Why did the GDP of the Song Dynasty account for 75% of the world’s total, but it still couldn’t beat the enemy in the north？

Generally, dynasties in history can maintain relatively abundant martial arts from the early days to the peak of their national strength, but in the Song Dynasty, the population accounted for 35% of the world and the GDP accounted for 75% of the world. From today’s point of view, it is a standard world power, but it seems that it still can’t compete with the Liao country in the north. What caused this rare situation in history?

Full-domain map of northern song dynasty

1. The right to release soldiers by drinking a glass of wine opened up the armed policy of the Song Dynasty, which was different from that of the previous generation.

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the army could not defeat Liao, or it was impossible to defeat Liao after Zhao Kuangyin’s death. This is mainly because the Northern Song Dynasty and Liao State were fundamentally under two different systems. The difference in system determines the strength of their army.

The Liao army or the military organization of the Khitans did not fight against the Central Plains army until the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty. Not to mention the early tribal ambush in the Tang Dynasty, there were several records of Qidan troops going south to conquer the Central Plains in the Five Dynasties. In the confrontation with the five dynasties warlords at that time, both sides won and lost. However, the Liao army never occupied an absolute advantage, or gained a great advantage in a certain aspect. There is even an embarrassing record that after the warlord troops surrounded the five dynasties, they were rushed out of the position by their opponents and defeated the whole army.

2. In the Five Dynasties, the Khitans fought against the Central Plains Army.

However, it was also in the Five Dynasties that warlords or local military groups of our time all posed a great threat to centralization. Therefore, the political development of the Five Dynasties gradually developed from the initial late Tang model to the Northern Song model. Militarily, this development path is concentrated in the deployment of local elite soldiers to serve in the imperial army in the capital. The weakness of the border guards after the Northern Song Dynasty was the final result of this evolutionary route.

3. The areas that traditionally produced high-quality soldiers were not in the actual control area of Song Dynasty.

On the other hand, as several border regions with strong fighting in the Tang Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty basically didn’t touch any of them. In addition to occupying part of Hedong area, Youzhou and the whole Hetao are not under their actual control. These places are exactly the places that are the easiest to produce high-quality soldiers from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. Because the local people have lived on the border between nomadic and farming culture for a long time, they are good at fighting and martial arts, and their folk customs are extremely tough. A large number of defectors from Central Asia and grasslands will also be stationed in the local area. These conditions are beyond the reach of mainland military sources.

The status of soldiers was suppressed to a very low level in Song Dynasty, and they were like slaves.

Since the military base is not good, and the military power and status of generals are not guaranteed, the army naturally cannot have good combat effectiveness. Even if it inherited the imperial army left by Zhao Kuangyin and the remaining Shatuo cavalry at that time, it would soon take the initiative to degenerate under this repressive system.

5. Liao country is also centralized, but it is more like the Federation.

On this basis, the Central Army of Liao State was established, including a large number of cavalry units and corresponding light cavalry forces. There are also many original Qidan aristocratic troops in the local area, which exist in the form of similar private armies. However, these private armies have never become subversive forces to overthrow the legalists, which is the advantage of the Liao federal system. Ordinary local soldiers are also feudal cavalry who depend on land for their livelihood. People with a certain status will have a small number of vassals. In battle, they will form a cavalry unit with the smallest unit.

6. Local autonomy provided Liao with a strong local army.

As for the local troops composed of other ethnic groups, including Han, Xi, Bohai, Mongolian and some Shatuo people, they all have their own infantry and cavalry organizations. The former may rely on cities and villages as units, while the latter may exist as units of cavalry or feudal leaders. When they faced Song Jun, they were often willing to play for Liao. In fact, it is also protecting its own way of life from being eroded by the more northern song dynasty.

These are the reasons why the Northern Song Dynasty could not defeat the Liao army in the founding of the People’s Republic of China. This reason is also accompanied by all the periods when the two dynasties coexisted, even when the Liao regime was wiped out by the Jin Jurchen.