This price is the price of the Song Dynasty, so by the way, some information on the military expenditure of the Song Dynasty and the price of the Song Dynasty is also listed for your reference. However, because the information is pieced together, the reference is not very good, you can take a look at it. If anyone can do this work perfectly, and list the varieties of goods, prices and even GNP at that time for everyone to see, it will be very grateful.
At the end of the Song Dynasty, the late Renzong and Yingzong chu coin income was more than 36.82 million yuan, and the expenditure was more than 33.17 million yuan, of which the military expenditure was more than 9.44 million yuan; the income from silk, silk and other textiles was more than 8.74 million horses, and the expenditure was more than 7.23 million horses, while the military expenditure reached more than 7.42 million horses; the grain income was more than 26.94 million stones, and the expenditure was more than 30.47 million stones, of which the military expenditure was more than 23.17 million stones; the grass income was more than 29.39 million bundles, and the expenditure was more than 29.52 million bundles, of which the military expenditure was more than 24.98 million bundles. The cost of raising soldiers in a year accounts for about 60% or 70%. In the second year of Emperor Yingzong's reign (1065), the cost of raising soldiers accounted for five-sixths of the financial revenue. The cost of raising soldiers in the Southern Song Dynasty was roughly similar to that of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Although the cost of producing and repairing weapons and equipment in the Song Dynasty was not necessarily included in military expenditure, it could not be ignored. At that time, the value of military weapons was also quite expensive. During the Reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, in the Shaanxi region, a crossbow, 1 qian 500 texts, 1 bow, 700-800 yuan of money. At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, 1 pair of full armor is worth 38 consecutive 200 texts, 1 pair of vests 40 consecutive 100 texts, 1 bow 2 consecutive 800 texts, 1 knife 3 consecutive 300 texts (friends who are interested in wolf tooth sticks can refer to this price, all are short-handled fighting weapons), 1 bow and arrow, 74 texts, 1 crossbow arrow 65 texts, 10000 bows, 6745 pounds of beef tendons, 11000 horns. If you want to equip hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops, the huge cost of weapons is very amazing.
The prices of other commodities in the Song Dynasty were divided into two periods: the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty.
The average price of rice in the Northern Song Dynasty and Zhejiang regions fluctuated at about 500 yuan per stone, and in the Southern Song Dynasty, it fluctuated up and down at 2 consecutive. In the Huguang region, during the Northern Song Dynasty, it was less than 400 yuan per stone, and the Lingnan region was cheaper. In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was 1-1 per stone 500 texts.
The price of silk, in the Northern Song Dynasty, was between 500 and 1000 yuan per horse, and in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was about 700 yuan-4 per horse, and the lowest was about 2 and 200 yuan.
Horse prices, during the Northern Song Dynasty, each horse was 30-50 guan, and the famous horses reached 70, 80 guan and even 100 guan. During the Southern Song Dynasty, it reached 300-400 per horse.
As can be seen from the above figures, the price of armor equipment is very expensive, and the rest of the equipment is definitely not cheap, and a knife can be exchanged for at least 1 stone meter or 1 silk. The value of war horses reached the highest level during the Southern Song Dynasty, and it is no wonder that the Southern Song Army lacked war horses, which was too costly.
Liao, Xia, Jin, and Yuan were all nomadic armies known for their bows and horses, mainly cavalry. Their army has a high degree of mobility, and it is easy to exert its mobility and flexibility on the battlefield, according to historical records: when they fought against the Song army, they were "in columns but not in battle, and they retreated and took advantage of it" and "retreated without shame, scattered and reunited." That is to say, they generally set up an array instead of attacking head-on, always waiting for the opportunity to attack, and as soon as the Song army retreated, they used the mechanical power of the cavalry to give the Song army a fatal blow in the maneuver. They were defeated by the Song army, and they could also use the mechanical power of the cavalry to quickly retreat, disperse in a far depth and reunite the regrouping team to make a comeback, so the famous Southern Song general Wu Xuan said: "The Jin army has four long, known as cavalry, known as perseverance, known as heavy armor, and known as bow arrows." Wu Jiu said: "The People of Zhijin are more advanced and retreating, and every battle is indecisive, victory is not chased, and defeat is not chaotic." All this shows that the cavalry of the Golden Army is well-equipped, has lasting combat strength, can be defeated and fought repeatedly, and often has to fight several times in a battle. The Song army, which was mainly infantry, could only be passively beaten under the attack of the enemy's well-equipped, flexible, and durable cavalry.
