Three reasons for the weakness of the Song Dynasty's foreign policy and the pursuit of peace

When it comes to the Song Dynasty, terms such as "poor and weak" and "weak Song" have almost become synonymous with this dynasty. Throughout the history of the Song Dynasty, the word "weak" is enough to summarize the performance of the Song Dynasty in foreign policy. In the first year of Jingde (1004), the alliance of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao regime in the north and the Xia regime in the northwest not only recognized the legitimacy of the Khitan's possession of the sixteen prefectures of Youyun, but also sent 200,000 taels of silver and 100,000 horses of silk every year, creating a bad example of the year's coins; in the second year of Qingli (1042), Liao Xingzong claimed the ten counties of Guannan recovered by Zhou Shizong, and each gave 100,000 yuan of silver and 100,000 pieces of silk. In the fourth year of Qingli (1044), the Northern Song Dynasty negotiated peace with the Western Xia, and the Northern Song Dynasty generously "granted" 50,000 taels of silver, 130,000 horses of silk, and 20,000 catties of tea every year, in addition to giving 22,000 taels of silver in summer, 23,000 horses of silk, and 10,000 catties of tea on festivals; in exchange for Gou'an on the Northwest Frontier. In the first year of Jingkang (1126), Song Qinzong cut off the three towns of Taiyuan, Zhongshan and Hejian to beg the Jurchen nobles to withdraw their troops. After the Song dynasty crossed to the south, they confronted Jin for a long time, and successively held the Shaoxing Peace Conference, stipulating that 250,000 taels of silver and 250,000 horses of silk would be paid to Jin every year. The content of these peace talks has been characterized by compromise and concession and even bending the knee to seek peace. The Northern Song Dynasty had a large population, a vast territory, and a million troops, and its strength was comparable to that of Liao, and far superior to that of Western Xia; the Southern Song Dynasty and Jin were bounded by Dasanguan in the west and Huaishui in the east. Later, there were Longxing peace and so on. Why is the economy and culture unprecedentedly developed, and the Song Dynasty has always lacked confidence in foreign exchanges, and there are many peace discussions. The author tries to analyze it from the following aspects.

1. The basic national policy at the beginning of the Song Dynasty

　　(1) The implementation of the basic national policy of emphasizing literature and suppressing military force

　　In 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin, the general of the Later Zhou Forbidden Army, staged a mutiny at Chenqiaoyi near Kaifeng, and the yellow robe was added, easily seizing power from the orphans and widows of Later Zhou Shizong, and began the rule of the Song Dynasty. However, Zhao Kuangyin was not the initiator of this way of seizing power. Guo Wei (i.e., Later Zhou Taizu) who preceded Zhao Kuangyin used this model to ascend to the throne. In order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, the rulers of the early Song Dynasty instituted the following important systems, which were implemented as basic national policies. These basic national policies were also pursued by later emperors of the Song Dynasty, and their influence continued throughout the Song Dynasty.

　　First of all, it is necessary to implement a policy of emphasizing civilian affairs over military force. That is, the so-called: "emphasis on literature and education, light on military affairs" ("Continuation of the Governance of Tongjian", Volume 18).

　　The first step is to deprive the central and local envoys of their military power by releasing their military power through a glass of wine; the second step is to send civil servants to local posts to deprive them of their administrative powers; and the third step is to send special personnel to appoint transit envoys to deprive them of their financial rights. In this way, the problem of the tyranny of the warriors and the division of feudal towns since the late Tang Dynasty was initially solved. In addition, various restrictions were imposed on military generals, such as the most prominent "change of military method", which was described by the contemporaries as follows: "and it has been changed and changed, the terrain and mountains have not been known, the soldiers have not been able to understand the ranks, and the officials and civilians have not been well versed in the customs, and they have been restored" (Zhang Fangping), and the result is that the soldiers do not know the generals, and the generals do not know the soldiers, and the result of the correction of the school is that it will later develop into a ridiculous "martial phobia".

