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Preface
In the long history and culture of the mainland, each dynasty has its own unique glory and history, but there is such a dynasty that is considered by many people to be the most difficult dynasty in history.
This dynasty is the Song Dynasty, some friends think the Song Dynasty is very prosperous, and some friends think the Song Dynasty is very weak, so what does the real Song Dynasty look like?
Let's take a look at the real Song Dynasty in history today, is it the same as you think?
Origins of the Song Dynasty
The founding emperor of the Song Dynasty was Zhao Kuangyin, who overthrew the Later Zhou Dynasty after launching the Chenqiao Mutiny in the chaos of 960 AD, and then established the Song Dynasty after Huang Paojia's death, establishing the capital in the Kaifeng area.
The Song Dynasty existed for a total of 319 years, which was ruled by 18 emperors, and the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, was also known as Song Taizu, which was also the first ruler of the Song Dynasty.
The Song Dynasty was divided into the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty were very different, whether in terms of geographical location, or economic culture, the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty had unique opinions.
So what were the Northern Song and Southern Song Dynasty like, and how did they perish?
The direction of the regime during the Northern Song Dynasty
When the Song Dynasty was first established, it was called the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Northern Song Dynasty existed from 960 to 1127, with a total of 167 years and a total of nine rulers.
Many friends have heard the history of "releasing military power with a glass of wine", and this story tells the story of the ruler Zhao Kuangyin in order to consolidate the power of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the early days of the establishment of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin quelled many rebellions, fearing that he would one day be rebelled by his army, and after listening to the advice of Prime Minister Zhao Pu, he was even more determined to deprive the generals of their military rights.
So he picked a night, left those military generals who held military power to feast and invite them to drink, and after three rounds of drinking, Zhao Kuangyin talked about his worries.
After hearing this, many ministers expressed their loyalty, and Zhao Kuangyin said that it is better for you to hand over the military power and then go home to retire, so I have no worries.
Sure enough, the next day, many ministers handed over their military power and went home to retire, which can be regarded as a temporary success in stabilizing their position, but this also laid the groundwork for the "decline of Wensheng and Wu" in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Since then, the economy of the Northern Song Dynasty has begun to develop rapidly, and relevant history shows that the Northern Song Dynasty was the richest dynasty in the history of the mainland, whether in agriculture, or in many fields of science and technology, culture, the Northern Song Dynasty has reached the peak of history.
The financial revenue of the Northern Song Dynasty reached a maximum of 160 million yuan, and such income was not obtained by exploiting the people, but the result of the rapid development of the country, and the improvement of productive forces led to the natural development of the economy.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the living standards of the common people were also very high, and they no longer made clothes with linen, but made clothes with better satin, which shows the economic situation of the Northern Song Dynasty.
In addition to the vigorous development of the economy, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin vigorously advocated the development of culture, and even the phenomenon of "emphasizing literature over military force" appeared, which was also the operation of Song Taizu in order to consolidate his dominant position.
First of all, the system has been revised to reuse civilian officials more so that more civilians can enter politics, so that there is no need to worry about those military attachés rebelling.
Then there is the frequent transfer of military camps from the military camps, so that they cannot have too much contact with ordinary soldiers, so that even if the generals have a rebellious heart, no one will follow.
In this way, there are many literati and writers, such as Wang Anshi, Ouyang Xiu, etc., and there are many literary works that have been handed down to this day, and there are countless of them.
In 1127 AD, the Jin soldiers broke through the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and since then, the Northern Song Dynasty has perished.
Development during the Southern Song Dynasty
Soon after the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Gou established the Southern Dynasty ruled by the Han in 1127, with its capital at Yingtianfu in Nanjing, and continued to use the country name "Song", with a total of 9 emperors and 152 years of existence.
In 1141 AD, the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin State formed a stalemate, the Jin State failed to eliminate the Southern Song Dynasty several times to the south, and the Southern Song Dynasty failed to succeed in many crusades, and then the Southern Song Dynasty gave up the area north of the Huai River, and the two sides reached a peace agreement with the Huai River as the boundary.
The Southern Song Dynasty was naturally very good in economic development because it was a continuation of the Northern Song Dynasty in many fields such as politics, economy, and culture, but the Southern Song Dynasty learned from the experience of the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty and began to vigorously strengthen its military affairs.
Although the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty led to the implication of the land area of the Southern Song Dynasty, the people still had a lot of land to grow and farm, and there are relevant records that the rice yield in the Southern Song Dynasty reached 312 catties per mu.
This is also because of the special geographical location in the Southern Song Dynasty, which is mentioned in the "Agricultural Development and Causes of Ningshao Region in the Southern Song Dynasty", the Southern Song Dynasty belongs to the southern region, with rich water resources, which is very suitable for planting rice.
In addition to the development of agriculture, economic development is also unprecedentedly prosperous, the Northern Song Dynasty in order to expand the economic and trade development and opened the port of Quanzhou, after years of development, in the Southern Song Dynasty, contributed a lot of wealth to the Southern Song Dynasty.
The Southern Song Dynasty also had foreign trade with dozens of countries through the port of Quanzhou, and the port of Quanzhou was only one of the important ports of the Southern Song Dynasty at that time, and other regions such as Guangzhou also provided economic resources for the Southern Song Dynasty.
In addition to these, there were many developments in handicrafts, transportation, science and technology, and the military development of the Southern Song Dynasty was also particularly important.
The Southern Song Dynasty ushered in the era of hot and cold weapons in Chinese history, and gunpowder was used in the military, and traditional weapons were further developed.
At that time, Zhao Gou, the ruler of the Southern Song Dynasty, also recruited a large number of troops to supplement his military strength to defend against foreign enemies, and later there were also famous generals Han Shizhong and Yue Fei who have been handed down to this day.
When the Southern Song Dynasty was established, due to the continuous interference of the Jin State, the internal regime of the Southern Song Dynasty was divided and turbulent, and when the agreement was signed with the Jin State, it became the foreshadowing of the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty.
After the signing of the agreement, the Southern Song Dynasty became more and more dependent on the Jin State, and the later nomadic Mongols became stronger, and after the destruction of the Jin State, it was only separated from the Southern Song Dynasty by a river.
In 1279 AD, the Mongols still captured the gate of the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and finally Lu Xiufu jumped into the sea with the eight-year-old Duan King Zhao Hao, and since then, the Southern Song Dynasty has perished.
epilogue
Both the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty were dynasties in the history of the mainland, and they all belonged to our Chinese nation, and each dynasty made a unique output and contribution.
I don't know if you have any different thoughts after reading this article, welcome to discuss!
Bibliography:
- The Origin of the Northern Song Dynasty Tone "Zhongcao Ling"[J]. Zhang Chunyi, Journal of Jiaxing University
- The Emperor and the Scholars Ruled the World Together: The Political Pattern and Its Causes after the Pro-government of Renzong in the Northern Song Dynasty[J]. Wang Runsheng, Heilongjiang Shizhi, 2014
- The Prosperity of Commodity Economy and the Systematization of the Succession System in the Song Dynasty[J]. Journal of Guiyang University (Social Sciences), 2009
- A Study on the Development of Commodity Economy in the Yellow River Delta in the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties[J]. Li Jingli, Dongyue Review, 2006
- On the Development of Commodity Economy in the Song Dynasty[J]. Huang Ye.Western Academic Journal, 2020