Why did the Yuan Dynasty fail to attack Japan? Is there such a thing in history?

In A.D. 1274, the expeditionary force that attacked Japan set sail from Korea and sailed for Kyushu Island. Expeditionary force * * * 25,000 people, about half of whom are Mongolians and Koreans, and some jurchen and a small number of Han people. The commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Force is Hu Dun of Mongolia, and the two deputy commanders are Hong Chaqiu of Korean nationality and Liu Fuheng of Han nationality. The Yuan Army sailed to Hakata Bay, first captured and ravaged Tsushima Island and Yiqi Island, and then landed in Kyushu. Of the three invading armies, one is the main force and the other is the cooperative defense. The landing site of the main force is about near Nagasaki.

In the face of the first "Mongolian attack", the Japanese Kamakura shogunate mobilized some regular troops to participate in the war, and the Kyushu coastal governors also urgently organized warriors and militia to participate in the war. After more than 20 days of bitter fighting, the Japanese army's tactics were relatively backward and suffered heavy casualties in the first battle, but it still successfully blocked the advance of the Yuan Army. After several days of stalemate, the Japanese gradually adapted to the tactics of the Mongols and began to fight back. Japanese heavy cavalry, mainly composed of samurai, is particularly brave. With the support of archers, they braved the rain of arrows to attack the enemy and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy, which invalidated Mongolia's archery advantage. Liu Fuheng was killed in the fierce battle, and the Yuan army returned to the beach to rely on the pull-back gun for defense. At this point, the Yuan army suffered heavy casualties and there was no hope of progress. Their failure is inevitable. As the arrows and supplies were about to run out, the Yuan army could not continue to hold its ground and had to retreat to the ship. On the way back to North Korea, the Yuan Army fleet was hit by a storm and suffered some losses, but most of the ships returned home safely.

This battle is called "the Battle of Wenyong" in Japanese history. In East Asia, Mongolians faced their opponents with equipment training and courage for the first time. Koreans are mainly responsible for melee in the battle, because the frontal impact of the Japanese army has suffered heavy losses. Therefore, Koreans are deeply impressed by the combat effectiveness of Japanese soldiers, especially Japanese combat knives. It is said that the swords of ordinary soldiers of the Yuan Army are easily broken with Japanese knives. Relatively speaking, Mongols who use bows and arrows have less losses. In their view, although Japanese bows and arrows are powerful, they have short range and cannot be compared with Mongolian horn bows.

Let's briefly introduce Japanese combat knives: At that time, Japan's smelting and knife-making technology was world-class, and the performance of Japanese combat knives was only comparable to that of Damascus steel knives produced in North India and West Asia. The best steels in ancient times were Damascus steel (cast patterned steel), Japanese steel (dark patterned steel) and Malay steel (welded patterned steel) in order of performance. The best steel (wrought iron) in China is actually a kind of welded pattern steel, and its performance is not as good as that of Malay steel. The best swords in China are generally made of imported Malay steel. Damascus steel is a kind of high-grade alloy steel, with complex smelting process and high cost, and the specific manufacturing technology has been lost. In ancient times, Damascus steel knives were generally owned only by nobles. The top Damascus steel knife is Jian Zihao steel knife, produced in India, followed by Schell machete, produced in Persia. Cher machetes are exquisite in workmanship and luxurious in decoration, and they are the favorite of Mongolian nobles. In contrast, Japanese steel does not have many characteristics, and the excellent performance of Japanese combat knives mainly comes from its unique post-quenching process. Although Damascus steel knives have excellent performance, Japanese knives have low manufacturing cost, and ordinary Japanese militia can also have a good knife.

To be fair: when it comes to hardship, Mongolian soldiers at that time were invincible. If necessary, they can live by eating raw horse meat and drinking horse blood. Mongols are the first to maneuver in the war, and generally only bring a small amount of supplies. The problem of food and clothing for soldiers is mainly solved by plundering civilians in war areas. However, in this war, Mongolians could not give full play to their special skills. They have never been able to break into residential areas in the mainland, nor can they have civilians to plunder. Therefore, the tactics of the Japanese army can be described as very clever. Of course, this also requires the backing of the Japanese army's combat effectiveness.

After the first invasion of Japan, Kublai Khan thought that the Japanese had learned the power of the Mongols, so he sent messengers to Japan again to demand surrender, but the Japanese simply beheaded the Mongolian messengers. Kublai Khan naturally won't submit to humiliation. After the unification of China, he set out to prepare for the second sea invasion. Troops were recruited from China, Mongolia and North Korea to receive coastal landing training, and materials for expeditionary forces were continuously collected from all over the country. At the same time, shipyards along the southeast coast of North Korea and China are also building warships and troop carriers around the clock.

