In the Jingkang Disaster, an extremely wealthy and powerful Song Dynasty suddenly collapsed. Most people quickly fell to the bottom before they had time to react. The Han-style imperial structure developed into the Song Dynasty and became increasingly complete and its organizational capabilities became stronger. Therefore, the Song Dynasty created a peak of civilization that was far beyond the reach of the Han and Tang Dynasties. However, it still had its shortcomings, the most serious of which was the ability to withstand large risks.
The first thing that the culprit of Jingkang thought of was Tong Guan. This eunuch king did make great contributions on the battlefield of Shaanxi, but in order to make greater contributions, he instigated the artist emperor to violate the family motto of his ancestors and provoke the Song and Liao Dynasties. At the end of the war, he created countless eye-popping records and brought civilization to its peak. His associates Cai Jing, Wang Fu, Zhao Liangsi, and Song Huizong are also the main responsible persons.
Of course, these people are directly responsible, but how did this group of people with strange thinking methods gain power in the country? This is the root of the problem. Some people now identify the culprits as Song Taizu and Song Taizong, believing that they castrated the "martial" spirit of the Chinese nation and caused the Jingkang disaster. Some people even put the blame on Confucius, believing that Confucianism caused the "literary weakness" of the Han nation. Why is it that the Jingkang Incident is such an important historical lesson that our era has suddenly become so chaotic, with so many people talking nonsense about such a serious issue? In fact, after the Southern Song Dynasty, people made a profound summary of the Jingkang disaster and basically determined that the culprit was Wang Anshi.
It is very clear that the cause of the Jingkang disaster was neither "Weakness" nor "defending the internal and external", but the almost mentally retarded decision to destroy the Liao Dynasty. It is normal for mentally retarded people to exist in the world, but it is terrible for mentally retarded people to take charge of government affairs. Why were people like Song Huizong, Cai Jing, Tong Guan, and Wang Fu able to hold high positions and work together to destroy the long-standing stable decision-making mechanism of the Song Empire? To a large extent, this is because they all have the same identity: the New Party. Terms like "New Party" and "Old Party" were not invented by the so-called Old Party members, but artificially divided camps within the court by New Party members. Political speculators used such camps to attack dissidents and promote themselves. Song Shenzong trusted Wang Anshi when he was young and was a supporter of the new party. Later, he regretted it and turned to support the old party. The subsequent emperors and queen mothers repeatedly switched between the new party and the old party, pushing the party struggle to a climax. The most regrettable thing is that the final winner was still the new party: Song Huizong.
Although the last new party no longer pushes new laws irrationally like Wang Anshi, their political atmosphere has been formed. As we all know, the restriction and internal balance of power are the guarantee for the survival of a power subject. According to the power restriction design of the Song Dynasty, the emperor, Taiwan admonishers, and civil servants formed a three-legged restriction situation, which was quite stable. However, the New Party members unprincipledly cooperated with the emperor for their own interests, overwhelming the opposition forces and forming a power camp with few restrictions. For example, a strategy with abnormal intelligence such as conquering the Liao Dynasty is obviously a great achievement of some people. It is impossible to pass it under normal government. It can only be passed when the emperor, prime minister, and commander-in-chief work together.