The Battle of Yamen

The old minister said, "Now, the fate of the dynasty is hanging by a thread, and its survival is uncertain. Your Majesty, rather than being captured by the barbarians and subjected to shame, it would be better for you and me to throw ourselves into the sea and die for the nation. This way, we can meet our ancestors in the afterlife and uphold the honor of being the Emperor of the Great Song." Upon hearing this, the young Emperor cried out, "I will never be born again as the bloodline of an emperor!" and, together with the old minister, threw himself into the sea.

 

 

1. The Fall of the Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was founded by Zhao Kuangyin, who unified China after the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The Song Dynasty prospered, and at its peak, its population nearly reached 100 million. Moreover, commerce became more active than ever before. The bustling commercial activities made the capital, Kaifeng, a metropolis where the lights never went out at night, giving rise to the term "city of eternal lights." However, even such a flourishing Song Dynasty was defeated by the Jin Dynasty, which rose in the Manchurian region, losing northern China and retreating to the south of the Yangtze River. The key figures of the Song Dynasty, now pushed to the south, established a new Song Dynasty in the city of Lin'an, which later came to be known as Southern Song. However, the Southern Song was eventually crushed by the Mongol forces that rose from the Mongolian steppes, and its emperor, Gongdi, was captured and taken to the Mongol capital, Dadu. Southern Song seemingly disappeared from history.

 

2. The Three Heroes of the End of the Song Dynasty
However, three loyal officials remained with the Southern Song Dynasty. Their names were Wen Tianxiang, Lu Xiufu, and Zhang Shijie, collectively known as the Three Heroes of the End of the Song Dynasty. They burned with the will to revive the Song Dynasty and supported a new emperor—Gongdi's younger brother, who became the last emperor of Southern Song. They led the Southern Song resistance forces and carried on continuous resistance activities, but the situation only worsened. Eventually, Emperor Gongdi died from illness. However, the three officials did not give up and elevated the younger brother of Emperor Gongdi to the throne, naming him the new emperor, Emperor Shao of Southern Song. They then focused on utilizing the strategic weakness of the Yuan navy, knowing that the Yuan forces were strong on land but weak at sea. They moved their base to the coastal regions, where Zhang Shijie and Lu Xiufu, along with the young emperor, led a fleet around the coastline to continue their resistance. Meanwhile, Wen Tianxiang remained inland, continuing his struggle, but he was eventually defeated and captured by the Yuan forces.

 

3. To Yamen
Meanwhile, the Yuan forces had already created a navy from the Han soldiers and generals who had surrendered. This posed a dire situation for the Southern Song resistance. The Yuan navy pursued the Southern Song fleet, capturing one coastal base after another. Pursued relentlessly, the Southern Song forces eventually landed on Yamen, an island isolated from the mainland. They built a palace and fortress there to prepare for the final battle. Upon hearing of the emperor and the Southern Song resistance forces being at Yamen, a group of 200,000 volunteer soldiers gathered to join the resistance. Moreover, the Shi family, a prominent clan, also decided to protect the emperor. The Shi family had enjoyed the protection and favor of the Song Dynasty since the reign of Song Taizu, Zhao Kuangyin, making their loyalty and support exceptional and unprecedented in Chinese history.

 

4. The Siege
At that time, the Southern Song forces were led by Zhang Shijie, who connected over a thousand large ships together to form a sea fortress, preparing for the final showdown. The Yuan navy, led by Zhang Hongfan, attacked Zhang Shijie's fleet. Zhang Hongfan used small boats filled with kindling and set them ablaze, sending them towards the Southern Song fleet in a fire ship attack. However, Zhang Shijie had anticipated this and had covered his ships with mud, preventing the fire ships from causing damage. When the fire ship attack failed, Zhang Hongfan, using his overwhelming numbers, besieged Yamen. At the same time, Zhang Hongfan offered Zhang Shijie a chance to surrender, but Zhang Shijie refused, determined to fight to the end. As time passed, the morale of the Southern Song forces began to wane. The Yuan army's siege cut off the supply of fresh water and provisions, and the Southern Song forces suffered from hunger and disease. As the siege continued, the fatigue of the Southern Song forces reached its peak, and the Yuan forces launched a large-scale assault.

 

5. The Final Battle
The Yuan forces' arrows rained down on the Southern Song fleet. Already exhausted, the Southern Song soldiers fell helplessly. Then, numerous Yuan soldiers boarded the Southern Song ships. The Southern Song forces resisted, but they were already outnumbered and outmatched. Many soldiers died or threw themselves into the sea. What followed was no longer a battle but a massacre. The leading figures of the Southern Song forces, realizing that the tide had turned, fell into despair. One by one, they committed suicide. During this time, Lu Xiufu was inside a ship teaching the young emperor "The Great Learning," an introductory text on the education of emperors. Knowing that the battle was lost, he, along with the young emperor, threw themselves into the sea. The emperor's mother, Empress Dowager Yang, also succumbed to despair and threw herself into the sea. Before doing so, she said, "The only reason I have lived until now was to preserve the bloodline of the Zhao family, but now that things have come to this, what reason do I have to live any longer?" Meanwhile, Zhang Shijie continued to lead his fleet in resistance, but they were eventually annihilated by a storm. Records state that the following day, the sea was covered with the bodies of over 100,000 soldiers.

 

6. The Last Loyalist
Before the Yamen battle, Wen Tianxiang, who had been captured by the Yuan forces, witnessed the events of the final battle. Afterward, he was sent to Dadu, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the emperor of Yuan was Kublai Khan, who sought to win over Wen Tianxiang. Wen Tianxiang refused, and Kublai Khan imprisoned him for five years. During his imprisonment, Kublai Khan made numerous efforts to change Wen Tianxiang's mind. However, Wen Tianxiang continued to fuel the Southern Song resistance, much to Kublai Khan's frustration. Ultimately, Kublai Khan had no choice but to order Wen Tianxiang's execution, although he later regretted it. By the time the order was reversed, the execution had already been carried out, and Wen Tianxiang was dead. Kublai Khan mourned his death, lamenting the loss of the last loyalist of the Southern Song Dynasty.

 

7. The Rise and Fall of Dynasties
With the outcome of the Battle of Yamen, the Yuan Dynasty completed its conquest of all of China. However, within a century, the Yuan Dynasty was driven out of China by the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang, who, according to records, was a descendant of a soldier who participated in the Yamen battle. His maternal grandfather had survived the battle and returned home, leaving descendants. One of his descendants would later go on to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty.