Each dynasty in Chinese history has its own distinctive characteristics, for example, when it comes to the Han Dynasty, it is associated with the "champion Hou" Huo Quyi, who defeated the Xiongnu, and when it comes to the Ming Dynasty, it reminds zhu Yuanzhang of the Northern Expedition: "Expelling the Tartars, restoring China, establishing the Chen Ji, and relieving the Si people", as for the Tang Dynasty, it was one of the most powerful countries in the continental plate at that time! And once it comes to the Song Dynasty, then people's first reaction is the word "weak"! So why has the military strength of the Song Dynasty always been criticized by people?
Zhu Yuanzhang
In fact, in the view of the left ship, the comprehensive military strength of the Song Dynasty could not really be called weak at that time, after all, in the face of the Khitan and ethnic minorities such as Jurchen and the Mongols behind, the ability of the Song Dynasty's border troops was remarkable, especially in terms of defending the city. Some scholars even specifically counted the victory rate of border battles in the early Song Dynasty as high as 70%, and it should be known that even the Tang Dynasty's foreign use of troops was only a victory and a small number of defeats. So why do many netizens even think that the military standards of the Song Dynasty are weak?
Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Great Song Dynasty
Why do many people think that the Song Dynasty army is weak?
First of all, even if the Tang Dynasty won fewer and more defeats with foreign troops, it was the result of active expansion, and the Tang Dynasty era rarely let wars break out within the country, and the Tang Dynasty could be said to have done a very perfect job of defending the enemy outside the country. On the other hand, even if the Song Dynasty won more or lost less in the war, but most of them were in a passive defense of the city, it can be said that the Song Dynasty army will only fight back until the enemy arrives at the door, which is why many people think that the Song Dynasty army is not bloody and weak.
Great Song Army
On the other hand, the reason is that zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, in order to prevent the military generals from holding the military power and dividing the party, did not listen to the central orders, so at the beginning of the founding of the country, he put one restriction after another on all the song dynasty military generals and soldiers, and the use of civilian officials to manage the military would be the most outrageous operation in the entire Song Dynasty, but it also had to be admitted that this model could be very effective in preventing the military generals from supporting the army and respecting themselves. Of course, the result was the sacrifice of the overall combat ability and mobility of the Song dynasty army, and even when it was about to perish, the Song rulers still thought that there was nothing wrong with their way of managing the army.
The classic image of the Great Song Dynasty Wenchen
The last and most crucial question: throughout Chinese history, it is difficult to find any country whose rulers were as stubborn, cowardly, and timid as the rulers of the Song Dynasty! In the entire history of the Song Dynasty, except for the founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin and Song Zhezong Zhao Xu, basically all of them were parallel goods, the most significant example of which was in 1004 AD, when Liao Shengzong Yelü Longxu led an army of 200,000 people to the south, and Song Zhenzong, who learned of this news, actually ran to the inner palace to hide for the first time, pretending that he did not hear about it. Think about how the emperors of the Tang Dynasty could be timid like this? A ruler without blood can only rule over a sheep-like country.
As a chancellor, Kou Zhenzong repeatedly persuaded Song Zhenzong to drag him out of the inner palace, and when Song Zhenzong was preparing for the imperial conquest under Kou Zhenzong's advice, Song Zhenzong still wanted to flee without a fight many times, and after Kou Zhenzong forcibly pulled Song Zhenzong to the head of the city of Liaozhou, the Morale of the Song soldiers was immediately boosted, and the Song general Li Jilong seized the opportunity to start a counterattack and win a great victory.
The Song Dynasty army defended the city
It is reasonable to say that the Song Dynasty won the war and should begin to put forward conditions to the Liao State, and Empress Xiao of the Liao State also personally sent people to the Song Dynasty to negotiate peace, and as a result, Song Zhenzong used his own behavior to explain what is called incompetence to the extreme! The State of Liao and the State of Song fought a full-scale truce, but the State of Song won the war but had to compensate the State of Liao for 100,000 taels of coins and 200,000 horses of silk, and Emperor Zhenzong of Song also ordered all Song troops to suspend the all-round pursuit of the defeated army of the State of Liao.
Liao cavalry
In the Battle of Lanzhou City, the Song Dynasty will win but cannot fight, the foreign war is obviously more won and less lost, but the Wenchen blames the soldiers for their incompetent behavior! Soldiers bravely killed the enemy on the front line to win the battle, and as a result, all the treaties signed by the civilian ministers during the negotiation were treaties that lost power and humiliated the country, and to a large extent, the military strength of the Song Dynasty itself could not be blamed!