We all know that the Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the worst external record. They had a million troops in the air, and not only could they defeat the Khitans, Jurchens, Dangxiang, and Mongols, but even the Vietnamese. For how weak and funny the Song Army is, many friends do not have an intuitive impression, now let's compare the Song Army with the Tang Army and the Han Army.
The Han army was one person topped the five hus
Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the martial arts of the Han army have been very prosperous, and there is a saying that there is a Han enemy and five Hu. And who is this statement from? It is Chen Tang who said the bold words "Although far away will be cursed". At that time, the Han army stationed in the western region was besieged by the rebellious barbarians of the vassal state, so the Han Yuan Emperor summoned Chen Tang to discuss countermeasures. However, Chen Tang only smiled slightly: "There is no need to worry about this, we han soldiers can resist five Hu people, the enemy can't help us at all, and they will definitely retreat after a while." After a few days, as Chen Tang expected, the rebels finally broke the siege and left.
The strength of the Han army is not without reason, elite steel weapons, sophisticated armor, indestructible crossbows, exquisitely made chariots are the Han army's winning magic weapon, even if the Han army only uses infantry, it can also bring a huge blow to the Hu people. For example, Li Ling once led 5,000 infantry to attack the Xiongnu, only to encounter 80,000 cavalry led by the Xiongnu Shan Yu, who fought for several days after killing 20,000 enemy troops before the entire army was destroyed. According to Li Ling himself, if there is one more arrow, it can break through the siege.
Later, because the Han people secretly sold iron to the Hu people, the enemy's equipment was improved, but the balance of strength between the Han people and the Hu people was still very different, and one Han person could still be hostile to three Hu people. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Central Plains were in chaos, and the population had dropped from 50 million to 7 million, but the Han people were still able to hang the Hu people. It is in response to the saying that "Han independence will perish by force."
A thousand Tang Dynasty infantry can force tens of thousands of Hu riders
The Tang Dynasty was another period of great power after the Han Dynasty, from Tang Taizong to Tang Gaozong, the Tang army was invincible against the Hu people, and even destroyed Gaochang, Eastern Turks, Western Turks, Xueyantuo, Goguryeo, Baekje and other powerful countries.
Tang Taizong was very confident in the combat effectiveness of the Tang army, and he said in the seventeenth year of Zhenguan: "Today's China is strong, Rong Di is weak, with my disciples a thousand soldiers, I can hit Tens of thousands of Hu riders." ”
You know, in the era of cold weapons, cavalry has a great advantage over infantry, especially in the stirrup era, this advantage is even more magnified. But the Tang army was so confident in the face of the Hu people that it dared to fight the Hu people with a thousand infantry.
The Tang army had fought against Xue Yantuo, and Li Ji had broken the enemy army with 50,000 with 3,000 infantry, which fully confirmed this. So why was Tang Jun so strong? The reason for this was that the excellent prefectural military system provided the Tang Dynasty with a large number of reliable and skilled soldiers, and sophisticated weapons were also a major advantage.
Two thousand soldiers of the Song Dynasty could not defeat seventeen Jurchens
According to historical data, the number of Song troops reached a staggering 1.27 million, while the Han and Tang armies were about 600,000 in peacetime. However, the Song army had so many troops, but it was not the opponent of the Hu people, and they were defeated by the numerically inferior enemy cavalry.
In each battle, the Song army often had several times the strength of the enemy, the logistics supply was sufficient, and the equipment, grain and grass were piled up like mountains, but the fighting was often defeated like a mountain. For example, in the Battle of Song Jinfuping, Zhang Jun had more than 100,000 troops under him, all of whom were experienced in hundreds of battles, and collected taxes in Guanzhong five years later to enrich military salaries. The opponent yan lou only had tens of thousands of people on his hands, half of whom were still puppet troops. The result of the final battle was astounding, the Song army was almost completely destroyed, and the entire Shaanxi was lost.
And that's not even the most humiliating thing. At the beginning of the confrontation between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, the Song army was defeated by the enemy and forced to negotiate peace, agreeing to cede three important towns such as Taiyuan to Jurchen. Therefore, the seventeen cavalrymen of the Jin Kingdom, who were envoys, returned to China in the night of the starry night and prepared to repay Jin Taizong.
However, before the emissaries left the country, the Song court repented, so he sent the Song army in Hebei to intercept and kill the seventeen envoys halfway. At that time, the Song army concentrated 2,000 soldiers, which were composed of forbidden troops and militia.
The seventeen Jurchens saw the Battle of the Song Army and knew what was going on. So they shouted, "Our two countries have negotiated peace, what do you mean by that?" ”
However, the Song army bullied the Jurchens and launched an attack on seventeen envoys. As a result, the Jurchen envoys were forced to fight, and they divided themselves into three teams, seven cavalry in front, five cavalry on two wings, and galloped and shot, killing countless Song troops. The corrupt Song army, seeing that the war was unfavorable, actually scattered and trampled on each other, and eventually more than half of the dead were killed. This is really an epic battle, but the Jurchens can't fight it.
In short, the same infantry, the Han army and the Tang army can defeat the hu cavalry with superior numbers, and the Song army has a numerical advantage almost every time, but it cannot be defeated, which shows how weak the Song army really is.