Emperor Gaozong of Song

The one son of Huizong who was not in Kaifeng when it fell. He spent his first decade on the run, settled the court at Lin'an, and in 1141 signed a peace that fixed the border at the Huai — then had Yue Fei, the general whose army was in the field and winning, executed in prison. He abdicated in 1162 and lived another twenty-five years.

Yue Fei's judicial murder is the most notorious act of the dynasty; the four iron figures still kneeling at his tomb in Hangzhou are the officials held responsible.

His first empress, Xing Bingyi, was taken north in 1127; he left the position empty for sixteen years waiting for her, and she had already been dead for nine of them.