Why do many people think highly of the Song Dynasty now, but the evaluation of textbooks is very general?

Because "network historians" and historians are two different things. Many people on the internet are like this: in order to attract attention, they deliberately make some shocking remarks. Historians recognize that Song is "weak" and "gentle", so I specifically say "iron blood strengthens Song". Historians say that the Tang Dynasty "surpassed the previous generation in martial arts", but I have to say that the Tang Dynasty was not as good as the Song Dynasty. In short, the language is not surprising.

For the Song Dynasty, historians' evaluation is generally fair: this dynasty created splendid culture and was the peak of China's cultural, economic and social development, but its achievements in politics, military and diplomacy were poor, which can be said to be poor.

Let's start with politics. The Song Dynasty was politically famous for "not killing civil servants", which gave people the impression that the Song Dynasty seemed to be kind to its own people. But in fact, the Song Dynasty was very tolerant of scholars who studied, but never stingy with the harm to the people. For example:

From the beginning, some scholars in the Song Dynasty thought that the Yellow River would be diverted to Liao, so that Liao could attack Bianjing by boat from the Yellow River (called Bianjing in the Song Dynasty)-in fact, it was almost impossible under the technical conditions at that time-and suggested that the Yellow River be diverted artificially. Although many ministers objected that this would lead to the breach of the Yellow River, the Song Dynasty ignored this point and immediately launched the Yellow River Diversion Project spanning 50 years of Renzong, Zongshen and Zhezong dynasties. As a result, from the first year of Jiayou to the second year of Fuyuan, the Yellow River burst three times, causing countless people to be displaced. Since then, a huge "Yellow River flood area" covering Henan, Shandong, northern Jiangsu and other areas has formed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Everyone knows the shame of Jingkang, right? A direct cause of Jingkang's shame is that Dingzhou, as the gateway of Bianjing, was originally an important military fortress with a dense population, which undertook the task of defending Bianjing's security. Before Injong, the army stationed tens of thousands of people. However, after the third breach of the Yellow River in the second year of Fuyuan, the local population was only a few thousand. Nomads from the south surrounded Bianjing like nobody's business all the way, because there were basically not many troops in the whole Yellow River flooded area.

By the way, the Yellow River flood area created by the Song Dynasty will avenge itself in the future. It was the Jin Dynasty that destroyed the Song Dynasty, and the whole history of the Jin Dynasty was almost a history of fighting against the Yellow River. After the rise of Genghis Khan, why did the rulers retreat to the Yellow River? Because the Yellow River burst, the Jin Dynasty mobilized more than 8 million migrant workers to build the Yellow River, while the population of the whole Jin Dynasty was only tens of millions. If we don't retreat from the front, no one can fight against the Mongols.

Let's talk about politics and military affairs. Forget the shame of Jingkang. Everyone is familiar with the repeated battles and defeats with Qidan and Xixia. Here is only one small one: the Song Dynasty was defeated by Vietnam. In the eighth year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty and the fourth year of Taining in the Li Dynasty in Vietnam, Vietnamese eunuchs led troops into the border of the Song Dynasty and successively captured Qinzhou (now Qinzhou, Guangxi), Lianzhou (now Hepu, Guangxi) and Yongzhou (now Nanning, Guangxi). Su Zhi, the magistrate of Yongzhou, committed suicide. "More than 58,000 people were slaughtered, and hundreds of thousands of people died in Qin and Lianzhou."

Let's talk about military affairs before diplomacy. The diplomacy of the Northern Song Dynasty can be described as "the brain circuit is clear and strange". It is also said that Wang Anshi was in Ningchao and JaeHee. At that time, there was a military action praised by later generations in the Northern Song Dynasty, which was "Ning Kaibian". Wang Anshi used General Wang Shao to recover Hehuang area. This is one of the few victories in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, who is playing this Xining? Wang Anshi himself said that he recovered Hehuang to attack Xixia, but the Northern Song Dynasty did not attack Xixia, but a regime called Bashiluo in Hehuang area.

Although this Baslo regime was a Tubo regime in the Qing Dynasty, it was always friendly and respectful to the Song Dynasty. First of all, this regime has a "border trade market" with the Northern Song Dynasty all the year round. After the Northern Song Dynasty lost its horse-producing land in Hexi Corridor, it was the Baslo regime that supplied high-quality war horses and local famous scorpion armor to the Northern Song Dynasty through trade all the year round. Secondly, Babaro, the founding leader of Babaro regime, accepted the knighthood of Song Dynasty, and was the Baoshun and Hehuang envoy of Song Dynasty. Although he has always been a separatist, his father and son have great respect for the Northern Song Dynasty. Third, and most importantly, the father and son of the Barcelot regime had sworn enemies with Xixia in the Northern Song Dynasty. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, they have been attacked by Xixia, and even conquered by Li Yuanhao, the political center. Therefore, after gaining a foothold, Barcelot cooperated with the military actions of the Northern Song Dynasty all the year round to contain Xixia from behind.

By any standards, Barcelot was a friend of the Northern Song Dynasty, not an enemy. The result of the big fight was that the Northern Song Dynasty had to station a large number of troops in Hehuang area, which objectively led to the decline of national strength. Moreover, before the Northern Song Dynasty could digest this area, the change of Jingkang was approaching quietly.