Cause & Context
After Mongol cavalry annexed Lin'an, Southern Song court ministers and raised the small emperor and fled at sea, building the last exile court defensive base at Yamen in Guangdong.
Epochal Overview
Yuan general Zhang Hongfan led the Yuan navy at the Yamen sea area to encircle the Song navy and execute water-cutting and fire attack. The Song main force was wholly annihilated; Chancellor carried the last child emperor on his back and resolutely jumped to die in the sea, and a hundred thousand military-civilians followed in suicide.
Civilizational Impact
The Battle of Yamen announced the wholesale destruction of the Southern Song partial-state regime and the first time classical unified Han regime was wholly swallowed by northern nomads. It became the epic tragic song and loyal-righteous final note of classical Huaxia history.
Key Figures
was a chaste and unyielding Southern Song loyal minister who gave his life for righteousness. though resisted to the death also finally died in a hurricane, while the surrendered Yuan-army Han general Zhang Hongfan inscribed stone to commemorate his merit.