　　At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, due to the existence of meritorious heroes and generals, the negative effect of the policy of emphasizing literature over military force was not obvious. Military victories could also be achieved against the weaker southern states, including the Northern Han. But in the war against Liao in the early Song Dynasty, it showed its clues. Song Taizong gave the generals a formation map before the war and did not trust them. The so-called "light power and secrecy of the law" made them "unable to fight a war." Restricting and containing them eventually led to the defeat of the Gaoliang River and Shuangfigou Battles. Under such a regime and such an atmosphere, it is indeed strange that there are many famous generals. There is the Song generation, and famous generals are indeed rare. Like Yang Ye in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, he was forced to die Mingzhi; although Cao Bin was known as the first famous general in the early Song Dynasty, he was only able to obey orders; his son Cao Wei could only die in obscurity under the exclusion of Ding Wei; although Di Qing made outstanding achievements and was in the position of privy councilor, because he was born as a military general, he could only be transferred abroad in the end; the most unjust thing was the death of Yue Fei, a famous anti-gold general in the Southern Song Dynasty. Whether it is a warrior or a famous general, their fate is only like this, because they are too close to the emperor's throne, or they are too easy to endanger the imperial power.

　　The implementation of the basic national policy of "emphasizing culture and education and suppressing military affairs" and attaching importance to the imperial examination system have greatly expanded the path for middle- and lower-class landlord class intellectuals to enter the official career. After the middle lift, the generous and generous Lu also greatly attracted the literati of the Great Song Dynasty. This has indeed cultivated a group of famous ministers, but the good and the bad are mixed. The bad habit of contempt for literati was quite prevalent in the Song Dynasty. The development of the economy made the literati of the Great Song Dynasty more and more gentle and elegant in the prosperous life of Hexi, and the principle of tolerance set by Taizu gave them excuses and reasons to be willing to defend themselves. They can't do great things, but they don't allow others to make a mistake when they do things. In order to cover up his bad deeds, he proves that he has not shirked his responsibility by criticizing others. They usually boast of being upright and disdainful of being superficial, but once they rise up in March, they are out of the ordinary, but they can't deal with it calmly. This is not unavoidable for those whose integrity is commendable, not to mention secondly, they often do things that slander and frame them. This kind of thing is full of the Song generation.

　　In the Song Dynasty, there was basically no eunuch dictatorship in the Han and Tang dynasties, the harm of feudal towns, and no trouble with foreign relatives. But all dynasties had powerful ministers, from Zhao Pu in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty to Jia Nidao in the late Southern Song Dynasty. The ministers and bureaucrats were fighting each other. For this reason, Ouyang Xiu also wrote "On the Friends of the Party", which justified the name of the Friends Party. However, in the early stage, the party of many gentlemen was in power, and it was still able to argue for the country, and in the later stage, it was the party of many villains, and it was not shallow to scold people with friends. Even the controversy between the party of gentlemen greatly drained the already insufficient ruling power of the ruling class of the Song dynasty. At the same time, it also makes it difficult for those in power to override partisan views. And we can't consider it holistically, and use talents in an eclectic way. Rather, on the contrary, it makes state affairs more and more difficult. Not to mention when the villain is in power.

　　The fundamental goal of the legal system is to "punish evil and promote good." However, in the conniving and indulgent social environment of the Song Dynasty, the good was not promoted and the evil was beneficial. In the end, it can only make people with lofty ideals disheartened and end up in the destruction of the country.

　　(2) Inculcation of the idea of pleasure

　　The idea of pleasure was already very popular in the early Song Dynasty under the promotion of Song Taizu. There are two reasons for this.

