Since the Yuan Dynasty, there has been a lot of debate about who is orthodox in the Liao, Jin, and Song dynasties of the same period. The Yuan Dynasty revised the history of the three dynasties, but the controversy did not end there. Let's look at the Liao, Song and Jin dynasties in chronological order, who is most qualified to be orthodox?
【Western Xia】
During the Northern Song Dynasty-Liao-Western Xia Period, the Western Xia was on the remote side, occupying the Hetao region and the Hexi Corridor, roughly all of present-day Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and shaanxi parts. Because the territory is small and not in the Central Plains, no one says that the Western Xia is orthodox.
【Liao】
The Khitan who established the Liao Dynasty, originating from Xianbei, lived in the upper reaches of the Liao River, calling themselves after the Qingniu White Horse. In 648, Emperor Taizong of Tang set up the Governor of Songmo in the Khitan territory, and the chieftain served as the governor and gave li the surname. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan chief Yelü Abaoji (Liao Taizu) annexed various tribes. In 916, Yelü Abaoji declared himself emperor and founded the state "Khitan". In 918, the capital was LinhuangFu (present-day Balinzuoqinan, Inner Mongolia).
In 936, after the Later Tang civil unrest, Hedong Jiedu made Shi Jingyao claim to be emperor, and on the condition of ceding Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, asked the Khitan to attack Later Tang. Yelü Abaoji personally led 50,000 cavalry to defeat the Later Tang army in Jinyang, Luoyang and other places, and assisted Shi Jingtang in attacking the Later Tang, and Shi Jingtang was able to establish the state of Later Jin.
After the Khitan acquired the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the five capitals were formed, namely Shangjing Linhuangfu (present-day Lindong, Inner Mongolia), Zhongjing Dadingfu (present-day Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia), Liaoyangfu (present-day Liaoyang, Liaoning), Nanjing Jingjinfu (present-day Beijing), and Xijing Datongfu (present-day Datong, Shanxi), which monitored western Xia, of which the early capital was Shangjing Linhuangfu, and the later capital was Zhongjing Dadingfu.
In the heyday of the Liao Dynasty, its territory stretched from the Sea of Japan in the east, the Altai Mountains in the west, the Selenge River and the Shileka River in the middle of present-day Mongolia in the north, and the southern border between youyun Sixteen Prefectures and the Northern Song Dynasty.
However, the territory of the Liao Dynasty was relatively northern, and the traditional Yellow River Basin in the Central Plains only controlled a small part of the Hetao area, and the Yangtze River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River were in the hands of the Northern Song Dynasty. Youyun Sixteen Prefectures newly occupied by the Liao Dynasty were the most developed areas of Khitan Han culture, but they were not as developed as the Central Plains.
【Northern Song Dynasty】
At the height of the Northern Song Dynasty, it reached the sea in the east and south, and ended in youyun Sixteen Prefectures in the north, including the main territories of present-day Hebei and Shanxi, the northwest including parts of present-day Guanzhong and Qinghai, and the southwest including the Sichuan Basin. If you look at it by today's standards, the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty includes 2/3 of the provincial administrative regions of China today, and most of the economically developed areas are in the Northern Song Dynasty.
The four capitals of the Northern Song Dynasty were: KaifengFu (present-day Kaifeng, Henan), Xijing Henanfu (present-day Luoyang, Henan), Beijing Damingfu (present-day Handan, Hebei), and Nanjing Yingtianfu (present-day Shangqiu, Henan), of which the capital was Kaifengfu, Tokyo.
During the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia confrontation, the Northern Song Dynasty occupied the most territory in the Central Plains, and compared with the Three Kingdoms Era, the capital of Wei Shu Wu was in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Northern Song Dynasty was well-deserved orthodoxy during this period.
【Gold】
The Jurchen who established the Jin Dynasty, known as SuShen in ancient times, was called Jingxiao during the Tang Dynasty, and the five generations of subjects belonged to the Bohai State and made a living by fishing and hunting.
In 1112, when Emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Dynasty went to Chunzhou to meet with the chiefs of the Jurchen tribes, he was disrespectful to the chiefs such as Yan Akuta. In 1114, Yan Aku declared war on the Liao Dynasty and defeated the Liao army at the Battles of Ningjiang and Chuhedian. In 1115, Yan Aku was proclaimed emperor at the "Emperor's Village" (Shangjing Huining Province, present-day Harbin, Heilongjiang), with the title of Daijin.
