke and have utilitarianism... But now, the eunuch is just a piece of meat lying on the side of the road, a body with separate bodies.

The little eunuch held the big eunuch's head and wanted to find his body... However, there were too many headless corpses, and he didn't know which one was his real body.

Maybe even the eunuch didn't expect that his momentary premonition would come true - he really could never see the little eunuch named puppy again, but the two sides separated by heaven and man changed their seats.

The little eunuch hesitated for a while, casually found the body and put his head on it, then put the eunuch's body on it and then turned around and ran away.

I have no time to delay him, and the most important thing now is to find dry food!

He remembered that there were some bacon and other things in the imperial kitchen, and he could last for a long time just by bringing one piece.

But as the little eunuch ran through half of the imperial city, he was very familiar with it and soon discovered something wrong - many rooms where people originally lived were no one or corpses, and there was no trace of blood in the room, and some even had traces of tidying up and packing...

Everything shows that many people have long known about the catastrophe tonight and ran away before the Mongols attacked the imperial city!

At first, the young eunuch couldn't believe his judgment, but as the evidence increased, he couldn't help but refuse.

The emperor, ministers and the emperor's confidants... were likely to have run away long ago and left them as cannon fodder to hinder the footsteps of the Mongolian people.

Therefore, in history, real supercities basically began to collapse from the inside, either because of civil strife or the surrender of the defenders. There are very few large cities that have fallen due to siege.

However, when the cannon was invented, everything was different.

When the solid walls are no longer strong, the price the attacking party has to pay is much smaller.

In addition, the Southern Song Dynasty had long lagged behind the Mongolian Yuan in the research and development of gunpowder weapons, so when the advantage of firepower was no longer there, the fragile defense system was worthless in front of artillery.

Although Xiao Heng collapsed the city gate tower and gave a strong warning to the Southern Song regime, no effective solution was found after continuous discussions.

——The Southern Song Dynasty neither had powerful cavalry like the Great Jin Dynasty nor armored vehicles like Xiao Heng. So they could not simply copy it whether it was the Battle of Zhongdu or the Battle of Yangzhou.

The inefficient court discussions exhausted the last vitality of the Southern Song Dynasty.

When the news of the city breaking in Pingjiang Prefecture just reached Lin'an Prefecture, the Mongolian and Yuan army had already arrived at the city... and they did not repair it on the spot, but began to attack the city overnight.

Lin'an's city walls are majestic, but they can't withstand the infinite bombardment of artillery.

Although the power of solid shells is not as powerful as that of flowering shells, they are not powerful enough to make up for the quantity. In order to make a concerted effort, the Mongolian Yuan called more than 100 light and heavy artillery to launch a violent bombardment on Lin'an City.

Lin'an City was broken in less than an hour.

Then the Mongolian army immediately rushed in from the gap and captured the imperial city like a staggering force.

If the ordinary "未"-shaped capital is broken by the invaders, it will be really beyond help.

But the wonderful thing about Lin'an City is that it generally has a shape similar to a kitchen knife. The upper part near the north is a thick "cutter body", while the part near the tail is a "cutter handle".

The imperial city of the Song Dynasty is at this "hilt".

If it is a normal "return"-shaped city - such as the Zhongdu City of Dajin, the invaders will start to clear the outer layer after breaking through the outer layer, and will only start to siege the inner layer after the war on the outer layer has subsided.

In this way, the emperor in the inner city did not even have a chance to escape.

However, for Lin'an City, it is close to West Lake to the west of Lin'an, which is not suitable for large army development at all. The "blade" direction east of Lin'an is densely populated with river networks, which is also not suitable for large army development. Only the front of the north is a narrow plain, which is more suitable for siege.

After the invaders break through the outer city, they have to cross the entire city to reach the north wall of Lin'an Imperial City... But outside the south wall of the Imperial City is Qiantang River! You can walk straight on the boat and you can't even catch up!

As for why there are ships here...

...That's not because of Xiao Heng!

The great escape caused by the newspaper left by Xiao Heng, Lin'an was already empty before the Mongolian army arrived.

All the ministers were not stupid. They sent their families to the south without saying anything on the surface.

After all, that information is so detailed. Anyone with a little brain can tell that the Song Dynasty will definitely not be able to resist the attack from the Mongolian Yuan.

So in the end, even Zhao Qi could not keep his last stubbornness and silently prepared several ships as a way to retreat.

So although the Mongol Yuan's attack was sharp enough, when the news of the breakup of Pingjiang Prefecture reached Lin'an, the big men in the court, including Zhao Qi, were already ready.

When the news of the city being broken came, the senior officials and emperor Zhao Qi in Lin'an City immediately set off to the riverside... When the Mongolian Yuan entered the imperial city, the ship shadow could not be seen.

But the emperor and the senior officials ran away, but the palace maids and eunuchs in the palace were kept.
To be continued...