Looking back at the emergence and demise of many dynasties in history, we can often see a lot of related figures, and the families closely related to these figures are also an indispensable part of the evolution of history, today we will talk about the Yang family, why did the Northern Song Dynasty in the face of extinction, the Yang family will not take the lead in standing up and implementing relevant measures to save the country, why is this?
First of all, to introduce the basic background, the Yang family we mention here is not a fiction of literary works, but refers to the prototype of the Yang family in real life. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yang family was basically not so powerful in terms of power, and there were even some declining tendencies in it. At that time, many of the descendants of the Yang family generals were reduced to civilians. There are still some who are still struggling in the army, but their power is not very large, and their position in the army is greatly reduced compared to the past.
The main factor leading to this is that due to the policy of emphasizing culture over military force advocated during the Northern Song Dynasty, some repressive measures were taken against military generals. The status of the Yang family general continued to decline, and his talents and ambitions could not be unleashed, and military power was almost all vested in the central government. Many times, it is not that the Yang family does not want to save the country, but mainly that there are no troops and energy to be dispatched.
Dating back to Yang Ye, the first generation of yang family generals, his prestige was shocking and he was a famous general in the Northern Song Dynasty. He once broke the Liao army at Yanmen Pass and was praised and recognized by the imperial court. Later, he led his troops to carry out the Northern Expedition, and in the face of Wang Nong's ambush attack, even though he had fallen into a passive dilemma, he still did not succumb to Liao. In the end, in order to show his determination, Yang Ye preferred to go on a hunger strike rather than easily bow to the enemy. Subsequently, Yang Ye surrendered to the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Yang family will begin to serve the Northern Song Dynasty wholeheartedly.
To some extent, since Yang Ye, the patriotism of the Yang family generals has never been interrupted, and the initiative for them to decline lies in the rulers. The shift in the policy of emphasizing literature over force really cannot provide a broad space for the Yang family to develop.
Even within the Yang family general, there are actually many excellent personnel, just imagine if you can get a heavy responsibility, the contribution to the Northern Song Dynasty will certainly be very outstanding. What we have to mention here is that under the Northern Song Dynasty, the ranks of civilian officials continued to grow, and to some extent they neglected army building.
In addition, in order to strengthen the centralization of power, the civilian bureaucracy was also too cumbersome, and the administrative inefficiency hindered the normal operation of the imperial court. Although the economic and other aspects of development during the Song Dynasty reached its peak, the problem of three redundancies continued to expand. It was only a matter of time before there was a crisis, and the imperial court did not give the Yang family a chance to save the country. To put it another way, even if the Yang family general at that time still held military power.
The odds of winning the war are not very great, and good generals formulate the right policy for the war, but if there is no strong army to cooperate with the execution, then the final situation will naturally not be too ideal. Perhaps for the Northern Song Dynasty at that time, the demise may be inevitable.