The Jin–Song wars were a series of armed conflicts conducted by the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty and the Song dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Jurchens were a Tungusic–speaking tribal confederation native to Manchuria. They overthrew the Khitan-led Liao dynasty in 1122 and declared the establishment of a new dynasty, the Jin. Diplomatic relations between the Jin and Song deteriorated, and the Jurchens first declared war on the Song dynasty in November 1125.
Two armies were dispatched against the Song. One army captured the provincial capital of Taiyuan, while the other besieged the Song capital of Kaifeng. The Jin withdrew when the Song promised to pay an annual indemnity. As the Song dynasty weakened, the Jin armies conducted a second siege against Kaifeng. The city was captured and looted, and the Song dynasty emperor, Emperor Qinzong, was imprisoned and taken north to Manchuria as a hostage. The remainder of the Song court retreated to southern China, beginning the Southern Song period of Chinese history. Two puppet governments, first the Da Chu dynasty and later the state of Qi, were established by the Jin as buffer states between the Song and Manchuria.
The Jin marched southward with the aim of conquering the Southern Song, but counteroffensives by Chinese generals like Yue Fei halted their advance. A peace accord, the Treaty of Shaoxing, was negotiated and ratified in 1142, establishing the Huai River as the boundary between the two empires. Peace between the Song and Jin was interrupted twice. Wanyan Liang invaded the Southern Song in 1161, while Song revanchists tried and failed to retake northern China in 1204.
The Jin–Song wars were notable for the appearance of new technological innovations. The siege of De'an in 1132 included the first recorded use of the fire lance, an early gunpowder weapon and an ancestor of the firearm. The huopao, an incendiary bomb, was employed in a number of battles and gunpowder bombs made of cast iron were used in a siege in 1221. The Jurchens migrated south and settled in northern China, where they adopted the language and Confucian culture of the local inhabitants. The Jin dynasty government grew into a centralized imperial bureaucracy structured in the same manner as previous dynasties of China. Both the Song and Jin dynasties ended in the 13th century as the Mongol Empire expanded across Asia.
Campaigns against the Northern Song
Year
Date
Event
Ref(s)
1125
November
Jin dynasty declares war against the Song dynasty and dispatches two armies.
Jin dynasty dissolves the Qi state and demotes Liu Yu as emperor.
1140
Yue Fei launches a successful military expedition against the Jin and makes considerable territorial gains, but was forced to withdraw by Emperor Gaozong.
1141
Yue Fei is imprisoned as Gaozong moves forward with his plans for a peace treaty.
October
Negotiations for a peace treaty begins between the Song and Jin.
1142
Yue Fei is poisoned in his jail cell.
October
The peace treaty, the Shaoxing Accord, is ratified and the Song agrees to pay an annual indemnity. The Huai River is settled as the boundary.
After the peace treaty
Year
Date
Event
Reference(s)
1152
The Jin emperor Wanyan Liang moves his capital south from Manchuria to Beijing.
1158
Wanyan Liang blames the Song for breaching the peace treaty after it procured horses from the frontier regions.
1159
The Jin begins preparations for a war against the Song.
1161
Summer
Conscription of ethnic Han soldiers for the Jin war effort ends.
June 14
Jin envoys arrive in the Song on the eve of the invasion. Their behavior led to suspicions of a Jin plot against the Song.
October 15
Jin forces depart from Kaifeng.
October 28
The Jin army reaches the Huai River and continue their march to the Yangtze River.
November 26–27
Jin forces try to capture the city of Caishi during the Battle of Caishi but are repelled by the Song.
The Battle of Tangdao is fought at sea between the Jin and the Song. The Song navy uses incendiary bombs and other weapons against a Jin fleet of 600 ships.
December 15
Wanyan Liang is assassinated in his military camp by his officers, ending the Jurchen invasion.
1204
Song armies begin raiding the Jin settlements north of the Huai River.
1206
June 14
The Song declares war against the Jin.
Fall
Jin armies capture towns and military bases, slowing the Song advance.
December
Wu Xi, general and governor of Sichuan, defects to the Jin, threatening the war effort.
1207
March 29
Wu Xi is assassinated by Song loyalists.
1208
July
Following negotiations for peace, the war ends and Jin forces withdraw.
November 2
A peace treaty is signed between the Jin and the Song. The Song agreed to continue paying tribute to the Jin.
1217
Jin forces invade the Song to remedy the territory they had lost to the Mongols.
1221
A gunpowder bomb made of cast iron is used as Jin forces try to capture Qizhou, a Song city.
1224
The Jin and Song agreed to a peace treaty. Song discontinues its annual tributes to the Jurchens.
1234
February 9
The Jin dynasty ends after an invasion by the Mongols and the Song.
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