The Song Dynasty was not called "weak" politically and culturally.

The Song Dynasty is the pinnacle of China's commodity economy and cultural development in the past dynasties, only the foreign war was a mess, Taizong twice invaded Liao and ended in a fiasco, and then signed the alliance with the Liao, the year after the year of the currency is shameful, for the rebellion of the Western Xia is also less victorious and more defeated, as for the later Jingkang shame not to mention, first let half of the country and the Jin people, and finally the entire Southern Song Dynasty court was overthrown by the Mongols.

The Song Dynasty can be said to be the first dynasty in history to be invaded by foreign nations and the country fell, and in the Ming Dynasty, even if the lessons of the Song Dynasty were learned, after several generations of reflection, it was still unable to solve the problem of border troubles from the root.

Now that Zhu Youzhu has raised this commonplace question, it is actually a little difficult for the ministers present.

In the face of such a question, the general civil and military generals are not easy to answer casually, and now the emperor wants someone to explain the confusion in his heart, but there is no public opinion on this question, and there are many views of the predecessors, and now the words of the explanation have a little bit of the meaning of making a fool of the emperor.

However, there are always people who want to show themselves in front of the emperor, so Zhang Heling took the lead in standing up and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the weakness of the Song Dynasty lies in the emphasis on literature and light on martial arts. The Song Dynasty was rich and strong, and the folk customs and education were more than those of the Tang Dynasty, but the situation of the warriors was despised by the world, and the army was more mean to the soldiers, so that the military generals did not dare to speak bravely before the foreign enemy, and the civil servants retreated, so that the great rivers and mountains buried Di Yi. ”

Zhang Heling's remarks are basically a summary of the reasons for the strength and weakness of the Song Dynasty's literature, and the views are quite incisive, but they are arguments that have been said badly by historians.

The weakness of the Song Dynasty was mainly in the military, Song Taizu himself was a military general usurping power and seizing the throne, so he was more mean to the generals who commanded the army, under the influence of the atmosphere of emphasizing literature over military force, civilian officials were in charge of the army, corruption was prevalent, and the generals and soldiers were unwilling to work for the imperial court, so that they were defeated in successive battles when fighting abroad.

But this kind of rhetoric is clearly a rebuke to Wenchen, and it has the meaning of favoritism for the generals.

Zhang Heling, as a relative, has a military position on his head, and it is understandable to speak for the general, but this makes the Wenchen present dissatisfied. Oh, the Song Dynasty recognized that it was weak because of military weakness, and military weakness must be the responsibility of military generals and soldiers, what does it have to do with our civil servants?

Zuodu Yushi Mingui got up and said, "The minister does not agree with Shou Ninghou's statement. ”

Zhu Youzhu looked at Min Gui: "What is Min Shaobao's opinion?" ”

Min Gui said: "The minister thinks that the weakness of the Song Dynasty lies in the danger of losing everything, the emperor will give the land of Yanyun to Liao, and then the Western Xia will steal the land of Ganshan, so that my Chinese border is not dangerous to defend, the Jurchen cavalry went south, and the Son of Heaven can not defend the border, blindly retreating, so that more than half of the heart of the Central Plains has fallen." ”

"When he arrived in the Southern Song Dynasty, although there were great rivers and natural dangers to block Hulu, Hulu's soldiers were flourishing, and there were traitors in the Song Dynasty who coveted wealth and nobility, so that the country was not protected. However, there are virtuous ministers, relying on the southeast corner, who have fought to the death against Hu Lu for more than 150 years, and have preserved the blood and bones of our Chinese nation......"

From Zhang Heling's point of view, he didn't want to excuse the generals of the Song Dynasty, but he knew that there were so many arguments, so he could only say so.

From Min Gui's standpoint, in addition to clarifying that the Song Dynasty was unable to resist the Jin people due to the loss of natural dangers, he also praised the integrity of Wen Tianxiang, Lu Xiufu and other civil servants who were unswerving to the death.

Min Gui's words were approved by most people, and even Zhu Youzhu nodded in contemplation.

From the emperor's point of view, he still agrees more with Min Gyu's opinion.

