Quality beats quantity:Yuan soldiers defeatedWan Song Army
In the long course of history, the victory or defeat of a war often depends not only on the wisdom of the commander and the difference in strength between the two sides, but also on the quality of the soldiers at the grassroots level, which is also one of the key factors that determine the outcome of the war.
Among them, the Battle of the Yangtze Bridge, which took place in 1275, is a typical example of the importance of quality over quantity. Although the Yuan cavalry that launched the attack was only 13 people, they managed to completely defeat 20,000 elite Southern Song Dynasty elites, which is an amazing achievement.
In the early days of the war against the Yuan, the Song army attempted to launch the Duanping into Luo operation in order to return to the Central Plains. However, in 1234, the Zhao and Song courts unilaterally broke the agreement with the Mongol Empire and rushed the Northern Expedition, which turned into a disaster.
The Song army not only failed to restore its former territory, but instead attracted the Mongol army to the south. The battle line soon retreated from the north of Dasanguan to the Jianghuai Valley, and the Song army was in a situation of being passively beaten.
However, the Northern Army became more and more courageous in the confrontation, constantly adjusting its own equipment, the ratio of arms and the implementation strategy, and effectively coping with the changes in the environment of the theater.
The Mongols' lightning counterattack took the Southern Song side by surprise, and the Southern Song response was clearly sluggish in comparison. With the exception of a few generals who fought on the front lines, most of the decision-makers wore old glasses and believed that their opponents were just a bunch of steppe barbarians skilled in archery and horses.
As a result, they continued their previous turtle shell tactics against the Khitans, Jurchens, and Western Xia, focusing on relying on permanent fortifications, convenient water transportation, and large-scale confrontations to wear down the enemy's momentum.
It wasn't until more and more Han soldiers chose to fight for the upstarts of the steppe that they realized they might be facing a very difficult enemy. When more ferocious Caucasian cavalry were summoned, and Persian craftsmen with black technology such as return cannons arrived, they no longer had the courage to maintain their painstaking operations on the Yangtze River defense line.
Especially when Xiangyang Castle fell in 1273, it was difficult to maintain even the previously stable superiority of the sailors. The Mongols only needed to sail east to isolate the remnants of the Song army on both sides of the Yangtze River.
After the defense line of the Yangtze River in the Southern Song Dynasty was breached, Li Tingzhi decided to change the situation alone. Since the main forces of the Mongols were concentrated in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Yang, Tai, and Tong prefectures were not greatly affected for the time being.
However, Guazhou's rapid surrender put them in the dilemma of being a lone army on the north bank, and they had to adopt an active offensive strategy to delay the advance of the Yuan Dynasty's troops and horses, and establish an effective linkage with the Hangzhou court.
Yangzhou City was also captured, and Li Tingzhi had no choice but to send reinforcements from Nantong to break through. He decided to take the plunge and try an initiative that he was not good at, hoping to change the situation.
On June 27, 1275, he sent his general Jiang Cai to lead more than 20,000 infantry cavalry to Yangzhou, intending to join the sailors and recapture Guazhou.
However, as soon as they arrived at Yangziqiao in the south of Yangzhou, they were blocked by Zhang Hongfan, a famous general of the Yuan Dynasty. Although Zhang Hongfan had served as a Mongol suzerain, he and his army were both Han in the former Jin Kingdom, so in the eyes of many historical observers, they could not be regarded as the core force of the ** family, and perhaps even weaker than most of the Semu mercenaries.
Their tactics relied mainly on a small number of cavalry to launch an attack and leave the main infantry in a predetermined position.
First, the lack of sufficient cavalry resources has resulted in not many rapid reaction units in the army that can quickly counterattack; The second is that the infantry is overly reliant on long-range shots such as bows and crossbows**, and must use a small number of heavily armed shield spearmen to defend against oncoming attacks.
Although they often recruited warriors who were skilled in the use of long knives and heavy axes as reserves, the number of these warriors was simply not enough to fill the gap in the entire army.
As for the security of the flanks, they can only be protected by complex terrain or earthwork. Therefore, coach Jiang Cai gave up the task of breaking through and chose to arrange a clumsy three-fold formation on the north side of the Hanhe River.
On the other side were wooden fences built by the Mongols to blockade the city, and a large number of Han vassals who also relied on bows and crossbows for combat.
Zhang Hongfan took the initiative to lead 13 cavalry out of battle and crossed the river from the shallows under the nose of the Song army, a bold provocative action that immediately caused a siege by the Song army, especially the hoplites in the front row, who desperately crossed the horse rejection and the trench in order to behead the enemy chieftain.
However, Zhang Hongfan quickly turned his horse's head and counterattacked with the return arrow, forcing the Song army to return to their original positions in disgrace.
After years of baptism of war in the north, the cavalry combat effectiveness of the Han army of the Yuan Dynasty was far superior to that of the Southern Song Dynasty. In a simple stress test, the weaknesses of the Song army on the North Shore were exposed.
As a veteran with many years of experience in fighting the Song Dynasty, Zhang Hongfan was well aware of the organizational loopholes of the Song army, and by estimating the proportion of light and heavy troops in the Song army, he decided to turn his horse's head and follow the lone infantry into the enemy formation.
At this time, the more than 20,000 people of the Song army had not yet been fully deployed, and even the civil engineering work that had to be carried out in the decisive battle was not completed. Therefore, when the Song army found that there were cavalry easily killed in front of them, they immediately became confused because of fear.
In particular, ordinary light infantry, who relied on crossbows to kill enemies, could not pull the bowstring in a small and crowded area. They instinctively look for a way out of survival before they even understand the size of the enemy force, resulting in a massive stampede and a quick transfer of frustration to other units.
On the battlefield, the cavalry of the Yuan army acted arbitrarily, which made the Han army of the Yuan Dynasty, which was originally only defending on the south bank, also began to follow the commander to cross the river and attack. Although they mainly use bows and crossbows to fight, they are also the lucky ones who survive the great waves of the last days, and are extremely loyal to their leaders.
They do not allow their leaders to be trapped in enemy positions in isolation, and they do not retreat because of the restrictions of **. Therefore, the rout of what was originally only a part of the Southern Song army was further escalated into a total collapse because of their actions.
More than half of the soldiers, without having the opportunity to shoot, died in confusion for no apparent reason. Fortunately, this place was not far from Yangzhou in the rear, and the coach Jiang Cai and the remaining more than 10,000 people were able to take refuge in the city in a hurry.
The military superiority of the Yuan dynasty was due to their diverse military forces, including the Semu mercenaries and the Han army, which enabled them to successfully prevent the Song army in Huaidong from advancing south for reinforcements and to achieve victory in the Duolun heavy breakout.
After crossing the river, the main force of the Yuan army calmly advanced and successfully annihilated the last of the Southern Song Dynasty official troops who chose to resist under the city of Changzhou, forcing the Southern Song court, which had no troops to use, to surrender to them.
Even if there are still tens of thousands of remnants and Li Tingzhi on the north shore struggling to support, they can no longer have any impact on the overall situation.