This article opens a small series about the events in the Far East during the period associated with the Mongol conquests. And more specifically - about the events on the lands of modern China.
Introduction
The problem of wild Mongols, who somehow miraculously managed to conquer great countries, excites the minds and requires answers.
Without studying the situation on the territory of China, we are unlikely to go far. And here, after the collapse of the Tang empire, three empires emerged.
Of course, we will not leave aside the question of the systems of organization of societies that faced the Mongol conquest. Without which, discussions about economic and military aspects simply hang in the air.
So, China on the eve of the Mongol invasion is two non-Chinese empires: Zin and Xi Xia, and one Chinese - of the Song dynasty. And we'll start with her.
Tang Empire
In the 10th century, the Tang Empire fell (618–908). It was a flourishing state that is considered the most important in Chinese history. It is enough to hear the phrase “vase of the Tang dynasty”, as vases made in the technology of “tricolor glazed ceramics” appear in a flourishing oasis of civilization among the endless sea of nomadic barbarian hordes.
And this empire, like many others, went from prosperity to regression. The system of government that emerged in the Tang Empire was perfect for this period.
In China, since 587, examinations have been introduced for officials in order to reduce the rights of the aristocracy and prevent nepotism and clannishness among managers. Militarily, the entire country was divided into military districts, which corresponded to civilian provinces. The number of districts was from 600 to 800. Accordingly, the number of soldiers varied from 400 to 800 thousand people.
Drawing parallels, we can say that such a structure corresponded to the femic system in Byzantium. In China, just like in Byzantium, those liable for military service were self-sufficient (fu bin), in peacetime they were engaged in agriculture. They also performed police functions in their provinces. Such a system made it impossible for the local military authorities to raise rebellions so common in Chinese history, relying on personally loyal professional groups.
The period of the Tang Empire - the time when northern Vietnam (Jiaozhou) returned under control, campaigns were made to the south of Indochina, Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands were conquered.
The empire defeated the western Türkic Kaganate, the fragments of which reached Europe, where the Avars appeared, and then the Türkic tribes.
Wanting to secure the delivery of silk to the west, the Tang established control over the so-called Great Silk Road. It was a thin chain of outposts along the route, the last of which was located east of Lake Balkhash (modern Kazakhstan). This path, today, not only excites the minds of lovers of world riddles, but is also the name for the most important foreign policy program of modern China "One Belt - One Road", which is building a global logistics scheme through Asian countries.
The Tang empire's aspirations to secure the Silk Road and increase control over it collided with the expansion of Islam in Central Asia. The Turks also supported the empire in this.
In 751, a battle took place on the Talas River (modern Kazakhstan), in which the Turks and their Chinese allies were defeated by the troops of Abu Muslim.
The territory of the Tang empire, of course, was significantly inferior to the modern territory of China and was concentrated in the basin of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, and the northern border was in the area of modern Beijing, passing along the borders of the Great Wall of China.
One of the modern maps that depicts the Tang Dynasty empire as a country that controls vast territories, including Central Asia. Of course, there was nothing of the kind, and the borders of the empire were much more modest. Such a map should not have been called "the map of the Tang Dynasty", but "a map of the Tang emperors' ideas about the limits of their power," and, as we know, in their dreams, the emperors pushed the boundaries to unimaginable limits.
But internal economic turmoil, key to the development of any society, led to an imbalance, first in the empire itself, and then to foreign policy problems. In the north, the borders of the country are attacked by the Tibetans, the Uyghur Kaganate, the Yenisei Kyrgyz and the Tanguts. Korea got out of the control of the Tang Empire, and in the southeast of China the Thai state of Nanzhao actively resists Chinese expansion, by the 880s the Vietnamese (Vietnamese) achieved complete independence from the "north".
This situation was aggravated by the peasant war that was raging in the empire.
And in 907, the last Tang emperor was overthrown by Zhu Wen, one of the leaders of the rebellious peasantry.
Fragmented China
Already at the end of the Tang dynasty, during the peasant war, the separation of the Chinese provinces began, as a result of which "states" arose that tried to copy the system of the Tang Empire.
