The Song Dynasty in the complete sense includes the Northern Song and Southern Song, which is the two Songs. Is the Song Dynasty weak? To a certain extent, it is weak, otherwise how could people say "weak Song"?
People say that the Song Dynasty is "weak Song" mainly because of the fact that "I would rather spend money than fight", which puts oneself in a weak position in foreign relations.
During the two Song dynasties, the imperial court pursued a basic policy, that is, to send "sui currency" in exchange for peace. Traditionally, the gift of New Year's coins is not only a matter of face, but also good things such as silk and silver to Xixia, Liao and other countries.
For example, the annual bill for the Northern Song Dynasty in "Chanyuan League" is 200,000 pieces of silk and one hundred thousand taels of silver. The number is quite large, and the number is still increasing in the later period, but the Song-Liao border has been relatively peaceful for a long time.
In addition to Liao, the Northern Song Dynasty to Xixia, and even Jin Guoduo had to pay a lot of money. Compared with the regime of the northern nomads, the Northern Song Dynasty is undoubtedly weak.
The formation of the "Sui Coin" relationship in the Northern Song Dynasty was related to the "weakness" in the military. The military of the Song Dynasty began with the Taizu's "Beijiu Released Military Power". The resumption of military power means the loss of a group of generals who can conquer and fight. Then the central government carried out drastic reforms. There are three main reasons: first, the establishment of the Privy Council. The privy envoys and deputy privy envoys are in charge of military and political power, and at the same time they have their own functions with the three yas. , Strip off the leadership and the right to transfer troops. The second is the maintenance of the internal and external affairs. The national army will either be stationed in the capital or guard each other. The two forces are equal and restrict each other. The third is the separation of soldiers and generals and the implementation of the "departure method." The forbidden troops are stationed in the capital and the outer counties, rotated inside and outside, and regularly returned to the capital to make them "unpredictable soldiers and impermanent divisions." Strictly guard against the inside and restrict everywhere. What combat effectiveness does such an army have?
This is what we often call "weak accumulation". In addition to "accumulating weakness", we also said that the Song Dynasty was "accumulating poverty". Isn't that the case? This topic is relatively big. Let’s give a few examples to illustrate:
Song Dynasty commodity trading broke the time limit, the so-called "day and China for the market, sunset" has become a thing of the past, and various grass gatherings and night markets are extremely active;
In addition to silver, the Song Dynasty also innovated the form of currency trading. The Northern Song Dynasty appeared "Jiaozi" and the Southern Song Dynasty appeared "huizi", which shows that the commodity economy boomed at that time;
South Song Dynasty , The economic center has shifted from the north to the south. "Suhu Lake is familiar and the world is sufficient" shows the economic development of the south;
frequent maritime trade. Due to the severance of the Silk Road on the road, maritime trade became extremely active. Quanzhou was the largest international trading port at that time. Chinese goods such as porcelain and tea were sold to the world through land and sea;
The culture was brilliant, the literati participated in politics, and the art was secularized. Extend to the market and develop into words.
From the perspective of economic life and culture, living in the Song Dynasty is indeed a good choice. British historian Toynbee said: "If I choose, I would like to live in the Song Dynasty of China."
However, the Song Dynasty also had compromises, land mergers, and Jianyan Nandu. This is a disadvantage of living in the Song Dynasty. Life in the Song Dynasty also has to choose a suitable time period.
Generally speaking, the Song Dynasty was an important stage in the development of ancient Chinese society. Although it was relatively "weak" in foreign exchanges and military affairs, it reached unprecedented heights in terms of political system, economic production and life, and ideology and culture. The true Song Dynasty is weak but not poor.
