Since the waterway has been blocked, we have to take the land route. The messenger of the Perak Army stayed in hiding during the day and went out at night. It took a lot of effort to pass through Pengshan County occupied by the Mongols and appear in Meizhou City. It's just that Yu Dazhong was still immersed in eating, drinking and having fun during the Spring Festival and didn't take the warning of the Perak Army seriously at all. The messenger had no choice but to continue to Jiading Mansion to meet Yu Xing. Yu Xing had been in the army for a long time and had already discovered something was wrong with the Mongolian army in the direction of Chengdu, but his arrogance made him ignore it. In Yu Xing's view, Jiading City is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and is defended by fortresses such as Ziyun City, Sangui Jiuding City and Lingyun City. Its defensive capabilities are no worse than those of Chongqing Prefecture. In the nearly ten years since he took control of Jiading, the Mongolian army was defeated several large-scale attacks, which is evidence of this. After experiencing the last incident where his brother-in-law was detained, Yu Xing was polite to the Perak Army messengers and even sent someone to escort him to Pujiang on his return trip.
The Chengdu Mongolian army launched an attack as Ouyang Xuan expected. They first joined forces with the Mongolian army coming from the east of Sichuan to capture Jianzhou, and then sent their troops south to besiege Longzhou. The four counties in Longzhou are all on the east bank of the Minjiang River. Among them, Ji County and Guiping County, which are across the river from Pengshan City, have long been occupied by the Mongolian army. The Song army actually controlled only Renshou County and Jingyan County in Kuo County, the state city. These two counties have a large population, and because of the rich wealth and taxes produced by well salt, their defenses are strong, so they have also defeated many attacks by the Mongolian army. However, this time the troops encircling Longzhou were not only the Yelvmaizhu tribe of the Chengdu Mongolian army, but also the Mongolian Han army of Wang Dechen's tribe and the newly attached troops of Yang Dayuan's tribe who came from central Sichuan.
Yang Dayuan was originally the city guard in Langzhou, but when Meng Ge's army pressed the border, he surrendered the city out of fear of death. After surrendering to Mongolia, he actively acted as a pawn and led the army to fight from Mongolia. He successively persuaded the surrender of three fortresses: Yunshan City, Qingju City and Daliang City. These three cities and Dahuo City are all the "Eight Pillars in Sichuan". This traitor destroyed half of Yujie Mountain City's defense system with just one person. It is really abominable.
Under the joint attack of three Mongolian armies, the Song army in Longzhou frequently asked Yu Xing and his son for help. Seeing the overwhelming strength of the Mongolian army, how could the father and son dare to attack? Needless to say, the cavalry of the Yelümaizhu tribe was also extremely tenacious. The Mongol and Han troops of Wang Dechen's tribe were also extremely tenacious. Even the newly attached troops of Yang Dayuan's tribe, which had just surrendered to the Mongols, had high morale due to the "convert fanaticism". He wanted to prove himself to his master with his military exploits. In fact, Jiading's troops can protect themselves by relying on the fortified city, but sending troops to Longzhou to fight the Mongolian army in the field may be more disastrous. It's just that Yu Xing and his son were sitting in the fortified city. In the eyes of the Longzhou garrison, they were willing to die without saving anything. It is said that the Mongolian army attacked Jiading many times, and Longzhou sent troops to harass the Mongolian army's food routes. Not long ago, they attacked Pengshan City with Yu Dazhong. I don't want this friendship boat to overturn! He was so angry that Longzhou paid tribute to his eighteenth generation ancestors every day, and in desperation simply surrendered to the Mongols.
After taking Longzhou, the Mongolian army divided into three groups and went south. Wang Dechen's tribe and Yang Dayuan's tribe continued to go to Jiading along the east bank of the Minjiang River. Yelv Maizhu set out from Pengshan City and went south along the west bank of the Minjiang River, while the Mongolian navy went down the river and approached Meizhou City. These three groups of Mongolian armies attacked separately, and the forts along the way were unable to stop them and were either destroyed or surrendered. Of course, these Wubao are just appetizers for the Mongolian army. Their first target is Meizhou City, which is attacked by the Mongolian army on the west bank led by Yelu Maizhu. Wang Dechen's tribe and Yang Dayuan's tribe did not attack the forts along the way, but went directly to Jiading City.