　　First, in order to strengthen the centralization of power, Song Taizu adopted the method of releasing military power with a glass of wine, as evidenced by his words. "Life is like a white horse, the so-called rich and noble, but want to accumulate more money, generous entertainment, so that children and grandchildren have no poor ears. Why don't you let go of your military power, go out to guard the great domain, choose a good field and a house, and establish an eternal career for your descendants; and many singing and dancing girls, drinking and enjoying each other every day to end their days! I and the Qing and the others have an agreement to marry, and between the monarchs and ministers, there is no suspicion between the two sides, and the upper and lower levels are at peace, and they are happy!" (seeing that Zhao Kuangyin is mostly considered by his subordinates, which is also in line with the characteristics of his military generals), in fact, he acquiesces, and even advocates the idea of pleasure and a luxurious lifestyle. There is one more thing, that is, Cao Binping's Southern Tang Affair. "Bin's trip, the emperor Xu to make the phase as a reward, and also, the language of Binri: "Make the phase of the taste extreme, and Xu this, but also for me to take Taiyuan." "For giving five hundred thousand dollars. (Going back on his word, not believing in his words, fearing that the military will be in power, but it is actually the imperial power). Bin to the house, seeing the room full of money, sighed: "Why do you have to be a good official in life, but you don't have too much money!" (just self-deprecation, how do you know the mystery)"

　　Second, after the Northern Song Dynasty destroyed many secession regimes, it moved the surrendered or captured monarchs of various regimes to the capital Bianliang. These people have resigned from the palace and come to the new dynasty, they bring their concubines and concubines, and move their families, in addition to building a large number of buildings, it is a luxurious and luxurious lifestyle. The hedonistic idea that life is like a dream. For example, Li Yu of the Southern Tang Dynasty "When is the spring flower and autumn moon, the past is known." ”

　　(3) The national defense policy of guarding the internal and external aspects

　　After the destruction of the Northern Han regime in Shanxi, Song Taizong, who was stubborn and self-serving, ignored the fatigue of the army and did not listen to the advice of his subordinates, and led a large army to attack Liao. The results are predictable. The defeat of the Liao war, especially in the chaos of the Song army, someone wanted to set up Zhao Kuangyin's eldest son Dezhao as the emperor, which made Song Taizong very angry. And he also said to his subordinates: "If the country is worried about the outside world, there will be internal troubles." External worries can be prevented, but treachery is not formal, if it is an internal trouble, it is deeply fearful. The emperor's intentions are always necessary to be careful" ("Continuation of the Governance of Tongjian" Volume 32) The so-called imperial intentions are to eliminate people who threaten the imperial power and the imperial throne.

　　The first step is to clear the Dezhao who has repeatedly persuaded him to do the reward of Taiyuan. There are two reasons, one is that after pacifying the Northern Han Dynasty, Dezhao repeatedly asked Song Taizong to reward the meritorious soldiers who pacified the Northern Han Dynasty, which won the hearts of the military. Second, during the war against Liao, some people took the opportunity of chaos to support Lide. Therefore, when Dezhao once again asked Song Taizong to reward the meritorious soldiers who pacified the Northern Han Dynasty, he was furious and threw out a cold sentence "Treat you for yourself, it is not too late to reward" ("Song History: Zong Family II"), and forced Dezhao to commit suicide. Dezhao's death, Song Taizong could not escape the blame.

　　The second step was to make Zhao Kuangyin's third son Defang die young. Defang was only twenty-three years old when he died, although there is no clear evidence that Defang's death was related to Song Taizong, but Defang was in the prime of life when he died, and he was the only heir of Zhao Kuangyin after Dezhao's death, and the person who was the most threatening to the throne of Song Taizong. His death is not necessarily unrelated to Song Taizong.

　　The third step is to eliminate his younger brother Tingmei. First of all, the king of Qin and Kaifeng Yin were demoted to Xijing to stay behind; second, they eliminated the close officials around them and sent people to monitor them; thirdly, they were demoted from Xijing to the Duke of Fuling County and lived in Fuling; and finally, they died of depression. In the past, the view that Tingmei's death was blamed on Zhao Pu was wrong. It is the same as blaming Qin Hui completely for Yue Fei's death.

