As we all know, the Northern Song Dynasty also advocated "unifying China by force", Taizong Zhao Guangyi narrowly destroyed the remnants of the Northern Han Dynasty, pointed at the sixteen states of Youyun (Yanyun), sent the majestic and heroic, and the donkey cart rushed back. But what is strange is that Zhu Yuanzhang took the sixteen states of Youyun, but it was very easy, why is this?
Let's compare the Ming army and the Song army:
The composition of the Ming army is very complex, absorbing a large number of foreign members, such as Duoyan Sanwei is a Mongol, so in the northern expedition, the enemy's strengths and weaknesses can be known to the roots, rather than being blinded.
The brave dynasties of foreign wars in Chinese history basically absorbed a lot of foreigners, and Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty sometimes had:
Former general Zhao Xin, the Huns surrendered to Han, and later returned to the Xiongnu, and was named the second king.
Fulu Branch, served as a captain in the Huo Qubing Army during the Mobei War.
Kailing Marquis (real name unknown), 90 years ago the Han army Li Guangli, Shang Qiucheng, Ma Tong three generals and soldiers divided into three ways to attack the Xiongnu in the north, Kailing Marquis in this battle led Loulan and other soldiers of the Western Regions to surround the pro-Xiongnu Cheshi State capital, in order to respond to the Ma Tong army to fight.
The evil king of Hun surrendered to the Han after the battle of Hexi.
The above are all Huns, after the decline of the Huns, many nobles and high-ranking generals have surrendered to the Han, so I will not list them one by one.
For another example, the Eastern Han Dynasty Gan Yanshou and Chen Tang swept away Zhi Zhi Shan Yu, which also dispatched multinational troops from the Western Regions.
In the Tang Dynasty, the surrounding ethnic minorities had frequent contacts with the Tang Dynasty, and many foreign leaders were appointed as magistrates of the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time served as the general of the Twelve Guards.
In the first year of Shenlong (705), when Tang Zhongzong buried Wu Zetian, more than 60 people who had served in the imperial court were carved and placed in the Qianling Tomb.
During the Tang Tianbao period, the more famous foreign generals were:
Xian Yu Zhongtong, this person perfectly interprets the sentence that a general is incapable of killing the three armies.
Ge Shuhan, a Turk cavalry Shi man, an envoy of the Hexi Festival, brave and good at fighting. The Anshi Rebellion was outnumbered and captured by the rebels and executed.
Fumeng Lingcha, Qiang people, Anxi Jiedu envoy. Later, he moved to the deputy capital protector of Andong Daduhufu, and was booby-trapped by An Lushan on the eve of the Anshi Rebellion.
Gao Xianzhi, a native of Goryeo, served as the envoy of Anxi Jiedu after Fumeng Lingcha was transferred, and was punished for fighting against the rebels in the Anshi Rebellion.
Li Guangbi, a Khitan native, was the first contributor to the pacification of the Anshi Rebellion.
Fugu Huai'en, Tiele people, the hero of the rebellion in the history of peace, was crowned the king of Daning County, and was forced to rebel.
Hun Shizhi, Zhaowu Jiu surnamed Hunbu, a descendant of the evil king. Shuofang Jiedu Liuhou (that is, the ** Jiedu envoy), died in Ningwu, Shanxi Province in about 764 765 in the battle against the invasion of Tibet. He had a son named Hun Xuan, who was the most important general in the middle and late period of Suzong's reign.
It's not that the Han people don't have much combat effectiveness, the Red Turban Army is hungry and crazy, and in order to eat, they broke through the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, hit Shangdu, and even set off from the grassland and hit North Korea.
During Zhu Yuanzhang's Northern Expedition, the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun were no longer monolithic, and the army in his hand was another multi-ethnic army since the Han and Tang Dynasties, and its combat effectiveness was naturally very impressive.
In comparison, the composition of the Song army is negligible, and there was no peasant army to consume the regular Liao army before the invasion of Liao, and it is recognized that Zhao Guangyi does not know soldiers, so it is of course time-consuming and troublesome to fight.
By the way, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Eight Banners were also multi-ethnic, so they were extremely fierce;The People's Liberation Army during the Liberation War was also multi-ethnic, so they all dared to gnaw at the US military.
To sum up, the active military personnel of the people's army must maintain a diverse and integrated ethnic composition, which is a gift from thousands of years of Chinese civilization to future generations.