Jurchen campaigns against the Song Dynasty A series of Jurchen military campaigns against the Song Dynasty began with a declaration of war in November 1125 . The Jurchen Jin Dynasty had previously allied with the Song against the Khitan Liao Dynasty , but invaded the Song after a series of failed negotiations . The cities of Taiyuan and the Song capital of Kaifeng were besieged by the Jurchens , who briefly retreated from Kaifeng after the Song agreed to pay a large annual indemnity . The Chinese emperor was captured during the second Jurchen siege of Kaifeng in 1127 . A treaty in 1142 settled the boundary between the two empires , but conflicts ensued for the remainder of both dynasties . The Song Dynasty lost most of northern China to the Jin Dynasty , marking the beginning of the Southern Song period in Chinese history . Battles between the Song and Jin brought about the introduction of various gunpowder weapons . The siege of De ' an was the first recorded appearance of the fire lance , an early ancestor of the firearm . Jurchen migrants settled in the conquered territories and adopted the local culture , while the government instituted a centralized imperial bureaucracy modeled on previous Chinese dynasties . The Mongol invasions of the 13th century brought an end to both the Jin and Song dynasties . Background . The Jurchens were a Tungusic speaking group of semi - agrarian tribes inhabiting Manchuria . Many of the Jurchen tribes were vassals of the Liao Dynasty , ruled by the nomadic Khitans . To the south of the Liao was the Han Chinese Song empire . The dynasty had been in power since 960 , when it was founded by Zhao Kuangyin , later crowned Emperor Taizu . In 1114 , the chieftain Wanyan Aguda united the disparate Jurchen tribes and led a revolt against the Liao Dynasty . The Jurchens negotiated an agreement with the Song and offered the Sixteen Prefectures to the Song in exchange for annual payments . Originally , the two sides had planned an attack against the Khitans by 1211 – 1212 , but Aguda grew increasingly frustrated as he realized that the Song intended to seize a larger share of the territory than had been promised . The Jurchens captured the main Khitan capital on 23 February 1122 , while their Chinese allies suffered a series of military defeats against the Liao and were forced to retreat twice back to the Song capital of Kaifeng . The Chinese general Tong Guan , who had led the Song forces against the Khitan , was later executed in 1126 . Following the Liao defeat in 1222 , the Jurchens established the Jin Dynasty , adopting the Chinese name for gold . In 1125 , the Jurchens captured Tainzuo , the last emperor of the Liao Dynasty , near the Ordos Desert . A Khitan leader of the Liao court , Yelü Dashi , declared himself a prince and fled west to Xinjiang where he established the Kara - Khitan Khanate , also known by the dynastic name of Western Liao . The collapse of the Liao led to new negotiations between the Song and the Jin . Jurchen and Song representatives debated the terms of a treaty , the first of the Song – Jin treaties . The Jurchen success against the Khitans and control of the Sixteen Prefectures gave the Jurchens more leverage than the Song during the negotiations . Only a portion of the prefectures were returned to the Song , and the Song had to pay an annual indemnity of 300 , 000 packs of silk and 200 , 000 taels of silver . This sum included the indemnity that the Chinese previously paid to the Liao combined with the tax revenue that the Jurchens would have earned had they not returned the prefectures . Many factors contributed to the Song Dynasty ' s repeated military blunders and subsequent loss of northern China to the Jurchens . Early Song Dynasty emperors were eager to enact political reforms and revive the ethical framework of Confucianism , but the enthusiasm for reforms gradually died after the reformist Wang Anshi ' s expulsion as Prime Minister in 1076 . Corruption marred the reign of Emperor Huizong , enthroned in 1100 , who was more skilled as a painter than as a ruler . Huizong was known for his extravagance , and funded the costly construction of gardens and temples while rebellions threatened the state ' s grip on power . Song diplomatic oversights allowed the unimpeded rise of Jurchen military power . The state did not suffer a shortage of resources , but managed its assets poorly during battles . Horses were an exception and the Song military lacked a consistent supply , giving the dynasty a