Counting the ancient Chinese dynasties, people often called the strong Han and the Sheng Tang. Speaking of the Song Dynasty, historians have always referred to it as the "weak Song". In fact, the Song Dynasty was not weak at all in terms of culture, economy, science and technology, but the army's combat strength could not be won by anyone, and there were many reasons for it.
In July 959, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong died suddenly of illness at the age of 39. His son Chai Zongxun ascended the throne as Emperor Gong of Later Zhou at the age of 7. The new emperor was young, orphaned and widowed, and was the most turbulent and prone to coup d'état in the dynasty. Before Chai Rong's death, it was impossible not to take precautions, and replaced Zhang Yongde, the leader of the Janissaries (all inspected in front of the palace), with Zhao Kuangyin, who he trusted most.
However, this confidant of the Qifu launched the Chen Qiao Mutiny the following year, and the yellow robe was added to the body, taking away the Later Zhou Jiangshan and establishing the Song Dynasty. In such a chaotic world as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, this kind of drama was too much, and later Zhou was Chai Rong's uncle Guo Wei, who was pushed by his subordinates in 951 and obtained by the yellow robe.
Zhao Kuangyin is a famous general in the military sense, a strategist in the political sense, and a reader in cultural sense. He did not want the mutiny to be repeated in his descendants, so he carried out drastic reforms of the military and political system.
The year after he ascended the throne, one night he invited Shi Shouxin and other forbidden generals and mutinous heroes to stay and drink at night. As he drank, the emperor sighed worriedly, and the brothers asked him what was wrong with him. Zhao Kuangyin's eyebrows tightened, you can give me a yellow robe, and your subordinates can also do it in the future. Shi Shouxin knew the current affairs, and the next day they all reported "illness" and returned to their hometowns. There was Liu Bang in the front, Zhu Yuanzhang in the back, and Zhao Kuangyin was also counted as giving the brothers face.
Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin continued to draw a blueprint for the future of the country
Major military system reforms:
The first is the right to transfer troops. It is controlled by the Privy Council, and the leadership of the Privy Council is all civilian officials, and in case of war, the Privy Council reports to the Emperor for approval before it can send a spell to transfer troops; the second is the right to manage the troops. The day-to-day management and training of the army is the responsibility of the "three divisions" within the army; the third is the right to unify the troops. When the battle was fought, the emperor temporarily assigned generals to lead the troops to set out, and after the battle, they handed over the troops back.
This causes the soldiers not to know the generals, they will not know the soldiers, the soldiers are impermanent, and the marshals are impermanent. When the war was approaching, the soldiers and generals met for the first time and pulled out to fight. The ancient Chinese military system was basically a conscription system and a conscription system, the conscription system was that the state forced the people to join the army, and the conscription system was that the state paid for the people to be soldiers. Since the Tang Dynasty, the conscription system in China has gradually replaced the conscription system, and the Song Dynasty is the only feudal dynasty that has long used the conscription system. Because I have money, I can afford it.
Bureaucratic reform:
First, the central authorities have separated the three powers of military administration, civil affairs, and finance, and greatly reduced the power of the prime minister.
The military and political power is in the hands of the Privy Council, and the financial power is in the hands of the three divisions. The prime minister has only the power to administer the civil administration. The Privy Counsellor had a status equal to that of the Prime Minister, and later he set up a Suffragan Governor as a Deputy Prime Minister to divide the powers of the Prime Minister.
The second is to implement a system of separating officials, posts, and dispatches of officials. The Song Dynasty inherited the institutions and official positions of later Zhou, but Song Taizu sent additional officials to exercise power. These officials dispatched by the central government add "judgment", "knowledge", "power", "promotion", "point", etc. before the actual position they hold, so that the official and the post, the name and the reality, and the official, the post, the dispatch system is separated. "Official" only indicates rank, and according to this, he receives Feng Lu, and has no real power; "post" is only an honorary title for civil officials. Only "dispatch" holds real power. In this way, it was convenient for the central government to exercise effective control over various departments and localities, and consolidated the centralized autocratic rule of the early Song Dynasty.
The third is to reform the examination system for the imperial examination. In order to prevent the formation of a political clique through the imperial examination, Song Taizu issued an edict prohibiting the new section of the jinshi from going to the chief examiner to give thanks. He also ordered that the jinshi and the first person should not call the chief examiner "benefactor" or "teacher", nor could they call themselves "protégés", so as to avoid new and old bureaucrats forming sects in the name of protégés and former officials. Gradually, the emperor personally admitted jinshi, so that jinshi became a "tianzi protégé".
