The Song military problem lay in balancing the capital, the provinces, and the border. Court-funded professional troops and their commanders rotated between Kaifeng and provincial postings, making it harder for any commander to build an independent power base. The monarchy kept political and operational control over a force of about a million men, but the system separated commanders from troops and weakened readiness. By 1065 the army consumed 83 percent of state cash income and helped produce an overall deficit, showing the fiscal price of coup prevention.
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Song military centralization traded coup prevention for fiscal strain
Learn how the Song court centralized professional forces to prevent military coups, and why that system imposed a heavy financial burden.