The establishment of the Song Dynasty was not easy.
As we all know, the Han Dynasty was established after overthrowing the Qin Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was established after overthrowing the Sui Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty was also established after the Yuan Dynasty. The Han, Tang and Ming Dynasties were proud dynasties of the Han people, and the Song Dynasty was also a dynasty of the Han people, but it was much inferior to them.
However, there is a reason for this. You see, the Han, Tang and Ming dynasties have one thing in common. Their predecessors were all unified dynasties, while the predecessor of Song Dynasty was a fragmented era. Therefore, the founding of the Song Dynasty was actually much more difficult than the other three generations.
Let's take the Han Dynasty as an example. Before the Qin Dynasty, it was the Warring States, and the Seven Heroes of the Warring States had a long history. Among them, Chu and Yan have a history of 800 years, and Zhao, Wei, Han and Qi also have centuries of inheritance. In other words, the Warring States Six Heroes are like trees that have grown for hundreds of years, with deep roots and luxuriant leaves, and can be brought down in just a few years. In fact, from Qin Xiangong, the State of Qin lasted for more than 65,438+050 years, frequently waging wars against six countries, and then destroying them one by one.
Although the Qin dynasty unified the world, it was also weakened by itself. Coupled with exorbitant taxes, the people are in dire straits. Finally, the descendants of the six countries rose up and overthrew the Qin Dynasty. Then, why did the Han Dynasty unify the world in only four years?
At that time, although the princes of all walks of life re-established the country, it was too short after all. For example, the land of Sanqin was founded in April and was quickly pacified by Liu Bang.
Therefore, if the Qin Dynasty unified the six countries by cutting down trees, Liu Bang unified all the governors by digging leeks.
Back in the Song Dynasty, the history of vassal states was not as long as that of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, but it also had a certain foundation. Especially the nomadic forces from the north, the Liao Dynasty was established nearly half a century ago, and the Tangut people can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. No matter how the central plains governments iterate, they are always rock solid.
When Zhao Kuangyin visited Zhao Pu on a snowy night and asked whether to fight the south or the north first, Zhao Pu suggested fighting the south. Because he knew that nomadic people were good at riding and shooting, and most of the horse-producing areas at that time fell into their hands, it was almost impossible for Zhao Kuangyin to defeat them with infantry. Years later, Zhao Pu's suggestion proved to be very wise.
Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi are military commanders, and they also want to recover the lost land of Datang by force. However, the Khitans used their strength to repel Zhao Guangyi's two attacks. From then on, it was almost impossible for Song Dynasty to conquer Xixia established during Liao Dynasty and Song Renzong's reign by force.
Foreign policy of the Ministry of Peace
Starting from Song Zhenzong, he gave up military diplomacy completely and chose to pay old coins to Liao Dynasty in exchange for border peace.
Both the Liao Dynasty and the Xixia after it all held the same wish and began to occupy more land in the Central Plains.
Huns in the early Han dynasty were not interested in farming society at all, but were more keen on looting goods in the Central Plains. But in the next thousand years, with the continuous integration of nomadic people and farming people, nomadic people gradually realized that land is the most valuable thing. If you own land and distribute it to farmers, you can collect taxes from generation to generation.
When the rulers of nomadic people began to be interested in the territory of the Central Plains, nomadic people gradually developed into the depths of the Central Plains in the Millennium before the establishment of the Song Dynasty. On the contrary, the people of the Central Plains were forced to move south. By the Southern Song Dynasty, according to historical records, about 80% of the population had migrated to the south of the Yangtze River.
Of course, the two nomadic peoples in the north of Song Dynasty, especially the Liao Dynasty, can no longer disappear without a trace as before, but also must protect their territory. So for the Song Dynasty, if the Liao Dynasty was not completely sure, it would not dare to fight the Song Dynasty easily.
The civil servants in the Song Dynasty were too smart to compete. They think that the money spent in the war is much more than the money paid in tribute every year. Therefore, as long as things can be solved with money, no one will propose war. Even if this kind of voice appears, it will be immediately criticized by civil servants.
In addition, as mentioned above, one of the conditions for the Liao Dynasty to agree to negotiate peace was that it could not defeat the Song Dynasty. Although the Song Dynasty was weak, its military strength was enormous. Even when Song Renzong was most peace-loving, its regular army had reached more than 65,438+250,000. Although all the people in Liao Dynasty were soldiers, there were 6.5438+0.69 million people who could really be dispatched, but in Song Dynasty, there were millions of militiamen as the backing. Therefore, in the face of solid Song Cheng, the Liao Dynasty had no assurance of victory, not to mention that the strength of this country could not support a protracted war. Not to mention Xixia.
Therefore, it is precisely because of these two reasons that the Song Dynasty was able to live in peace with the Liao Dynasty and Xixia for a long time.
Liao Dynasty, Jin Dynasty and Xixia became the barriers of Song Dynasty.
Shortly after the Jin Dynasty replaced the Liao Dynasty, it also realized that it could not occupy the Southern Song Dynasty, so it adopted the same foreign policy as the Liao Dynasty and demanded old coins from the Southern Song Dynasty.
When Liao, Jin and Xixia all accepted the foreign policy of peace with the Song Dynasty, they inadvertently became the northern barrier to protect the Song Dynasty. If the Jin Dynasty wanted to invade the Northern Song Dynasty, it must attack the Liao Dynasty. Similarly, the Mongols must first attack the Southern Song Dynasty, take the Jin Dynasty and take Xixia. When they defeated these countries, the rulers could not capture the Southern Song Dynasty. Similarly, even the Mongols roaming Eurasia spent a lot of time attacking the Southern Song Dynasty.
Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, when there was no hope of recovering sixteen states, the civil servants continued to sinicize the neighboring nomadic peoples through a peaceful foreign policy, which not only brought long-term peace, but also paid two bodyguards to guard their homes for hundreds of years.
Of course, Mongols are different from Liao, Jin and Xixia, and they have enough strength to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, in the face of such a strong enemy, the national policy of peaceful diplomacy, on which the Song Dynasty depended, immediately lost its meaning.
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Why did the Song Dynasty last for more than 300 years? I think there are three reasons.
The Song Dynasty was not as weak as the legend, but a nomadic people who had been sinicized for 1000 years, which is not what it used to be. When the Song Dynasty and the nomadic people with territory could not annex their opponents, both sides recognized the foreign policy of peace. During the Song Dynasty, nomadic people inadvertently became a barrier to protect the Song Dynasty.