In this way, the imperial power was unprecedentedly expanded, and the administrative and military operations of the entire country had to cooperate with the emperor. Once the weak emperor was encountered, the entire dynasty suffered. The Great Song Dynasty was not right, and it did not have the strength to unify the Central Plains Dynasty at all. Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, Hetao Region, Hexi Corridor, one is not occupied. These three areas almost overlap with the Great Wall, the terrain is dangerous and the Great Wall is blocked, and even if the nomadic people can come over, the horses cannot come, and there is not much threat to the farming peoples.
In particular, the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun (referring to the sixteen prefectures in northern China centered on Youzhou "present-day Beijing" and Yunzhou "present-day Datong, Shanxi", located on the line from Taihang Mountain to Juyongguan), which covers the most important section of the Great Wall, Gubeikou, Juyongguan, Bauhinia Pass, Inverted Horse Pass, Pingxing Pass, Yanmen Pass... Once you pass through the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, you can enjoy the North China Plain.
Whether it is the Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties, Youyun Sixteen Prefectures are a must-keep place. Unfortunately, after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty declined rapidly, and the Jiedu envoys established themselves one after another, and Shi Jingyao, the envoy of the Later Tang Hedong Jiedu and the founding emperor of the Later Jin Dynasty, rebelled against Tang and asked the Khitan for help. In 938, Shi Jingyao ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to the Khitan at the request of the Khitans, allowing the Territory of the Liao State to extend along the Great Wall.
Later Zhou Shizong Chai Rong was still fighting before his death, and Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures had recovered three prefectures and seventeen counties, and was about to attack Youzhou and die of a violent illness. In desperation, the Song Dynasty after the founding of the People's Republic of China could only open rivers, dig ponds, build military villages, and build castles in North China. Although Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, was ambitious, he could only put it on hold for the time being after the cup of wine released his military power. The plan for the slow map is the "pile vault". He continued to accumulate gold, silver and treasure, and his wealth was staggering, and he planned to either give it to the Khitan in the future and redeem Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and if the other party did not agree, he would use this money as military expenses and fight it back.
The sound of the candle shadow axe left a mystery for eternity, and Zhao Kuangyin inexplicably died. In order to prove his legitimacy and consolidate his imperial power, his younger brother Zhao Guangyi was forced to take back the northern region. However, in 979, the attack on the Northern Han Dynasty and the Taiyuan area were already his limit. Later, in the Battle of Gaoliang River, Zhao Guangyi was hit by two arrows in the thigh, and ran away in a donkey cart overnight, abandoning the army and ignoring it, causing the entire army to be destroyed. After Emperor Taizong of Song's Zhao Guangyi, the arrow wound recurred, and his internal organs became infected and died.
Originating in the northeast region, the Khitan people began to operate in the Liaohe generation from the Northern Wei Dynasty, and had strong military strength in the late Tang Dynasty, establishing their own state, which was the predecessor of the Liao state. Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji had always had respect for Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gaozu, so he asked the Yelü clan to take Liu as a Sinicized surname; he thought that the three families of Wei Yi, Bali and his own empress Shu Lu were particularly meritorious, and could be compared with Xiao He, so he ordered that Wei Yi, Bali and Shu Lu all be changed to Xiao surnames, and stipulated that the imperial Yelü clan and the Hou clan Xiao clan intermarried for generations.
The Khitan was a more formidable opponent than the Huns. The Xiongnu, who survived to death, were just a nomadic people who suffered natural disasters and plundered in the Central Plains. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan did not enter the Central Plains, but occupied the traditional Yanyun region of the Huaxia ethnic group and established a political power outside the Great Wall. In 916, the Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji set the capital at LinhuangFu (present-day Nanboluo City, Balin Zuoqi, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia), learning from the governing model of the Central Plains Dynasty and beginning reforms.
Nineteen years after the founding of the state, when the Song Dynasty planned to retake Youyun Sixteen Prefectures in the Northern Expedition in 979, the Liao State had been established for 72 years and occupied Youyun Sixteen Prefectures for 40 years. In 986, Emperor Taizong of Song launched a large-scale northern expedition in three ways. Empress Xiao personally led the army to repel the Song army, captured the famous Song general Yang Ye, and commented on Yang Linggong in the book "Yang Family General".
In 1004, Empress Xiao led the Liao army south to attack the Song Dynasty. Song Zhenzong originally wanted to abandon the city and escape, but the chancellor Kou Zhun desperately tried to stop it. Emperor Zhenzong of Song had no choice but to march on his own and reach the front line of The Yuanyuan. Seeing that the war situation was likely to be reversed, Xiao Wei judged the hour and sized up the situation, taking advantage of Song Zhenzong's fearful mentality to promote negotiations with the Song Dynasty.
