The economy of Song Dynasty was developed, but why did the war always fail?

The economy of Song Dynasty was developed, but the war did not always fail. The Song Dynasty adopted the national policy of valuing literature over martial arts, so in the Song Dynasty, soldiers' status was relatively low, but it did not mean that soldiers' fighting capacity was low.

The strong enemies around the Song Dynasty were stronger than those in other dynasties. Whether the Great Liao Kingdom established by Khitan before or the Great Jin Kingdom established by Jurchen after, the gold family of Mongols rose wildly, including Xixia, which was established by the Tangut, and Duan's family in Dali, Yunnan. These regimes are still at ease, and they are still playing around in the Great Song Dynasty. Many people will think that the Song Dynasty is a country with very low fighting capacity, but if you have such neighbors around you.

You can be sure that with a simple idea, we can know how much the military expenditure on the border of the Song Dynasty is. On this premise, the domestic economy is also very good, and the treatment of patients is also very important. Therefore, the military border guards in the Song Dynasty were at least not particularly weak. In the 300-year history, the writers of the Song Dynasty have been confronting with other countries.

In addition to the battle of Jingnan, I asked Jin Guo to call me in other periods, and I have been insisting. Even after the rise of the Mongolian gold family, the Song Dynasty was still strong for 50 years, which was unimaginable in all other countries, so who can say that the military strength of the Song Dynasty was weak? Who can say that he, the brigade commander, has fought many wars?

To some extent, the policies formulated in the early days of any dynasty determine the factors of future demise. The Song Dynasty was founded on the troubled times of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and emphasized martial arts over literature. In order to avoid repeating the same mistakes, it began a deformed policy of attaching importance to literature and neglecting martial arts, which doomed it to be sad that it could only be rich but not martial arts.

Song Dynasty was a giant in economic and cultural soft power, but a dwarf in military hard power, and its development was seriously unbalanced, mainly due to the policies formulated in Taizong era.

The Tang Dynasty died in a buffer region, and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms can be said to be a continuation of the rebellion in the buffer region. After the usurpation of Zhou Dynasty, in order to avoid the recurrence of the rebellion of military commanders, he strengthened centralization with a glass of wine to relieve the soldiers, and valued literature over martial arts in cultural spirit.

Song Taizong became emperor, and in order to prove that he was not worse than his younger brother Zhao Kuangyin, he made two northern expeditions and recovered sixteen states. As a result, he suffered a fiasco and began to deepen the policy of valuing literature over martial arts.

During the Northern Expedition, Song Taizong adopted the policy of "defending the middle", thinking that Zhuge Liang was alive, and he often sent letters to the generals in front or granted general plans or laws, and planned in the palace, causing defeat thousands of miles away and making a big joke.

In the Song Dynasty, the Privy Council was in charge of the military, and the Privy Council was directly in the hands of the emperor, which means that the emperor directly became the supreme military commander. Although the Privy Council can send troops, it can't directly unify the troops, and the right to transfer troops is separate from the right to unify the troops.

The generals who lead the troops are also frequently rotated, which leads to the embarrassing situation that soldiers don't know the generals or the soldiers, and perfectly eliminates the possibility that individual forces in the army will become private troops. Moreover, the army was controlled by literature, and the decision makers in wartime were officials or eunuchs trusted by the emperor and did not understand military affairs. Changing the predetermined strategy must also be approved by the emperor.

Although the military policy of the Song Dynasty strengthened the centralization of the emperor, the military commanders could not rebel at all. However, due to various constraints, military commanders are held by civil servants or eunuchs. Civil servants and eunuchs are basically people who don't understand military affairs. It's ok to meet people with military talent, but it's sad to meet people who don't. The frequent change of generals also caused the generals' weak ability to understand and control the army, and the change of military strategy had to be approved by the emperor in the rear area. As the saying goes, going abroad should have some flexibility in the face of ever-changing war situations, and the policy of the Song Dynasty made this flexibility impossible.

Such a military policy in the Song Dynasty could not fail, but the sixteen states could not recover it. The rise of Xixia and the founding of the People's Republic of China made Dali in the southwest unable to gain a foothold and made Annan completely independent from China. In the Han and Tang dynasties, it was really bad to emphasize literature over martial arts compared with Chongwen.

