Generally speaking, the autocratic politics in the Northern Song Dynasty has enlightened elements, conservative elements and clumsy and ridiculous elements, which are intertwined.

The ills of the Song Dynasty have their own characteristics as well as the common faults of the dynasties. The ancient history of China is too long, and the past events of the rise and fall of past dynasties have accumulated too much. The founding of each generation, on the one hand, always seeks long-term stability and is committed to plugging all kinds of loopholes that lead to extinction, on the other hand, it is a country that has never been extinct and invincible. Although there are always many specific conditions and circumstances for the downfall of every dynasty and generation, one of the fundamental factors, a baseline that runs through the downfall of all dynasties, is the word "corruption". The root of corruption, in the final analysis, is nothing more than the hierarchical appointment system under authoritarian centralization. Historical facts have proved that the hierarchical appointment system will inevitably become a hotbed of corrupt officials; The vicious circle of corruption will inevitably lead to the situation that officials protect each other, and it will be woven into a huge corruption protection network. Corruption and autocracy are twins, autocracy will inevitably breed corruption, and corruption will inevitably depend on autocracy. The most important historical lesson left by the demise of the dynasty is from corruption to extinction. Marxism emphasizes the famous Paris Commune principle, criticizes the hierarchical appointment system, and advocates replacing the hierarchical appointment system with direct election system. This is actually a profound scientific summary of the fundamental drawbacks of China's previous political system, and points out the only feasible way of historical change for "going out of reincarnation".

There are points and points in governing the country in Song Dynasty. The Northern Song Dynasty designed and operated various political systems according to the principles of emperor centralization, civil servant decentralization, centralization and decentralization, which effectively maintained political stability, eliminated all kinds of infighting and was conducive to economic and cultural development.

Since Song Taizong, with the prosperity of the imperial examination system, developed civilian politics has emerged. Paying attention to family background from the officialdom is a great change in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Civilian politics, that is, "ruling the country with Confucianism", has a positive impact on political stability and cultural development. Civil servant politics does not mean that it is conservative, but the characteristics of civil servant politics in Song Dynasty are conservative as a whole. As Wang Anshi commented, "just stick to it" and "get lucky for a while", not seeking to cheer up, but seeking to barely maintain it, muddling along and lacking administrative efficiency. The educational and cultural environment of the trinity of Confucian classics, education and imperial examination was formed in the Song Dynasty, which undoubtedly contributed to the backwardness of Chinese civilization.

In human history, political struggle is inevitable, but in the era of autocracy, political struggle is often very cruel. Song Taizu secretly vowed: "If you hide in the ancestral hall, you will never punish ministers and officials, and the offenders will be ominous." Therefore, the political struggle in the Northern Song Dynasty is a rare civilization. Even at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were three large-scale movements to demote and flee scholar-officials, and generally no killings were carried out. The Song people said that "ancient literati were punished by foreigners, and the younger ones were also flogged." Since Taizu, I have been polite to the literati and have always been kind. "The Zhao and Song Dynasties emphasized that the emperor monopolized power, but at the same time, he gave consideration to the generosity and gentleness of the detained officials, which was unique in the ancient history of China.

Except in the later period, the Northern Song Dynasty regarded "different opinions stirring each other" as "the law of ancestors", which was intended to make "officials and servants dare not do anything wrong". In the relaxed political and public opinion environment, the development of Taiwan Province's remonstrance in Song Dynasty surpassed the previous generation. Under the rule of man, Taiwan Province's remonstrance certainly has various drawbacks. However, according to Confucianism, as a political opponent, Taiwan Province's admonition officials exercise their supervisory power and express different opinions, which is of certain significance for "helping the straight road" and maintaining the decent scholar style of an era.

During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, critics thought that the Song Dynasty had lost its "leniency". "Leniency" shows that those who wronged and defeated the country are not punished, punishment is not a crime, and crime is reused. The so-called "reward is more important than punishment, and it is not enough." Most of the top officials in the Song Dynasty were incompetent in governing the country and saving the country, but they were clever enough to intrigue and play tricks. At the peak, regardless of the survival of the country and the lives of the people, you can't run the country and save the country, but you have to destroy others to run the country and save the country.

The historical position of the Song Dynasty, in many textbooks, gives people the impression of being "poor and weak", as if this were the whole history of the Song Dynasty. That was not the case. Mr. Chen Yinque once said that China's culture is "the acme of Zhao and Song Dynasties". So, what about other aspects besides culture?

The inheritance of the Northern Song Dynasty is the decline since the Middle Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. Its area is smaller than that of the Central Plains dynasties, but it is also roughly equivalent to France, the largest country in Europe except Russia in four and a half years. The land area of the Southern Song Dynasty is one third smaller than that of the Northern Song Dynasty. Compared with the prosperous Tang Dynasty, what the Northern Song Dynasty lost, except the sixteen states ceded by the Jin Dynasty after the Five Dynasties, were all remote areas, and basically all the developed inland areas were retained.

I remember at a book conference, a gentleman spent most of his time talking. He emphasized that the economy of Song Dynasty was "backward", which was of course ignorant. In fact, the Song Dynasty was indeed the most economically and culturally developed country in the world. The ancient population statistics are not credible. According to current estimates, the population in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty was about 80 million, while the population in the Song Dynasty was about 1 100 million. In the era of ancient manual production, a large population meant a large economic aggregate. Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the economy of the Song Dynasty increased significantly. In fact, the traditional intensive cultivation in China mainly began in the Song Dynasty, which showed the increase of rice yield per mu in the south and the large-scale realization of rice-wheat double cropping system. Of course, it is impossible to have figures of economic aggregates in ancient times. But there are also some figures that can be clearer. In the Tang Dynasty, the grain transported by water to Beijing was often hundreds of thousands of Tang stones, and the Tang stones transported by land and water reached 2.5 million at most. The maximum amount of grain transportation in the Northern Song Dynasty was 8 million Song Stones, and the general quota was 6 million Song Stones. (According to statistics, the capacity of Song stone is greater than that of Tang stone) During Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the output of copper coins was 327,000 pieces, while the average annual output in the Northern Song Dynasty was 6,543,800+0,000 to 3 million pieces, with the highest record of 5.06 million pieces.

Some people think that the Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China's ancient culture. The most important representative of Tang civilization is Tang poetry, which is recognized as the peak of the development of ancient poetry, and Tang poetry is superior to Song poetry. However, the civilization of Song Dynasty is superior to that of Tang Dynasty in education, Confucian classics, science and technology, history, Song Ci and prose. Generally speaking, the civilization of Song Dynasty is superior to that of Tang Dynasty. Song Dynasty continued to be at the leading level in the world in education, science and culture.

It is not accurate to say that the military of the Song Dynasty was "backward". In terms of military technology, the Song Dynasty was not backward. For example, the application of black powder in ancient times was mainly in the Song Dynasty, especially in the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty, and gunpowder weapons already occupied a considerable proportion in weapons. The first naval battle using gunpowder weapons in the world was the Jiaoxi naval battle in the early Southern Song Dynasty. The accurate statement should be that the Song Dynasty was very weak militarily or very weak. However, it must also be analyzed in detail. For example, as far as the Mongolian army sweeping Eurasia is concerned, the most tenacious resistance opponent is the Southern Song Dynasty.

People often say that the Song Dynasty was "poor and weak". In fact, the manpower of the Northern Song Dynasty surpassed that of the Tang Dynasty, and the material resources, financial resources and government revenue were much more than those of the Tang Dynasty. However, the rich fiscal revenue can hardly bear the expenses of redundant soldiers and officials, and the expropriation has aggravated the poverty of the people, which is poverty accumulation. Military affairs are nothing more than the application of objective strength combined with subjective strength. The comprehensive national strength of Song Dynasty is undoubtedly stronger than that of Liao Dynasty, Xixia Dynasty and Jin Dynasty, but due to various factors, the level of strength application is inferior, which is the accumulation of weaknesses. The Song Dynasty passively accepted the lessons of the Middle Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, focusing on the implementation of civilian politics and the implementation of martial arts. Its military system is at the expense of military efficiency, which limits the talents of military commanders and reduces their status and quality. The Song Dynasty inherited the reality that the middle Tang Dynasty lost horse-raising areas, lacked horse resources and did not attach importance to cavalry construction. The ancient cavalry, like the tank troops in World War II, mainly used infantry against the cavalry of Liao Dynasty, Xixia, Jin Dynasty and Yuan Meng, and was in a weak position. In addition, since the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, military traditions such as "defending the weak inside and the weak outside" and passive defense have gradually formed, so its military strength has been sluggish and the martial spirit of the whole era has declined. By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the whole country was unable to resist aggression.