From being acclaimed Emperor to removing generals military power in a banquet, Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin seized the opportunity, and this powerful soldier became the founding Emperor of the Song dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin knew how to discipline his soldiers, so he could rise gradually in the troublous Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. With trusted followers, power and support of most people, he established the Song dynasty. Learning from the lesson of local separate regime politics in the Five Dynasties, he changed political gravity to put scholars in important positions, set up Confucius schools and took up military power to have centralized power. He ended the chaos caused by war in the Five Dynasties and started the peaceful period of the Song dynasty, but also left risks for invasion of foreign nations in the near future. - from Amzon