The Song founder who retired his own generals over a lavish banquet
Zhao Kuangyin seized China's throne in 960 through an army mutiny, then made sure nobody could repeat the trick. Soon after becoming emperor he threw a feast for his top commanders, thanked them warmly for making him ruler, and talked them into swapping their armies for rich estates and comfortable retirements.
He was a soldier's son from Luoyang who excelled at mounted archery; one story has him riding an unbroken horse without a bridle, cracking his head on a city gate, then chasing the animal down and taming it. Joining the forces of Guo Wei in 949, he rose fast after Guo founded the Later Zhou dynasty. At the Battle of Gaoping he and Zhang Yongde led 4,000 elite palace troops against a larger Liao army and held until help arrived, earning command of the palace guard.
When the Zhou emperor Chai Rong died, leaving a seven-year-old heir, Zhao had already sidelined his rivals. In 960, sent out to meet a rumoured invasion, his army buzzed with talk of a prophet who had seen two suns fighting, a sign that heaven's favour was shifting. Troops surrounded his tent one night and proclaimed him emperor. He accepted, reportedly with reluctance, only after they swore total obedience, and he forbade looting as they entered the capital. The dynasty took its name, Song, from the prefecture his army had been based in.
Taizu, as he became, conquered southern states including Southern Tang and Later Shu, reunifying most of China proper after the chaos following the Tang collapse in 907, though strong Northern Han, backed by Liao cavalry, beat back his siege of Taiyuan in 968. At home he tilted power toward civilians, expanding the exams so most officials entered through them, compared with under 10% under the Tang.
He died in 976 at 49 and, oddly, was succeeded by his younger brother rather than either grown son. Folklore about shadows by a candle and the sound of an axe hints at murder. Yet after 1161 every Song emperor descended from Taizu.
Source: Emperor Taizu of Song