　　After clearing the threat of the internal throne, Song Taizong also took a series of military measures. Taking a defensive position against Liao and shrinking the battle line actually recognized Liao's occupation of the Youyun region. Half of the army's elite forbidden troops were stationed near the capital, and there were only a few forbidden troops and local troops on the border. This national defense policy, which guarded the interior and weakened the outside, forced the weak branches to drive out the weak branches, made the localities too weak to resist the attack of the minority regimes, so that the Liao or Jin armies were able to drive straight into the Song and soon threaten the Song capital, thus putting strong psychological pressure on the Song side at the beginning of the war. The local forces were so weak that even peasant revolts could not be suppressed. For example, there was such a thing during the reign of Song Renzong.

　　Example 1: "At the beginning, the group of thieves robbed Huainan, and they would be too high, and they knew that the army Chao Zhong could not be royal, and told the rich people to give gold and silk, with cattle wine, so that people would welcome labor, and leave it behind, steal the joy, and the system engineering would go away, not for violence." After hearing about the incident, the privy deputy envoy Fu Bi discussed the punishment of the Zhong Covenant, and the governor Fan Zhong drowned in the political affairs, and fought for the emperor. Zhong Yanri: "The weapons of the county are enough to defend the battle, and if the thief is not guarded, the law should be punished." Today, Gaoyou has no soldiers and weapons, although the righteousness of the covenant should be defended with all his might, but the matter is forgivable, and the fear of killing is not illegal." The emperor was relieved, and from it".

　　Example 2: "The officials greeted the ,...... , the thieves drank and feasted, stayed in the county hall, plundered at will, and sent the drum out of the city".

　　The policy of guarding the inside and the outside world has achieved such evil results. From another point of view, if you are weak and powerless internally, let alone externally?

Second, economic reasons

　　From the establishment of the two Song Dynasty in 960 A.D. to the complete destruction in 1279 A.D., it lasted more than 300 years, which can be described as a long national fortune. It's been a long time, but it's a very difficult place to exist. The Northern Song Dynasty faced the threat of Liao and Xia, and the Southern Song Dynasty had only half of the country, with the threat of Jin in the front and the threat of Mongolia in the rear, and finally perished in the Yuan Dynasty. The reason for the longevity of its national fortune lies in the development of the economy.

　　During the Song and Song dynasties, the commodity economy of the mainland was highly developed, which was mainly reflected in the prosperity of the city, taking Tokyo, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, as an example.

　　"Raise your eyes to paint the pavilion of the green building, embroidered bead curtains. Carved cars compete in the heavenly street. BMW is racing on the royal road. The gold is dazzling. Luo Qi is fragrant, and the new voice is smiling at Liu Mo Huaqu. Press the pipe to adjust the silk in the tea shop. Eight wildernesses contend, all countries are connected". ("Tokyo Dream Record Preface") is a prosperous place. People living in this environment are "peaceful for a long time, compounds are multiplying, and children with drooping hair, but Xi is inspired, Banbai is old, and he doesn't know how to fight". There is an instinctive fear of war, and being content with the status quo, stability, and stability are their primary needs, even to the point of prolonging. Very fatherly like Britain before World War II. When Chamberlain, who had returned home after the signing of the Munich Agreement, stepped off the plane, he was warmly welcomed by hundreds of thousands of London residents. When they revel in the joy, they do not know that war is coming.

　　Some literati are also trying their best to exaggerate the cruelty of war, such as Su Dongpo once described such a picture of war: "As for the people in the distance, the liver and brain are painted on the white blade, and the muscles and bones are absolutely not fed." Free and bankrupt, selling men and women, dismantling his arms and eyes, and his own state, His Majesty will not be able to see it. The cry of a loving father and a filial son, a lonely minister and a widow, Your Majesty will not hear it." The purpose is nothing more than the word "and", the Great Song Dynasty is so rich, hundreds of thousands of years old coins are nothing.

　　This kind of mentality of being content with the status quo and greedy for pleasure is a powerful resistance to the idea of demanding change and making the country rich and the army strong.