The Mongolian cavalry under Yelu Maizhu were extremely powerful. It took only three days to clean up the Wubao outside Meishan City, and began to build forts and prepare siege weapons. The Mongolian navy, supported by the cross-strait infantry and cavalry, defeated the Meizhou navy several times and destroyed and captured many ships. Yu Dazhong asked Yu Xing for help several times, but the reply he received was to persist. At present, the Mongolian army is also attacking Jiading, and its military strength is also very tight. In Yu Xing's view, Jiading is his foundation. If Jiading is preserved, Meizhou can be regained even if it is lost. If troops are sent to rescue Meizhou, it may be the Mongols' plan to lure the snake out of its cave. Since ancient times, there has been no family affection in the emperor's family, and the same is true for local emperors like Yu Xing. The city and army are what Yu Xing values most. It is said that Yu Xing is not short of sons, and the dozen or so concubines also gave birth to many sons for him.
Seeing that I had not sent reinforcements for a long time, Yu Dazhong decided to rub oil on his feet and run away. Although he is the legitimate son and the legal heir to the family business, only living people have the right to inherit. In the face of a powerful enemy, life comes first. Today's emperor particularly admires Neo-Confucianism and requires vigorous implementation of Neo-Confucianism's set of things like "the king should guide his subjects, the father should guide his son, and the husband should guide his wife." But what do these people in the court do? It’s not that people do one thing before others and another do things behind them. Why do you enjoy the glory and wealth while letting me die at the hands of the Mongols? The more Yu Dazhong thought about it, the angrier he became. He lied to the generals guarding the city and said that he was going to Jiading to ask for help, and left the government office amidst everyone's shocked looks. This Yu Dazhong is not stupid. The Mongolians are fast, so traveling by land is bound to be unlucky. It is better to take a fast boat while the Mongolians have not blocked the dock. It only takes one day to reach Jiading by going down the river.
When the Meizhou garrison saw their commander fleeing, they all fled in all directions, even if they were still willing to defend the city with all their lives. Some took the boat and fled, while others fled by land. Fortunately, it was evening when Yu Dazhong escaped, and it was also dark when everyone fled. The Mongolian army heard the commotion and knew that something had happened in Meizhou City, but it was dark in winter and they did not dare to move without permission. This caused most of the soldiers and civilians in the city to escape. At dawn, before the Mongolian army could find out what was true, people came out of Meizhou City and surrendered. Yelu Maizhu asked about the situation and sent people to pursue them by land and water. But there is no sign of the ship on the water. How can we catch up? The cavalry's speed was somewhat rewarding, as they shot and killed many who escaped and captured many. It's just that most of these people were wounded soldiers or old and weak civilians, and the able-bodied people fled into the nearby low mountains and hills.
On the second day after Yu Dazhong fled back to Jiading City, Wang Dechen and Yang Dayuan also led their troops to Jiading City. It's just that Jiading is no better than Meizhou City, which has no danger to defend. It is definitely easier to defend and harder to attack. In addition, the strength of the Jiading navy still exists, and the Mongolian navy cannot get any advantage at all. Although Yu Xing was greedy, he was also unambiguous in fighting. In addition, most of the army sergeants were locals, and they were extremely determined to protect their homeland. Not only was their morale not affected by the fall of Longzhou and Meizhou, but they took advantage of the familiar terrain to frequently attack Mongolia. They even attacked the Mongolian army camp at night and burned a lot of food and supplies. Therefore, after several days of fierce fighting, the Mongolian army not only made no progress, but also lost many soldiers and ships. Wang Dechen and Yang Dayuan saw that they could not capture Jiading in the short term, so they had to dig trenches and build fortifications to prepare for a long siege.
A few days later, Yelu Maizhu also arrived with his army, and Liu Heima also sent ships to transport civilians and craftsmen from Chengdu. The three Mongolian armies, plus the newly surrendered troops from Longzhou and Meizhou, numbered 20,000, far exceeding the 7,000 defenders of Jiading. In fact, just after the Battle of Chengdu, Yu Xing trained a new army, and the number of Jiading troops reached more than 10,000. However, Yu Dazhong lost many men and horses when he attacked the Pengshan Mongolian army. This time he lost another 2,000 men and horses in Meizhou. However, even though the Mongolian army was large in number, they were helpless in the face of a fortified city. If you want to attack the city, you have to wait for the siege weapons to be built. Yu Xing saw that the Mongolian army was cutting down trees everywhere to build siege weapons, so he naturally refused to sit still and wait for death. He first sent people to intercept and kill the civilians transporting wood, but was defeated by the Mongolian cavalry. Later, he sent people to attack the craftsman camp at night, but failed because of the obstacles of trenches and earthen walls. For a time, the war in Jiading reached a stalemate.
