Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 711: The Second
In the Guangzheng Hall, Li Yu looked up in a daze.

This is the first time I heard his name mentioned in later generations.

I thought I would feel a sense of satisfaction from revenge, but:

He watched as the ragged general on the screen wept bitterly and then surrendered on the top of the Xiangyang city wall; he watched as one hundred thousand soldiers in the formation, with panic-stricken faces, retreated as their comrades in front of them turned against them.

Li Yu felt empty inside.

The Southern Song Dynasty fell because it lost the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, which is very similar to the Tang Dynasty in Jiangnan.

However, the way its country fell was completely different from that of the Tang Dynasty in Jiangnan.

As Cao Bin sailed north, Li Yu had seen thousands of small boats racing south to do business, but with Mongolia now destroying the country, it would be difficult to see such a scene.

The description of the destruction of a nation and the extinction of a race had only been used by him in the past when he was making up words, but now it was being demonstrated before his eyes for the first time by means of gods and ghosts.

"History always repeats itself." Zhao Kuangyin sighed.

This sentence has been said too many times by the younger generation, but when the fall of the Song Dynasty is actually seen before one’s eyes, the feeling is completely different.

Well, especially considering that this is the second time the Song Dynasty has fallen.

The Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Jin army's rapid advance, the capital was lost and the two emperors were captured, leading to the bloody shame of Jingkang.

The Southern Song Dynasty was destroyed by the Mongols who advanced step by step. The Iron Pass was broken and the Mongols encroached upon them step by step. Even the immortals were powerless to save the situation.

The country was destroyed twice in different ways. Thinking about this, Zhao Kuangyin didn’t know what expression to make for a moment.

Zhao Guangyi picked up the rosary again, lowered his head and began to recall the Buddhist scriptures.

The atmosphere in Guangzheng Hall was a little dull. In the silence, Zhao Pu suddenly asked a question:
"What about Wen Tianxiang, who wrote the Song of Righteousness?"

Dingjiazhou is located in present-day Tongling, Anhui. A quick look at the map will show that it is 200 kilometers away from Lin'an Prefecture, where "the singing and dancing in the West Lake never stop". The demise of the Southern Song Dynasty was basically just around the corner.

And the ones who were able to save a little face for the Southern Song Dynasty in the end were precisely the converts whom the Southern Song Dynasty had always despised.

Zhuozhou, the hometown of Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, the finish line of the Gaoliang River drag racing contest, and the end of the history of the two Song dynasties, was only briefly recovered during the reigns of Zhao Guangyi and Song Huizong, but both times were quite short.

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a man from Zhuozhou named Zhang Shijie who belonged to the lowest class of the Mongols due to his bloodline. He worked as a guard for a Mongolian official in Henan. Later, when he got into trouble, he simply fled south to join the Southern Song Dynasty and became a general of the Southern Song Dynasty.

On the third day of the first lunar month in 1276, before Empress Dowager Xie and the six-year-old Emperor Gong of Song had even eaten their hot dumplings in Lin'an, the news that the garrison commander of Jiaxing Prefecture had opened the city gates and surrendered arrived. At this time, only a handful of people in the Southern Song Dynasty dared to speak out, including Prime Minister Chen Yizhong, Baokang Army Commander Zhang Shijie, Minister of Rites Lu Xiufu, and Lin'an Prefect Wen Tianxiang, who were basically the last of the Southern Song Dynasty.

As the country is about to perish, the fate of several people will also be determined.

First is the Pigeon King Chen Yi Zhong, who was promoted and attached to Jia Sidao in his early years, and eventually became the prime minister because of "overthrowing Jia". Now that the Yuan army is approaching the city, facing the situation that the left prime minister Liu Mengyan has fled, Chen Yi Zhong and Empress Dowager Xie and others, after sending envoys to negotiate peace with the Yuan army and being rejected, finally asked Empress Dowager Xie to move the capital.

Even though the country was about to perish, moving the capital was a big deal. Empress Dowager Xie finally agreed after Chen Yi Zhong's repeated persuasion. However, when the date of moving the capital came, Chen Yi Zhong simply and decisively stood up the Empress Dowager, which made Empress Dowager Xie furious. She said, "I didn't want to move at first... Are you deceiving me?" The matter of moving the capital was abandoned, and everyone waited to die in Lin'an City.