Third, the old-fashioned mentality is very serious

　　The idea of sticking to the old ways has existed in the mainland since ancient times. From Confucius's idea of "saying but not doing" to Cao Shen's "Xiao Gui Cao Sui" in the Han Dynasty, the "Book of Han" summarized that "the gentleman is the government, and you will re-do it according to the rules, and then those who change will be rescued in an emergency." The Song Dynasty's conservative thinking was particularly serious, and the laws of the ancestors were immutable, and it was always difficult to break through the old framework, and it was very prominent politically and militarily.

　　For example, in politics, the choice of state officials is a major matter related to the life and death of a country. In addition to the selection of intellectuals of the middle and lower landlord class through the imperial examination, a large number of officials in the Song Dynasty directly entered the official career through "yin gong", that is, relying on the merits of their parents or ancestors. And there is a growing tendency for the latter approach to be widespread. It is not denied that there are also talented people who become officials in the latter way, but it is also undeniable that most of them are mediocre and talented. In addition, in the evaluation of officials, in most cases, the Song Dynasty implemented the method of ranking seniority, relying on seniority and seniority, rather than relying on talent. Such people accounted for a considerable proportion of the Song Dynasty regime. It has become a huge obstacle to political reform. Therefore, if he wants to reform the evaluation standards of officials, Kou Zhun was soon excluded by Prime Minister Ren, not just for Ding Wei's "hatred of beard", but because his assessment method offended those mediocre talents who were ranked by seniority. For another example, Fan Zhongyan in the Qingli New Deal put forward the standard of "a family crying is better than crying all the way" in the employment standard, and the result is bound to be a failure. In Wang Anshi's reforms, a fatal mistake was made in the selection criteria for officials, that is, the party was the same and the party was different, especially in the later period, when opportunists such as Lu Huiqing, Zhang, and Cai Jing came to power.

　　In military terms, it is even more prominent. Since the defeat of Song Taizong in the war against Liao, the monarchs of the Song Dynasty have been inferior to the previous generation, and have become more cowardly and incompetent. Zhenzong, who came to power after Taizong, was panicked when he heard the news of the Liao army's large-scale attack, and under Kou Zhun's strong encouragement, he reluctantly fought in person. However, soon, in a favorable situation, he took the initiative to make peace. Song Zhenzong, who signed the alliance after the Yuanyuan, no longer dared to fight against Liao and the alliance under the Snow City, but was tempted by Wang Qinruo, Ding Wei and others to quickly enter the pleasure of the East and the West and squandered it. Renzong, who succeeded Zhenzong to power, is just the king of success. Cities on the border should be cautious when repairing broken walls.

　　The only Song Shenzong who wanted to cheer up used Wang Anshi to change the law and want to enrich the country and strengthen the army, but he couldn't withstand the defeat of a war against Xia and almost died of fright. Later, Huizong of the Song Dynasty was even more absurd, vainly trying to restore the Youyun region with the power of gold, but unexpectedly lured the wolf into the house, leading to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty crossed to the south, the four generals of Zhongxing were still able to fight hard for the Song Dynasty militarily, so that the Song Dynasty achieved brilliant military results. The heroic spirit of "smashing the Yellow Dragon and drinking with all the kings!" makes people feel refreshed. But for the sake of the throne, Gaozong would rather not want the Central Plains, as long as a peace treaty. After that, the Song Dynasty had two angry Northern Expeditions, but they were both non-human, and they were never able to cheer up in the military, and finally perished.

　　All in all, there are many reasons why the Song Dynasty has always been at a disadvantage in foreign exchanges and compromised for peace. But among the many reasons, the political and economic ones are the root causes. In other aspects, such as the change in the way of warfare of the northern nomads, the fixation of the cavalry horse pedal can make the cavalry have a fulcrum for archery on the horse, and the accuracy rate is relatively high. I won't list them all here. The reasons for the weakness of the Song Dynasty need to be further discussed.

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