Zhao Gou

Also known as Song Gaozong · Zhaofu Zhifu

Zhao Gou, courtesy name Deji, was the ninth son of Emperor Huizong and became Prince of Kang in 1121. After a spell as a hostage in the Jurchen camp in 1126, he stayed in Hebei as marshal of the armies. After the Jin carried off Huizong and Qinzong in 1127, he took the throne at Yingtian with the reign title Jianyan, later changed to Shaoxing. In 1129 the officers Miao Fu and Liu Zhengyan briefly forced him to abdicate, and in 1138 Lin'an became the temporary capital. With Qin Gui directing negotiations he took command away from Yue Fei and Han Shizhong in 1141; Yue Fei was then killed, and the peace fixed the border on the Huai River and Dasan Pass, with Song a vassal paying 250,000 taels of silver and of silk a year. He passed the throne to his adopted son Zhao Shen in 1162 and died in 1187 with the temple name Gaozong. A calligrapher, he wrote the Treatise on Brush and Ink (Hanmo zhi).