Speaking of the Song Dynasty, of all the feudal dynasties, it is openly regarded by current historians as the best dynasty.
What's so good about it?
First of all, of course, it is the democratic politics of the scholars, the Song Dynasty is the only dynasty among all the feudal dynasties where the imperial power and the scholars rule together, and the scholars have indeed played an unprecedented role in containing and supervising the imperial power. Secondly, the economy is highly developed, coal and iron are the first in the world, the population exceeds 100 million, and there are 7000 or 8000 markets in the country. Third, the high degree of openness, overseas trade and so on have developed by leaps and bounds.
Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan's "Qingming Upper River Map" is a witness to the prosperity of the capital city of Beijing during the Northern Song Dynasty, and the "Qingming Upper River Map", known as the ten famous paintings passed down from generation to generation, uses scattered perspective composition method in the form of a long scroll to vividly record the urban appearance of Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the living conditions of people of all walks of life at that time.
Behind the prosperity, there is a set of unexpected negative data.
According to historical records, throughout the 320-year history of the two Song Dynasties, there were more than 430 peasant uprisings, with an average annual surplus, and what is even more strange is that the number of uprisings was divided equally between the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties.
On the one hand, there is endless prosperity, and on the other hand, there are uprisings one after another.
What exactly is happening?
In fact, the reason is very simple, why did the people revolt? Because life can't be lived, just think, can eat enough to wear and warm, who wants to carry their heads to make a revolution?
The Song Dynasty did not produce tyrants, which was much stronger than the Qin Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty. But starting from the Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, there are only their own difficulties, a dinner party of "a glass of wine to release the military power", but not only the dismissal of the military power of the military generals.
Behind the dismissal of the military power of the military generals, there is actually no unparalleled material guarantee.
What are these benefits?
It is land, in the feudal dynasty dominated by China's agrarian society, with land there is everything.
The song rulers, in order to appease these disarmed military generals, the best way to do it was to give them a large amount of land.
Where did these lands come from? The land of the whole country belongs to the emperor, and the emperor says that he will give as many acres as he wants, which is completely understandable.
The land has been given to dignitaries and dignitaries, but what about the peasants on the land? The common people could only be sharecroppers, completely watching the faces of the landlords, living at the lowest level, and the peasants who worked everywhere became the slaves of the powerful landlords.
During the Rebellion of Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun during the Song Dynasty, the time was 992 AD, when Sichuan had a severe drought for many years, which could be described as a thousand miles of red land, starvation everywhere, and the people lived like years.
In this case, "where the rent is moderate, the tenant accepts it." What do you mean? That is to say, although you have no land and live by working for the landlord's old wealth, you must bear the burden of paying for such work as taxation and servitude.
Of course, the reason is grandiose, "does the lowly dare to forget the country"? At this time, let the people realize their self-worth and meet the needs of patriotism.
The common people who suffer from dumb losses are naturally full of resentment against high-ranking officials and dignitaries for wanton expropriation and corruption.
The peasant uprising led by Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun quickly grew to tens of thousands of people in just 10 days. When the rebel army captured Pengshan County, which is today's Pengzhou City, the angry people cut open the county and ordered Qi Yuanzhen's stomach to fill it with coins, satisfying the corrupt official's strong desire for money.
The irony is that Qi Yuanzhen was also regarded by Song Taizongshu as a national model of honest government, and repeatedly called on officials across the country to learn from him. This "cataract" of Song Taizong really needs to be cured well.
In the prosperous era of the three dynasties of Song Taizu, Song Taizong and Song Renzong, the large and small uprisings reached hundreds of times.
Later, the Fang La Uprising and the Song Jiang Uprising were relatively famous uprisings.
The ruler is driven by the interests of the "family world", between the backbone of the society, the dignitaries and the common people, can only take one end, behind the prosperity is the blood and sweat of hundreds of people, which is also the essence of the feudal dynasty has never been able to jump out of the "rise and fall rate".