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The Song Dynasty is one of the peak periods of China's economic development, its commodity economic development reached an unprecedented height, the annual financial revenue of the Song Dynasty can reach 100 million yuan, the Song Dynasty economy accounted for nearly 80% of the global economic output in the same period, is recognized worldwide economic power.
The economic, cultural, and technological development of the Song Dynasty was unique, especially after the New Deal of the Qing Calendar and Wang Anshi's change of law, the national strength of the Song Dynasty was further enhanced. However, the Song Dynasty, which got rid of the image of poverty, could not get rid of the dilemma of weakness.
The song dynasty was weak in military strength and had the titles of "weak Song" and "Wen Song". The Song Dynasty had always bought peace with money and could not build a usable army. The reasons behind this deserve to be investigated.
The Song Dynasty once had the bud of capitalism, the peak of the development of the commodity economy in the feudal dynasty, and the fiscal revenue was quite huge, but the high fiscal revenue could not support a strong army.
So, how did the weak army, which was in stark contrast to the strong economic power of the Song Dynasty, come into being? What is the reason behind the Song Dynasty, which fulfilled the desire of a rich country, but was unable to complete the goal of a strong army?
First, the prosperity of the Song Dynasty
1. Twice-transformed method
At the beginning of the founding of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizu practiced strict economy, and the economy of the Song Dynasty was always tepid, and what really made the Song Dynasty's economy take off was the two changes, the New Deal of the Qing Calendar and the Wang Anshi Change. The New Deal mainly focuses on agriculture, builds water conservancy facilities for farmers, transforms agricultural production into indicators, and strictly controls it.
Although the New Deal ended in failure in internal struggles, its efforts to encourage agricultural production continued, and a large amount of wasteland was used, and the economic strength of the Song Dynasty became stronger.
Wang Anshi's change of law tended to encourage production, and established his own set of financial systems, encouraging farmers to develop production, private lending funded by the imperial court, and the rapid development of agricultural technology.
The grain output of the Song Dynasty has reached 6 times that of the Warring States period, and agriculture is no longer a bottleneck restricting the development of the Song Dynasty, providing sufficient labor for commercial development.
2. The Song Dynasty was financially prosperous
During the Song Dynasty, China's fiscal revenue can be said to be the best of many dynasties, and the "Chronicle of Food and Goods" records that the annual financial income of the Song Dynasty can reach more than 110 million yuan, which is converted into silver and is about 100 million taels of silver. It should be known that the fiscal and tax revenue at the peak of the Qing Dynasty was only 80 million taels, which shows the huge degree of economic development and prosperity of the Song Dynasty.
Second, the reasons for the failure of the strong army
1. Internal factors of the political system
At the beginning of the founding of the Song Dynasty, the political system set the tone, and the Taizu Emperor Chen Qiao mutinied to gain Jiangshan, naturally fearing repeating the same mistakes, so the political system of emphasizing literature over military force was established within the Song Dynasty.
Military attaches are not only limited in the DPRK, within the army, the status of military attaches can not be guaranteed, the actual commander of the Song Dynasty army is served by civilian officials, only when fighting a war, military attaches really have military power, and they must be limited everywhere, which shows how weak the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty is.
2, fiscal revenue and expenditure is worrying
The Song Dynasty had high revenues, but the corresponding fiscal expenditures were also high. The "three redundancies" that dragged down the Song Dynasty's finances included redundant soldiers, redundant officials, and redundant expenses, and even if the fiscal revenue was not cheap, it could not afford such a high financial expenditure. The emperor was very happy to make great achievements, emphasized quantity over quality in army building, blindly expanded the army, and increased the financial burden.
In order to achieve functional differentiation, the Song Dynasty set up multiple official positions for decentralization, the number of officials soared, coupled with the annual tribute and emergency relief funds, the Song Dynasty's finances were already stretched and cost too much, so that the Song Dynasty had no time to build an elite army.
3. External problems and resources
The northern border of the Song Dynasty has always been entrenched in the minority regime, bringing huge military pressure to the Song Dynasty, the northern terrain is flat, the ethnic minority cavalry is easy to deploy, the Song army is weak, the command is not smooth, it is difficult to win in the conflict.
The Song Dynasty also practiced the practice of exchanging old coins for peace to maintain the border Antai. This also undoubtedly brought a burden to the people, resulting in the financial constraints of the Song Dynasty. At the same time, in order to restrict the military development of the Song Dynasty, the Liao State strictly restricted the export of warhorses.
The Song Dynasty also lacked land to produce horses, and it was naturally unable to form cavalry to deal with the threat from the north. The Great Song Dynasty, which lacked strategic resources, could not get rid of its weak state, and the policy of exchanging finance and taxation for peace was already deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it seemed that there was no need to strengthen the army.
The Song Dynasty was the peak period of China's economic development, fiscal and tax revenue was leading the world, with the rise of agricultural technology, agricultural productivity increased significantly, liberated a large number of laborers, and flowed into the development of the commodity economy. The Three Redundant Shortcomings of the Song Dynasty intensified, and even if the fiscal revenue was high, it could not bear the huge financial expenditure.
There are three reasons why the Song Dynasty was unable to strengthen the army: First, its own political system emphasized literature over military force, the status of military attaches was low, and the actual leader of the army was also civilian officials, lacking effective leadership and training; second, the financial revenue did not match expenditure, and high expenditure made the Song Dynasty financially stretched and unable to organize elite troops.
Third, the threat of external troubles was overwhelming, and the Song Dynasty gradually formed a negative mentality of exchanging old coins for peace, and strategic resources were strictly controlled, especially the lack of war horse resources, unable to form cavalry troops, in the northern terrain flat area, cavalry advantages are obvious, the Song army has no cavalry troops, naturally not the opponent of the other side. The emperor of the Song Dynasty was very happy and meritorious, and did not pay attention to the quality of the army but to the quantity, and the combat effectiveness of the troops was reduced.
Reference: History of the Song Dynasty