Speaking of the Song Dynasty, most people believe that it was the Song Dynasty founded by the Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin, who launched the Chen Qiao Uprising. It began in 960 and died in 1276 (excluding the remaining exiles of the following three years). Before the establishment of the Two Song Dynasties, historians often refer to the Song Dynasty, which of course was not founded by Zhao Kuangyin, but by Liu Yu. If you are familiar with history, you certainly know that this refers to the Liu Song Dynasty, also known as the Southern Song Dynasty. But before Zhao Kuangyin, Liu Song and southern Song were rarely directly referred to as the Song Dynasty. It was not until Zhao Kuangyin established the Song that historians named Liu Yu's Song as Liu Song or Southern Song to distinguish the two. Due to the large social scale of Zhao Kuangyin's Song Dynasty, it is not appropriate to call it the Later Song Dynasty (such as Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou).
Liu Yu was born in the first year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (363 AD). Although Liu Yu was born in Jingkou (Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) on the south bank of the Yangtze River, Wang Jun was Pengcheng (Xuzhou, Jiangsu), and Liu Yu has been considered a native of Xuzhou since then. Liu Yubu started his family, historically known as the "All-Brigade without Soldiers", and defeated a Great Song Dynasty with his bare hands. How big was the territory of the Southern Song Dynasty? Liu Yu destroyed Later Qin in 417 and recaptured Luoyang and Chang'an, two ancient capitals that were later lost for some reason. Nevertheless, the Southern Song Dynasty was a behemoth during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, Liu Yilong. At that time, the eastern line of the Southern Song Dynasty was bounded by the Yellow River and the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the central part was the Pingding Mountain in Henan. The western route is bounded by the Qinling Mountains.
In terms of territory, the Southern Song Dynasty was slightly smaller than the Song Dynasty, but the greatest credit was given to the Zhou Shizong Emperor Chai Rong. Liu Yu is different, he is an indestructible person who single-handedly fights the world. In 420, the Jin dynasty lost all vitality, and Sima Dewen, the emperor of Jin, gave guochan to Liu Yu, the king of Song. Sixty years later, Liu Song died in Southern Qi, founded by Xiao Daocheng.
Some people say that Liu Yu is a descendant of Liu Yu, and according to the custom, Liu Yu's state name should be Han. Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han state name is Han, and Liu Bei established the Shu Han state name is Han. Liu Yuan, a Xiongnu who was far from Liu Bang, established Han Zhao. Both Liu Xiu and Liu Bei were direct descendants of Liu Bang. Liu Yuan claimed to be a descendant of Liu Bang, which made sense, so it was understandable that Liu Yuan called his country Han. Liu Yu was not a direct descendant of Liu Bang. His ancestors were as far away as Liu Bang's younger brother Liu Jiao, the famous King of Chu Yuan.
Of course, if his national name is Han, then it is understandable, after all, he is also related to Liu Bang. However, Liu Yu eventually named the country Song, which made many people wonder what relationship Liu Yu had with Song. The reason why Zhao Kuangyin wrote song as the state name was because he served as the envoy of Song Prefecture in the later Zhou Dynasty. Later Zhou's SongZhou Jiedushi (宋州節度使) was commonly known, and the official name was gui german jiedushi (節度使), stationed in Songzhou (Shangqiu, Henan). After Zhao Kuangyin usurped the throne, he said that I had served as an inspector of Song Prefecture, and the country name was Song.
In fact, Liu Yu's relationship with "Song" is no worse than that of Zhao Kuangyin. First of all, let's look at Liu Yu's king's city, Pengcheng (Xuzhou, Jiangsu), the capital of the Chu state, and his ancestors were the kings there. During the Spring and Autumn War, there was a second-tier state of the Song Dynasty, which was a descendant of Wei Ziqi, the younger brother of the King of Shang. By the Warring States period, the Song Dynasty, although its status had declined, was still a medium power. The territory of the Song State roughly included the borders of jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong and Henan provinces, with the capital at Shangqiu. In the Song Dynasty, in addition to Shangqiu, the most important city was probably Pengcheng on the eastern front. Surabaya is in Pengcheng, North is Qi Zhao, west is Wei Han, south can enter Chuyue, east can be the sea, the strategic position is extremely prominent. Liu Yu's name was Song, and the historian Hu Sansheng of the late Song and early Yuan dynasties believed that because Emperor Wu of Song was a native of Pengcheng, and Pengcheng belonged to the State of Song during the Warring States period, it was most appropriate to use "Song" as the state name in the case that Liu Yu did not allow the state name of "Han" to be used.
Some say that the Song state was finally destroyed by the State of Qi and the State of Chu in 286 BC. Pengcheng entered the Chu state, and Emperor Liu Bang of Han gao called himself a Chu. Liu Yu did not want to use the name Hanguo, but the name Chuguo. For other reasons, how did Liu Yu begin to rule the Eastern Jin Dynasty? It was Huan Xuan, who deposed the Jin Dynasty as emperor, and established himself as emperor. Huan Xuan's national name is Chu! Liu Yu wanted to name the country "Chu Guo", so how could he explain it to the world? Didn't you dig a pit yourself and jump down? In addition, the State of Chu had not yet ruled the Central Plains. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the economic culture of the Yellow River Basin was more like an orthodox existence, while the economic and cultural development of the Yangtze River Basin was relatively slow, and there was always a phenomenon of emphasizing the north over the south.
Therefore, if Liu Yu wanted to consolidate his rule in the north, he had to determine the name of the central plains. The names of southern states such as the State of Chu, the State of Wu, and the State of Yue also do not apply. Zhongyuan, Zhou, Cao, Wei, Liangjin, Former Qin, Later Qin, Former Zhao, Later Zhao, Former Yan, and Later Yan were all used. Liu Yu had no relationship with Qi Guo. Zheng Han's strength is not inferior to that of the Song Dynasty, but its influence may not be as good as that of the Song Dynasty. If you want to use Zheng or Han as the national name, it is better to use Song as the national name, which has a little relationship with Liu Yuneng.