In terms of the Song and Xia Wars, the Territory of Western Xia was both small and far inferior in human and financial resources to the Northern Song Dynasty. As Wang Anshi said: "Now Shaanxi is invincible to the Xia kingdom all the way, that is, the hukou, and with four times the number of the Xia kingdom, when the xia kingdom is helped, and with the financial resources of the world, it is easy to sweep away, but in the end it cannot make the xia kingdom fearful." What is the reason for this? It is because the Song army rides in a foot-by-step manner, taking care of one or the other, and passively being beaten. For example, when Emperor Renzong of Song was fighting against Western Xia in Shaanxi, according to Fan Zhongyan, "The total number of soldiers in the four roads in Shaanxi is 300,000, not many, but each defends the city, so there are only 20,000 soldiers per year." The Western Xia army, on the other hand, "suddenly gathered and attacked all the way" and "scattered more than 100,000 people at every turn, with our scattered troops, resisted the situation of being single-minded, and the crowd was outnumbered, so they were scattered and defeated." This shows that the Xia army took advantage of the high mobility of the cavalry to transform the disadvantage of the total strength of the battlefield into a local advantage, concentrating its strength all the way and breaking the Song army individually, while the Song army "rode with foot", fortified everywhere, weak everywhere, passively beaten, and the advantage of the total strength was transformed into a local disadvantage. Therefore, after repeated battles and defeats, the Song army was still like this against the Xia army, and it was even more vulnerable to the more powerful Liao, Jin, and Yuan armies. Practice has proved that the liao annihilation of Yujin was also due to the defeat of the cavalry. The Liao Shi Food Chronicle says: "The khitan old customs are rich in horses. "From taizu and xingzong to two hundred years, the herds were as grand as a day (number to more than one million) in the early years of Tianzuo, and there were hundreds of herds of horses, each group of no less than ten horses. In the last year of the war with the Jin people, the Han WarHorse lost 67 out of 10, and was defeated by the Jin people. Yuan extinguished Jin and Song were even more due to the superiority of cavalry, which goes without saying.
At the height of the Tang Dynasty, the herdsmen raised more than 700,000 horses. When Emperor Taizong of Song was in peace and rejuvenated the country, the "City of He" was privately horseed in Beijing and zhuzhou, so he received 173,279 horses ("Continuation of the Zhizhi Tongjian Long Volume 20"), Song Zhenzong "after adulthood", "Zhufang armies accumulated to more than 200,000 (Jiuhualu"), "Xiangfu, Tianshengjian, herding horses to more than 100,000" ("Famous Ministers of the Past"), Song Shenzong Xining II (1069), "there should be horses under the heavens 153,634" ("Long Edition" volume 345), these figures are of course far from the Tang Dynasty. The amount of horses bought in the Northern Song Dynasty was generally more than 10,000 horses per year ("History of the Song" volume 198 "Bing zhi") Yu Yunwen said: "When the country was in its heyday, Shaanxi bought horses for 40,000 horses. (Sonata 242)
During the Song Dynasty, the horses were small, "buying horses from four feet seven inches to four feet one inch seven grades, each with one inch as a difference" ("Song Hui Want"), the height of the horse is about 1.27-1.46 meters. According to the standard four feet and four inches of malaysia at that time, the height of the horse was about 1.36 meters, according to the current standard, of course, it was not a big horse. Once, Han Shizhong offered a horse to Emperor Gaozong of Song, "five feet and one inch high, yun is not dared to ride", about 1.58 meters now, which is a very rare horse in the Song Dynasty.
Source:
1. "History of Ancient Chinese Military System", edited by Liu Zhan, Military Science Press
2. "Collection of Research Papers on the History of the Song Dynasty, Edited by the 1987 Annual Meeting", Deng Guangming, Qi Xia, etc., editor-in-chief of Hebei Education Publishing House