Chenqiao mutiny

The Chenqiao mutiny was a mutiny and coup d'état on 2 February 960 during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period of China that resulted in the overthrow of the Later Zhou dynasty and the foundation of the Song dynasty. In response to an invasion by the Northern Han and Liao dynasty, general Zhao Kuangyin led his troops to Chenqiao. His troops soon mutinied and installed him as emperor. Although the official narrative recounts that a yellow imperial robe was forced upon Zhao and that he only accepted the emperorship reluctantly, most modern historians now agree that he helped orchestrate the mutiny. Many apocryphal events, such as a solar eclipse and a previous emperor's discovery of a mysterious wooden tablet, also surround the Chenqiao mutiny, decreasing the inherent illegitimacy of usurpation. Prior to the foundation of the Song dynasty, China had experienced a period of disunity in the aftermath of Huang Chao's rebellion and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Military-backed rebellions and usurpations were especially common during this period. The largely bloodless Chenqiao mutiny therefore empowered Zhao to not only maintain the personal loyalty of the Song military, but also to institute centralization reforms that effectively prevented internal military threats from occurring in the future. This stability allowed Zhao and his younger brother, Emperor Taizong, to largely reunify China in 979 following the conquest of the Northern Han.