The Jurchens took two Song emperors north in 1127; a 1142 treaty brought home the father's coffin and left the son, a crowned emperor, in captivity until he died

On 9 January 1127 Jin forces took Kaifeng, the Song capital. They plundered the imperial library and palace, demoted the retired emperor Huizong and his son, the reigning emperor Qinzong, to commoners on 20 March, and marched them north with more than 14,000 people, much of the imperial family. Jin emperor Taizong titled Huizong the "Muddle-headed Duke" and Qinzong the "Doubly Muddle-headed Marquis." Another of Huizong's sons, Zhao Gou, escaped south and took the throne as Gaozong. His government executed Yue Fei, the general fighting to retake the north, early in 1142^†, and the Treaty of Shaoxing made the Southern Song a vassal of the Jin. The treaty returned three coffins: Huizong's and two empresses'. The History of Song says Gaozong's mother, Consort Wei, would not let the coffins be lifted until every laborer was assembled, because she feared the Jin would change their minds, and she paid the escort 3,000 taels of gold. Gaozong went to Linping to meet her and wept when he saw her. Huizong was buried near Shaoxing in 1142. Qinzong, the emperor Gaozong had replaced, was not sent back. The China Project notes Gaozong "showed no interest in restoring the former emperor." Qinzong died in Jin custody; news reached Lin'an in 1161, and Gaozong held a funeral. Gaozong abdicated the next year.