The Liao Dynasty recovered during the reign of Zhao Da, but Zhao Da had accumulated a lot of strength. Zhao Da won six battles against the Liao army and defeated the main force of the Liao army many times.
The chances are greater than Chai Rong's, and the tolerance rate is higher.
The Central Plains was strong in the early Tang Dynasty. The cities of Chang'an and Luoyang were the largest in the world, with a population of one million. The northern capital Taiyuan had 280,000 households. There were many large cities. The economy of the three towns in Hebei ranked first in the middle Tang Dynasty, which is often overlooked. They could establish their own regimes without relying on the canal supply and had no worries about money. In the late Tang and Five Dynasties, the economy of Sichuan and Shu exploded, and Jianghuai was second.
In terms of urban appearance, Jiangdu along the canal may be better, ranking third in Jiangnan. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, Sichuan was a center of woodblock printing, and printed 130,000 woodblocks of the Tang Monk Buddhist Scripture - Kai Bao Zang.
The world publishing industry at that time was a landmark event. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the economy was multi-centered, with some large cities in various places. After the Mongols ravaged the Yuan Dynasty, Jiangnan and Jiangxi became the first.
During the 319 years of the Song Dynasty, there were more than 400 peasant uprisings, which some people say was the most in all dynasties. However, these statements are just made up and have many loopholes.
First of all, the dynasty with the most peasant uprisings was not the Song Dynasty, but the Qing Dynasty. The number and quality of peasant uprisings in the Qing Dynasty surpassed those in other dynasties. Of course, I don’t know the specific data, but I just talk about it.
Secondly, while there were many peasant uprisings during the Song Dynasty, they were not serious, large-scale, and their scale and influence are not among the most significant in Chinese history. The Han Dynasty had the famous Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty had the Huang Chao Uprising, and the Ming Dynasty had Liu Bang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and others.
The most serious of these rebellions occurred during the Qing Dynasty. The White Lotus Rebellion in Sichuan affected nine provinces, requiring a nationwide mobilization and the enlistment of landlords to finally suppress it. The Taiping Rebellion, the largest, was described in the Qing History as "like an enemy state." It's fair to say that these two uprisings alone rivaled the combined might of all the uprisings during the Song Dynasty.
Finally, the Song Dynasty was China's second-longest-lived dynasty, or in some ways, the longest-lived. The longer a dynasty lives, the higher the risk of peasant uprisings, and the more frequent they are. Taking this into account, the Song Dynasty was actually one of the dynasties with the least frequent peasant uprisings.
First, I want to criticize you. The 400-plus peasant uprisings during the Song Dynasty weren't just a casual count; they represent a significant achievement in the study of peasant war history from the 1960s and 1970s. Historians of the time carefully examined ancient texts, page by page, and meticulously identified them. We must maintain respect for historical research. A compilation of historical materials on peasant wars throughout the dynasties, compiled in the last century, spans over 20 volumes. The so-called 400-plus peasant uprisings during the Song Dynasty originated from this compilation. Most people, myself included, haven't actually read it. Of course, their research has its flaws, but the merits outweigh the flaws.
The so-called 400-odd peasant uprisings during the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties actually included all kinds of miscellaneous disturbances. To use an analogy today, everything from a certain circle of merit to a small copycat dynasty established by three or two people at the founding of the country were all said to be peasant uprisings... Do you think it is appropriate?
The reason for this is that, first of all, in the era before reform and opening up, when class struggle was the main line, all anti-government movements of the feudal dynasty were regarded as peasant uprisings and were regarded as legitimate behavior. Historical research based on this point classified all the riots in the feudal era with various reasons as peasant uprisings.
Historians have reflected on this issue. For example, before the reform and opening up, a compilation of historical materials on peasant wars during the Ming Dynasty selected 194 "peasant uprisings." Later, a paper argued that nearly half of these were caused by bandits and cults—what kind of uprisings were they? The same logic applies to the Song Dynasty.
Secondly, the surge in many negative materials about the Song Dynasty was largely not due to the dynasty itself, but rather to the fact that historical materials had become more abundant. Before the Song Dynasty, there were very few historical materials available for research. For example, whether the Tang Dynasty was praised or not, apart from the New and Old Tang histories, there was not much material left.
After the Song Dynasty, the amount of surviving historical materials exploded. An official history of the Song Dynasty was actually used for reference. Several official histories alone survived, and countless literati's notes. Even a small portion of the Emperor's Veritable Records survives. The Ming Dynasty was even more remarkable: the entire Ming Veritable Records survive, along with countless unofficial notes. The amount of surviving materials from the Qing Dynasty surpasses all those from all previous dynasties combined. From the Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties, there are only a few books available, and even major events are sometimes unclear—let alone these minor riots. The more information, the richer the history. And a rich history contains both good and bad.
People who understand this issue are too lazy to talk about it, and those who don’t understand it are just meddling in it.
Finally, you said that the Qing Dynasty had the most peasant uprisings. This is a fact, but you also have to know that, on the one hand, the huge amount of historical materials left over from the Qing Dynasty has left us with objective information. On the other hand, the focus of research on the history of peasant wars in the last century was the Song Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, so the data for these two dynasties are the most complete. The historical materials on the peasant wars in the Song Dynasty were compiled in 4 volumes at the time, and the Qing Dynasty was compiled in 6 volumes.
The Ming Dynasty is much less well-recorded, as only one selected volume (as far as I know) records 194 "peasant uprisings." But as I said before, they all share a problem: they are subject to the limitations of the times and are overly subjective. They label all the riots recorded in history books as struggles against oppression, which is of course not objective.
By the time the Song Dynasty was established, the Khitan had already been established for 57 years. By the time Emperor Taizong of Song conquered the Northern Han, the Khitan had already been established for 79 years, and had occupied and absorbed the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun for 50 years. How much did the 50 years of occupation of Taiwan produce? Not to mention the ancient times, when people's values were weak. Furthermore, compared to the Sui Dynasty's conquest of Goguryeo, the Sui established 1,255 counties, and after Goguryeo's demise, it established over 100 counties. The Khitan had 156 military prefectures and 309 counties, while the Song Dynasty had 1,234 counties.
Don't look at the area on the map; the number of counties is the most reliable reference standard for national strength. With the Sui Dynasty's more than 20 years of Kaihuang's rule, the three expeditions to Goguryeo, and the Sui Dynasty's own destruction, did not damage Goguryeo's foundation. Not to mention that the newly unified country did not have long-term development to attack the Khitan, which had been stable for 80 years and was four times larger than Goguryeo.
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