The Conquest of Southern China
The Song Emperor Duzong died in 1274, and his four-year-old son Zhao Xian became the Emperor Gongdi (reigned 1274–1276). The Mongols sent Shi Tianze and Bayan on a full-scale campaign against the Song. Shi Tianze died en route. Bayan ordered that Aju head the first column and depart for the Yangtze from Xiangyang, with Lu Wenhuan as fore-runner general; the second column headed by Mang-wu would depart from Yangzhou, with Liu Zheng as forerunner general. Bayan took numerous cities on his march, slaughtered the inhabitants of one town, and killed and captured numerous Song generals. The Song Dowager Empress and Regent, Xie-shi, had no choice but to rely on Jia Sidao for fighting the Mongols. More Song generals surrendered, including Fan Wenhu in Sichuan and Chen Yi in Huangzhou (Huanggang area, Hubei). Hearing that Liu Zheng had died, Jia Sidao experienced a brief ecstasy and led an army of about 130,000 against the Mongols, but he suffered defeat on the Yangtze River. The populace of the Jiangsu areas, around the Yangtze, including Zhenjiang and Jiangyin, deserted their homes in the face of the Mongol attacks. Jia Sidao sent an emissary to Bayan to discuss a truce, but Bayan declined to negotiate. Jia Sidao asked the dowager empress to relocate the Song capital, Hangzhou, but Empress Xie-shi refused to move.
Several ministers at the Song court requested that the regent deprive Jia Sidao of his posts, and the Song released former Mongol emissaries like Hao Jing as a good-will gesture. At this point Zhang Shijie of E'zhou (Hubei Province), Wen Tianxiang of Jiangxi and Li Fei of Hunan came to the east to help the Song court. A Song general abandoned Jiankang (i.e. Nanking), and the Mongols took Changzhou and Wuxi.
Kublai Khan then sent Lian Xixian and Yan Zhongfan to the Song to discuss a ceasefire. Lian Xixian asked Bayan for bodyguards, but Bayan advised that the more bodyguards Lian took with him, the more the likelihood that the Song Chinese might harm him. Lian obtained 500 soldiers, but once he arrived at Dusong-guan Pass, the Song General Zhang Ru killed Yan Zhongfan and captured Lian Xixian. (The History of Yuan Dynasty states that the Song killed Lian too.) Bayan deplored the Song behavior, and sent another emissary, Zhang Xu, to the Song court, together with a Song emissary; but a Song border general had Zhang Xu killed. Then the Mongols stopped peace talks and attacked Yangzhou on the northern bank of the Yangtze (Changjiang River) and defeated two generals under Li Tingzhi. Jiading surrendered next, and a Mongol fire attack defeated Zhang Shijie's navy on the Yangtze. Wen Tianxiang arrived in Lin'an (Hangzhou, the Song capital), but the Empress Dowager did not take his advice. Jia Sidao was expelled from the capital, and the escort official killed him en route. The Mongols took Taizhou in Jiangsu and slaughtered the inhabitants of Changzhou. In Hunan, Li Fei died, and the Song lost both Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces. After taking over Dusong-guan Pass, the Mongols started to close in in on the Song capital.
A Song minister called Liu Yue, sent to the Mongol camp to sue for peace, received a rebuff from Bayan, who said that the Song Emperor obtained the throne from a child and would lose it in the hands of a kid. The Song sent Lu Xufu to the Mongols to express a wish to become a Mongol protectorate, but the Mongols declined the proposal. The Song's new prime minister, Chen Yizhong, sent Liu Yue to the Mongols in an attempt to gain acknowledgment as a Mongol vassal, but a Song Chinese civilian killed Liu Yue en route, at Gaoyou of Jiangsu Province. The Mongols then sacked Jiaxing and An'jie of Zhejiang Province. Wen Tianxiang and Zhang Shijie advised that the Song court relocate to the islands ioffshore, but Prime Minister Chen Yizhong decided to send the imperial seal to the Mongols in token of surrender. Bayan demanded that Chen personally come to the Mongols, and Chen fled to Wenzhou, a southern Zhejiang coastal city. Zhang Shijie led his people into the sea. The Song appointed Wen Tianxiang as the rightside prime minister and ordered him to go to the Mongols to seek peace. Bayan arrested Wen after he accused Bayan of invasion. In AD 1276, Bayan took over Lin'an and forced the dowager empress to issue the surrender order. He sent the Song royal family, including the dowager empress and Emperor Gongdi, to Peking.
Turk minister Ahmad Fanakati was jealous with Bayan's success and tried to calumniate him that he plundered Chinese commoners.
Read more about this topic: Bayan Of The Baarin
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