Because the emperor needs to be wary of the military generals who have military power, it is inevitable to emphasize literature over military force. Moreover, the world is peaceful, and it is necessary to rely on the ministers to govern the country, and it is absolutely impossible to dampen the enthusiasm of the ministers. said that the Song Dynasty emphasized literature and light military force, but did the Ming Dynasty not have it? It's just that the current emphasis on literature and light on military force in the Ming Dynasty is not as serious as that of the Song Dynasty.

In the main hall, the lessons of the Song Dynasty were being discussed intensely, but a little guy poked out a small head from behind Emperor Hongzhi and listened carefully, his eyes showing a bit of essence.

Ah, I'm talking about the Song Dynasty, I don't know what's going on with the "History of the Song Dynasty" or anything in the past, but I'm familiar with this paragraph, what is the shame of Jingkang, Yue Fei's Northern Expedition, and Lu Xiufu jumping into the sea with the little emperor on his back......

For the first time, Zhu Houzhao felt that he could understand what these old guys said, but let him interject a sentence, it would be very difficult, the ghost knew what the "Prosperous Tang Dynasty and Weak Song Dynasty" were, these Shen Xi didn't teach him, but he vaguely remembered that Shen Xi had mentioned some things when he was talking about the history of the Sui and Tang dynasties that day.

It is to the effect that Li Bai's poem called "Sending Bai Li to the West from General Jinwu Dong's Western Expedition", Shen Xi from "Xiqiang Yan Guo Discussion, Bai Qi Zuo Junwei", and extended to mention that the Tang Dynasty's wars against foreign Yi rarely failed, "The grass is green on the side of the horse, the dawn frost is rolled, the hand is resistant, and the cold wind is iron-clad", which made Zhu Houzhao envious...... Wearing glowing iron armor and riding a horse under his crotch to fight, how heroic is that? It's a pity I don't know how to ride a horse.

At that time, Shen Xi also talked a little about why the Tang Dynasty people fought so well, but Zhu Houzhao didn't pay much attention to it.

Zhu Houzhao thought to himself: "After listening to the class, I patronized and played Keju, and I forgot what he said." Wouldn't it be nice if I could say a word or two and let them know how good I am? ”

Children actually want to be in the limelight the most, especially on this occasion, but unfortunately with his previous urine nature, it is good not to be ashamed, and it is too difficult to be in the limelight. Before he came, the old lady also told him not to speak, just to prevent him from losing his dignity when the ministers gathered.

The debate over there is still going on, Zhang Heling obviously doesn't want to admit defeat, no matter what he does, it is to make the emperor feel that he has real material in his stomach, wouldn't admitting defeat now mean being embarrassed?

What's more, Zhang Heling has studied this issue a little bit, if he changes to something else, he may not be able to argue with a talented scholar like Min Gui head-on.

Zhang Heling said: "Then how does Min Shaobao explain that the national strength of the Song Dynasty was several times that of the Khitan, Dangxiang, Jurchen and other countries, but it was repeatedly defeated in foreign wars?" ”

Xu Qiong saw that Min Gui was determined to debate with Zhang Heling to the end, and hurriedly came out to make peace: "The minister thinks that the military decline of the Song Dynasty is due to weakness, not a day's success, all caused by the Song Dynasty emperor's high temple and inconsiderate of the soldiers and the people. ”

Xu Qiong: This is again diverting contradictions.

If you want to say that a loyal minister shouldn't pat the emperor's ass at this time, but who is Xu Qiong? He is not only a minister, but also the emperor's in-law, to say that his official reputation is not bad, but many times he needs to save the emperor's face, and he can't watch Shou Ninghou argue with people and ignore it. When he said these words, he could not only step on the emperor of the Song Dynasty, but also show the wisdom of Emperor Hongzhi, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Some ministers are already thinking: "It's still the Ministry of Rites and the Book of Rites to be tactful." ”

Zhu Youzhu also saw that the question he raised might be inappropriate, so he started to discuss it, Zhang Heling and Min Gui couldn't argue, and finally Xu Qiong came out of the round, and the words were to the point, it's time to put the topic down, and it doesn't make much sense to continue.