Of course, there are still many people who say that the winning rate in the Song Dynasty is high, but the question is whether the so-called winning rate is calculated by passive defense or how? Why do you keep losing territory with such a high winning rate? In the end, Guan Yi and Du Nan became a small court in the Southern Song Dynasty.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China in the Song Dynasty, the excessive policy of valuing literature over martial arts had long been doomed to defeat, and even more doomed to the shame of Jingkang.

With the rapid economic development in Song Dynasty, Bianjing, also known as Bianliang, is today's Kaifeng, Henan. At that time, it was the largest and most powerful city in the world. The Chinese painting The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is a true portrayal of prosperity at that time. The founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin, ancient books and today's reference books all call Hebei people from Hebei. In fact, his ancestors and father were both officials in Luoyang, Henan Province. His family has settled in Luoyang, where Zhao Kuangyin was born.

Today, Kaifeng Qingming Shanghe Garden has beautiful scenery. There is also a world miracle waiting to be developed, that is, a city with six floors superimposed.

It was because the Song Dynasty was economically developed that it always lost in the war. Born in sorrow, died in happiness, that's what I said.

With the development of economy, people all over the country live comfortably. Who wants to fight for his life in the war? During the Northern Song Dynasty, China's feudal society and economy were indeed the most developed, and Tokyo, the capital, was also one of the largest cities in the world, bustling and very lively. Compared with other dynasties, the life of ordinary people in Song Dynasty was relatively comfortable, so there was no large-scale peasant uprising war in the whole Northern Song Dynasty. Relatively speaking, ordinary people live a life of peace and contentment. It is precisely because of this that ordinary people are reluctant to let their children go to eat food and become soldiers. Even if he becomes a soldier, he is not willing to trade his life for victory in the war. How nice it is to live and enjoy life. Soldiers think like this, generals who lead troops to fight like this, and the whole army thinks like this. It is strange that they can win the battle.

Why did the peasant rebels fight so bravely and fearlessly when the dynasties changed? Because the people were miserable at that time, fighting as a soldier was death, and not fighting as a soldier was death. It would be better to fight as a soldier. I can't die, and I won't be a big official in the future. Therefore, when they start fighting, they will fight for their lives. The sooner they finish fighting, the greater their chances of survival. In peacetime, the more developed the economy, the more precious human life, the more cherished life and the more afraid of death.

Don't just talk about the past, think about the present! The more developed those countries' economies are, who wants to wage war if there is no absolute advantage of asymmetry? Life is precious.

You can't say, "Repeated battles and repeated defeats." For example, the alliance of monasteries is actually a win-win situation. In the Song Dynasty, a small amount of "foreign aid" (according to some data, it was about the fiscal revenue of the three counties at that time) was exchanged for more than a hundred years of peace in the Song and Liao Dynasties, which allowed the people of the two countries to recuperate and the border trade to flourish. What's wrong with that? Militarism is not a good national policy at any time. In fact, more than 100 years after the alliance of Buddhist monasteries is a unique golden age in the history of China, which is characterized by political relaxation, freedom of speech, economic prosperity, cultural prosperity and social harmony. Look at the riverside scene on the Qingming Festival. What a vivid and happy picture of life it is!

Compared with other unified dynasties, the Song Dynasty was relatively weak militarily, which was determined by the basic national policy of the Song Dynasty.

First, the Song Dynasty valued literature over martial arts. Due to the separatist regime of warlords in various places during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, regime alternation was often decided and overthrown by military commanders.

That's how Zhao Kuangyin came to power, because in order to ensure the stability of the Song Dynasty, he relieved the military power through a glass of wine, thus eliminating this hidden danger. Since then, the national policy of the Song Dynasty has been to emphasize literature over martial arts.

I still remember the famous Di Qing, the general who frightened the enemy on the battlefield. Because he was a military commander, all the literati looked down on him at that time. Once, because one of his veterans made a mistake, he pleaded with Han Qi, saying that the soldier was also a good boy. Unexpectedly, Han Qi sneered: "Outside the Donghua Gate, the singer of the champion Lang is a good show." . Later, in history, Di Qing became the Tang Dynasty, but he was still despised by a group of civil servants. It can be seen that the mainstream of society at that time was to value literature over martial arts.

