1. How long was the Song Dynasty
The history of the Song Dynasty lasted for 319 years, from 960 to 1279. It was the continuation of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in Chinese history. The Yuan Dynasty was divided into two stages: the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. It lasted for eighteen emperors and was an era of high prosperity in Chinese history for commodity economy, culture, education, and scientific innovation. 2. What is the historical background of the Song Dynasty?
In 960, the generals of the Later Zhou Dynasty launched the Chenqiao Mutiny, supported Zhao Kuangyin, the military governor of Songzhou's returned army, as emperor, and established the Song Dynasty. In order to avoid the chaos of separatist vassal towns and eunuch autocratic power in the late Tang Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin adopted the policy of emphasizing culture and restraining military force, strengthening centralization of power and depriving generals of their military power. After Song Taizong succeeded to the throne, he unified the country, and Song Zhenzong gradually entered the world after signing the Chanyuan Alliance with the Liao Kingdom. In 1125, the Jin State launched a large-scale southern invasion, which led to the humiliation of Jingkang and the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. Kang Wang Zhao Gou ascended the throne in Nanjing Yingtian Mansion and established the Southern Song Dynasty. After the peace talks between Shaoxing and the Jin State, the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River were used as the boundary. In 1234, they allied with Mongolia to destroy the Jin Dynasty. In 1235, the Song-Yuan War broke out. In 1276, the Yuan Dynasty captured Lin'an. After the Yashan Naval Battle, the Southern Song Dynasty perished.
The Song Dynasty was an era in Chinese history when commodity economy, culture and education, and scientific innovation were highly prosperous. In the third year of Xianping (1000), China's total GDP was US$26.55 billion, accounting for 22.7% of the world's total economic output. Its per capita GDP was US$450, exceeding US$400 in Western Europe at that time. Although later generations believed that the Song Dynasty was "poor and weak", the folk wealth and social and economic prosperity of the Song Dynasty actually far exceeded that of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties appeared in the Song Dynasty, Confucianism was revived, science and technology developed rapidly, and politics were enlightened. There were no serious eunuch dictatorships and warlord separatism. The number and scale of mutinies and civil unrest were relatively few in Chinese history. . Due to the promotion of Champa rice in the Northern Song Dynasty, the population increased rapidly, from 37.1 million in the fifth year of Taiping and Xingguo (980) to 126 million in the sixth year of Xuanhe (1124).
Chen Yinke said: "The culture of the Chinese nation has evolved over thousands of years and reached its peak in the Zhao and Song Dynasties." Western and Japanese historians believe that the Song Dynasty was the Renaissance and economic revolution in Chinese history. There are many scholars. [12-13]
In the more than 300 years since its founding, the Song Dynasty overthrew twice, both due to foreign troubles. It was the only dynasty that did not suffer from internal strife. 3. How did the Song Dynasty fall?
First, the army engaged in business.
We often say "If you fall behind, you will be beaten." However, the Song Dynasty not only did not fall behind, its economic and cultural level was much stronger than that of the Liao, Jin, Xixia, and even later Mongolia, but why was its military always weak? What about being beaten by the opponent? This is because the Song Dynasty has long pursued a policy of "spending money to buy peace." They exchange their own safety by giving "year coins" to each other. For example, regarding the issue of recovering the "Sixteen Youyun Prefectures" of his clan's territory, Song Taizu's initial plan was to establish a "sealing pile warehouse" and save more money to buy it back.
Since the Song Dynasty relied on its advantage of making money and used the strategy of "breaking money to eliminate disasters" to maintain peace, the construction of the army naturally became less important. As a result, the army was miserably organized: first of all, the emphasis was on civil service but not on military service. This national policy caused Song people to be generally unwilling to serve as soldiers. There was no longer the martial style of the Han and Tang Dynasties. Scholars no longer aspired to perform meritorious service on the frontier. There was no longer the enthusiasm of Ban Chao of the Han Dynasty to join the army, and there was no longer the Tang Dynasty's "I would rather serve a hundred men". "It is better to be a scholar"; secondly, it weakens the army. Other dynasties hoped to strengthen the army, but the national policy of the Song Dynasty was to weaken the army. They were afraid that when the army became stronger, the generals would repeat their own tricks of "yellow robes" and the domineering behavior of the Tang Dynasty vassal towns. Therefore, the garrison strengthened the branches and strengthened the branches, and the best troops gathered in the center, and the border areas did not dare to station more elite troops. When training troops, they did not know the generals, and the generals did not know the soldiers. The army turned into a charity, raising millions of soldiers, but it was languishing. Finally, the military does business. The people of the Song Dynasty were good at making money and their skills were transferred to the army. Without proper training, they were busy making money. Corruption became common and they lost their combat effectiveness. Later, Song soldiers even had to have their faces tattooed to prevent them from escaping. One can imagine the morale of the army.
