In order to prevent the vassal regime and the ministers, consorts, queens, royal families, eunuchs and others from abusing power for personal gain, and to prevent the invasion of Liao and Xia countries from becoming another short-lived dynasty after Liang, Tang and Jin Han, the rulers of the Song Dynasty gradually adopted a series of measures to strengthen centralization from politics to military, from central to local, and concentrated political, military and financial power to the court to the maximum extent. Its core and key point is just as Song Taizong said. Including official, military, imperial examination, law and so on.

One of the characteristics of the military system in the Song Dynasty is that the military power is in the charge of several institutions, and the rights of various departments are scattered, and the power is concentrated in the emperor. There were four departments in charge of military affairs in the Song Dynasty. The Privy Council is responsible for military orders, transfers and the appointment and removal of senior officers. Sanya commanded the imperial army, the Ministry of War was responsible for logistics affairs and the management of the local Xiang army, and the official department was responsible for the selection of military officers (the selection of military officers was in the charge of the Ministry of War in the Tang Dynasty, the examiner was in charge of the Western Academy before the reform of Yuanfeng in the Song Dynasty, and the power was in the charge of the official department after the reform).

It is the basic political and national policy of the Northern Song Dynasty to emphasize literature over martial arts.