Song Dynasty Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin

Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin

Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin (21 March 927 – 14 November 976), courtesy name Xiang Bao'er. A native of Zhuo County, he was born in Jiamaying, Luoyang (present-day Dongguan, Yinghe District, Luoyang, Henan). A military, politician, and strategist from the fifth dynasty to the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, he was the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty (reigned from February 4, 960 to November 14, 976). Later Zhou served as the second son of Zhao Hongyin (Song Xuanzu) and his mother was Du Shi (Empress Zhaoxian).

Zhao Kuangyin defected to the Privy Counsellor Guo Wei during the Later Han Dynasty, and during the reign of Emperor Chai Rong of later Zhou, he accompanied the Northern Han and Southern Tang Dynasties, and achieved outstanding military achievements. When Chai Rong was seriously ill, he was promoted to the rank of inspector in front of the palace and became the supreme commander of the Forbidden Army. In the seventh year of Xiande (960), he was ordered to resist the combined forces of the Northern Han and Khitans. He was immediately proclaimed emperor in the "Chen Qiao Mutiny" and returned to Beijing to force Emperor Gong of Later Zhou to take the throne. In the same year, Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne as emperor, changed his name to Yuan Jianlong, and the national name was "Song", which was called Song Dynasty or Northern Song Dynasty in history.

During Zhao Kuangyin's reign, in accordance with the strategy of Zhao Pu, the chancellor, "first the south and then the north, first easy and then difficult", he successively destroyed the jingnan, Wuping, Later Shu, southern Han, and southern Tang dynasties, and completed the unification of most of the country. Through the two "cups of wine to release military power", the military power of the generals of the forbidden army and the local feudal towns was removed, the centralization of power was strengthened, and the situation of local moderation since the middle of the Tang Dynasty was solved.

In the ninth year of Kaibao (976), Zhao Kuangyin died at the age of fifty. During his reign of sixteen years, He was buried in Yongchang Mausoleum for Emperor Daxiao of the Ming Dynasty. Today, there is a poem "The First Day of Wing" passed down.