The Two Song Dynasties

During the Later Zhou of the Five Dynasties, Zhao Kuangyin, a soldier by birth, took advantage of a young ruler and an uncertain state to stage the Chenqiao Mutiny and be proclaimed emperor. He then used a cup of wine to persuade his generals to surrender their military authority, consolidating the Zhao regime and gradually unifying the country.

Yet the Liao, Jin, and Xia rose one after another in the north, and the Song court, weakened beyond recovery, saw both Northern Song emperors taken captive. The Southern Song court clung to a precarious peace, only to repeat the same mistakes in the end. Its three young emperors were captured, died, or were lost at sea...