After the death of Emperor Taizu of Jin, Wanyan Aguda, from illness, his fourth younger brother Wanyan Sheng ascended the throne, historically known as Emperor Taizong of Jin, and it was under Emperor Taizong that the Liao Dynasty was ultimately destroyed. At that time, the Western Xia Dynasty was in decline and powerless to resist, so it quickly submitted to the Jin Dynasty. Having subdued the Liao and Western Xia, Emperor Taizong then set his sights on the Northern Song Dynasty, the only power capable of challenging him, and dispatched two armies—one eastern and one western—to attack Taiyuan and Yanjing (present-day Beijing), respectively. The eastern army, led by Wanyan Zongwang, a son of Emperor Taizu, even threatened the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng.
At that time, the emperor reigning over the Northern Song Dynasty was Emperor Huizong. Weak and incompetent, Huizong was utterly panic-stricken in the face of such a situation. If even the monarch was like this, what more could be said of the court ministers? The vast Northern Song court was plunged into immense terror.
Emperor Taizong of Jin, seizing the opportune moment, sent envoys to negotiate with the Northern Song government, making unreasonable demands such as ceding territory and acknowledging subjugation. At this critical juncture, Li Gang, the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, stepped forward and insisted on resisting the Jin state to the end.
Li Gang was a renowned general who resisted the Jin Dynasty during the Northern and Southern Song periods, and the well-known Yue Fei was his student. Early in his official career, Li Gang served as a remonstrance official, but his outspoken and bold advice repeatedly offended Emperor Huizong of Song, who then transferred him out of the capital to serve as a tax official. It was only seven years later that Huizong recalled him to take up the position of Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
Just as the Jin army was bearing down on the border, Li Gang proposed that Emperor Huizong abdicate and pass the throne to his crown prince, Zhao Huan. At that time, the throne of the Northern Song Dynasty had become a hot potato, and Huizong was eager to hand it off to someone else. Upon hearing Li Gang's suggestion, Huizong immediately drafted an abdication edict and then completely washed his hands of state affairs.
Zhao Huan ascended the throne amid chaos both inside and outside the court, historically known as Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty. After his coronation, he immediately appointed Li Gang as the Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, putting him in charge of the capital's defense. Li Gang lived up to expectations and completed the defensive arrangements for the capital in an extremely short period of time.
However, as Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty ascended the throne, he faced such a severe test that he naturally felt very uncertain. At the time, both Prime Ministers Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan urged the emperor to abandon the capital and flee south, while Li Gang strongly advised him to stay. Bai Shizhong challenged Li Gang, asking, "With the Jin army's strength so formidable, how can we possibly resist them?"
Li Gang immediately said: "This is the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, the gathering place of all civil and military officials, and the most heavily guarded city in the entire realm. As long as Your Majesty personally oversees the battle, we will surely drive the Jin army out!"
Having said this, Emperor Qinzong could not bring himself to say anything more. However, by the next day, swayed by the persuasions of Bai Shizhong and others, he wavered again, even going so far as to prepare a carriage for escape.
Li Gang arrived and witnessed this scene, unable to contain his fury, he said to Emperor Qinzong: "If Your Majesty goes south, you must bring the Imperial Guard with you, but all of their families are in the capital—how could they abandon their loved ones to follow Your Majesty south?"
Li Gang loudly asked the Imperial Guard if they were willing to stay and defend the capital, and they all answered in unison that they were willing.
Li Gang said, "Your Majesty has heard it all—they have absolutely no intention of leaving the capital. If Your Majesty disregards their opinions and forces them to escort you out of the city, what if they change their minds midway, abandon Your Majesty, and flee back? Who would guarantee Your Majesty's safety then? And if the Jin forces take the opportunity to pursue, the situation would be even more disastrous!"
Emperor Qinzong then abandoned the idea of fleeing.
Subsequently, the Jin army led by Wanyan Zongwang launched an attack. Li Gang personally ascended the city wall to command the battle, greatly boosting the morale of the Song troops. For the first time, the previously invincible Jin army tasted the bitterness of defeat.
Since a direct assault proved unsuccessful, Wanyan Zongwang turned to the idea of luring the Song into surrender. Emperor Qinzong and many of his court officials, hoping to buy temporary peace, were inclined to cede territory and sue for peace. Li Gang, a staunch advocate of resistance, firmly opposed this course of action. In a fit of rage, Emperor Qinzong dismissed Li Gang from his official post.
Both the soldiers and civilians in the capital were supporters of Li Gang, and upon seeing this situation, they stepped forward one after another to denounce the court and put pressure on Emperor Qinzong. Forced by the pressure, Emperor Qinzong had no choice but to reinstate Li Gang to his original position. However, Wanyan Zongwang still refused to give up, so Emperor Qinzong agreed to cede the three prefectures of Hebei to the Jin Dynasty, finally causing Wanyan Zongwang to withdraw his troops.
The capital temporarily regained stability, but then the surrenderist faction within the court stirred up trouble again, sidelining Li Gang. Emperor Qinzong, swayed by slanderous rumors, transferred Li Gang away from the capital. Within a few months, the Jin army returned in full force, and without Li Gang to oversee the situation, Kaifeng was quickly breached. The Jin army entered Kaifeng, looting wildly, and captured Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong, father and son, taking them back to the Jin state—this was the historical "Jingkang Incident," which led to the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty. On the eve of the Jingkang Incident, Qinzong had ordered Li Gang to return to the capital, but by the time Li Gang received the news, the Northern Song had already been destroyed.
A few months later, Qinzong's younger brother Zhao Gou ascended the throne in Yingtian Prefecture of Nanjing (present-day Shangqiu, Henan), historically known as Emperor Gaozong of Song, marking the official transition of the Song Dynasty into the Southern Song period. Emperor Gaozong appointed Li Gang as Chancellor to resist the Jin army's attacks. Li Gang struggled against the surrenderist faction within the court while reorganizing the military and government, issuing twenty-one new military regulations, actively mobilizing anti-Jin forces across the country to recover lost territories, and recommending the veteran general Zong Ze to defend Kaifeng.
The capitulationist faction, including Wang Boyan and Huang Qianshan, stood in stark opposition to Li Gang, and even Emperor Gaozong of Song sided with the appeasement camp. Li Gang served as prime minister for only seventy-five days before being forced out of the court once again. Subsequently, he was successively demoted and exiled to Ezhou in Hubei and Wan'an Military Prefecture in Hainan. Despite this, he never abandoned his stance of resisting the Jin dynasty, repeatedly submitting memorials opposing surrender to them. During his campaigns against the Jin, Yue Fei also received strong support from Li Gang.
After Li Gang's death, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty posthumously granted him the honorary title "Loyal and Steadfast." Throughout his life, Li Gang steadfastly resisted the Jin Dynasty, yet he was repeatedly marginalized within the Song court, where the surrender faction held sway. Nevertheless, this did not prevent him from being revered by both his contemporaries and later generations as a renowned anti-Jin general and patriotic hero. The Defense of Dongjing (present-day Kaifeng), which Li Gang commanded, further wrote a glorious chapter in the history of the Northern Song Dynasty's resistance against the Jin.