Under the successful operation of the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty finally succeeded in weakening the army and suppressing the martial culture since the Han and Tang Dynasties. The common people also shouted "Good iron cannot be nailed, and good men cannot be soldiers." slogan, but the label of "weak Song Dynasty" will never be thrown away! The army is the pillar of the country. The army is engaged in business and the soldiers are busy making money. The morale of the army is scattered and the army collapses. The economically powerful Song Dynasty becomes a fat sheep to be slaughtered in the eyes of the other party, and the country's demise is just around the corner. General Zhang Aiping said: "In order to make up for the lack of military spending, the emperor of the Song Dynasty implemented the military business strategy. The result was that martial arts was neglected and military discipline was lax. Facing a small Xixia country, it suffered repeated defeats. When the Jin soldiers invaded, the central government lost control and Huizong , Emperor Qinzong was captured. This is the "Shame of Jingkang" in history. "("The Founding General Zhang Aiping's Interpretation of the Destruction of the Northern Song Dynasty: The Disastrous Consequences of Military Business")
Second, Jiulong flood control.
As the saying goes, "One monk carries water to eat, two monks carry water to eat, and three monks have no water to eat." The rulers of the Northern Song Dynasty also understood this truth deeply. Therefore, in order to prevent the minister from taking power, power was repeatedly dispersed, and multiple personnel were assigned to one position to manage them simultaneously. For example, the power of the prime minister is divided into three parts, with Zhongshu, Privy Council and the Third Division respectively in charge of the political, military and financial powers. The three are incomparable and do not control each other; , check each other and avoid exclusive power; separate official titles from actual duties, divide the powers of officials at all levels, and reduce their power; "official" is often an empty name for getting a salary and doing nothing, and "position" (such as bachelor's degree, bachelor's degree, waiting for system, etc. ), generally a high-ranking title awarded to higher-ranking civil servants, and it is not a real job; only those with actual duties such as "judgement, knowledge, power, directing, testing, management, promotion, mentioning, signing, and supervision" The job is the actual job.
This had serious consequences: First, the imperial power was stable. It effectively prevented the ministers from having autocratic power, prevented powerful ministers from controlling the government, and affecting the emperor's status; secondly, it caused low administrative efficiency. "Kowloon flood control" involves fighting and arguing with each other. "The more dragons there are, the less rain there is, and the more people there are, the more fun it is to fight." The efficiency of doing things has been greatly reduced, seriously affecting the speed and efficiency of decision-making. As a result, the Song Dynasty was often ridiculed by people saying that "the people of Song Dynasty have not yet decided, but the soldiers of Jin have already crossed the river." Finally, finances are tight. Government agencies are unprecedentedly large, putting severe pressure on finances.
Third, central dictatorship.
After repeated manipulations of the political system by the Song Dynasty monarchs, the army was finally weakened, the officialdom was disrupted, and the political power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor. However, although the emperors of the Song Dynasty had extremely high cultural and artistic accomplishments such as poetry, calligraphy, painting, and music, and were not as corrupt as other dynasties, they were extremely idiots in military and diplomacy. First, there was the arrogant military idiot Song Taizong who led an army to conquer Liao. He was shot with two arrows and fled in a panic on a donkey cart, and eventually died of his injuries. Then there was the utterly confused military weirdo Guo Jing, the favorite of Song Qinzong. , opened the city gate and allowed him to lead 7,700 divine soldiers to kill the enemy. As a result, the capital fell, and he was captured by the enemy and escorted northward.
It is not necessary for an emperor to understand military and diplomacy, but if you do not understand it, you will not be able to do nothing. You must learn to delegate powers, appoint people, and delegate responsibilities. For example, Liu Bang said: "The husband is planning the strategy." , I am not as good as Zifang when it comes to winning a decisive victory thousands of miles away; I am not as good as Xiao He in holding down the country, supporting the people, providing wages, and never cutting off the food supply; I am not as good as Xiao He; even with millions of people, I am sure to win in battle and conquer in every attack; I am not as good as Han Xin: these three They are all outstanding people, and I can use them. This is why I conquer the world." However, since Song Taizu usurped power as a military general and conquered the country, the emperors of the Song Dynasty regarded military power and prime minister power as their lifeblood and said nothing. He is willing to give others easily, but he must control the ministers and monopolize the decision-making power. However, the Song Emperor did not have those two brushes in the military, so "one soldier is in raging, generals are in raging nest", and ultimately ended up as a miserable prisoner of a subjugated country. It was a pity that the people of Song Dynasty were buried with them.
In fact, the Song Dynasty also had a smarter emperor, Song Renzong. Knowing that he was incompetent, he claimed that "the king and the scholar-officials rule the world", and he dared to divide the imperial power among his subordinates. , carry out political affairs after gaining political knowledge through discussion, and dare to use people to avoid doing things nonsense.
For example, he appointed Di Qing as the military commander, without any restrictions or supervision, and gave full play to the commander's dispatching power, and finally won the important achievement of quelling the Guangxi rebellion. Therefore, history books commented: "Emperor Renzong didn't know how to do anything, he could only be an official (emperor)." It is a pity that Wang Anshi's reform later blindly strengthened the centralization of power. After a series of party struggles, the society of the Northern Song Dynasty was divided, and the power of the prime minister and the power of the monarch were finally separated from effective constraints. Finally, the Northern Song Dynasty, led by the stupid Song Huizong and his son, rushed into the abyss. ;