How can you elevate yourself? The easiest way to do this is to belittle others. Prompted by this mentality, fans of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties began to humiliate each other meaninglessly.
In fact, those who can really look at history rationally are the kings of wisdom. Japanese scholars have summarized the Song as an epoch-making turning point in Chinese culture, that is, the theory of no China after the famous Yashan Mountain.
Many people with extreme national consciousness are still very resentful, why did the Song Dynasty's 70% victory rate collapse the country three years after it had just recovered the land of Yanyun? Now 56 nationalities are one, and in history, the various ethnic groups are very distinct.
We may wish to start from three points to uncover the true situation of the military strength of the Song Dynasty.
The song dynasty had a huge military force
If we look at Jin Yong's martial arts novels, we will find that the Western Xia, Song, Liao, Jin, and Tubo countries all have a place in the theater.
However, in terms of military aggregates alone, the troops of the Liao, Jin, and Western Xia were far inferior to those of the Song Dynasty.
From 200,000 soldiers and horses in the zhao kuangyin era to 1.5 million troops at the time of the fall of the Song Dynasty, this base is several times more than the armies of other countries combined.
Moreover, from the data point of view, the 70% victory rate is not bad. However, most of the 70% victory rate was the conquest of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms during the founding hero Zhao Kuangyin, which was a battle achievement during the Southern Expedition.
However, Zhao Kuangyin's greatest wish was still to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which had been dedicated to the Khitan by Shi Jingyao. This land is not only a barrier for the Central Plains Dynasty, but also a military powerhouse related to the life and death of the Great Song Dynasty.
To this end, Zhao Kuangyin also specially set up the Yanyun Recovery Fund (that is, the pile vault).
If there is no candlelight axe shadow, let Zhao Kuangyin live for another ten years, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures are likely to be recovered.
In that way, in the relaxed political environment of the Song Dynasty, Huaxia is likely to enter the Industrial Revolution hundreds of years earlier than Europe, and continue to expand with the character of Zhao Kuangyin until it dominates the world, but history has no ifs.
When Zhao Guangyi took over his brother's Jiangshan, he forced his two nephews to die with lightning speed (the Eighth Prince of Jin Was purely fictional).
Subsequently, Zhao Guangyi also wanted to learn from his brother and win the respect of his subordinates by relying on military merit.
But the facts tell us that Zhao Guangyi can play conspiracies, but he is too far behind in playing military.
During the three Northern Expeditions to the Liao Dynasty, Zhao Guangyi not only failed repeatedly, but even escaped in a donkey cart after being seriously injured. If you can't fight, you can only talk about it, and under the defeat of the soldiers, you can only admit it.
Zhao Guangyi not only recognized the legitimacy of the Liao state's possession of Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, but also had to pay 300,000 taels of filial piety to the Liao state every year.
What caused the Song army to be so numerous and so low in combat effectiveness?
First, the deformed policy of emphasizing literature and suppressing military force
The Song Dynasty was rich, but the Song Dynasty was weak, and this had its own reasons.
Before the Song Dynasty, the land of Huaxia experienced a chaotic five dynasties and ten kingdoms. In just 53 years, the dynasties of Later Liang, Later Jin, Later Han, Later Tang, and Later Zhou took turns.
The reason for this situation is that the military generals rebelled, and whoever had military power could have the world. Even Zhao Kuangyin himself was obtained through the military coup of "yellow robes and body".
In order to prevent the continuation of this situation, Zhao Kuangyin formulated a series of policies to suppress military generals after "releasing the military power with a glass of wine".
For example, in the Song Dynasty, it was very interesting for military generals to fight, and before they went out on the battlefield, the emperor drew up a battle map for them, and all the strategic guidelines of the troops were on this map.
No matter how the battlefield changes, the military general can only command according to this map.
If you change it without authorization, you will be held responsible regardless of whether you win or lose. If you follow the chart, you have no responsibility whether you win or lose.
After that, the Song Dynasty also assigned many secretaries (overseers) to the generals, who monitored the actions of the officers at all times.
Under such pressure and constraints, what role can the general's military talent play?
Second, the layman directs the insider
Military generals not only have no decision-making power on the battlefield, but also have no political position at home. Even if they regained Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, their status was not as good as that of a scholar who had just been admitted to the Yuan.
And what is even more frightening is that it was not the military generals who really commanded the Song Dynasty, but a group of literati in the Privy Council
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These old masters had long understood the emperor's thoughts and specifically attacked talented warriors. For example, Di Qing, a great general, was an ace and famous general who had been shot with one knife and one shot from the grassroots level.
But when the general had real power, the Song Dynasty civil officials immediately went to the emperor and asked the general on the battlefield to be transferred to the Privy Council, which was far away from the battlefield all day long.
Not only did he rely on this means to empty his power, but he also attacked him en masse, creating rumors that Di Qing had the intention of plotting rebellion.
In order to avoid trouble, Di Qing had to resign and go home.
Even so, the civilian-official clique remained unforgiving until di Qing was forced to die. And the fate of the famous general Yue Fei, isn't this also the case?
This has caused people who understand war to be unable to come out, nor dare to come out, and whoever comes out will die!
Those who did not understand war were right and right in the imperial court.
After the defeat in the battle against the Liao, the first thing the civilian officer thought of was to flee.
If it weren't for the tough attitude of Ming Xiang Kou Zhun, this group of capitulationists would really tie up the emperor and abandon the capital and flee.
Third, to become an official, kill people and set fires to be recruited
When we look at the territory of the Song Dynasty today, it is simply small and pitiful. But even on such a small territory, the Song Dynasty had a huge army of more than 1.5 million people in captivity.
People like Lin Chong are the leaders of the 800,000 Forbidden Army at every turn.
But there are many crises hidden in this, and the biggest problem is blind recruitment.
In real history, the gang of The good Han song jiang of Liangshan was from the beginning a meticulous plan carried out by a group of people who were unsuccessful in their careers. Because in the Song Dynasty, if you want to get ahead, you must not rely on your ability to get a meritorious name.
More than half of the more than 100 prime ministers of the Song Dynasty were from civilian origins. Therefore, the Song Dynasty is also called the plebeian era by historians.
Or you can become a bandit, as long as you can pull up a team, you have the opportunity to negotiate with the court.
Like the famous Yang family generals, they were also a family of military generals who surrendered to the Song Dynasty.
Why did the Song Dynasty turn the army originally used to fight into a tool for maintaining the stability of the empire? This was also given by the national policy of the Song Dynasty.
The land of the Song Dynasty was limited, and most of the high-quality resources were concentrated in the city of Bieliang.
In both Tokyo Dream Record and Water Margin, both the capital of the Song Dynasty are described as super metropolises, and the people who were blackmailed by the Song Dynasty became displaced people.
In order to place the peasant revolt organized by the displaced people or the displaced people in the most harmonious way, the imperial court used the method of recruiting security to give these idle people a profession, that is, to be a soldier.
In addition to these starving people who were forced to helplessness, all criminals were also sent to the army.
In this situation, the Song army became a gathering place for bandits and hooligans.
Yes asked
Does such an army have combat effectiveness? Does such a soldier have a sense of pride?
The reason why the Song Dynasty was weak was first because of its incompetent policy of money diplomacy, and second, because of the military arrangements that the imperial court did not dare to delegate power.
As for the diplomacy of the Song Dynasty, I will list it separately in the next article, and you will feel even more strange after reading it!