After its fall, five dynasties replaced one another, formally claiming full power over the entire former Tang territory. The real power passed to the military governors (jiedush). Among this Hausa, the empire of the Late Zhou Dynasty stands out.
But simultaneously with the Late Zhou dynasty with the capital Kaifeng and Luoyang on the r. The Yellow River, claiming full power in the ex-territory of the Tang Dynasty, there were several other independent states. One - in the north, Northern Han, on the border with the steppe, the rest - to the south: Later Shu, Southern Ping, Southern Tang, U-Yue, Chu, Southern Han. All of them waged wars among themselves, just as in the twentieth century the role of "militarists", military governors was great here.
In the 10th century, in the Late Zhou, the Song dynasty came to power. The dynasty unites the lands and begins work to stabilize the economic and social structure, defeats the "militarists", subdues or destroys the independent "generals" (jiangjun) and jiedushi.
Song Dynasty X-XI centuries
The complexity of translations, the small number of historical documents proper, the constantly emerging basic theoretical developments, do not allow us to unambiguously and unconditionally assert about this or that event or phenomenon in the history of most peoples, including China. Or rather, its parts south of the Yellow River, a state that received its name from the Song dynasty.
This period is considered a benchmark for the subsequent history of China, both economically and socially.
From the point of view of sociology, this is undoubtedly a pre-class society of the type of European territorial communities.
The presence of ethnic monolithicity ensured the unity of society, and a vast territory with a favorable climate for agriculture (about 4 million sq. Km) and associated with this population, created a state, which is still called "empire" by contemporaries.
I put "empire" in quotation marks, because the question remains open to which type of state this European term should be applied, from the point of view of sociology. But, in historical terms, it was, of course, a Far Eastern empire, by the way, only in area almost three times larger than the territory of all Russian principalities of the same period.
Song Dynasty China was a sedentary civilization with the attributes of power structures, which was based on a communal or clan organization. The population of the country was personally free, living in small villages and cities, where large families and clan structures predominated. It was an economically heterogeneous society, since the main relations in the village were interactions between the tenant of the land plot and the landowners. The latter made up most of the wealthy class of China, but legally belonged to the commoners.
There is a growth of cities, handicrafts and technologies are developing, long-distance caravan and sea trade with different countries is carried out. At this time, specialized and night markets appear in the cities. Credit developed, like other similar societies, coins were minted. In this regard, we can recall the Ancient Russia of the XI-XIII centuries.
But the forced foreign policy activity created a huge shortage of money, and "credit" or paper money appeared in the Song Empire.
The city, with drinking and entertainment establishments, markets and shops, was seriously different from the peasant world:
“But on the whole, it [the craft] did not outgrow the framework of the consumer economy, meeting, first of all, the needs of the state authorities and the ruling strata of society.”
[A. A. Bokshchanin]
Therefore, the cities in the Song empire, and in China as a whole, are, first of all, the centers of control for a country with a huge population, and only then are the centers of crafts and trade.
The lion's share in the production of goods is occupied by state-owned enterprises, and the bulk of trade, including tributes, falls on the state. Therefore, cities with a huge population did not become independent social units.
The population of the cities did not work for the market, but worked for the "palace" or served those who worked hard for the state. It is not for nothing that in all states on the territory of China there were several capitals, with palaces, state workshops, services, etc. It could not be otherwise within the framework of a society based on a territorial community.
A huge amount of products were sent by the Song Empire to pay tribute-gifts. Therefore, the state held a monopoly on many types of goods. It extended to iron, non-ferrous metals, salt, vinegar, and wine.
The company was managed by professional managers and officials. Despite the availability of exams for occupying positions, representatives of the clan or clan nobility replaced the highest positions, that is, China during the Song dynasty had not yet moved to the stage of a full-fledged state. Nevertheless, the examination system contributed to the fact that the positions in the provinces were occupied by untitled nobles with wide social support. That ensured, in cooperation with the emperor, effective management.
The imperial power was not arbitrary and absolute. Management was clearly divided into military and civil, with the latter being the priority. During the period of primitive state systems, the management of a gigantic population over a vast territory was preferred. Of course, it was not done without abuse, but the indicator of the effectiveness of power at that time was the absence of uprisings, especially peasant uprisings, which were both before and after the Song.
