Xiangyang

  • The Fall of the Song at Yamen [Song & Yuan]

    This article tells the final fall of the Southern Song at the Battle of Yamen. After Lin’an surrendered, loyalists Zhang Shijie, Wen Tianxiang, and Lu Xiufu fought on. In 1279, the Yuan navy defeated the Song fleet. Lu Xiufu drowned with the child emperor, ending the 319‑year Song Dynasty.

  • The Corrupt Court: Jia Sidao and the Fall of the Southern Song [Song & Yuan]

    This article reveals how Jia Sidao’s corruption doomed the Southern Song. He lied about a Mongol victory, imprisoned envoys, purged generals, and neglected state affairs for cricket fighting. His misrule led to the fall of Xiangyang, fatally weakening the Song and clearing the way for the Yuan conquest.

  • The Fall of the Jin: An Alliance of Convenience and a Cycle of Vengeance [Song & Yuan]

    This article records the fall of the Jin Dynasty. Besieged by Mongol armies, the Jin made a fatal mistake by attacking the Southern Song. The Song allied with the Mongols out of hatred, jointly destroying the Jin in 1234. This short‑sighted partnership removed the Jin buffer, soon exposing the Song to Mongol conquest.

  • The Great Victory in Jiangnan: The Rise of Yue Fei [Song & Yuan]

    This article traces Yue Fei’s rise during the Southern Song’s resistance against the Jin. After the Jin’s southern invasion, Yue Fei won a key victory at Jiankang, stopped the Jin from deep penetration into Jiangnan, and built the elite Yue Family Army. He reclaimed Xiangyang and became a symbol of loyal resistance, though court…

  • Zhuge Liang

    Zhuge Liang (181–234 CE) was a preeminent statesman and military strategist of the Shu Han state during the Three Kingdoms period. His courtesy name was Kongming, and he was born in Yangdu, Langya Commandery (in present-day Yinan County, Shandong).

  • The Fire at Red Cliffs [Three Kingdoms]

    This article recounts the pivotal Battle of Red Cliffs, a defining moment in Chinese history. It details how Cao Cao, despite his massive northern army, was lured into a trap by the allied forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan. The narrative highlights Cao Cao’s fatal error of chaining his ships to combat seasickness,…

  • Cao Cao’s release of Han Song [Three Kingdoms]

    In Chapter 42 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, following Liu Cong’s swift and bloodless surrender of Jing Province to Cao Cao, an unexpected act of clemency unfolds: Cao Cao orders the immediate release of a prisoner in Xiangyang city and promptly promotes him to office. That man is Han Song.

  • The dramatic duel between Wei Yan and Wen Ping: Fact or Fiction? [Three Kingdoms]

    In the 41st chapter of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, when Cao Cao attacked Jingzhou to the south, Liu Bei led civilians across the river to the gates of Xiangyang but was denied entry by Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. Wei Yan, enraged by their surrender to Cao Cao, “led hundreds of men straight…

  • Why did Liu Cong surrender without a fight? [Three Kingdoms]

    In 208, when Cao Cao launched his southern campaign against Jingzhou, his army swept through Xinye with overwhelming momentum. Behind him marched hundreds of thousands of northern troops; at the vanguard were elite generals like Cao Ren and Xiahou Dun.