The Song Dynasty was a controversial dynasty in Chinese history and has been criticized as one of the two most hacked dynasties in history. Among the people, the Qing Dynasty was scolded by folk history enthusiasts for 200 years for governing modern China into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The other is the Song Dynasty, because of its "heavy literature and light military" route, like to exchange gold and silver treasures for peace, and even a Youyun Sixteen Prefectures can't be defeated, and it has been teased by folk history fans for a thousand years.
However, what is less known is that the history of the Great Song Dynasty was full of twists and turns and hardships. Zhao Kuangyin and his descendants were undoubtedly the most difficult emperors in Chinese history, and the founding of the Great Song Dynasty was equivalent to taking over a hellish "copy".
The misfortune of the Song Dynasty lies in the underlying environment in which it was born. In contrast, the Han dynasty succeeded the Qin dynasty, and although both Qin emperors were tyrannical, their politics did not jeopardize the foundations of society. The Qin Dynasty pioneered the concept of "great unification", which brought benefits to the people of that time.
The same is true of the Tang Dynasty, even if Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty acted brutally, the rivers and mountains of the Great Sui were still intact, and the world was in a state of great unification. The uprising of the Li clan in Taiyuan was only to get rid of the rule of the Yang clan of the Great Sui, and the focus of the war was clear. But Zhao Kuangyin did not have the luck of Liu Bang and Li Yuan, he inherited the mess of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Zhu Lishi, Liu Guo, Liang, Tang, Jin, Han and Zhou, fifteen emperors took turns, the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty went through twists and turns, and it took two emperors to barely realize the unification of the Central Plains.
One of the greatest challenges faced by the Song dynasty was to face multiple powerful nomadic civilizational regimes at the same time, which was unique in the history of the Central Plains. The biggest contradiction in the Song Dynasty originated from the Liao Dynasty in the north, and the two sides frequently fought each other over the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun" and the "Land of Ten Counties South of Waqiao Pass". The Song Dynasty advocated the return of the "Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun", and the Liao Dynasty believed that it was a contract between Shi Jingjiao of the Later Jin Dynasty and Taizong Yelu Deguang, and had nothing to do with the Zhao and Song dynasties.
When the Liao Dynasty demanded "the land of the ten counties south of Waqiao Pass", the Song Dynasty believed that it was the territory occupied by Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty and should not be the responsibility of the Great Song Dynasty. This dispute led to a number of wars, including the Taiping Xingguo Northern Expedition, the Yongxi Northern Expedition, and the Lanyuan Alliance. However, the most troublesome external trouble in the Song Dynasty was not the Liao Dynasty, because the Liao Dynasty at this time had been sinicized, and it was relatively reasonable.
The most impossible to ignore is the Western Xia established by Li Jiqian, a party member. In 982 AD, Li Jiqian rebelled and took advantage of the Song-Liao conflict to gain the support of the Liao Dynasty. After that, Li Deming and Li Yuanhao, the lords of Western Xia, used all means to confront and blackmail the Song Dynasty. Until 1038 AD, Li Yuanhao openly announced his separation from the Song Dynasty and no longer served the era name of the Great Song Dynasty. After that, the Jurchens rose up, destroyed the Liao Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, and turned the past "Song, Liao, and Western Xia" three-legged tripod into the new Three Kingdoms model of "Song, Jin, and Western Xia", and the rise of the Mongols eventually destroyed the Song, Jin, and Western Xia. Da Song was finally freed from the hell-level dungeon.
Throughout the history of the two Song Dynasty, there have always been strong enemies. The Liao Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, the Western Xia Dynasty, and the Yuan Dynasty, all of which were nomadic civilizations, possessed great military strength and ambitions to conquer the Central Plains. In contrast, the only enemies of the Han Dynasty were the Xiongnu, and the only strong enemies of the Tang Dynasty were the Turks, plus the Tibetans and the Hui who had reached a peace agreement. Therefore, the Song Dynasty was the only Central Plains dynasty in Chinese history that faced a number of powerful enemies for a long time in a state that had not yet completed its unification.
