What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
In 936, shi Jingyao, a later Tang general during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, rebelled in Taiyuan, and in order to gain khitan support, he ceded Youyun Sixteen Prefectures and became "Emperor Er". Thus gaining a firm foothold, establishing the Later Jin Dynasty, and fixing the capital of Bieliang.
After Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures were ceded by Shi Jingyao, the Central Plains Dynasty lost its natural and artificial defense line with the northern nomads, and was completely exposed to the iron hooves of the northern nomads.
How important were the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to the Central Plains in ancient times?
Its strategic significance to the Central Plains is equivalent to the role of the Yangtze River Natural Insurance for Nanjing. If you think about Nanjing facing the threat of the north, if you lose the Yangtze River natural danger, it is equivalent to losing half of the game, and the Central Plains faces the northern nomads and loses the barrier of Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures.
In 959, Later Zhou Shizong Chai Rong led an army to the Northern Expedition, along the way was like a broken bamboo, one after another to retake the three prefectures of Ying, Mo, and Ning, as well as Yijin Pass, Waqiao Pass, and Sikou Pass, and several cities in a row, to the key land of Youzhou (Beijing), originally wanted to take advantage of the victory to pursue and take it in one fell swoop, but because of his serious illness, he could only return to the dynasty, and soon Chai Rong died young, which can be said to be the closest time for the Central Plains Dynasty to recover Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures militarily.
Of course, in addition to this military operation, what is little known is that in fact, in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty had recovered part of Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and it was only one step away from completely recovering Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, of course, this history is quite humiliating.
Because Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty signed a maritime alliance with the Jin State, one of the conditions was to take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, but it did not come to fruition, and the cooperation with the Jin State exposed the low combat effectiveness of the Song army, and the result was that although the Northern Song Dynasty took back part of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun after the destruction of the Liao, soon the Jin State turned its face and did not recognize anyone, went directly south, and destroyed the Northern Song in one fell swoop, which was a shame for Jing Kang.
It can be said that in the 319 years of the two Song Dynasties, yanyun sixteen states were thought day and night, but they were unattainable, and they wanted to take it back but they were helpless.
More than three hundred years later, in the chaotic era at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, a man named Zhu Yuanzhang rose up, first unified Jiangnan, and then in 1367 sent Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to lead a 250,000-strong army in the Northern Expedition, which lasted for a year, not only recovering the Central Plains, but also conquering Dadu (Beijing), the Yuan Dynasty's national political rule ended, and Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures were naturally also taken back.
So why did the two Song Dynasties helplessly control the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun in 319, and at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang only took one year to recover it, and today Song Anzhi came to talk about it specifically.
First, the situation is different, the shortcomings left by the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty's emphasis on literature and light weapons, it is naturally difficult to recover Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures
A very important reason why the Northern Song Dynasty could not recover Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures was that the mess left by the Tang Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty could not clean up, but instead embarked on another deformed road.
As we all know, since the Anshi Rebellion of the Tang Dynasty, there were many feudal towns and the central imperial court declined, until the moment of its final demise, the Tang Dynasty did not solve the problem of the feudal towns, but died at the hands of Zhu Wen of the fanzhen.
It can be said that after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the chaotic world of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms is an enlarged version of the situation of the division of the feudal towns, the various feudal towns are founded, and they are attacking each other, and the rebellion and usurpation of the throne by military generals are everywhere, and it is an era of heavy martial arts and lowly literature.
And the child emperor Shi Jingyao cut off Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures in this context, it can be said that in this chaotic world, there are too many problems left.
Although the Northern Song Dynasty finally ended the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, it had been more than forty years since Shi Jingyao ceded Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and the Khitan had been operating here for a long time, deeply rooted, and it was not so easy to recover at all.
It can be said that the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun are a drawback left by the five generations and ten kingdoms of the five dynasties and ten kingdoms after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, and the Northern Song Dynasty did not solve this problem at the beginning of the founding of the country.
Generally speaking, during the founding of the country, and in the early days of the founding of the country, it was the time when the combat effectiveness of the dynasty army was the strongest.
However, because the Northern Song Dynasty was overly heavy on martial arts and lowly literature in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and because Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, was a military general who rebelled and usurped the Later Zhou Jiangshan, he began to implement the policy of emphasizing literature and light weapons, which was equivalent to abolishing martial arts.
