The Industrial Song

The Industrial Song Dynasty

How do we get a Industrial Revolution during the Song Dynasty?
 
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How about this for a start: Sometime after the accession of Emperor Shengzong to the throne of the Khitan Liao, the Song Dynasty manage to defeat the armies of Dowager Empress Xiao. The equivalent of the Treaty of Shanyuan is instead signed with the Song Dynasty getting the Sixteen Prefectures. Without the revanchists demanding a return of the Sixteen Prefecture, and without the constant military threat of the Khitans, the Song can spend less money on the military and more on internal stuff, such as industrializing.

Of course, this is only the political aspect.
 
Well wasn't it the perceived weakness in the military that lead to the Jurchen invasions?

Is it possible for a Southern Song Industrial Revolution? The situation seemed to have pushed the Song to ramp up technological and naval development.
 
Yes, the Song had military weakness, but the Jurchen invasions are over a century after the Khitan invasions. Things could presumably change.

And as I stated somewhere else, if you want a coal-centered model of development similar to Britain's historical industrialization, you'll want a Northern Song industrialization, given that the greatest and most accessible sources of coal are in the North.
 
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