In 1268-1273, the Siege of Xiangyang was fought in China between the Mongols under Aju and Liu Cheng and the Song under Lu-Wenhuan and Zhang Tianshun during the Wars of Kublai Khan.
Why did it happen?
After the death of Mongke Khan in 1259, Kublai Khan became the new ruler of the Mongol Empire. As an admirer of Chinese culture, and covetous of its wealth and technology, he made it his life goal to add the rest of China to the Mongol Empire. In 1265, after a bitter succession war with his younger brother, Ariq Boke, Kublai set his plans in motion by first defeating 146 Song ships at the Battle of Diaoyu in Sichuan Province. Kublai realized that the key to conquering the Song Empire, which controlled China south of the Yangtze River, was to capture the vital fortress cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng along the Han River. Subsequently, in 1268, Kublai ordered his best general, Aju, and his admiral, Liu Cheng, to lay siege to both cities to gain access to the Yangtze Valley.
Who was involved?
The Mongol army at Xiangyang numbered 100,000 warriors, 5,000 warships and 100 trebuchets. Most of the Mongol army during the siege were mounted warriors, but at least 20,000 were Chinese infantry. The catapults known as trebuchets had been invented by the Chinese around 400 BCE and were used as a sling for hurling missiles at and over city walls. The Song army at Xiangyang numbered 10,000 infantry and 3,000 warships. Like most Chinese armies of this period, the Song infantry was equipped with halberds and crossbows, while the warships were mostly river junks known as “catapult ships” equipped with trebuchets and carried crossbowmen.
What happened?
After surrounding both Xiangyang and Fancheng, the Mongols set up trebuchets and siege works around the two cities before firing incendiary clay bombs and exploding biochemical projectiles against the walls of both cities. The Song responded by firing their own clay bombs and biochemical projectiles at the Mongols from the city walls. In 1269, the Mongol army was reinforced by 20,000 Chinese infantry which replaced the Mongol losses from the previous year. In response, the Song navy attacked the Mongol forts along the Han River to try and break the siege. In the ensuing naval battle, 500 Song ships were sunk by Liu Cheng. Over the next two years, several attempts were made by the Song garrison to break out of Xiangyang before a fleet of 100 warships managed to break through the blockade in 1271 and reinforce the garrison with 3,000 men. At that point, Kublai Khan sent for a Muslim engineer from Baghdad to travel to China and build a counterweight trebuchet that was more powerful than the normal trebuchets. In 1273, this counterweight trebuchet breached the walls of Fancheng, allowing the Mongol army to storm through the breach and engage the Song garrison in hand-to-hand fighting. After several days, further breaches were made against the walls and the pontoon bridge connecting the two cities before Fancheng’s garrison was massacred. After this, the Mongols dismantled their counterweight trebuchet and repositioned it across the Han River facing Xiangyang. After the device destroyed a Song tower, the remaining garrison surrendered on 17 March. An estimated 20,000 Mongols and 3,000 Song are believed to have lost their lives during the five-year-long siege.
What changed as a result?
The Siege of Xiangyang was a decisive victory for the Mongols. In 1274, the Mongols headed down the Han River and by 1276 had defeated the main Song army and captured their capital Hangzhou. The final stand of the Song army came in 1279 when the Song navy was defeated at the Battle of Yamen and the young Song emperor was drowned. In the words of Saul David, Kublai Khan’s conquest of China had been, “a miracle of organization and logistic support” and had “sustained it for the best part of ten years, and managed this over thousands of kilometres in an area that could hardly have been less suited to the traditional tactics of the Mongols” (David, 2009, p.87). The dynasty founded by Kublai Khan, the Yuan dynasty, would rule China until 1368.
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