After Emperor Gong was captured, Southern Song generals Zhang Shijie and Lu Xiufu escorted the young princes Zhao Shi and Zhao Bing out of Lin'an.
Zhang Shijie initially served in the Jin army under the command of General Zhang Rou, but after the Jin Dynasty fell, he fled to the Southern Song Dynasty, where his successive military achievements earned him significant favor and promotion from the imperial court.
After escaping from Lin'an City, Zhang Shijie and Lu Xiufu supported the enthronement of the seven-year-old Prince Yi, Zhao Shi, as emperor, historically known as Emperor Duanzong of Song. After ascending the throne, Emperor Duanzong heavily relied on Zhang Shijie, Lu Xiufu, and Wen Tianxiang to actively resist the Yuan Dynasty. Zhang Shijie both protected the emperor and organized the Southern Song military and civilians to counter the Yuan army's attacks. Unfortunately, because the Yuan forces were overwhelmingly powerful, Zhang Shijie and his allies ultimately could not hold out and had to take Emperor Duanzong on ships, fleeing by sea in all directions.
Three years later, the Yuan Dynasty general Liu Shen led his troops in a maritime pursuit of Emperor Duanzong. The emperor's ship took refuge all the way to Guangzhou Bay but still failed to shake off Liu Shen. One night, a typhoon struck, and Emperor Duanzong accidentally fell overboard into the sea. Although he was quickly rescued, the young emperor was severely traumatized and fell gravely ill from that point on. A month later, Emperor Duanzong died of illness while fleeing from Yuan forces, passing away at the tender age of ten.
After Emperor Duanzong died, Zhang Shijie was overwhelmed with grief, but a nation cannot be without a ruler for even a single day, so he quickly pulled himself together and installed Duanzong's younger brother Zhao Bing as emperor. Zhao Bing became the last emperor of the Song Dynasty, known as Emperor Huaizong of Song. Huaizong was the youngest son of Emperor Duzong and was only five years old when he ascended the throne.
After Emperor Huaizong ascended the throne, he appointed Zhang Shijie as his tutor and Lu Xiufu as the Left Prime Minister. Zhang Shijie and others escorted Emperor Huaizong all the way to Yashan in Guangdong, where they prepared to make a last stand against the Yuan army. Meanwhile, Wen Tianxiang led his troops to resist the Yuan army's attacks in both Guangdong and Jiangxi.
Zhang Shijie organized the local people of Yashan to build a temporary palace for Emperor Huaizong and taught him to read and write. Emperor Huaizong deeply trusted this loyal minister.
Not long after, Wen Tianxiang was captured alive by the Yuan army at Wupoling, leaving the Song forces at Yashan as the only remaining anti-Yuan resistance for the Southern Song government. Kublai Khan appointed the Han Chinese Zhang Hongfan as the Yuan army's supreme commander and launched a large-scale assault on Yashan.
At that time, Zhang Shijie had made up his mind to lead the Song army in a decisive battle against the Yuan forces. Once the battle began, Zhang Hongfan first sent troops to cut off the Song army's supply of grain and fresh water, then, taking advantage of the wind, attempted to set the Song warships ablaze with burning boats. However, Zhang Shijie had long anticipated this move from the Yuan army; before the Yuan forces attacked, he ordered his men to coat the surface of the warships with a thick layer of ash and mud, so the fire could not ignite the ships at all.
Seeing that a direct assault would not work, Zhang Hongfan then turned to the idea of persuading surrender, but Zhang Shijie said to the envoy he sent: "If I surrendered, I would surely survive and enjoy lifelong wealth and honor—I understand this very well. However, I have already resolved to be loyal to my lord to the end, and no matter what, I will not change my mind!"
Subsequently, Zhang Hongfan ordered his troops to shout surrender appeals to the soldiers and civilians at Yashan. However, the defenders at Yashan were united in purpose, and no matter how the Yuan army threatened or enticed them, they could not shake their resolve to hold Yashan to the death.
However, since the Yuan army had cut off supplies at Yashan, the soldiers and civilians could not hold out much longer. At this point, Zhang Shijie had no other choice but to stake everything on a desperate breakout.
During this period, the Yuan army generals Zhang Hongfan and Li Heng joined forces north of Yashan and launched a full-scale assault on the Song army. Due to the vast disparity in strength, the Song forces led by Zhang Shijie suffered repeated defeats and fell into disarray. Seeing that further resistance was futile, Zhang Shijie ordered his subordinates to return and escort Emperor Huaizong to flee.
At this moment, Lu Xiufu was guarding Emperor Huaizong by his side. The Song army on the front lines was already doomed to defeat, and Lu Xiufu knew this all too well. He felt utterly desperate, fearing that the approaching men had already surrendered to the Yuan forces and were now about to capture Emperor Huaizong and take him to Mongolia.
Lu Xiufu said to Emperor Huaizong, "Emperor Gong was tragically captured; Your Majesty must not repeat that mistake! Since Heaven wishes to destroy our Great Song, Your Majesty should perish together with it!" With these words, he carried the seven-year-old emperor on his back and leaped into the sea. When the Southern Song court officials, soldiers, and civilians witnessed this, they too jumped into the sea to follow their emperor. Zhang Shijie led the remaining troops and eventually broke through the encirclement to escape. A few days later, over a hundred thousand Song corpses floated on the sea, a truly horrific sight.
After this battle, Zhang Shijie was utterly disheartened. As he wandered to Hailing Mountain, a typhoon happened to strike. Zhang Shijie said in despair, "The emperor died, so I installed a new one. Now the new emperor has also passed away. What more can I do? Heaven has truly decreed the fall of our Great Song!" Not long after saying this, Zhang Shijie was swept into the sea by the typhoon and drowned. Later generations, moved by the loyalty and righteousness of Zhang Shijie, Lu Xiufu, and Wen Tianxiang, collectively referred to them as the "Three Heroes of the Late Song."
In 1279, the brutal battle between Song and Yuan forces at Yashan marked the end of the Southern Song dynasty, bringing the Song dynasty to a close. From 960 AD, when Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin established the Northern Song, the Song dynasty lasted for over three hundred years. From an economic and cultural perspective, the Song dynasty was indeed an unprecedentedly prosperous era, which is why the renowned modern Chinese historian Chen Yinke remarked, "The culture of the Chinese nation, after thousands of years of evolution, reached its peak during the Zhao Song era." However, from a political and military standpoint, the Song dynasty was also a relatively weak dynasty, especially the Southern Song.
However, the Southern Song warriors, represented by the "Three Heroes of the Late Song," fought fearlessly and resisted desperately in the face of foreign invaders, playing a tragic and heroic elegy for the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, which can be seen as placing a not-so-weak period at the end of the weak Southern Song.