At the time of its founding, the Northern Song dynasty北宋 (960-1127) only controlled the territory of the Later Zhou 後周 (951-960), traditionally known as the "Zhong Yuan" region中原地區. There were still several neighbouring local kingdoms, including the Southern Tang 南唐 (937-975), the Later Shu後蜀 (934-965), and the Northern Han 北漢 (951-979). Moreover, serious threat was imposed by the Khitan契丹 that found the Liao dynasty遼朝 and gave support to the Northern Han. Under such circumstances, the Song faced several potential enemies. In order to put an end to the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" 五代十國, Emperor Taizu太祖 (960-976), founder of the Northern Song, inherited the policy of Zhou Shizong周世宗(r.954-959)--to unify China and reestablish centralized rule, like the previous Tang dynasty唐朝. He needed an effective strategy to attain his goal. Many scholars, especially those in mainland China, have identified the strategy of the Song unification campaign as "First the South, Later the North"(先南征，後北伐). However, the author considers such interpretation highly dubious. The present essay has three parts. The first part is a textual examination on the exact year of the event "xueye fang Pu" 雪夜訪普 (Taizu's visit and consultation with Zhao Pu趙普 at the snowing night), commonly recognized as having a decisive role in the making of strategy for the unification campaign. The author establishes that the year of Taizu's consultation with Zhao Pu was A.D. 965, while the war of unification began in A.D. 963, two years before the eventful meeting. Therefore, the author considers the importance of the event overrated and Zhao Pu's role in the making of the strategy is questionable. The second part evaluates the opinion of traditional scholars who concurred that there was an unified stance among Taizu, Zhao Pu and other imperial advisors. They assumed that Taizu always accepted their advice. However, in fact, Taizu waged two northern expeditions attacking the Northern Han, before the entire destruction of the local kingdoms in the south. He had proposed "First the North, Later the South," and it fully ran counter to the sequence of the strategy of the unification campaign suggested by Zhao Pu. The third part of the paper attempts to trace the genesis of Taizu's strategy from its historical origin and geostrategic background. Finally, the author concludes that early Song's strategy is not "First the South, Later the North," but "First the North, Later the South."