significant disadvantage against the mounted steppe nomads . Unlike the expansive Tang and Han empires that preceded the Song , the Song Dynasty did not have a significant foothold in Central Asia where a large proportion of its horses could be bred or procured . Campaigns . The Jurchens conducted their campaigns against Song China soon after the capture of the last Khitan king . The Jin emperor Taizong , successor and brother of Aguda , granted autonomy to the Jurchen generals , whose military actions no longer required the approval of the imperial court . The generals were angered by the military ineptitude of the Song and the series of failed diplomatic negotiations . They decided to end the Jin alliance with the Song and began preparations for an invasion . Siege of Taiyuan . The Taizong emperor formally declared war against the Song in November 1125 . The Song forces were not expecting an invasion and were caught off guard by the news . The Chinese general Tong Guan , stationed in the provincial capital of Taiyuan , retreated from the city after he was informed of the military expedition by an envoy . The envoy reported that the Jurchens were willing to forgo an invasion , but only if the Song ceded their control of Hebei and Shanxi . A Jurchen army , one of two sent to capture the Khitan Southern Capital in 1126 , was dispatched towards Kaifeng , capital of the Song Dynasty . By December , the army had seized control of two prefectures and re - established Jurchen rule over the Sixteen Prefectures . The second army headed towards Taiyuan through the mountains of Shanxi . They reached the city in January 1126 and defeated the Song forces defending Taiyuan . Jingkang Incident . First Siege of Kaifeng . The Jurchen forces sent to Kaifeng reached the Yellow River on 27 January 1126 . On 28 January , Emperor Qinzong was enthroned after the abdication of Emperor Huizong . Huizong , fearing the approaching Jin army , departed the capital and escaped southwards . Kaifeng was besieged on 31 January 1126 . The commander of the Jurchen army promised to spare the city if the Song submitted to Jin as a vassal , forfeited the prime minister and prince as prisoners , ceded the Chinese cities of Hejian , Taiyuan , and Zhongshan , and offered an indemnity of 50 million taels of silver , 5 million taels of gold , 1 million packs of silk , 1 million packs of satin , 10 , 000 horses , 10 , 000 mules , 10 , 000 cattle , and 1 , 000 camels . The inhabitants of Kaifeng resorted to cannibalism after the city ' s supplies were exhausted . The defeat of a Song army near Kaifeng forced Emperor Qinzong to meet the Jurchen demands . The Jurchen army retreated , ending the siege on 5 March after thirty - three days . Emperor Qinzong reneged on the deal and dispatched two armies to repel the Jurchen troops attacking Taiyuan and bolster the defenses of Zhongshan and Hejian . Both the Song army of 90 , 000 soldiers and the other army of 60 , 000 were defeated by the Jin forces by June . The second expedition that tried to rescue Taiyuan was also unsuccessful . The siege of Taiyuan ended after 260 days , and the provincial capital fell to the Jurchens . By 15 December , the Jurchen army that had conquered Taiyuan arrived in Kaifeng , where it joined the Jurchen forces besieging the Song capital . Second Siege of Kaifeng . Emperor Qinzong , who wanted to negotiate a truce with the Jurchens , left the capital Kaifeng barely defended with less than 100 , 000 soldiers . Qinzong committed a massive strategic blunder when he , unaware of the importance of the capital city , commanded that the armies of the empire must protect the prefectures instead of Kaifeng . The Song forces were dispersed throughout China , powerless to stop the second Jurchen siege of Kaifeng . The Jin , realizing the weakness of the Song , accused the Song of violating the peace treaty and launched a second military expedition . The Song did not dispose the corpses of those who had died during the siege . Morale among the Song soldiers declined as the siege continued . The city capitulated on 9 January 1127 , and the Jurchens looted the conquered city . Emperor Qinzong tried to appease the victorious Jurchens by offering the remaining wealth of the city . The royal treasury was emptied and the belongings of the city ' s residents were seized . Qinzong , the former emperor Huizong , and members of the Song court were captured and imprisoned by the Jurchens as hostages . The Jin Dynasty did not expect or desire the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty . Their intention was to weaken the Song in order to demand more tribute , and they were unprepared for the magnitude of their victory . The Jurchens installed a former Song Dynasty official , Zhang Bangchang , as the puppet emperor of a newly established Da Chu dynasty . Zhang ' s reign did not last long , and he was coerced into suicide . The Jin had hoped that a puppet state was capable of administering northern China and collecting the annual indemnity for the Jurchens without provoking a rebellion by the native Han Chinese . The move did not deter the resistance of the Han Chinese , who were motivated by their anger towards the looting by the Jurchens rather than by a sense of loyalty towards the inept Song court . A number of Song commanders , stationed in towns scattered across northern China , retained their allegiance to the Song and militia s were organized by armed volunteers opposing the Jurchen military presence . The insurgency slowed the southern advance of the Jin Dynasty . The Jin sought to completely destroy the Song after their victory at Kaifeng . The attempt to displace the Song was not successful . At least one prince of the Song Dynasty had escaped capture , and the remainder of the Song court retreated south after the conquest of northern China . The move marked end of the Northern Song and the beginning of the Southern Song era of Chinese history , with the city of Nanjing as its first capital . Campaigns against the Southern Song . After the fall of Kaifeng in 1127 , Jurchen forces crossed the Yangtze River and invaded southern China . The Song court fled further south and moved the capital from Nanjing to Shaoxing in Zhejiang . The continuing insurgency in northern China hampered the Jurchen campaigns south of the Yangtze . Reluctant to let the war drag on , the Jin decided to create a new puppet state , the state of Qi , in northern China . The Jurchens believed that the new state , nominally ruled by someone of Han Chinese descent , would be able to attract the allegiance of disaffected members of the insurgency . The Jurchens also suffered from a shortage of skilled manpower , and controlling the entirety of northern China was not administratively feasible . In the final months of 1129 , the Jurchens enthroned Liu Yu as the emperor of the Qi state . Liu was a Song official from Hebei who had been a prefect of Jinan in Shandong before his defection to the Jin in 1128 . Daming in Hebei was the first capital of Qi prior to its move to Kaifeng , former capital of the Northern Song , in 1132 . The Qi government instituted military conscription , made an attempt at reforming the bureaucracy , and enacted laws that enforced the collection of high taxes . General Yue Fei ' s counteroffensive . The Jin ' s push southward was halted by a Song campaign led by the general Yue Fei . His defense of the Southern Song made him a national hero . The son of an impoverished farmer , he had joined the military in 1122 . Early in his career , he fought against local Chinese warlords looting northern China , whose suppression was necessary for the continued resistance against the Jurchens . Yue participated in the second siege of Kaifeng in 1127 . After Kaifeng fell , he joined an army in Jiankang tasked with defending the Yangtze . This army prevented the Jurchens from advancing to the river in 1129 . Yue Fei ' s rising reputation as a military leader attracted the attention of the Song court . In 1133 he was made the general of the largest army near the Central Yangtze . Between 1134 and 1135 , he commanded the counteroffensive that defeated the state of Qi and recaptured the territories conquered by the Jurchens . By 1137 , the emperor of Chi had his title reduced to that of a prince and the Jin puppet state was officially dissolved . In 1140 , Yue Fei led a military expedition against the Jurchens and achieved vast territorial gains , but withdrew after the emperor ordered him to return to the Song court . The real Yue Fei differed from the later myths that grew from his exploits . The portrayal of Yue as a scholar - general is only partially true . He was a skilled general , and may have been semiliterate in Classical Chinese , but he was not an erudite Confucian scholar . Contrary to traditional legends , Yue was not the sole Chinese general engaged in the offensive against the Jurchens . He was only one of many generals that fought against the Jin in northern China , and some of his peers were actual members of the scholarly elite . Many of the exaggerations of Yue Fei ' s life can be traced to a biography written by his grandson , Yue Ke . Yue Fei ' s later status as a folk hero emerged in the Yuan Dynasty and had a large impact on Chinese culture . Temples and shrines devoted to Yue Fei were constructed in the Ming Dynasty . A Chinese World War II anthem alludes to lyrics said to have been written by Yue Fei . Emperor Gaozong supported a peace with the Jurchens and intended to rein in the assertiveness of the military . The military expeditions of Yue Fei and other generals were an obstacle to negotiations for peace . The government weakened the military by demoting the generals and rewarded them with different titles . Yue Fei resisted by announcing his resignation as an act of protest . He was imprisoned in 1141 and poisoned a year later . Jurchen diplomatic pressure during the peace negotiations may have played a role . Treaty of Shaoxing . The Treaty of Shaoxing was ratified on 11 October 1142 , ending the conflict between the Jurchens and the Song . By the terms of the treaty , the Huai River was designated as the boundary between the two empires . The Song agreed to pay a yearly tribute of 250 , 000 taels of silver and 250 , 000 packs of silk to the Jurchens . The peace ensured by the Shaoxing treaty was interrupted during two occasions after 1142 . One campaign was initiated by the Song , and another by the Jin . The treaty reduced the Southern Song into a Jin vassal . The document designated the Song as the " insignificant state , " while the Jin is recognized as the " superior state . " The text of the treaty was not recorded in Chinese records of the event , a sign of its humiliating reputation . The contents of the agreement were recovered from a Jurchen biography . Once the treaty had been settled , the Jurchens retreated and returned north , while trade resumed between the two empires . Further campaigns . Emperor Hailing ' s campaign . Emperor Hailing , fourth emperor of the Jin Dynasty , began an invasion in 1161 but never formally declared war . Notified beforehand of the plan , the Song prepared by securing their defenses along the border , especially near the Yangtze River . Jurchen armies left Kaifeng on 15 October , reached the Huai River border on 28 October , and marched in the direction of the Yangtze . The Song lost the Yangtze to the Jurchens , but managed to capture a few Jin prefectures in the west , slowing the Jurchen advance . A Jurchen army was defeated when it tried to capture the city of Caishi in Anhui between 26 and 27 November during the Battle of Caishi . Traditional Chinese accounts consider this the turning point of the war , but the Jurchens suffered no more than 4 , 000 casualties and the battle was not fatal to the Jin war effort . A modern analysis of the battlefield has shown that it was a minor battle , but the victory did boost Song morale . The war ended on 15 December after Hailing was assassinated by disaffected officers in a military camp . Song revanchism . The Jin were weakened by the pressure of the rising Mongols to the north , a Yellow River flood in 1194 that devastated Hebei and Shandong in northern China , and the droughts and swarming locusts that plagued the south near the Huai . The Song were informed of the Jurchen predicament through their embassies in the Jin capital , and started provoking their northern neighbor in 1204 and onward by raiding Jin settlements . These early clashes continued to escalate , partly abetted by Song officials in support of revanchism , and war against the Jin was officially declared on 14 June 1206 . The document that announced the war claimed the Jurchen lost the Mandate of Heaven , a sign that they were unfit to rule , and called for an insurrection of Han Chinese against the Jin state . Song armies captured the barely defended city of Suzhou , but suffered large losses against the Jurchens in Hebei . As weather conditions worsened , soldier morale sank as supplies ran out and hunger spread , forcing many to desert . The massive defections of Han Chinese in northern China that the Song had expected never materialized . A notable betrayal did occur on the Song side . Wu Xi , the governor and general of Sichuan , defected to the Jin in 1206 . The act would have meant a loss of the entire western frontier of the war had Song loyalists not assassinated Wu , as they did on 29 March 1207 . The Song advance was impeded by Jin military