Diaoyucheng
The Diaoyucheng, or Diaoyu Fortress, is a fortress located on the Diaoyu Mountain in Hechuan District, Chongqing, across the Jialing River from the city center of Hechuan. It is known for its resistance to the Mongol armies in the latter half of the Song dynasty.
History
The death of Mongol leader Möngke Khan during the siege of Diaoyucheng resulted in the immediate withdrawal of Mongol troops from various parts of Eurasia.Although the Mongols and the Southern Song were united in their fight to bring down the Jurchen Jin dynasty, their pact broke immediately afterwards, and the Mongols launched an aggressive war against the tenacious Southern Song that lasted for more than a third of the 13th century. In the period from 1243 to 1279, Diaoyu experienced more than two hundred military confrontations in a miracle of "persistent resistance" that endured for thirty-six years.
Though numbering more than ten thousand and led by the Great Khan Möngke himself, the Mongols were unable to take the tiny fortress. Yu Jian won many brilliant victories, culminating in the deaths of Möngke and his vanguard General Wang Tege. Sources differ on how Möngke actually died—Chinese sources largely claim that Möngke was mortally wounded by a crossbow arrow or a stone projectile from a cannon or trebuchet, while Persian sources suggest that Möngke died from infectious diseases like dysentery or cholera.