The dilemma of being stuck in the neck is not uncommon in ancient and modern China and abroad, but the Song Dynasty should be the most tragic one among them. Many people complain about the military weakness of the Song Dynasty, but few people think about why it is so weak and what it seems to be powerless.
One of the main reasons why the Song dynasty was unable to compete with the nomadic civilizations of the same period was the lack of cavalry. And the fundamental reason for the lack of cavalry is the lack of war horses, and the reason for the lack of war horses is because there is no base suitable for raising horses. In ancient times, there were two major horse-producing areas in the hinterland of the Central Plains, namely the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and the Hetao Plain. Unfortunately, when the Song Dynasty was established, the horse-producing areas of the two Central Plains dynasties all fell. Without horses, it is impossible to form and train a strong cavalry legion.
A soldier is very fast, and in terms of speed, a two-legged man cannot catch up with a four-legged horse. When the nomadic cavalry attacked, the Song Dynasty infantry could only follow helplessly, and such a battle situation was destined to be difficult to break.
In addition to many objective factors, the predicament of the Song Dynasty also stemmed from its own reasons. The idea of emphasizing literature over military force deeply limited the development of the Song Dynasty and determined that its people lacked the ambition to expand their territory. However, the root cause is still dominated by objective factors in many aspects.
The history of the Great Song Dynasty is a confusing chapter in Chinese history, and although it is often criticized among the people, the difficulties and adversities it faced have profound historical significance. From a "mess" to a strong enemy, the Song Dynasty left a bumpy and glorious footprint in the thousand-year-old history. Perhaps, it is these predicaments and challenges that forged the indomitable national soul of the Great Song Dynasty, so that it finally showed strong vitality on the stage of history.
With vivid language and profound analysis, this article shows the difficult difficulties faced by the Song Dynasty in Chinese history, as well as its indomitable historical trajectory. Through the analysis of the origin of the "mess" in the Song Dynasty, the encirclement of strong enemies and the problem of special cavalry, the article presents a historical picture full of twists and turns and challenges.
First of all, the article mentions that the "mess" of the Song Dynasty originated from the basic environment in which it was born. Compared with the relatively stable inheritance of the Han Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, the establishment of the Song Dynasty can be described as a turbulent historical period. The chaotic situation of the five dynasties and ten kingdoms and the enthronement of fifteen emperors in turn made Zhao Kuangyin face not only political struggle, but also a "mess" in the entire Central Plains. This makes the founding process of the Song Dynasty full of twists and turns, which can be called a historical counterattack.
Secondly, the article profoundly points out that the Song Dynasty faced a strong enemy, which is rare in Chinese history. The rise of nomadic civilization regimes such as the Liao Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, the Western Xia Dynasty, and the Yuan Dynasty formed a situation in which enemies were attacked from many sides. In contrast, the challenges of the Central Plains dynasties in the past on the united front were relatively single. The Song Dynasty's difficult situation on the issue of external aggression made it face not just a single fierce enemy, but a strong enemy from many directions, which is unique in Chinese history.
Finally, the article provides an in-depth look at the issue of special cavalry in the Song Dynasty. The lack of war horses and the inability to form a strong cavalry corps made the Song Dynasty powerless in the face of nomadic civilization. The author skillfully describes this dilemma with the phrase "special cavalry is stuck in the neck". Through this question, the article reveals that the constraint of military strength is crucial to the rise and fall of a dynasty, and emphasizes that the military dilemma of the Song Dynasty is not only a limitation of ideological concepts, but is rooted in objective reality at a deeper level.
Overall, this essay vividly outlines the historical picture of China during this period through an in-depth analysis of the history of the Song Dynasty. Through the description of the predicament, the reader can better understand the rise and fall of the Song Dynasty and its special position in the long history. The content of the article is detailed and clear, presenting readers with a rich and profound historical picture.
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