During the reign of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, it is good to say that although the policy of emphasizing literature and light military force was implemented, after all, the military generals were born and understood the difficulties of leading soldiers, so they still gave the military generals a certain amount of power to act cheaply. However, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song and Zhao Guangyi, this emperor who was born as a civilian subject, fearing that the warlords would seize power, was restricting the power of the military generals in many ways, and the combat effectiveness of the army naturally dropped significantly, and the combat effectiveness of the army naturally declined, and naturally could not defeat the Khitan as a fierce enemy.
When the army was at its strongest in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it could not take back Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, let alone later. After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty, which was in a quiet corner of the south, did not have to think about the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which was out of reach.
Second, Zhu Yuanzhang himself is a man of great talent, and the situation is also very favorable to him
The so-called times create heroes, so what is the times to create heroes?
That is, smart people who go with the flow under specific historical conditions and make a big cause.
For example, Li Yuan, the Emperor Gaozu of Tang, began to fight in 617, only one year, and in 618, he established the Tang Dynasty.
And Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang started from the age of 25 to unify the world, which took 15 years.
Judging from the time, it is obvious that Li Yuan's one-year military time can be said to be the fastest in the Great Unification Dynasty, but can it be considered that he is stronger than the founding emperors such as Zhu Yuanzhang, Han Gaozu, Liu Bang, and Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan?
Definitely not.
Therefore, this is the hero of the times, not how strong Li Yuan is, so it only took one year, but because the situation at that time was suitable for Li Yuan, so Li Yuan raised an army for only one year, that is, to establish the Tang Dynasty.
In terms of the problem of Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, the reason why the gap between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty is so large has a lot to do with the current situation.
Judging from the situation explained above, it is obvious that the northern Song Dynasty was in an era, and the situation was not favorable to it at all. In the era of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, the situation was very favorable to him.
Like the Northern Song Dynasty, the war horse aspect is a big problem, so Wang Anshi changed the law, there is a policy of protecting the horse law, which wants to increase the number of war horses. And because the Yuan Dynasty raised horses throughout the country, not limited to one place, although Zhu Yuanzhang rose in Jiangnan, the war horse problem was well solved.
In terms of opponents, the opponent of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Khitan (Liao state), was quite powerful, and after the five dynasties and ten kingdoms repeatedly interfered in the scuffle between the Central Plains Dynasties, they could slowly develop in the north outside of the transcendental object; that is, a few years before the establishment of the Later Zhou Shizong and the Northern Song Dynasty, they encountered the Liao Muzong who was known as the Sleeping King, the emperor was tyrannical and cruel, and in the later period of his reign, he often drank and deserted the government, so the Zhou Shizong Northern Expedition could go all the way, and in addition, under normal circumstances, the Khitan (Liao State), the Northern Song Dynasty was difficult to take advantage of.
And Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's opponent Yuan Dynasty, although the army combat effectiveness is strong, but the key is infighting first, Zhu Yuanzhang rose in Jiangnan, and unified Jiangnan, they fought in-house; when Zhu Yuanzhang sent his army to the Northern Expedition, they were still fighting infighting, until most of them were conquered, the internal infighting was controlled, no longer so fierce, it can be said that although Zhu Yuanzhang's enemies are strong, but infighting comes first, such a situation, too much help to him.
Of course, there is also an important reason that Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was a man of great talent, and personally believed that he was slightly better than Zhao Kuangyin, the Grandfather of the Song Dynasty; although he rose by the opportunity of the infighting in the Yuan Dynasty, he was also strong enough, otherwise how could he stand out in the various rebel armies at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and eventually die?
Like the Northern Expedition in 1367, Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangement was in place, sending fierce generals such as Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, and formulating the strategic actions of the Northern Expedition, first taking Shandong, Henan, then Hebei, and then conquering Dadu (Beijing), and finally going down to Shanxi, heading straight to the northwest, with such a clever strategic means, realizing the first and only successful Northern Expedition in ancient history, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures naturally followed suit.
It can be said that the situation is favorable to Zhu Yuanzhang, and he himself is also a great talent, so naturally it is one year to reclaim Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures.
Looking back at the Northern Song Dynasty, the situation was unfavorable to it, although the Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin xiong was strategic, but the successor Song Taizong was not a man of great talent and great strategy, only concerned with consolidating his rule internally, desperately emphasizing literature and light martial arts, which was equivalent to abolishing martial arts, so naturally he could not take back Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and after missing the best opportunity in the early days of the founding of the country, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures naturally became a lingering pain for the two Song Dynasties.