It is a game full of political wisdom, both sides have what they want, and they also have their own bottom line. The Liao army wanted territory and money, and Zhenzong wanted peace and an account of the people. At the beginning, the Khitan side demanded that the Song Dynasty return the land of Qiaoguannan that had been taken away by Zhou Shizong, which Was not wanted by Emperor Zhenzong, and he was afraid that he would be scolded by people for cutting up the land and seeking peace, so he said to the negotiator Cao Yong: "As long as you do not cut the land and can talk about peace, the Khitan is to ask for millions of dollars, and he can also agree." Cao Yu asked what the bottom line was, and Zhenzong replied without hesitation: "If you have to do something, a million can also be." After Kou Zhun heard this, he secretly stopped Cao Yu and said, "Although the emperor has a million covenants, if it exceeds 300,000, I will cut off your head." At the negotiating table, the Liao side exerted all kinds of pressure, and even detained Cao for a while. However, Cao Yu always adhered to the bottom line of the Song Dynasty and did not retreat, forcing the Liao side to make compromises.
In January 1005, the Book of the Liaoyuan League was signed:
The Song Dynasty had to pay for silk and silver, the Song and Liao countries were brotherly countries, Song Zhenzong honored Empress Xiao as an aunt, and Liao Shengzong called Song Zhenzong his brother. The Song and Liao dynasties were bounded by the Baigou River (a tributary of the Haihe River), and the Liao abandoned the two prefectures of Ying (present-day Hejian City, Hebei Province) and Mo (present-day Renqiu City, Hebei Province), and both sides withdrew their troops and returned to their respective homes. Thereafter, any fugitives who have crossed the border shall not stop hiding from each other. The two dynasties along the border cities and pools, everything as usual, must not create a city god; in Xiongzhou, Bazhou and Bazhou opened up "yuchang" (mutual market places at the junction of ethnic groups), allowing free trade. After the Armistice between the Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty, there was frequent trade in the border fields, and there was no mutual communication. The Northern Song Dynasty exchanged spices, rhino horns, ivory, tea, porcelain, lacquerware, rice and silk fabrics for sheep, horses, camels and other livestock from the Liao.
Cao used the negotiations to return and went to the Zhenzong to hand over his will. When zhenzong was meeting Zhenzong, Zhenzong was eating, and the waiter asked Cao Yu how much silver he had given to the Khitans, and Cao Yu did not speak, and held out three fingers on his forehead, meaning three hundred thousand taels. The attendant mistakenly thought it was three million taels, and after informing Zhenzong, Zhenzong was horrified: "Too much! Too much! "But on second thought, three million taels of silver can be exchanged for peace between the two countries, and it is worth it." After summoning Cao Yu and learning that it was 300,000 taels, Zhenzong Dayue said, "Only 300,000, you are very good at doing things!" He then rewarded Cao Yu and pampered him thereafter.
When the Song Dynasty released the military power from a cup of wine, it encouraged the dismissed military generals to buy more land and become rich men. The imperial court did not restrict the rich people from lending and annexing land. This led to the more serious land annexation in the Song Dynasty and aggravated social contradictions. The Song Dynasty also implemented a system of separating officials, posts, and dispatches, which made the bureaucracy large and overlapping, the number of officials multiplied sharply, and a large number of redundant personnel appeared.
The conscription system also recruited a large number of disaster victims into an army, and the size of the soldiers reached 1.4 million during the time of Emperor Renzong of Song. In the later period, after the reduction reform, it also remained at about 800,000, which consumed a large amount of national financial expenditure. Song Zhenzong stipulated: "The sergeant is outside, and the family members are half in the camp." "This means that when a soldier goes out to fight, the soldier is divided into two parts, one for the soldier himself and one for the family. In order to keep his wife and children from freezing and starving, the soldiers had to find another livelihood and do some small business in the market. If the business made money, the soldier simply paid for it and hired people to serve. Such an army cannot talk about combat effectiveness.
Military attachés who encounter civilian officials of the same rank are automatically half a rank lower and must perform rituals. When soldiers enlist, they will tattoo words on their foreheads and faces. In the Song Dynasty, there were two kinds of people who would be tattooed. One kind of person is a prisoner, and the other kind of person is a soldier. How can the practice of equating soldiers with prisoners unite the hearts and minds of the military?
The Song Dynasty did not hesitate to pay tribute to foreign countries, content with gouge or partial security. When the emperor was incompetent or slack, natural power was in charge, and Cai Jing, Qin Jun, Han Nongxin, Shi Miyuan, Jia Xiangdao, and others appeared. For the sake of self-interest, these people form parties for personal gain, exclude dissidents, wantonly expropriate and wanton, and do whatever they want, and the whole country's politics is smoky and miasma, dark and decaying.
The main reason for the weakness of the Song Dynasty was the system, both the written administrative and military systems and the so-called ancestral law that gradually formed. The king's suspicion of the military generals and the contempt of the government and the public for the soldiers made the soldiers dare not show their hands and feet at all. Victory is self-endangerment, meritorious service is a quick disaster, not so much that the Northern Song Dynasty died in the Jin Dynasty, but rather that it died at internal friction.
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