Why did the Song Dynasty lose so many battles in foreign wars?

In fact, the Song Dynasty was not weak, but the Song Dynasty encountered problems that other dynasties had not had. For example, there are Khitan Liao and Jurchen Jin in the north, Dang Xiangxia in the west, and Dali Andi and The Li Dynasty in Vietnam in the south. These countries are not weak.

So what were the internal reasons for the Song Dynasty?

1. Institutional issues

Song Taizu himself was a soldier who relied on force to seize the world, and his first consideration for this was to weaken the strength of the military generals.

After the release of military power through a glass of wine, the Song Dynasty established a pattern of emphasizing literature over military force. The status of the military generals in the Song Dynasty was inferior, and they could not be compared with the civilian officials. In front of civilian officials, military generals are like slaves, and even high-level civilians who kill low-level military generals do not need to report. Therefore, few people in the Song Dynasty wanted to become military generals.

2. The Song Dynasty learned the lessons of the Tang Dynasty's feudal towns

The Song Dynasty summed up the lessons of the Tang Dynasty's feudal towns, believing that the local military power was a great threat to the central government. If the local elite forces are transferred to the central authorities, even if there is an armed rebellion in the localities, the central authorities will have enough strength to suppress them.

Therefore, as long as the invasion of the Song Dynasty breaks through the border army, it can directly hit the capital of the Song Dynasty.

3. In order to appease the displaced people and maintain social stability, the displaced people are collected into the military system

The Song Dynasty knew that the rebellion of the displaced people would make the dynasty unstable, and often the cost of countering the rebellion in the imperial court was greater than the cost of raising soldiers.

Therefore, a large number of displaced people have entered the army system and become "soldiers eating food" that cannot be lost. Displaced soldiers often lack training, and their armament is relatively poor and their combat effectiveness is low. There is not even combat effectiveness, as soon as it encounters a battle, it immediately scatters as birds and beasts.

4. The Song Dynasty was a powerful minority regime

The Song Dynasty encountered a situation that had never been seen before, the iron harrier of the Western Xia people, the iron float of the Jurchens, and the iron horses of the Khitans. It belongs to the heavy armor, the men and horses are covered with iron armor, the knife is not injured, and the arrow cannot penetrate.

The Song army was very troubled to face such an army. It is basically impossible to fight it. Because the Song army rarely had cavalry, mostly infantry.

5. The Hexi Corridor was occupied by the Western Xia, and the Song army lacked warhorses to fight

During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song, Li Jiqian of Western Xia began to rebel against song rule and began to move towards independence. After the development of Li Deming's period, by the time of Li Yuanhao, the Hexi Corridor had been completely occupied. The loss of the only place where the Song Dynasty obtained high-quality warhorses made it impossible for the Song army to train cavalry.

6. Lack of capable generals

The Northern Song Dynasty, however, lacked phases, which was to a certain extent correct.

The Northern Song Dynasty did lack generals with outstanding ability. Even if there were, it would be wiped out by the northern Song dynasty. Di Qing was a general of outstanding ability and was deeply favored by Emperor Renzong.

However, the masses kept saying that Di Qing wanted to rebel, and the suspicion of the masses made Di Qing live in fear, and finally died in fear. Until emperor Shenzong failed to cut down the xia in the fifth way, he wept in front of Di Qing's portrait.

7. The commodity economy is developed, the people live in prosperity, and they lack the will to fight

On the one hand, the willingness to win wars is relatively large, and on the other hand, the cost of war is relatively low.

The living conditions of the Song Dynasty people were relatively good, and their willingness to become soldiers was relatively low, so foreign combat was relatively poor. In the face of many wars, more money was used to buy peace, such as with Liao, Western Xia, Jin, and Mongolia.

8. Lack of ambitious monarchs, lack of incentives for external expansion

The emperors of the Song Dynasty favored Wenzhi and were shorter than Wuluo. The emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty paid more attention to cultural development, and the emperor himself was a cultural person. The cultural level is relatively high, which is represented by Song Renzong and Song Huizong.