Introduction: Looking at the long river of history, we will find a very helpless phenomenon, during the Qin and Han Dynasties and even the pre-Qin period, the military strength of the Central Plains could hang the northern nomads.
By the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the military strength of the Central Plains seemed to have suddenly weakened, and it was arbitrarily invaded by the northern nomads. This phenomenon has been throughout history.
Some people attribute this phenomenon to the decay of central rule, and this explanation does not seem to explain the problem. We know that whether it is the Liao, Jin or state-owned Enterprises of the Yuan Dynasty, their mode of rule is also copied from the Central Plains.
[1] Military strength during the Qin and Han dynasties
Five thousand infantry went deep into the north to steal the tower.
In which period in history, the military strength of the Central Plains was the strongest, I think it was the pre-Qin period. The reason is that in the pre-Qin period, we did not find that there were nomads in the north who dared to invade the Central Plains.
Especially during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when the Central Plains were in the land, warlords divided the princes and fought, which was supposedly the best period for the northern nomads to invade the Central Plains.
But we see that in fact, it has not happened, and any princely state in the north of the Central Plains can easily deal with the nomadic herding in the north. It can be said that the northern nomads at that time were not called a threat at all.
The northern nomads really began to invade the Central Plains, or during the Han Dynasty, they also forced the emperors of the Han Dynasty to intermarry and kiss. It was not until the time of Emperor Wu of Han that he taught the Xiongnu a harsh lesson.
However, by wounding the enemy by a thousand and inflicting eight hundred, the price of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty in pacifying the Northern Xiongnu was very high. Even so, it is much more exuberant than the song and ming dynasties of later generations.
The most cattle generals in history who resisted the Xiongnu were also mostly from the Han Dynasty, and after the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains was not as strong as a generation in resisting nomadism in the north.
[2] The Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty are the most nested
Completely defeat the northern nomads.
By the time of the Song Dynasty, the strength of the Central Plains to resist the nomads of the north had fallen to a historical low. The entire royal family of the Great Song Dynasty was put on a pot by the Liao State.
The two emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, and a large number of palace women in the harem, were taken captive by the Liao state. Created a historic shame of Jingkang. The Ming Dynasty was not much better.
Knocked open by the Jurchen tribe and hid from the emperor's throne. The founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang's prestige to destroy the Yuan Dynasty also disappeared. Zhongyuan became a lamb to be slaughtered again.
Regarding the defeat of the Song Dynasty to the Liao State, many people blame the decadent rule of the Northern Song Dynasty, in fact, even if the Northern Song Dynasty is decayed, it is more advanced than the Liao State.
The rule of the Liao State was still learned from the Han Dynasty, and the culture could not be compared with the Northern Song Dynasty, and the economic strength could not be compared with the Northern Song Dynasty.
Similarly, the Jurchen tribes at the end of the Ming Dynasty were also worlds apart from the Ming Dynasty. The overall strength of the country during the glorious period of the Ming Dynasty was advanced in the world.
So why did the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty not defeat the northern nomads? I think the reason for the defeat is mainly from the military side, and the direct cause of the defeat is still the military weakness.
[3] Comparison of military strength between the two sides
The gap is always changing.
When it comes to military strength, the most important thing is weapons and equipment, the two armies carry out, if the weapons and equipment are not on the same channel, it is naturally an asymmetrical war.
In the pre-Qin period, the metal smelting technology in the Central Plains was very advanced, and compared with the nomadic herders in the northern Part of the Central Plains, it was not known what smelting was.
As a result, the weapons and equipment of the two armies are very different, the central plains are metal weapons, and the main weapons of the nomadic people are wooden weapons, in this case, even if the nomadic soldiers are strong, it will not help.
The smelting technology in the central plains of the Han Dynasty has been learned a lot by the northern nomads who have drawn cats and tigers. But Zhongyuan invented armor, which is equivalent to a great improvement in the defense level.
The nomadic iron tools in the north did not work against the Han Dynasty army armed to the teeth, so there were five thousand soldiers of Li Ling, who could go deep into the hinterland of the Xiongnu alone to steal the tower.
If we look at the Song Dynasty, the gap in the nomadic military equipment in the Central Plains and the north during the Song Dynasty no longer exists, all of them are cold weapons, and both sides have armor.
Even the armor of the Liao state was more advanced, and on this basis, the nomadic horses in the north were far better than those in the Central Plains in terms of quantity and quality.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Ming Dynasty had artillery, and the Qing Dynasty also had it. Similarly, the cavalry of the Great Qing Dynasty was more ferocious than that of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Army naturally did not show its superiority.
It can be seen that the resistance of the Central Plains relative to the nomadic herders in the north has weakened, in fact, because the gap between the weapons and equipment of the two sides has gradually disappeared. In this case, the Central Plains did not have a cavalry advantage, and naturally collapsed into an army.
【Conclusion】
In short, the Han Dynasty's five thousand infantry could go deep into the north to steal the tower, and by the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the reason why the northern nomadic herders could not defeat the root was that the military strength was relatively weak.
bibliography:
History of the Song Dynasty
History of the Ming Dynasty
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[History is like a pot of old wine, it needs to be tasted carefully, here, calm down, I will take you through the past of a thousand years, come back, you will be more pink. Pay attention to your old friends: Reading history and knowing the heart]