Mongolia wins the Battle of Yamen
The Battle of Yamen began on March 19, 1279
This naval battle ended the Song dynasty and established Kublai Khan’s Yuan dynasty as rulers of China.
Today’s stamps are from Mongolia’s celebration of Kublai Khan’s 800th Anniversary.
Kublai Khan (1215-1294)
from 800th Anniversary of the Birth of Kublai Khan
Issued by Mongolia September 16, 2015
Two maxi cards were issued for the anniversary.
The four stamps on the bottom card are:
Golden Goblet | Identification Pendant | Banknote | Hand Cannon
From the same series 800th Anniversary of the Birth of Kublai Khan
The battle took place in Yamen, in Guangdong, China. Despite being vastly outnumbered, Kublai Khan’s troops under Zhang Hongfan’s command crushed Zhang Shijie’s massive navy.
The fleet of the Southern Song admiral, Zhang Shijie, outnumbered that of the Mongols by ten to one. But despite his superior force, he fatally opted for a defensive position, while the Mongols’ admiral, Zhang Hongfan, was willing to carry the fight to the enemy.
The Song admiral ordered 1,000 warships to be lashed together inside the bay at Yaishan to form a great floating wall. The Mongols sent in fire-ships, but the Chinese by now were inured to such tactics and had slathered their vessels in fire-retardant mud. Undaunted, Zhang Hongfang blockaded the bay, while Mongol land forces cut off the transport of water and supplies to the Chinese fleet. Deprivation, and desperation, began to set in, with those on the trapped ships resorting to drinking seawater.
When the full-on Mongol assault came, it hit the defenders from multiple directions. Despite its greater numbers, the Chinese fleet was crippled by its self-imposed entrapment and lack of individual vessel maneuverability. Rocks and arrows filled the sky as Mongol forces bounded onto the enemy’s floating palisade, brandished swords, and hacked their way through the sick and weakened foe, working their way ever closer to the center, toward the imperial barge that carried the last of the line, the boy-emperor Zhao Bing. The prime minister, seeing that all was lost, took the seven-year-old in his arms and plunged with him to a watery death.