During the eight years from 1266 to 1274, Kublai Khan sent several envoys to Japan, but Japan refused. Annoyed and enraged, Kublai Khan decided to cross the sea to subdue the island nation.
Kublai Khan organized tens of thousands of Mongolian, Han, and Goryeo soldiers, and ordered Goryeo to supervise the construction of 900 ships, and made two expeditions to Japan in 1274 and 1281 AD.
During the First Crusade, the Yuan army was overwhelmed, quickly occupying the islands of Tsushima and Iki, and then invading Hizen Matsuura Prefecture. Just when the Japanese army was retreating, in a night storm, more than 200 Yuan ** ships were overturned by the waves. The Yuan army, which had suffered a heavy loss of troops, had to retreat to its homeland, and Japan escaped. It is known as the "Battle of Wenshui" in history.
The second crusade was still because of the typhoon, and the Yuan army fell short at the last moment. Later, a story called kamikaze spread among Japanese folklore that the Mongol invaders' ships were there"Kamikaze"did not enter Japan under the obstruction, and the Japanese have always believed that it was"Kamikaze"Saved them.
So, apart from typhoons, were there other factors that led to the defeat of the Yuan army?The answer is yes:
1. The Mongols were not good at naval warfare, and the quality of their warships was worrisome. The Mongols were good at land warfare but not at sea warfare, after all, it was difficult for the people on horseback to adapt to the living conditions at sea.
In addition, the conclusion drawn from archaeology is that the warships of the Yuan army were of poor quality. Since the Mongols could not build ships, the ships needed for the two crusades were built by the Goryeo people. The Koreans did not do their best at all, but only perfunctory Kublai Khan. **Shoddy and unable to withstand the impact of the waves. The sudden onset of the typhoon made it impossible for these fragile ships to fight. Kublai Khan probably did not expect that his ambition would be shattered in the end"Tofu residue project"on.
2. Naval Battles -- Kublai Khan had no idea where to start. Kublai Khan didn't know how to fight such an island country that was isolated overseas. The best fight was the first expedition, but the number of combatants was only about 30,000. If you want to destroy Japan, tens of thousands of troops are far from enough.
By the second time, Kublai Khan planned to come to a real war of annihilation, but this time Japan was more prepared, and the war was kept alive until the weather suddenly changed, which was even more unfavorable to the Yuan army.
The landing operation was a very difficult task for the ancients, so if the First Eastern Crusade had been well prepared and the purpose was clearer, perhaps the Yuan army could have taken Kyushu Island and gained a firm foothold, but history has no ifs.
3. Japan's terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Japan is mountainous, and even in coastal areas, there are no large beaches or plains. Its terrain is very unsuitable for the deployment of large forces, and there are almost no ideal landing grounds.
Fourth, the consumption of alien armies. There is also a theory that the result of the failure of the Eastern Crusade against Japan was what Kublai Khan wanted. The Han army that surrendered in the previous dynasty was in an embarrassing position in the Yuan Dynasty: it was unkind to kill, and it was uneasy to use it, so they simply let them go with the Goryeo to conquer Japan. So long before the expedition, the fate of this army's defeat was predestined. It has little to do with military tactics.
Goryeo obstructed either openly or covertly, the Yuan Dynasty fought on multiple fronts (Southern Song Dynasty), and Japan fought on its own soil, so it was normal to lose the battle, and the so-called kamikaze was not the main reason.
Fifth, people's hearts are uneven. Fundamentally, the reason for the failure of Kublai Khan's ambitious war against Japan was the disillusionment of the people, the hostility of the Han and Goryeo towards the Mongols, and the disunity of the hearts of the many ethnic groups under the Yuan Empire due to the differences in rank, and when there were some suitable opportunities, such a dynasty was in danger of overturning, which was probably the reason for the short life of the Yuan Empire.
During the Mongol expansion era, not only did the expedition to Japan fail, but it also suffered defeats in Vietnam, Java, and Egypt. But it cannot be said that the reason for the defeat of the Mongols was because of the kamikaze of Japan, the jungle of Vietnam, the climate of Java, the topography of the Middle East.
Victory and defeat were a common occurrence in soldiers, and the expansion of the Mongol Empire almost unified the known civilized world of that era, which was an unprecedented achievement.