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Looking at the history of China's two-thousand-year feudal dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty was undoubtedly the most prosperous and culturally prosperous era, far surpassing the Han and Tang Dynasties in the economy, leading the way, and culturally emerging a generation of literary heroes such as Su Dongpo, Wang Anshi, Fan Zhongyan, Liu Yong, and Lu You.
More importantly, the Northern Song Dynasty was the most harmonious dynasty between monarchs and subjects, before the Song, the king was long-term clamped down by various forces such as courtiers, foreign relatives, eunuchs, and feudal towns, and after the Song Dynasty, it went to the other extreme, the monarchy was the only one, and the ministers gradually became the slaves of the royal family.
"The king is respectful, and the subject is loyal", this sentence in the "Three Character Classic" is a perfect portrayal of the northern Song Dynasty monarchs. It was also under this relationship between kings and subjects that the Northern Song Dynasty became unprecedentedly powerful. This power manifests itself in every way, in addition to the economy and culture mentioned above, but also in technology and agriculture, except for the military. It was precisely this shortcoming that eventually led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.
According to today's military theory, the root cause of the war is money, so why is the Northern Song Dynasty, which is rich enough to be invincible in the world, partially weak militarily?
Some people believe that the military weakness of the Northern Song Dynasty stemmed from the small size of the country, so that there was no Great Wall guard and no war horse cavalry. However, even if these objective reasons exist, they are not immutable, as long as there is money, the Great Wall can be built, and war horses can be bought. In fact, the problems of the Northern Song Dynasty did not come from objective difficulties, but from subjective strategies.
The demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, like a boiled frog that lasted for a hundred years, was a slow process of self-destruction, during which it underwent a trilogy.
(Portrait of Zhao Kuangyin, Song Taizu)
Part 1: Heavy literature and light martial arts
Ming Taizu Zhao Kuangyin added a yellow robe to force the young emperor to take the throne, and its essence was that the military generals usurped power. In addition, he was in the chaotic world of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and he was well aware of the threat of warlords and had always been jealous of soldiers. Therefore, at the beginning of the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin set the basic national policy of emphasizing literature and light weapons.
The Northern Song Dynasty's heavy literature and light martial arts built a paradise for the literati, making culture unprecedentedly prosperous and economically unprecedentedly prosperous, but with it, military was restricted and the military was neglected.
Part II: The Alliance of the Abyss
The main enemy of the early Northern Song Dynasty was the Liao state established by the Khitans. During the reign of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, he devoted himself to internal affairs and took a defensive position against the Liao, and during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Guangyi, he attacked the Liao several times, but all of them were defeated. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song and Zhao Heng, he was again invaded by the Liao army, and Under the strong persuasion of Kou Zhun, Emperor Zhenzong of Song personally marched and oversaw the battle in Liaozhou, and as a result, morale was greatly boosted, and there was a great potential to return the Khitan army to the Liao state.
Perhaps they were frightened, or perhaps the Zhao and Song Dynasties loved peace too much, and under favorable circumstances, the Northern Song monarchs actually made the choice of condescending and begging for peace?
(Alliance of the Abyss)
The "Alliance of Liaoyuan" stipulates that Song and Liao will withdraw their troops and truce with the Baigou River as the boundary, and Song Liao will henceforth become a country of brothers, at the cost, after which the Song Dynasty will be required to pay tribute to the Liao State every year with 100,000 taels of silver and 200,000 horses of silk (a total equivalent to 300,000 taels).
It is not difficult to see that the essence of "The Alliance of the Yuanyuan" is that the Northern Song Dynasty spent money to buy peace.
"The Alliance of the Abyss" may seem humiliating, but it is not without merit. At that time, the annual income of the Northern Song Dynasty was more than 100 million taels of silver, and the 300,000 taels of tribute was only a dime for the Great Song. What's more, because of the war with the Liao State, the Northern Song Dynasty's annual military expenditure was as high as 30 million taels. It only cost one percent of the money in exchange for the peace of the country and the well-being of the people, so why not enjoy it?
(Northern Song Tribute cartoon to the Liao State)
After the "Alliance of The Yuanyuan", the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom indeed ushered in a century-long period of peace. During this period, the economy of the Northern Song Dynasty developed rapidly, and in the first 20 years alone, the fiscal revenue soared by 68 times, which was equivalent to 4 times that of the reign of The Tang Dynasty.
It can be seen that the Northern Song Dynasty used money to buy peace, which is better than buying and selling without losing. But in the long run, the Alliance of the Yuanyuan laid the foundation for the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. Because there was no need to prepare for war all year round, emperors such as Zhenzong, Renzong, and Yingzong all "forgot to fight and go to the army", and a hundred years of peace allowed the Northern Song Dynasty to recuperate and recuperate, but also gradually became a weak military country.
The third part: Lianjin destroys the Liao
The elimination of the Liao by the Jin Dynasty was the stinkiest move taken by the Northern Song Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the Jurchens in the northeast rose and established the Jin Kingdom. The two countries are geographically close, and with the continuous growth of the Jinguo, the first threat is the Liaoguo. The Jin army successively captured the Liaoyang Province of Tokyo and the Linhuang Province of Shangjing in the LiaoGuo, and the sound was greatly shaken.
In the struggle between the Jin and Liao states, the Northern Song dynasty monarchs saw the opportunity for the fisherman to gain profits and attempted to take the opportunity to retake the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which had been invaded by the Liao. Therefore, Emperor Huizong of Song sent envoys to Jin to ally with him and meet to attack and destroy the Liao.
(Map of Song Jinliao)
The mistakes of the national policy of the United Gold And The Elimination of the Liao Are Obvious. First of all, compared with the Jin State, Song Liao is a militaryly weak country, and the weak can only reach a balance by holding together against the strong, and with the Liao in the middle becoming a natural barrier, the Song may be saved from being destroyed by Jin. On the contrary, after the destruction of the Liao, Jin's next target must be Song. Unfortunately, the Northern Song Dynasty monarchs only coveted immediate interests, and completely disregarded the truth of cold lips and teeth.
It was in the process of the Song and Jin joint destruction of the Liao that the military weakness of the Song Dynasty was exposed. The Jin Dynasty decided that the Northern Song Dynasty was vulnerable, so it launched an invasion of the Northern Song After the destruction of the Liao.
In the second year of Jing Kang (1127 AD), the Jin army swept south to destroy the Northern Song Dynasty, the Second Emperor Hui Qin became a prisoner of the order, and 3,000 Guiqing's concubines were captured and went north together, suffering humiliation, known in history as the change of Jing Kang. This was the most humiliating subjugation in China's history.
(Jingkang's Change)
summary:
From Zhao Kuangyin's national policy of emphasizing literature and light martial arts, to song Zhenzong signing the "Alliance of Liaoyuan" with the Liao state, to song Huizong's rat eyes and light to destroy the Liao, the Northern Song Dynasty completed a slow self-destruction in more than a hundred years.
Don't you know that although civil rule is good, it cannot be backed by the military; although it is cost-effective to buy peace with money, it is difficult to last; and the lost land naturally has to be regained, but we cannot only look at the immediate interests.
Reference: History of the Song Dynasty