This new flotilla was commanded by Chan shun and Chang kwe, two very brave warriors. Chan shun was killed before reaching the city. Chang kwe in returning to Ngan lo was met by the Mongols, and a desperate hand to hand conflict resulted; every man near Chang kwe was killed, and he was seized. All wounded and blood-covered, he would not acknowledge the Mongols. They slew him immediately and sent four prisoners back to Siang yang with his body. Engineers of great skill in constructing ballistas appeared now in action. These men had been summoned from Persia by Kubilai, and in 1273 they raised engines which breached the walls quickly. The Mongols took the suburbs after terrible slaughter, and then burned the bridge which connected the cities; that done, they turned on Fan ching and stormed it. Fan tien chun, the commander, killed himself, saying that he would die a Sung subject. His colleague, Niu fu, took a company of desperate followers, and fought in the streets against terrible odds, setting fire to the houses, while driven gradually back; the time came when covered with wounds, he threw himself into the flames which his own hands had kindled. The men who fought with him died as he died.
The Mongols master Fedan ching during February, 1273. Kia se tao now offered to lead men himself and give aid to the cities, but, through the Emperor, he commanded himself to remain, declaring his presence at court indispensable. Kao ta, a great enemy of Liu wen hoan, was appointed to lead instead of the wonderfully adroit minister.
The catapults were turned on Siang yang, but the attack began [[344]]only in November. The machines made a terrible noise; the enormous stone missiles crushed all that they fell upon. The besieged rushed away from exposed spots in terror. Fear spread through the city. Liu ching, who knew Liu wen hoan, the commandant, asked now for parley, and got it, but the two men had barely begun to converse when Chinese warriors sent arrows from the fortress and Liu ching was saved only by the goodness of his armor.
The Mongols, indignant at this action, wished to storm the place straightway, but were stopped by the generals, who informed the besieged that a message had just come to them from Kubilai. It was read in a loud voice and its import was as follows: “A splendid defence, of five years, covers you with great glory. Each faithful subject should serve his own sovereign with his life blood, but to sacrifice thousands of people through stubbornness, only think, is that reasonable or proper, especially for you who are exhausted, without aid, or even hope of it? Submit and no harm will meet any one. We promise to give each of you honorable employment. Ye will be satisfied. We pledge our true word of an Emperor that ye will be satisfied.”
Liu wen hoan accepted these promises, and surrendered the city. He went with Alihaiya then to Kubilai, who showed him clear marks of esteem and named him commandant of troops in Siang yang. The officers under him were given good places in the armies of Kubilai.
The defection of Liu wen hoan produced a colossal sensation. His family was one of the best in the Empire, and many of his relatives sent in their resignations since they had the evil fate to be connected by blood with that traitor. Kia se tao, who was a friend of the family, did not present even one resignation to the Emperor.
Kubilai, exercised by the war in his own family, was inclined to cease action on the Yang tse for the present, but his generals explained the great value of the capture of Siang yang in continuing the struggle and urged that he strike his enemies while the advantage was on his side. The Emperor, Tu tsong, had just died, August, 1274, and had left all affairs to Kia se tao, and others as indifferent as that minister to the interests of China. The chief men wished to put on the throne Chao she, eldest son of Tu tsong, [[345]]but Kia se tao considered that he himself would hold power more completely, and longer, by choosing the second son, Chao hien, a child of four years. This boy was chosen. The new Emperor received the name Kong tsong, and the Empress Siei shi, a widow of Tu tsong’s father, was raised to the regency.
While preparing to continue the conquest of China most effectively, Kubilai, to explain and to justify his action, issued a rescript declaring that Jinghis, Ogotai and Mangu had striven to establish firm peace with the Sung Empire, and that he himself when only a prince and commander of armies had made a treaty with the Sung court, but that the court broke every promise as soon as he had withdrawn his forces. On ascending the throne he had sent an envoy to reinforce peace and good feeling, but the envoy had been seized and imprisoned with all his attendants, and was held in confinement till that day.
After this declaration had been made, Kubilai appointed She tian tse and Bayan to command all the armies invading Hu kwang and he gave them as lieutenants At chu, Alihaiya, and Liu wen hoan. Another army was to act in Kiang nan under Polo hwan and four other commanders. These two great groups of warriors reached perhaps two hundred thousand. She tian tse died soon after his appointment and the whole command of that first group was given to Bayan, the best leader among all the Mongols.
Bayan was of the Barin tribe. He had passed his youth in Persian regions, and had come on an embassy from Abaka the Ilkhan. Kubilai was so pleased with Bayan’s speech and bearing that in 1265 he took the man into his service, and made him Minister of State very quickly.