After Yan Aguo's goal was to attack the Liao Wujing, the soldiers divided into two ways to carry out the Battle of Jin and Liao. In 1116, the Eastern Route Army occupied Liaoyang Province in Tokyo. In 1120, the Western Route Army captured Shangjing Linhuang Province. During this period, the Northern Song Dynasty successively sent envoys and the Jin Dynasty to establish an alliance on the sea and jointly attack the Liao Dynasty.
In 1122, the Eastern Route Army captured Zhongjing DadingFu and the Western Route Army captured Xijing DatongFu. The Northern Song Dynasty also sent Tong Guan and others to lead the Northern Expedition to the Liao Dynasty nanjing jingjin prefecture and Yanyun sixteen prefectures, all of which were repelled by the Liao army. The Northern Song Dynasty asked the Jin army to capture Nanjing, Liaoning, and the five capitals of the Liao Dynasty were completely lost.
In 1124, Western Xia changed its title to the Jin Dynasty. In 1125, emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Dynasty was captured and the Liao Dynasty died. Yelü Dashi led his army westward and established the Western Liao in the Western Regions.
In 1127, the Jin army marched south, captured the Capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Bieliang (Kaifeng Province, Tokyo), and abducted Emperor Huizong of Song and Emperor Qinzong of Song, known in history as the "Change of Jingkang".
At the height of the Jin Dynasty, the northern part inherited the territory of the Liao Dynasty, and the southern part was bounded by the Qinling Huai River in the southern part of the Southern Song Dynasty, and a large area of territory in Guanzhong, Hexi, Hebei, and Henan was acquired. The capital of the Xia Shang Zhou Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties was within the territory of the Jin Dynasty.
After the Jin Dynasty adopted the five-capital system, after occupying the land north of the Huai River in the Qinling Mountains of the Song Dynasty, it added a capital city, the six capitals were: Zhongjing Daxingfu, Shangjing HuiningFu, Beijing Dadingfu, Tokyo LiaoyangFu, Xijing DatongFu, nanjing Kaifengfu, of which the early capital was Shangjing HuiningFu, and the later capital was Zhongjing Daxingfu.
By the time of the Jin confrontation with the Southern Song Dynasty, the north of the Huai River in the Qinling Mountains was completely controlled by the Jin Dynasty, and some people believed that orthodoxy should be given to Jin. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou occupied the Central Plains, and Former Shu, Later Shu, Wu, Southern Tang, Wu Yue, Min, Chu, Nanping (Jingnan), and Southern Han occupied the south (of the Ten Kingdoms, only the Northern Han was in central Shanxi). Orthodoxy obviously belongs to the Five Dynasties, and not many consider the Ten Kingdoms to be Orthodox, because the Five Dynasties occupy the Central Plains.
【Southern Song Dynasty】
The economic strength of the Southern Song Dynasty is very strong, and on the comprehensive strength, the Southern Song Dynasty is not weaker than jin, but Zhao Zhuo only seeks partial security.
When Shaoxing made peace talks, it was decided to declare himself a vassal to Jin. The Emperor of the Jin Dynasty sent emissaries to Lin'an and officially crowned Zhao as Emperor of Song. Zhao Shuo was grateful for this, saying that "all generations of descendants are (to the Great Jin) shouchen festival", calling the Jin Dynasty "the kingdom of Shang". These historical facts show that the relationship between Jin and the Southern Song Dynasty was, at least superficially, the relationship between suzerainty and vassal states.
When the Three Kingdoms of Wei and Shu fought for orthodoxy, even though some people did not agree that the partial Shu Han was orthodox, the Shu Han at least did not claim to be a vassal of Wei. When the Southern and Northern Dynasties were fighting for orthodoxy, the Southern Dynasty was militarily weaker and did not submit to the Northern Dynasty. If the Southern Song Dynasty did not claim to the Jin Dynasty, some scholars and masters could still fight for orthodoxy for the Southern Song Dynasty.
【Who is orthodox?】 】
The question of who is orthodox has been debated for centuries and it is impossible to draw a conclusion. We objectively list a ranking, from the most qualified to the least qualified: the Northern Song > the Jin > the Southern Song Dynasty> the Liao> the Western Xia.