The history of the Song Dynasty has always been extremely popular. In various wild historical novels, there are all kinds of stories about the Song Dynasty. Even in fantasy martial arts novels, the Song Dynasty is often used as the background for the grievances and grievances of Jianghu heroes. Such a hot model also made the historical image of the Song Dynasty popular with various thunderous images. Is this what the real Song Dynasty looked like?

At least, the following trivia is very different from the unofficial history, but it is enough to witness a real Song Dynasty!

1. "Shenzhou" Town Goryeo

The Song Dynasty had frequent foreign exchanges, so on the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty, which country had the most arrogant envoys? It is true that this is not Xixia, a Liao country that often fights wars, but it is a neighbor that has never fought a war: Goryeo!

There was a plot in a TV series about Bao Qingtian many years ago, in which the Goryeo mission acted tyrannically in the Song Dynasty and actually sent troops to attack Luzhou City, and even the powerful Eight Sage Kings were almost chopped into pieces. Of course, Goryeo in official history has never had such a terrible incident. But for decades, it was just as famous: every time the Goryeo envoys came to visit, they wanted to have their nostrils turned up in the air, eat and drink cards along the way, and even collected military intelligence such as maps of the Song Dynasty. According to Su Shi's angry report, even the Song Dynasty officials who served the Goryeo envoys actually learned how to bully officials along the way!

Why are you so arrogant? In the words of Fu Bi, a minister during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty: Goryeo thought that it was separated from the Song Dynasty by the sea and still hugged the thick legs of the Liao Kingdom, so of course it had nothing to fear. After Zhezong of the Song Dynasty came to power, he finally had enough of this. He spared no expense and built an unprecedentedly huge sea-going ship. It was more than twenty feet long and could carry thousands of soldiers. It was euphemistically called the "Shenzhou". The Song Dynasty envoy went to Goryeo in great force to pay a return visit. As expected, when they arrived in Goryeo, they frightened a group of people and attracted Goryeo officials and people to watch. From then on, when the Korean envoys came to the Song Dynasty again, they became respectful and respectful in dealing with people. They were completely frightened!

2. Japanese women came to borrow seeds

Thanks to the powerful shipbuilding technology of the Song Dynasty that could build the "Shenzhou", almost all places around the world where the Song Dynasty ships could sail were left with Leave behind the footprints of Chinese pioneers!

According to the description in "Song Huiyao", Chinese maritime merchants with millions of dollars in property are just "little guests", that is, small players. Maritime merchants who are truly on the table, such as the Yang family in Quanzhou, have assets of 200 to 300 million yuan. Every time the maritime merchant Wang Zhonggui goes to sea, he brings hundreds of large and small ships, which is more majestic than the navy's expedition!

Such a powerful group of people, crisscrossing the Asia-Africa ocean, is naturally majestic along the way. For example, in Southeast Asian countries, wherever you pass, the king of that country often comes out to entertain you. The Song Dynasty's fleet even expanded to the coast of East Africa, and ports in various countries were flooded with Chinese goods. To use the exclamation in "A Brief History of East Africa": The history of East Africa is written on Chinese porcelain.

Such unparalleled strength also meant that the Chinese people’s international status was unprecedentedly high in that era. When it comes to Japanese people who like to hug thick legs, they look up to China extremely. "Qingbo Magazine" has recorded that at that time, ships from Japan often landed in China, full of Japanese women. When they saw the men of the Song Dynasty, they offered themselves up and left with satisfaction after spending a romantic night - for the sake of improving the human race!

3. The untouchable aunt of the Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty is often said to be weak. In movies and TV dramas, the people of the Song Dynasty are often treated as weak lambs. But it is really said that the aunt of the Song Dynasty is weak. I won’t agree.

The "Little Animals Collection" records an aunt from the Northern Song Dynasty who opened a shop on the border of Song and Liao. As soon as she opened the door in the morning, she was met by Liao soldiers who came to kill her, screaming for the aunt to cook for her. However, I saw that the aunt was not in a hurry, pretending to be chatting enthusiastically with the Liao soldiers at the well, but suddenly she turned against the Liao soldiers and took action, throwing the Liao soldiers into the well.

According to the sigh of the famous Liao general Yelu Xiezhen, the border residents of the Song Dynasty may be poor and poorly equipped, but they fought without hesitation. As soon as the gong was struck, a group of people came to fight to the death. Liao soldiers who were left alone had basically no way to survive.

