赵匡胤

赵匡胤虽是一员武将，却很喜爱读书，常手不释卷。

Although he was a military general , he was fond of reading .

赵匡胤接受了后周“禅让”的帝位，建立宋朝。

Zhao Kuangyin , accepting the demised throne of the Latter Zhough , founded the Song Dynasty .

一年后，赵匡胤夺取政权，逼迫高宗退位。

In the next year , Zhao Kuangyin seized power and forced Emperor Gong to abdicate in his favor .

赵匡胤自立为“太祖”并定都东京（今开封）。

Zhao took the name Taizu and established his capital city in Dongjing ( present city of Kaifeng ) .

公元960年初，后周边境危急，政府派大将赵匡胤带兵出征。

Wrapped Around by the Yellow Gown At the beginning of960 , the frontier of the Latter Zhou Dynasty was in great danger .

自宋太祖赵匡胤起，北宋曾多次与辽交战，但一直未能收复失地。

Actually , since Zhao Kuangyin came to power , the Northern Song fought many wars with Liao but failed to recover the land .

宋朝从公元960年宋太祖赵匡胤陈桥兵变建立，到1279年被元朝灭亡，共存在了319年。

Song lasted 319 years from 960 , when Zhao Kuangyin , founded Song through an army revolt , to 1279 when it was destroyed by Mongolia .

由于赵匡胤出身低微而开宋基，自宋朝始，民间即广泛流传着关于他的故事，后来“飞龙”逐渐成为赵匡胤发迹变泰故事的代名词。

Since Zhao Kuangyin s family background was very humble but finally became the first emperor of Song Dynasty , the stories about him were very popular since then .

公元420年刘裕废晋帝自立，国号宋。为区别于后世赵匡胤建立的宋朝，史学家常称之为“刘宋”。

In 420 , Liu Yu dethroned the Emperor of Jin and declared himself as the Emperor of Song , which was known as Liu Song to distinguish from the Song set up by Zhao Kuangying after the Tang Dynasty .

北宋的建立：五代后周显德六年（959），周世宗柴荣病死，七岁的恭帝继位时任殿前都点检、归德军节度使的赵匡胤掌握了军权。

The Making of Song Dynasty ： In the 6th year of Xiande ( 959 ) of the Later Zhou , Emperor Shizong , Cai Rong died of illness , so Emperor Gong , seven years old then , succeeded to the throne .

宋的长期存在，一是由于：和其他的军事统领不同，赵匡胤活了很长时间，这使他有时间为自己的继位者创造一个更加稳定的环境。

The long-term existence of Song due to , first , unlike the generals before him who had declared themselves emperors of dynasties that soon failed , Zhao Kuangyin lived a long life . This allowed him to establish a more solid foundation for his successors .

翌年正月初，赵匡胤在陈桥驿（今河南封丘东南陈桥镇）发动兵变，黄袍加身。并率军人开封，胁迫周恭帝禅位，夺取了皇位。

In the early first lunar moon of the following year , Zhao Kuangyin , Satrap and Commander of the imperial army , started a mutiny in Chenqiaoyi ( southeast of Fengqiu in Henan ) and led an army into Kaifeng to force Emperor Gong to abdicate his throne to him .