The reign of the Song dynasty was a period of flourishing of Chinese culture, printing appeared, and literacy reached large segments of the population. In general, it was at this time that the Chinese acquired those everyday national features that have survived to this day.
Song Dynasty Army
In general, we know only in general terms about the weapons of the soldiers of this period, especially before the invasion of the Mongols. Very few images have come down to us, especially archaeological data on soldiers, and the reconstructions that we have are collected bit by bit and are built extremely hypothetically.
Metalworking developed in the empire, specialization appeared, but this type would exist without much change for many centuries, without much progress. Metallurgists knew forging, soldering, casting, stamping, drawing. One way or another, not so sophisticated technologies fell to the northern nomadic neighbors.
During the period of wars between different dynasties, with the growth of fortifications, and sometimes cities had seven defensive walls, the power of siege technology also grew. The army was armed with catapults, huge crossbows, towers with battering rams and the first cannons.
With the coming to power of the Song dynasty, military reform began. More precisely, it arose organically during the dynasty's struggle for power. The "palace army" (or the imperial squad) became the basis of the army structure. These units should not be confused with the troops that guarded the palace. The old system of general militia did not cope with the tasks facing the country.
A similar situation was observed among many peoples of this historical period.
Thus, “professional” troops are replacing the militia in Song. These troops defended the country's borders and were in significant garrisons. The commanders were constantly transferred from one province to another in order to avoid their growing into the local environment.
The "village troops" were also created, performing police and auxiliary functions in relation to the "palace troops".
In the XI century, the palace army numbered 826 thousand soldiers, and the entire army - 1 million 260 thousand soldiers. Over the course of two centuries, due to the constant growth of external threats, especially from the north, the number of troops increased to an incredible 4.5 million, which again happened to the detriment of the palace troops and due to the increase in the poorly suitable for war, but mass militia.
And on the northern borders of the empire, two states were formed, claiming the titles of Chinese empires and capturing part of the indigenous Chinese lands. This is the empire of the Mongolian ethnos Khitan - Liao. And the Tibetan ethnos of the Tanguts - Great Xia.
Reform
After the successes of the first century of the Song dynasty, there is a stagnation in the management of society. It is connected, firstly, with the inadequate growth of the bureaucratic apparatus, when there are more managers than necessary, and they are no longer engaged in management, but excessive self-sufficiency. And, secondly, favoritism and ancestral vestiges, clans, seriously worsened the situation.
"Palace troops" lost their combat effectiveness, turning into decorative, in the literal sense of the palace troops, where they entered to serve not to defend the country, but to receive money and prestigious service under the emperor.
And this happened at a time when the Liao empire was conquering the Chinese provinces. We will describe the war between these empires in subsequent articles.
The official Wang Anshi (1021-1086) decided to undertake a reform to change the management of the Sung society, but, above all, in the army. Now it seemed that to replace the decayed professional palace units, it was necessary to restore the Tang system of recruiting the militia by provinces. Not poorly trained rural troops, which already existed, but a militia consisting of horsemen who could provide themselves with weapons.
But the reform was not carried out until the end. Supporters of conservative forms of government achieved the resignation of the reformer in 1076 and the rollback of reforms.
It should be noted that this problem was accompanied by the Chinese society, as well as other sedentary civilizations throughout the history of mankind: the problem of the ratio of the cost of maintaining troops in relation to the country's economy. However, there is no clear answer to it to this day. In contrast to the communities, the production activity of which was based on nomadic herding.
Despite the same or almost identical social structure of neighboring nomads and farmers, pastoralists were an army people with a high level of mobilization.
The sedentary peoples, in particular the Chinese, had two systems (the first - the general arming of the people, the second - the professional army), which constantly changed places. They were also closely intertwined with the structures of management until the moment when the bureaucracy moved from performing socially necessary and socially useful management to the abuse of managerial rights.
The imbalance of the interconnected system of economy and management, as well as the cancellation of the reforms of Wang Anshi, did not allow Song to return 16 districts captured by the Khitan of the Liao Empire.
