During the Song Dynasty, its economic development reached a peak. The so-called rich Song Dynasty is definitely not a waste of reputation. According to statistics from relevant experts, the Song Dynasty’s GDP was the highest among all dynasties, and the Song Dynasty solved the problem of people’s food that was not even solved in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
However, the Song Dynasty’s military was the lowest in each dynasty. In the foreign war, the Song Dynasty had a lot of land reparations and even the nation’s southward relocation. In many cases, the Song Dynasty was beaten helplessly by the nomads in the north.
Such a low military capability of the Song Dynasty was actually related to the way the Song Dynasty founded the country. Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin was a regime captured by military force, so he was very taboo in this regard. In order to prevent someone from threatening his rule by holding their own soldiers, the military power is firmly in his own hands. Once the battle is over, the general's military power will be taken away and let him stay at home. Over time, it creates a situation where "you will not know the soldiers and the soldiers will not know the general".
Moreover, Song Taizu also carried out a number of reforms in the military system, which greatly strengthened the centralization of power in the Northern Song Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty, there were 193,000 horse infantry troops; from Song Taizong to Dao years, there were 358,000 horse infantry troops; and during the Tianxi period of Song Zhenzong, there were 432,000 horse infantry troops. In the reign of Song Renzong, on the basis of inheriting the cavalry of the previous dynasty, the cavalry in the reign of Song Renzong increased and changed. Pang Ji once said: "In the Fubaoyuan, the cavalry was increased by one hundred and sixty-two battalions outside of Pengri; the infantry, outside of Tianwu was increased by 752 battalions.
Song Taizu implemented a recruiting system, and most of these soldiers would be famines and famine victims or refugees and criminals who were forced to replenish the army, and their status was very low. High-level officers remained vigilant to lower-level soldiers, suppressed them everywhere, and had no trust at all. Soldiers in the Song Dynasty were lifelong, so most of them Soldiers are not of the right age, and most of them cannot achieve the best quality. Although the implementation of the recruitment system has effectively eliminated internal disturbances and failed to cause large-scale uprisings, the phenomenon of redundant troops is serious, resulting in huge expenditures on the national treasury.
At the same time The Song Dynasty also stipulated that the capital forbidden army and local defenders must be regularly mobilized. This method of garrisoning in turn is called the “reaction method.” Since then, because the soldiers often change defenses, the soldiers do not know the generals and will not know the soldiers. The purpose of the impermanent army and the impermanent division effectively prevents generals at all levels from taking control of the military. But doing so will prevent the generals from becoming bigger, but it also causes the army's combat effectiveness and generals to be unable to exert its cohesion and loyalty. It’s also difficult to guarantee.
Although the imperial force in the early Song Dynasty was not many, its combat effectiveness was extremely impressive. However, with the passage of time, although the military strength increased extremely rapidly, the combat effectiveness did not rise. Descending.
Force expansion is a good thing, but the expansion of the imperial army in the Song Dynasty is extremely unhealthy. Starting from the middle of the Song Dynasty, the imperial army continued to select from Xiang army and township soldiers, and also recruited a large number of soldiers from the private sector. In famine years, refugees were directly recruited into the Forbidden Army. The combat effectiveness of Xiangjun and Xiangbing had declined over time, and the quality of soldiers recruited from civilians and refugees could not be guaranteed. This directly contributed to the combat effectiveness of the Forbidden Army. The continuous decline has caused the cavalry in the Forbidden Army to even be reduced to the point where they can’t even ride a horse.
At the same time, the mixture of sources of force has also caused corruption and eaten up the army. The phenomenon is extremely serious in the Forbidden Army. It seems that the Forbidden Army has 800,000 troops. When the Jin Bing went south to attack the Song Dynasty, the actual force under the command of the Capital Sanya was only more than 30,000.
This is why The reason why the Song Dynasty cavalry is so weak, what do you think about this?
