Kaifeng falls and Jin dynasty collapses

1233

After a winter-long siege punctuated by gunpowder shells and outbreaks of plague, the Jin capital surrendered to the joint Mongol and Song armies. The last Jurchen emperor hanged himself in a monastery the next year, ending a dynasty that had ruled north China for over a century. The city's fall released a flood of refugees southward and scattered Jin artisans and scholars across the steppe.