After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, it was the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Chaos, and then the Song Dynasty ended the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Because the five dynasties and ten kingdoms regimes were frequent, and the conquests were endless, and no country achieved unification, the zhengshi did not characterize it as a dynasty, so many people who were not very familiar with history would ignore such a chaotic world and think that the Tang Dynasty directly transitioned to the Song Dynasty.
As we all know, Datang was a prosperous dynasty, so why did it perish? And why was it taken over by the Song Dynasty?
It is undeniable that Datang was prosperous and prosperous in the past, but Datang also dragged it into a situation of no return because of its prosperity and wealth. Why? The reason is related to the fixed capital of the Tang Dynasty.
It seems that before the Tang Dynasty, many great unification dynasties had the practice of fixing the capital in Chang'an, when the Guanzhong Plain in the Qin and Han Dynasties was self-sufficient in grain production, enough to supply the logistical needs of the Qin and Han Dynasties, but after nearly a thousand years of development, the population of Guanzhong surged rapidly, and the consumption demand continued to escalate, while the grain output of the Guanzhong Plain did not keep up with the growth rate of the population and bureaucratic ranks, so that the Guanzhong Plain could no longer support such a large base of population, so that the logistics supply of the Capital Chang'an was seriously insufficient. If there is a famine year, even the emperor will take the civil and military officials to Luoyang to eat.
Many people may ask, why not transfer grain from the south to the Beijing Division, indeed, this method was also used by the rulers of the Tang Dynasty, but because of the limitations of the terrain, the transportation cycle was too long, the cost was also high, and it was extremely uneconomical, but the Tang Dynasty would rather consume a lot of fiscal revenue than engage in it, and this practice brought down the state finances.
All along, although the financial revenue of the Tang Dynasty was not full and good, it could also be regarded as a small and rich, mainly spent on raising soldiers and officials, as well as the profligacy and pleasure of the ruling class. However, with the increase in the demand for grain and grass in the Beijing Division, such a large logistical transportation cost was inevitable, which plunged the Tang Dynasty's finances into a quagmire and even became heavily indebted.
As a result, local officials could not afford to pay salaries, local troops could not afford to pay salaries, and the state finances were on the verge of collapse. At this time, the rulers of the Tang Dynasty thought of an old way, set up the jiedushi envoys, let the jiedushi envoys go to the localities to raise military expenses and official salaries, the imperial court thought it was a wise move to throw the pot at the jiedushi, but did not want to bury the Tang Dynasty, and then followed by the jiedushi envoy's support of the army, and the central government formed a severe situation that could not be left behind, and finally Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty by the jiedushi.
The Song Dynasty succeeded because of a mutiny launched by Zhao Kuangyin, a general of the Later Zhou regime during the Five Dynasties period. Zhao Kuangyin was a man of great talent, and after he ascended to the throne, he swept through Liuhe and basically unified the world, leaving behind the song dynasty's good stories of ancient winds and currents.