Battle of Xiangyang
Xiangyang and Fancheng (now Xiangyang city), Hubei, China
What happened
The Mongol Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan, with generals Aju and Liu Zheng, besieged the Southern Song cities defended by Lü Wenhuan. The twin cities of Xiangyang and Fancheng guarded the Han River, the gateway to southern China. The Mongols surrounded them with forts and blocked the river with ships for about five years. In the end, two engineers from Persia, Ismail and Al al-Din, built huge counterweight trebuchets that could reach the city walls, and Xiangyang surrendered.
Why it matters
Why it matters: Its fall opened southern China to Mongol conquest. It also showed how new siege technology, carried across Asia, could decide a war.
What came next
Lü Wenhuan surrendered and served the Yuan as a governor. The Song emperor gave up the throne in 1276, and the Song dynasty ended a few years later at the Battle of Yamen.
Did you know?
In Chinese the counterweight trebuchet came to be called the 'Huihui pao', the 'Muslim trebuchet', after the engineers who built it.
Timeline
- 1268The Mongol siege of Xiangyang and Fancheng begins.
- 1272A Song force breaks through with supplies but cannot hold.
- Early 1273Counterweight trebuchets help take Fancheng.
- 14 March 1273Xiangyang surrenders.
- 1276The Song emperor abdicates.