Zhu Youzhu was about to wave his hand to signal everyone not to debate, when suddenly a childish voice came from not far from him: "Father, my son has something to say." ”

The scene suddenly quieted down, and everyone present looked at the little prince Zhu Houzhao with an eager face.

Empress Zhang, who was sitting next to Zhu Youji, hurriedly gave her son a look, and the look seemed to say, "I forgot how the queen mother explained to you?" At this time, your father doesn't ask you, just honestly shut up and pretend to be dumb, even if your father asks you, don't be reckless if you don't understand! ”

Zhu Youzhu didn't have much thought, he was just curious why the prince would take the initiative to speak today? But thinking about it again, his son is still young, and he is growing up because he has been in poor health, and letting his son leave the cabinet early is also in the spirit of being prepared, but in the end, he can't be too harsh on the little guy, let alone let him be embarrassed in front of the minister.

"If you don't understand something, don't say it." Zhu Youzhi directly blocked Zhu Houzhao's way to express his views.

At this time, Liu Jian, who had been sitting upright and not speaking, got up and saluted: "Your Majesty, it is rare for the prince to express his opinions, and he is unscrupulous, no matter how good or bad he says, it is a brave attempt...... Why not hear what the prince has to say? ”

Zhu Youzhu picked up the wine cup, smiled, and said, "Since even Mrs. Liu is speaking for you, prince, you can come and listen." ”

Zhu Houzhao was excited, and it was finally my turn to express my high opinions, hum, let you people look down on me again. He stood up, raised his arrogant head and said, "Erchen thinks that the Tang Dynasty people are fighting hard because they have BMWs!" ”

One sentence caused many ministers present to snicker.

Sure enough, it's a fairy tale!

This point of view will sound absurd and ridiculous, soldiers naturally have BMWs when they fight, and the people of the Tang Dynasty have BMWs, but don't the people of the Song Dynasty have them?

But after thinking about this sentence for a while, the smile on someone's face froze, such as Zhang Mao and Ma Wensheng.

Zhu Youzhu asked with a smile: "Don't the Song people have BMWs?" ”

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and replied: "Erchen listened to Mr. said that when he arrived in the Song Dynasty, most of the good places for raising horses were occupied by foreigners, and without BMWs, the war would not be so powerful." ”

After all, the prince is young and doesn't know how to sort out the language, in fact, when Shen Xi told him, he also explained to him in such superficial words, just because he was afraid that he wouldn't understand.

The words are not rough.

After Zhu Houzhao finished saying this, even Zhu Youzhu was re-examining the truth contained in this sentence.

The biggest difference between the Song Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty is that it has set the lowest point in the land area of all dynasties that have unified the rivers and mountains since ancient times.

Some people will think, before the Song Dynasty, the grassland suitable for raising horses was not owned by the Central Plains, why are only the Song people so unbearable?

Before the Liao State, most of the grassland peoples were nomadic people, not a country, from the Khitan began to have the consciousness of managing the land, and they already owned the Central Plains land such as Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, building cities to consolidate the territory, the Song people lacked good horses, at first they could also rely on the northwest horse farm to maintain, but when the Western Xia was established, the horse farm was almost lost, and the battle could only rely on the infantry, which became more and more difficult.

Needless to say, the importance of horses on the battlefield is not to be mentioned, but aside from the flexibility of cavalry, a frontal encounter alone can surprise the opponent's camp and cause chaos on the opponent, pursue the enemy if defeated, and quickly retreat if defeated, and return to the walled city to preserve the vitality in order to fight again.

But if there is a lack of cavalry, or if there are only a few old and sick horses on the battlefield, then the war will basically be lost by 30% from the beginning, and this is not counting the loss of morale of the soldiers who see the high-headed horses on the opposite side.

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PS: Two consecutive shifts!

Once again, I wish you all a happy Dragon Boat Festival! Why do you want to say this twice? Because the Son of Heaven is also celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival, there are guests at home, and the Son of Heaven accompanies the guests while coding words, and the result is ...... I forgot to update it after the code was finished!

Due to a good meal, the next chapter update will be a little late!

The Son of Heaven continues to ask for subscriptions, tips, and monthly pass support! (To be continued.) )