4. The scholar with outstanding martial arts skills

The culture of the Song Dynasty was developed and the status of scholars was extremely high. Does that mean that the scholars were all weak and weak scholars? You can take a look at the top figures among scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty: the literary champions!

Wang Sizong during the reign of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty is a typical example. During the scientific examination, he couldn't compete with another candidate Chen Shi. As a result, Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty waved his hand, and the two of them simply fell down. Whoever wins will be the top scholar. As a result, Wang Sizong's fighting power exploded, and he won the first prize after defeating Chen Shi, and was nicknamed the number one champion.

But don’t think that this kind of champion is just an exception. The fierce Liao people have been slapped in the face. Zhang Heng, the champion of the Song Dynasty, went to Liao as an envoy and was provoked by the Liao army general at a banquet. , I saw that Zhang Zhuangyuan was not in a hurry, he drew his bow and shot an arrow on the spot, and hit the target three times in a row, which shocked the Emperor of Liao. The custom of practicing martial arts among scholars in the Song Dynasty was so unambiguous.

5. Serial killer Cheng Wenhao

Who was the toughest scholar in the early Song Dynasty? There is no doubt that it is Liu Kai. This dear man has been reading poetry and books since he was a child, but he has never stopped practicing martial arts. When he was thirteen years old, there was a thief at home. He rushed out with his sword and fought with a group of thieves, killing the desperadoes and fleeing in panic.

Later on, he traveled around the country and committed serial murders. He killed a bandit who ran a black shop, and even went to a house to fight against an injustice and killed the evil servant who had threatened the house. Throw it into the pot, then call the victim's family, laugh and invite people to eat meat.

But he was such a terrifying figure. Not only did he later become a high-ranking official in the imperial examinations, but he also fought bloody battles in the Liao Dynasty. He also founded a sect and was recognized as the master of the Northern Song Dynasty classical prose movement. Are you saying that Song Dynasty literati were weak? Watch out for the great writer Liu Kaifeng.

6. The casualty ratio of the Song-Liao War

The Song Dynasty was called the "weak Song", and a major "basis" was the Song-Liao War. According to the descriptions in various unofficial historical novels, the Song Dynasty saw all kinds of uproar during this war. If it were not for the heroic Yang family generals or the children of the Beggar Gang and other heroes who stepped forward to save the country, they would have been wiped out by the Liao Kingdom in minutes! In the official history, Zhang Fangping, the prime minister during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, also famously said: The Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom fought eighty-one battles, and only one battle was considered a victory!

Is the Song Army really so unbearable as "one to eighty"? Let’s talk about real data!

In the twenty years of the Song-Liao War, there were many fierce battles between the Song and Liao that resulted in more than 10,000 casualties. The severity of the battles far exceeded the previous wars between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks. Several defeats of the Song Army, such as the defeat of Gaolianghe, the defeat of Yongxi's Northern Expedition, and the defeat of Junziguan, are all very famous. Every time an expert said that the Song Dynasty was "weak", they would mention it excitedly. But the victories of the Song Dynasty were extremely low-key: except for Yang Yepanmei's two Yanmenguan victories, the city-wide victory of beheading tens of thousands of Liao troops, the Tanghe victory of 10,000 Song troops defeating 80,000 Liao troops, and the complete annihilation of Liao king Tielin. The powerful army's victory was selectively ignored!

In terms of battle results, the soldiers of the Song Dynasty on the battlefields of Song and Liao were the same as the iron armies of the Han and Tang Dynasties who drove the Huns and Turks to the north. They were all good Chinese men with strong bones!

With such a strong team, why did the Song Dynasty end up exchanging coins for peace? Look at Song Taizong's blind command performance, regardless of the fatigue of the troops, and rashly launched the Youzhou Campaign. No matter how powerful the iron army is, it cannot withstand such a torment!

Even this blind command style has become a style of painting since the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty. Fan Zhongyan during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty once said to the point: Every time there is a court battle, the frustrated ones will be assigned to the frontiers. The more upright and straightforward a minister is, the easier it is to be assigned to lead troops. But this group of people has no military literacy at all, and they are in charge of major military affairs. It would be strange not to suffer defeat when fighting!

From the beginning to the end, the powerful Song army was defeated by blind command, and then used a "weak" hat to shoulder the blame for the real person responsible!