Soon the Yuan army entered the northern suburbs of Lin'an. Empress Dowager Xie once again sent people to ask for surrender. At that time, the Mongolian commander Bayan said that surrender was possible, but the prime minister should be sent first. As the agreed date approached, Chen Yi Zhong changed his mind again and simply ran away to the countryside. Empress Dowager Xie had no choice but to send Wen Tianxiang and Wu Jian and other envoys to ask for surrender. However, this group of envoys made Bayan furious, and the talks between the two sides soon broke down. In less than two months, the Mongolian army broke through the city of Lin'an, captured thousands of royal family members and went north. The Southern Song Dynasty had actually perished at this time.

However, the Zhao family still had a trace of blood, and the officials who were still resisting formed a maritime exile government. Chen Yi Zhong was invited back to serve as prime minister, but during the escape, he disagreed with Zhang Shijie. In the end, Chen Yi Zhong fled to Champa and could not be summoned back. Zhang Shijie continued to move towards Yashan.

Apart from Chen Yi Zhong, Zhang Shijie, Lu Xiufu and Wen Tianxiang were known as the three heroes of the late Song Dynasty, but they were not united among themselves.

Before the fall of the Song Dynasty, Lu Xiufu was basically a typical scholar and councilor. As fewer and fewer people fled to the court, Lu Xiufu, who remained steadfast in his integrity, took on more and more positions. In the end, the military expenses and labor services needed for the small court to garrison at Yashan were basically managed by Lu Xiufu alone.

There is no need to elaborate on the Battle of Yashan. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Zhang Shijie wanted to bring Prince Wei, who was then regarded as the ruler of Song, to his ship to plan a breakout, but Lu Xiufu refused for fear of being betrayed. Finally, after Yashan was broken, all the ministers fled separately. Seeing that there was no way to survive, Lu Xiufu pushed his wife and children into the sea, and then carried Prince Wei on his back to die in the sea.

Zhang Shijie's resume is very typical of the Song Dynasty. He had to face both the fierce Yuan army and the fierce backstabbing of his teammates.

After the Battle of Dingjiazhou, only Zhang Shijie briefly recaptured a few cities, but he soon lost them again, which was of no avail.

In the relatively critical Battle of Jiaoshan on the eve of the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, Prime Minister Liu Mengyan and Chen Yi Zhong both held back their troops from advancing along the originally planned four routes, which ultimately led to Zhang Shijie's defeat. The Yangtze River became an inland river of the Yuan Dynasty, and the Yuan Dynasty was completely powerless to reverse the situation.

Similarly, Zhang Shijie's military talent was indeed mediocre. His decision to hold on to Yashan caused the Song army to be cut off from water supply and defeated. He was more or less like Zhuge Kongming's beloved disciple.

However, Zhang Shijie himself defended this, arguing that his subordinates had already begun to disband, and if they did not unite and fight to the death, they would only be defeated faster.

But looking back, actually no decision is important. When Kublai Khan decided to use the power of the entire continent to destroy a country, it was already decided. No matter what the Southern Song Dynasty did afterwards, it would be a futile struggle if it failed to defend Xiangyang. Yashan was just the last casino chosen by Zhang Shijie who did not want to drift on the sea.

We all know the ending of Yashan, which was chosen by Zhang Shijie. After Lu Xiufu jumped into the sea, many people died. "In seven days, more than 100,000 corpses floated in the sea."

After hearing the news, Zhang Shijie, who had successfully escaped from Yashan, refused his subordinates' request to let him go ashore as he looked at the typhoon approaching in the distance. He only left a message saying "If it is like this, is this God's will?" The final record left was "The hurricane destroyed the boat and drowned him at the foot of Pingzhang Mountain."

The fall of Lin'an marked the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty. After the Battle of Yashan, the last breath of the Song Dynasty also dissipated, and the Song Dynasty ended its 319-year history.

Among the feudal dynasties since the Qin Dynasty, its reign is second only to the Han Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)