Campaigners › Commanders
Zhang Hongfan
Yuan commander who led the final campaign against Southern Song at Yamen
Mural of the event “Battle of Yamen”, which this person took part in.
After Mongol cavalry annexed Lin'an, Southern Song court ministers Lu Xiufu and Zhang Shijie raised the small emperor and fled at sea, building the last exile court defensive base at Yamen in Guangdong.
Also known as Zhang Rou's son
Zhang Hongfan, courtesy name Zhongchou, from Dingxing in Yizhou, was the ninth son of the early Yuan general Zhang Rou, born in 1238. He fought against Li Tan in 1262 and in the Xiangyang campaign from 1269, was made a senior general in 1277, and in 1278 became marshal of the Mongol and Han armies, sent to pursue the remaining Southern Song court; his troops captured Wen Tianxiang at Wupoling. In 1279 he defeated the Song fleet at Yashan (Yamen), which ended the Southern Song. He died in 1280 and was posthumously named Duke of Qi and Prince of Huaiyang.
Life and times
- c. 1238 CEBorn
Song
Yuan - 1279Battle of Yamen
Took partYuan forces destroyed the Southern Song fleet at Yamen; Lu Xiufu and the child emperor died as the dynasty's last court collapsed.- Wen Tianxiang Writes Lingding Sea Odec. 1278Captured at Wupoling, Wen Tianxiang was taken past the Lingding sea and answered a demand for a surrender letter with his poem of loyalty.
- Wen Tianxiang Dies Unyielding at Daduc. 1279After the Battle of Yamen, Wen Tianxiang was held in Dadu for three years, refused Kublai's offers, wrote the Song of Righteousness in prison and was executed at the Chaishi market.
- Wen Tianxiang Writes Lingding Sea Ode
- 1280 CEDied
Works
Literature · Poetry2- Collected Poems of HuaiyangYuanCollected verse of Zhang Hongfan, the Yuan general who destroyed the Song at Yashan
- Collected Poems of Huaiyang: Crossing the RiverYuan
- Literature · Sayings1
- Watering the Warhorses in the YangziYuanIdiom in Zhang Hongfan's poem Crossing the River: a Yuan army reaches the Yangzi
