Sky Curtain: The Overlord Charges into Battle, Shocking Emperors of All Dynasties

"So that's how the Yuan Dynasty came about."

Ying Zheng could naturally see through Kublai Khan's thoughts.

Since ancient times, it has been valued that a cause for war must have a legitimate reason. Kublai Khan's actions were a clear declaration that he intended to inherit the legal system of the Central Plains and contend with the Southern Song Dynasty for the throne.

It's unclear how the Southern Song Dynasty reacted at the time.

Kublai Khan's ambitions were now blatantly obvious; it was impossible for the Southern Song emperors and ministers to remain completely indifferent.

...

"Sigh, so what if the Southern Song Dynasty reacts?"

"The gap between the two countries is simply too large."

Zhuge Liang's face was filled with sorrow; he had already foreseen what the final outcome would be.

Besides the national strength of the two countries, the emperors of the two countries were also an important factor.

Judging from everything Tianmu mentioned about Kublai Khan, he was clearly a capable and enlightened ruler.

Moreover, he was one of the few monarchs among the non-Han peoples who wanted to promote Sinicization.

If things continue like this, the Han people in the north, who were already living under the Jin dynasty, might actually have a more comfortable life than under the Yuan dynasty, simply because they were now under the Jurchen rule.

How could this not win the hearts of the Han people in the north?

In contrast, during the Southern Song Dynasty, apart from Emperor Xiaozong, almost none of its rulers could be considered capable monarchs.

Thus, the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty was inevitable.

"The rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty were truly incompetent. Despite having ample tax revenue and capable ministers and generals, they still couldn't defeat the foreign tribes!"

Zhang Fei looked at the sky, his anger rising.

The emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty were truly incompetent, wasting all their manpower and resources. It would have been better to have sent their elder brother.

In 1273, after a six-year siege, Xiangyang and Fancheng were captured by the Yuan Dynasty, opening the gates to the Yangtze River and causing the complete collapse of the Jingxiang defense line.

The following year, Kublai Khan appointed Bayan as commander-in-chief and led an army of hundreds of thousands by land and sea to march south down the Han River from Xiangyang. In the Battle of Dingjiazhou, the elite Song army led by Jia Sidao was completely annihilated.

In 1276, the Yuan army approached Lin'an. Empress Dowager Xie and Emperor Gong of Song surrendered, and the Southern Song Dynasty officially surrendered.

Ministers escorted members of the imperial family south, fighting their way through Fujian and Guangdong.

Finally, Emperor Duanzong died, and Lu Xiufu supported the eight-year-old Zhao Bing to the throne, retreating to Yaishan in Guangdong.

A seabird's cry pierced the sky.

The vast and boundless sea appeared before the eyes of people from all dynasties.

The waves, carrying the salty smell of the sea, crashed against the cliff face, splashing up countless sprays.

As the camera moves, countless tiny dots appear at the horizon.

The camera zoomed in, revealing that those small dots were actually thousands of warships, interconnected by iron chains.

To the north and south of these thousands of warships, the two sea lanes leading to Yai Shan were already densely packed with Yuan warships, and the two sea lanes were completely blocked.

On the shore, tens of thousands of Yuan soldiers faced off against hundreds of thousands of Song soldiers and civilians on the naval formation across the sea.

These thousands of warships carried the last 100,000 soldiers and civilians of the Song Dynasty.

"Kill them!!!"

Small boats, laden with firewood and grease, rode the wind and sped towards the Song ships.

However, the burning warships were blocked by the thick layer of wet mud on the Song Dynasty ships and the long logs at the bow.

Time flowed silently, the sun rose and the moon set, and the two sides remained locked in a stalemate here.

Southern Song warships frequently attempted to break through the Yuan army's encirclement and reach the shore to fetch water, but were constantly intercepted by the Yuan navy.

On the shore, the Yuan army relentlessly bombarded the Southern Song fleet's naval camp with cannonballs.

This scene was all too familiar to Zhuge Liang.

They were both surrounded, and both were cut off from water.

This is exactly like what was mentioned on the screen during the Battle of Jieting.