successes . By the fall of 1206 , the Jurchens had captured multiple towns and military bases . Neither combatants were eager to continue the war . A peace treaty was signed on 2 November 1208 , and the Song tribute to the Jurchens was reinstated . The Song were obligated to pay an annual indemnity of 50 , 000 taels of silver and 50 , 000 packs of fabric . It was also stipulated that the Song had to present to the Jurchens the decapitated head of the Chinese minister who had instigated the war . Rise of the Mongols . The Jin Dynasty shied away from further military expansion , and was content with appeasement through tribute similar to the practices of the Song . The Jin were occasionally threatened by raiding steppe nomads from the northwest . The most important of these nomadic confederations were the nascent Mongols who began as a Jurchen tributary . As the Mongols expanded , the Jin suffered territorial losses and invaded the Song in 1217 to remedy their shrinking resources . Jurchen military successes were limited , and the Jin faced repeated raids from the neighboring state of Western Xia . A second invasion against the Song was conducted soon afterwards , and did marginally better than the first . The Jin tried to extort an indemnity from the Song , but never received it . A peace treaty was negotiated with the Song in 1224 that ended the annual tributes to the Jurchens . Diplomatic relationships between the Jin and Song were also cut off . The Jin Dynasty collapsed when the Jurchens were defeated in a Mongol and Song siege of Caizhou in 1234 . The Song Dynasty fell in 1279 , when the remaining Song loyalists lost to the Mongols in a naval battle near Guangdong . Historical significance . Cultural and demographic assimilation . The capital of Jin Dynasty was moved to the south from Manchuria to Beijing in 1153 . Jurchen migrants from Manchuria settled in the Jin controlled territories of northern China . Comprising under ten percent of the total population , the two to three million ruling Jurchens were a minority in a region that was still predominantly Han Chinese , who accounted for thirty million people . The southward expansion of the Jurchens caused the Jin to transition their government from a feudal kingdom of semi - nomadic tribes to a bureaucratic Chinese - style dynasty . While the Jin government initially promoted an independent Jurchen culture alongside their adoption of the centralized Chinese imperial bureaucracy , the Jurchens of the Jin were gradually sinicized . The Jurchens became fluent in the Chinese language and the Chinese philosophy of Confucianism was used to legitimize the Jin government . Emperor Hailingwang of the Jin was one of the most enthusiastic proponents of Jurchen sinification . His aggressive emulation of Chinese culture earned him a Jurchen nickname of " aping the Chinese " as a youth . Hailingwang studied the history of China and the Chinese classics , drank tea , and played Chinese chess as a recreational activity . The emperor ' s political reforms enforced the adoption of Chinese governance and culture . His motive for sincification may have been his desire to conquer all of China by legitimizing himself as a Chinese emperor . The dream of conquering southern China was cut short by a coup against Hailing on 15 December 1161 that ended with his assassination . Despite cultural and demographic changes , the hostilities between the Jin Dynasty and the Southern Song persisted for the remainder of both empires . Gunpowder warfare . The battles between the Song and the Jurchens spurred the invention and use of various gunpowder weapons . The fire lance , one of the earliest ancestors of the firearm , was used by the Song against the Jurchen siege of De ' an in 1132 . The weapon consisted of a spear attached with a flamethrower capable of firing projectiles from a barrel constructed of bamboo or paper . Later fire lances used metal barrels and were able to fire projectiles farther and with greater force . An early rudimentary bomb called the huopao , filled with gunpowder and propelled with a trebuchet , was also in use as an incendiary weapon . The huopao was used by the defending Song army during the first Jurchen siege of Kaifeng in 1126 . In 1127 , huopao were employed by Song forces against the Jurchens in Hebei . At the Battle of Tangdao in 1161 , the Song navy fired huopao against the Jurchen fleet of 600 ships . A bomb cast with pig - iron called the tieuhuopao was used by the Jurchens in 1221 .