Emperor Aizong of Jin

Emperor Aizong of Jin, personal name Ningjiasu and sinicized name Wanyan Shouxu, was the ninth emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. Born in 1198, he was the third son of Emperor Xuanzong and was named heir apparent in 1216, inheriting the throne on his father's death in January 1224. He tried to revive a dynasty already near collapse by dismissing corrupt and incompetent officials, easing taxation, ending the war with the Southern Song dynasty, reconciling with Western Xia and promoting generals who resisted the Mongols. These efforts could not stop the Mongol Empire, which conquered Western Xia in 1227 and then turned on Jin. After the crushing defeat at Sanfengshan in 1232 he fled the capital Bianjing and finally took refuge in Caizhou. When Caizhou fell to the combined Mongol and Southern Song forces on 9 February 1234, he had just passed the throne to his army marshal Wanyan Chenglin, and he took his own life.