Second, economic prosperity is not directly related to military strength. The economy of Song Dynasty was really prosperous, which should be regarded as the climax of economic development in the whole feudal period. However, economic strength alone, without military strength, will still be defeated on the battlefield. The Roman Empire was invaded by northern barbarians several times. If it is ahead of economic Rome, it will still be killed and invaded.

In addition, there are several misunderstandings that are often misunderstood. First, the Song Dynasty was very weak militarily and could not compete with several neighboring regimes at all, so it had the shame of Jingkang. Actually, it's not. Although the Song Dynasty emphasized the suppression of martial arts, the military strength of the Song Dynasty was not particularly weak, indicating that the Han people were still very fighting. After Mongolia destroyed Xixia and Liao, the Southern Song Dynasty went its own way for more than 50 years, which led to its demise. In contrast, the Song Dynasty was much better than other regimes and Mongolia's Western Expedition countries.

Second, why did the Song Dynasty always lose the battle? Actually, it's not. There were defeats, but relative to the number of wars, Song Jun's winning rate was still very high, except for several large-scale battles. For example, the Battle of Haoshuichuan in Xixia and the Battle of Northern Expedition in Song Taizong. But in fact, after careful analysis, it is not that the Song Dynasty was weak and failed, but that the command was improper, and the fighting capacity of Song Bing was still very strong. Later, there was an opportunity to almost destroy Xixia, and it was also because the conductor was a pig teammate that he lost the opportunity.

Therefore, the Song Dynasty was not militarily weak, just because the national policy of emphasizing words and restraining weapons made people mistakenly think that it was militarily weak.

In the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin seized power by mutiny. In fact, Zhao Kuangyin perfectly copied the mutiny in Guo Wei. Zhao Kuangyin certainly didn't want others to copy him, so he wanted to reform the military system and completely eliminate hidden dangers. This has created an atmosphere of worshipping and restraining martial arts. The military power of the generals was completely recovered and civilian officials took over the troops. In this way, military commanders can't form their own troops, and they can't covet the throne. However, this makes the generals constrained everywhere, without dignity, so that the morale of the army is lax, the cohesion is beyond doubt, and the combat effectiveness of the army is sharply reduced; Due to the loss of sixteen states and other strategic places in the former dynasty, the strategic depth of the Northern Song Dynasty disappeared, just as the door was open and there was no danger to defend, and the northern nationalities could March straight in; Nomads in the north have risen, and the army is stronger than Mazhuang. However, the harsh natural environment limited their development, and invading the Northern Song Dynasty was the best choice to compete for development space.

Of course, the economic foundation will determine the military strength, but the result of military performance is not entirely determined by the economy.

There are many reasons for the poor military performance in Song Dynasty. The fundamental reason is the national policy of prospering literature and restraining martial arts in Song Dynasty. Throughout the Five Dynasties, military commanders seized power frequently. Zhao Kuangyin himself seized power as a military commander. Therefore, Zhao Kuangyin took a series of measures to curb the power of military commanders after he ascended the throne. These measures also greatly weakened the military strength of the Song Dynasty.

Another technical reason is that the Song Dynasty failed to acquire Hexi Corridor and Sixteen States. These two places are traditionally important horse farms. Without a stable supply of horses, cavalry could not have developed on a large scale in the Song Dynasty. Cavalry is the most effective force in the era of cold weapons. Therefore, the Song Dynasty had to use infantry against the cavalry of the northern nomadic people. Poor performance in the war is a normal result.

Of course, we can't completely deny the military strength of the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty failed to achieve complete reunification. But Liao and Jin could not go south to destroy Song. In dealing with these two dynasties, Song did not always lose. Otherwise, the Song Dynasty could not have lasted for more than 300 years.

The person who asked this question knows nothing about history. I'll explain the power of Song Kingdom to you from four o'clock!

1. Before the establishment of Song State, sixteen states of Youyun were controlled by the Khitans for more than ten years, which can be said to be firmly in the hands of the Khitans. At this time, it is difficult to have more. Before and after the dynasties, the sixteen countries of the deep cloud were also used as barriers, and the weak ones stuck to it and the strong ones attacked it. At this moment, the Song Dynasty is facing the opposite direction. If it is strong, it will be difficult to succeed, and if it is weak, it will be beaten every day.

2. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China in the Song Dynasty, there were five dynasties and ten countries, and the Khitan was the most powerful existence at that time. Before the Song Dynasty, it was the Khitan who unified the Central Plains, and only when there was a problem in the rear did the grassland be withdrawn. It is really difficult for a weak and troubled Central Plains region to win against the most powerful nomadic people who have rested for many years. At that time, the Han Dynasty experienced six dynasties, and the emperor did not dare to be an enemy of Mongolia. The first battle of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. At this time, the state of Song can still hold its territory and develop its economy, and it is not tenacious!

3. At that time, the enemies that Song faced were invincible in history, and the Khitan was already an invincible nation. At that time, the First World War in the Song Dynasty led to the demise of Qidan. When the Khitan was forced, the Song Dynasty took the initiative to make peace and paid tribute to the Khitan every year. Although it was disgraceful, it brought peace to the Song Dynasty for nearly 20 years. The economy of Song Dynasty ranked first in the world, accounting for more than 70% of the world's total. At that time, culture reached its peak. This is not unwise.

At that time, the strength of Mongolia was obvious to all. Mongolia is invincible and goes straight to Europe, and no one can stop it. After the neighboring countries were destroyed, the Song Dynasty was indeed the last one to destroy the country, and all the battles were won. War is cruel, but not heroic!

The Song Dynasty is divided into two periods: the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, but discussing its military issues can make the two Song Dynasties become a whole. Song Dynasty is a famous dynasty in the history of China, with unprecedented development in politics, economy, culture and maritime trade, but it is not so dominant militarily. Surrounded by powerful enemies around the Song Dynasty, the north experienced the establishment of three grassland nationalities: Liao, Jin and Mongolia. There is Xixia in the northwest. The main problem of the army in the Song Dynasty was that its fighting capacity was not strong. Soldiers didn't know the generals and wouldn't know the soldiers.

I think there are three main reasons why the Song Dynasty always lost in foreign wars:

First, prevent separatist regimes from repeating themselves in the buffer zone.

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, local governors have supported troops and military commanders are too powerful. The Tang dynasty was replaced by a separatist warlord. In the following fifty-four years, five imperial courts were established in the Central Plains. The founding emperors of these dynasties were all generals who ruled the former buffer regions. It can be said that the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was an era when military commanders were more important than civilian officials. Zhao Kuangyin of Song Taizu is also the military commander of the unified army. He joined the Yellow Robe in Chen Qiaoyi and founded the Song Dynasty. Shortly after the founding of New China, in order to solve the problem of military commanders' dictatorship, Zhao Kuangyin released the military power after drinking a glass of wine and seized the military power of many generals. It avoids the situation that military commanders support troops and stand on their own feet. Paying more attention to culture and education than military affairs is also the basic national policy of the Song Dynasty.

Second, the dependence on the military is not serious, and the pacifists have always prevailed.

The territory of the Song Dynasty is mainly the Central Plains and Jiangnan. In the Southern Song Dynasty, we could only stick to the south of the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were powerful Liao and Xixia in the north and northwest respectively. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, although the two countries were attacked repeatedly, they were unable to defeat each other. However, the Song Dynasty not only used military means to deal with Liao and Xia, but also cut off border trade and refused to export salt, iron, porcelain and tea. To these two countries. In addition, the Song Dynasty has a vast territory. The final result of sending troops between the two sides is basically peace between the two sides. Therefore, it also solved the dependence of the Song Dynasty court on military commanders from the side.

One more thing, during the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, there were two factions in the imperial court: the peace faction and the war faction. Most of the main peace factions are literati, and most of the main war factions are military commanders. The power of the imperial court has been basically controlled by lords and factions, so the military commanders of the imperial court have been excluded.

Third, the economy and culture are developed.

From the end of the Tang Dynasty, after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the war in the north continued, the economic center of gravity moved south, the population in the north moved south, and the south was relatively stable. The economy and culture of the South have developed. During the Song Dynasty, the development of southern shipping, the continuous development of the Maritime Silk Road and the development of overseas trade. In Song Dynasty, the economy was developed, and the natural culture was also developed. Song Ci became the representative of the cultural prosperity in Song Dynasty, and the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties monopolized six places, indicating that the culture in Song Dynasty was also very developed. The development of economy and culture also promoted the attention paid to literati in Song Dynasty.