One can reasonably assume the Mongols would not have expanded as much as they did were it not for Zhao Kuangyi's actions.
Zhao Kuangyin was a general who usurpers the later zhou dynasty to establish the Song Dynasty. Usually these periods of disorder would last much longer (Three Kingdoms, Sixteen Kingdoms period. Northern & Southern dynasties) however he embarked on a 2 decade campaign and would reunite China with the exception of a few small Kingdoms. He was one of the best generals of the age
He planned to take the very important 16 prefectures from the Khitan Liao dynasty who took it from previous dynasties in the 5D10K era. The Khitans was the menace of the Chinese ever since the fall of the Tang dynasty. This would cripple the Khitan who would have lost much of their sedentary land and would have been only left with nomadic territory and would make Song China ascendant. but he died all a sudden under very mysterious circumstances and his brother Zhao Kuangyi succeeded him. There is very little doubt that the little brother killed his older brother. The sons of Zhao Kuangyin would also quickly die or commit suicide after his death. The Khitan would remain a potent foe with the resources of a sedentary empire as well as fielding deadly nomadic armies.
So Zhao Kuangyi succeeded but he was no general and his larp as one led to military defeat and stalemate with the Liao that would continue until the fall of the northern Song and Lio dynasty to the Jurchen Jin dynasty. The Jin controlled the northern half of China. When the Mongols attacked they made an alliance with the Song who would attack from the South. The Jin dynasty was destroyed and the Mongols gained control of a vast and rich landmass. Had Zhao Kuangyin have been able to establish the Song as ascendant then perhaps China would not be divided into two halves and the Mongols would have only become a regional power
Some fun random trivia: There's a legend that the Jin Emperor who oversaw much of the conquest of the northern half of Song, Wanyan Sheng (Wuqimai) greatly resembled Zhao Kuangyin in facial appearance, so that the common people remarked that the Jin conquest over the northern half of Song was Kuangyin getting revenge on his brother's descendants. This supposedly influenced the childless then-Emperor Zhao Gou (distant descendant of Kuangyi) to adopt a descendant of Kuangyin as an heir.
That's hilarious, I didn't know that
It was obviously the eunuchs, wake up sheeple
The mongol conquests was good for China
hardly compare the achievements of Song China to future dynasties. The difference between them is night and day.
At least Later Chinese dynasties didn't do super retarded bullshit like execute successful generals.
>execute successful generals
every dynasty does this. Forget China everyone did this
Except rarely to they do it in the middle of a fucking war that they are winning.
>Except rarely to they do it in the middle of a fucking war that they are winning.
The problem with Yue Fei was that the Song didn't actually have the resources to take back the north. Winning a few battles meant nothing strategic wise at least in the sense of reconquering the north. They needed to sign a favorable peace treaty with the gains they made and war mongers were detrimental for that end. Taking Kaifeng back would be retarded since the Jin always had the card of releasing the previous emperor thus they were capable of causing civil strife among the Southern Song whenever the wanted. Plus Kaifeng was hard to defend as well. Should he have been executed. No he shouldn't have.
are you stupid the ming literally did this in the 1630s
nigga this is being a monarch 101
I do it all the time in attila total war too, if they get too much influence they fuck your shit up
>zhao zung zun
>zhao zi zi
Almost twisted my tongue for these chink names
They're not that hard to pronounce
Ok, Mr Ling Long
>the gweilo scornfully thumbs his nose at something he can't lisguistically comprehend
many such cases
I never understood this meymey. Chinese names are short and have like 2 or 3 syllables, how can they be complicated. But westoids have no problems with bullshit like Nebuchadnezzar, Tutankhamun, or every single fucking French & German name in existence
>Nebuchadnezzar, Tutankhamun
Soul
> Ching-Chong-Ping-Pong, also named Wing-Wang-Ling-Lang, also named General-Tso-Chop-Suey
Souless
Also not to mention how every fucking western monarch has the same goddamn name/serial number and you're just supposed to know who they are.
>Henry II
>Henry III
>Henry IV
>You mean Henry IV? (of England)
>No I meant Henry IV!! (of France).
Fucking Chinese Emperors have the decency not to repeat names. But for some reason their names are still "complicated."
The countries are unique enough that you know from sheer context which monarch is being referred to.
No its not from the outsider's perspective lol. Its one of our big annoyances when reading European history
>Why is everyone's kings only have the same 5 or 6 names????
everyone knows han wendi, han jingdi, han wudi, han guangwu etc
who was henry iii, what did he do?
Signed the Magna Carta after his dad John died.
>Wendi
>which Wendi? Han Wendi
>Henry IV
>which Henry? Then French one
Retard
>Fucking Chinese Emperors have the decency not to repeat names.
Posthumous and Temple names do repeat between dynasties, and those are the most common ways to refer to an Emperor.
But I do get your point, since in modern times and especially in the west, you basically never come across a posthumous or temple name without the dynastic disambiguation included.
Song is probably my favorite dynasty personally, the ultimate pre-Mongolification dynasty, it's too bad to see it get gimped so early.
Yeah only the Han dynasty comes close. One of the most interesting things about the Song dynasty is that frankly most emperors were mediocre but the system the Song developed made it so that didnt matter