Naturally, preparations for such a large-scale expedition cannot be kept secret. The Japanese closely monitored the movement of the Yuan Empire and made full preparations for the upcoming second "Mongolian attack". At this time, Japan's political situation was stable, and Sejong Kitajima's control over Kamakura shogunate and Japanese vassals was far better than before, so the Japanese could use more manpower and material resources to resist the invasion. The shogunate commandeered civilian workers in Kyushu, and built stone walls along the beach in the area where the enemy troops were most likely to land in Hakata Bay to stop Mongolian cavalry. When the date of the enemy's attack approached, Kitajima Zongsheng and Kitajima Zong Zheng led elite samurai troops to deploy in the coastal areas of Honshu and Kyushu, and the Zhenxi Army of Kitajima Zong Zheng later became the main force of the battle. At the same time, Kyushu governors began to mobilize militia, and samurai from other parts of Japan also came to the war.

128 1 year, the huge Yuan Imperial Expeditionary Force set out from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Korea at the same time. The expedition was spectacular, with nearly 5,000 ships and about 200,000 troops, including 45,000 Mongols, more than 50,000 Koreans and about100,000 Han people, most of whom were newly attached troops (incorporated into the Southern Song Dynasty army). The ancient Mongols in the expeditionary army are naturally the backbone of the battle. As expected by the Japanese army, the Northern Fleet arrived in Hakata Bay at the end of May. While waiting for the southern fleet, Mongolian troops easily captured several islands in Hakata Bay, all the residents on the island were slaughtered, and the buildings on the island were destroyed and burned. At the beginning of June, the Southern Fleet arrived and two huge fleets met off Kyushu. After that, the Yuan Army began to land, and the landing place was Jiulong Mountain, not far from where the main force of the last war landed. This time, the expeditionary force met with more tenacious and effective resistance. With the stone wall as the cover, the Japanese army constantly repelled the attack of the Yuan Army and waited for an opportunity to organize a counter-charge. The most successful counterattack of the Japanese army defeated the main force of the Korean army. Hong Chaqiu, commander of the Korean Army, was captured and killed, and several senior Mongolian commanders were killed one after another. Fierce fighting lasted for more than a month, and the loss of the expeditionary force has exceeded one third, but it still can't break through the stone wall. By the end of July, the Yuan Army had basically run out of food, grass and arrows. At this time, the Mongols and the Japanese probably thought that the end of this war would be the same as last time, ending with the withdrawal of the Yuan Army.

On August 1 day, a violent hurricane suddenly blew in the Pacific Ocean. The storm lasted for four days, and the ships of the Southern Fleet of the Yuan Army were basically destroyed, and most of the ships of the Northern Fleet were also lost. The remaining ships of the Northern Fleet, carrying the commander and some Mongolian and Korean troops, fled the battlefield and returned to North Korea. Confederate army commanders and some senior officials saw that there was nothing they could do, so they had to leave their large forces and escape by the remaining ships of the Southern Fleet. At this time, there is still an army of nearly 100,000 yuan on the beach of Jiulong Mountain. These people have lost supplies and retreat, unable to break through the Japanese defense. Now they can only wait for death. Three days later, the Japanese army began to counterattack, driving the remaining Yuan troops to a narrow area called Bajiao Island, and then attacking with troops. Most of the Yuan troops were killed, and the remaining 20,000 people were captured. According to Mongolian standards, the Japanese divided the prisoners into four classes, the first three classes, that is, Mongols, Semu people, Jurchen people, Koreans and Northern Han people were all put to death, and the fourth class Tang people (Southern Han people) were exempted from the death penalty and became members of the Ministry (Dalits). Today, there is also a hill called "Yuan Guan Tomb" in Hakata Bay, which is said to be the collective cemetery of soldiers of Yuan Army.

Only three Confederate soldiers escaped in this fiasco. They pieced together a boat and luckily drifted back to China. Kublai Khan finally learned the truth of defeat through these three survivors. Fan, the deputy commander, was beheaded and other officials were punished to varying degrees.

In Japanese history, the second Mongolian invasion was called the "Battle of Hong 'an", and the quality and quantity of Japanese troops in this war were far superior to the "Battle of Wenyong", and the Mongols had no tactical advantage. According to the Japanese, the fighting capacity of Mongols is not as strong as expected, and Japanese samurai are superior to them in all aspects, especially in equipment and combat skills. The advantage of Japanese equipment lies not only in combat knives, but also in the armor of samurai. It is said that Mongolian bows and arrows can't penetrate the samurai's armor as long as they are a little farther away. Japanese samurai have no jobs at all and have received strict military training since childhood. It is not surprising that their fighting skills were better than those of the ancients in Bi Meng. Mongolian records say that the Japanese are good at fighting alone, which can be confirmed by the Japanese statement. The Japanese have the lowest evaluation of the Han people in the Yuan Army. In their view, the Han army is afraid of death and has low morale. It is a standard fishing force.