Song embassy reaches the Jurchen court

1116

Hoping to forge an alliance against their mutual enemy the crumbling Liao dynasty, the Song court dispatched envoys by sea to the Jurchen Jin, bearing gifts of silk and diplomatic flattery. The ambassadors returned with promises of joint military action - a pact that would succeed brilliantly in destroying the Liao and then catastrophically backfire when the Jurchen themselves turned on their Song allies.