Which dynasty of Song, Liao and Jin was more orthodox, but why was it so tangled when the Yuan Dynasty revised its history?

Orthodoxy, this is a very important thing in ancient China. Every regime would call itself orthodoxy, but in the13rd century, the situation was a bit chaotic. How to distinguish the orthodoxy of Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties (Xixia was obviously a separatist regime)?

Establishing orthodoxy according to the rules is the task that subsequent dynasties should complete. At first, officials in the Yuan Dynasty were at a loss. Later, under the leadership of the Prime Minister Tuotuo, they made a compromise idea: the official defined the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties as orthodox.

Respecting three histories is unprecedented in the history of China, but the Yuan Dynasty was helpless. On the one hand, this is the first time in the history of China that ethnic minorities have entered the Central Plains. If we admit that the Southern Song Dynasty was orthodox, it would appear that our orthodoxy is insufficient. It is also embarrassing to admit that the Jin Dynasty was orthodox: Are you barbarians?

Moreover, some intellectuals left over from the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty also have disputes. Immigrants in the Southern Song Dynasty said: Are you a Jurchen and a barbarian or do you want to admit orthodoxy? The adherents of the Jin Dynasty said, "Who did that to us?" ?

The yuan dynasty can only be a joke.

But there is a more interesting question: what did the Ming Dynasty think of the Jin Dynasty?

The Ming Dynasty restored the Han people's rivers and mountains in the name of "expelling the Tatars" (the Red Scarf Army started in the name of helping the Song Dynasty restore the country), so most people may think that the Ming Dynasty should "set things right" and respect the Song Dynasty alone.

This is really not true. Of course, the folk and intellectual circles of the Ming Dynasty did prefer the Song Dynasty.

As soon as the Ming Dynasty was established, some intellectuals were uncomfortable calling the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties orthodox and thought that they should be re-evaluated. Of course, at this time, the position of those Confucian intellectuals was "exclusive respect for the Song Dynasty", and Zhou Xu, a lecturer at Nanjing imperial academy, demanded the reconstruction of the history of the Song Dynasty. He said: "The three histories of Song, Liao and Jin were formed between the Yuan Dynasty and Zheng. At that time, the ministers of the country were all Liao and Jin, and they did not return to the Song Dynasty as orthodox, so they were divided into three parts.

What do you mean? Zhou Xu said that the three histories of the Song, Liao and Jin Dynasties were compiled between the Yuan Dynasty and Zheng Zheng, and the orthodoxy was not given to the Song Dynasty. Moreover, the three factions stood side by side, and even the Liao and Jin dynasties were put before the Song Dynasty. This is because there were many Khitans and jurchen among the ministers of the Yuan Dynasty at that time, which was unfair.

However, is this "exclusive respect for the Song Dynasty" fair? Not necessarily. Ming officials also rejected Zhou Xu's proposal.

Why, because the Song Dynasty was really disappointing!

Northern Song Dynasty and Liao Dynasty have always been equal. You can say that they are tied together, but this Southern Song Dynasty has surrendered to the Jin Dynasty, and Luoyang and Xi 'an, places with strong political connotations in ancient times, are all on the territory of the Jin Dynasty. The Jin Dynasty occupied two-thirds of the Central Plains, and later it was sinicized.

Therefore, the sentence "Song is the only orthodoxy" cannot be explained. By the Ming Dynasty, some intellectuals really regarded the Jin Dynasty as a barbarian regime, but they were really entangled in the Song Dynasty: although some people thought that the Song Dynasty was orthodox, others thought that the Song Dynasty was not a good bird: the country itself was in turmoil (Chen Qiaoyi mutiny), and it had never been unified (sixteen states in Youyun). Later, he lost half of the Central Plains and even surrendered to the rulers!

People in the Ming Dynasty generally liked the Song Dynasty, but officials in the Ming Dynasty did not deny the legitimacy of the Liao Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty. After all, the Ming Dynasty even recognized the legitimacy of the Yuan Dynasty. By recognizing the legitimacy of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty acquiesced in the "Three Histories". During Jiajing period, the three histories of Liao, Song and Jin were included in the "Twenty-one History" series of China official history.