However, at that time it was in the mountains, while the Southern Song Dynasty was at sea.

Furthermore, the Southern Song Dynasty even employed Cao Cao's tactic, chaining their fleet together with iron chains.

"A desperate situation; the Southern Song Dynasty is completely trapped in a desperate situation."

Li Shimin was extremely anxious, his mind racing, searching for a solution and an escape route.

Despite his best efforts, Li Shimin could not come up with a way to break through the encirclement.

If it were him, he would have a very hard time breaking through.

He was quite capable on land, but at sea, all his skills were useless.

The Yuan Dynasty's navy surrounded the Southern Song fleet so tightly that they couldn't even reach the shore. How could they possibly break through?

[Song general Zhang Shijie, in order to prevent the Yuan dynasty from using fire attacks, protect the emperor in the middle of the battle formation, and also prevent soldiers from escaping by ship during naval battles, chained the warships together with iron chains.]

The cost of doing this was that the fleet completely lost its maneuverability.

During the Battle of Yamen, the Song army originally had a camp on Yamen, which allowed them to go ashore to fetch water, chop firewood, and cook.

However, to prevent his soldiers from deserting, Zhang Shijie deliberately burned down the camps on the shore and led the entire army to retreat to their warships at sea.

"Zhang Shijie's intention is nothing more than to burn his bridges, lock down the morale of his troops, and fight to the death!"

Zhang Shijie's intentions were clear to almost all the generals who were in charge of military operations.

If they put themselves in Zhang Shijie's shoes, they would probably make the same choice.

Years of defeats demoralized the army, and the imperial court fled repeatedly, eventually reaching Guangdong.

If we don't do this and cut off our retreat, how can we fight the final battle against the Yuan army?

Zhang Shijie is trading the lives of logistics personnel and soldiers for a chance to win a decisive battle.

Zhang Shijie cut off his retreat, solely for the purpose of a decisive battle against the Yuan Dynasty.

[However, he did not expect that by abandoning the camp on the shore, the Yuan army would only need to surround it, without needing a decisive battle.]

[With no other option, the soldiers and civilians on board had to drink seawater, which caused them to vomit and have diarrhea, gradually weakening their fighting capacity.]

On the sixth day of the second month of the second year of Xiangxing, Yuan general Zhang Hongfan took advantage of the tides to launch a two-pronged attack from the north and south, catching the Song army's fleet in a pincer movement.

The iron chains were cut, and the water fortress was divided.

[After being besieged for a long time, the exhausted Song army gritted their teeth and launched a final charge against the Yuan army when they were out of ammunition and food.]

Countless people died in this battle, and the sea was stained blood-red by the carnage.

"Zhang Hongfan?"

"Judging from the name, he's Han Chinese!!!"

"How could he betray his ancestors and help a foreign tribe attack the Han dynasty?"

The Song emperor's words were filled with anger, which reminded them of Zhang Yuan, the failed scholar who had defected to the Western Xia.

People from before the Song Dynasty were also very dissatisfied when they saw this.

This behavior existed as early as the Han Dynasty, and for thousands of years people have almost universally abhorred it.

Such behavior is absolutely unacceptable!

[Regarding the participants in this battle, the vast majority of Zhang Hongfan and his taxi drivers were Han Chinese.]

[Including Zhang Hongfan, they were all Han Chinese from the northern regions who lived during the Jin Dynasty.]

They were all descendants of the Northern Army commanders who had been abandoned, betrayed, and suspected by the Song Dynasty.

They witnessed the Northern Expeditions time and time again, responded to them time and time again, only to be betrayed and purged time and time again. In the end, they were utterly desperate and had no choice but to surrender to the Mongols.

These people weren't unaware that they wanted to serve the Southern Song Dynasty, but the Southern Song Dynasty didn't want their service.

They were all abandoned to the Mongols.

The Han Chinese group in the north contributed the most to the Mongol conquest of the Southern Song Dynasty.

When the Southern Song Dynasty sought only to survive in the south, it completely forgot about the Han people living in the north.

The seeds of the Southern Song Dynasty's demise had already been quietly sown, eventually taking root and sprouting.