At the age of twelve and a half Injong's succession became possible largely due to the influence of his maternal grandfather Yi Cha-gyŏm, while according to the report of the Song envoy Xu Jing, Injong's uncle Prince Po, supported by the Han An-in faction, "had designs on [the throne]" [3] By the early 1122 the Khitan-led state of Liao was effectively destroyed by the armies of Taizu of Jin, an emergent Jurchen-led state.

The 1123 treaty formalized the superior status of Jin: the annual tribute of Song was set to 200,000 taels of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk.

[5] Despite the weak performance against Khitan, the Song government overestimated both the importance of the reclamation of Yanjing (modern-day Beijing) and its own military capabilities.

[7][8] As the Supreme Chancellor (munha sijung, junior first rank) at the head of combined Secretariat-Chancellery (chungseo munha-seong) Yi Cha-gyŏm was the highest-ranking government official.

[9] His dominance was challenged during the last years of Yejong, but with the beginning of his grandson's reign Yi Cha-gyŏm took decisive steps to buttress it.

Through his career Yi Cha-gyŏm cultivated muban military officials, that after 960 had a lower status and enjoyed less perquisites than their civilian munban counterparts.

He became the Chief-Minister-Extraordinary in charge of all three chancelleries (samseong), while keeping the position of the head (superintendent, pansa) of the Ministry of Personnel (Yi-bu).

[11] Jin stepped up the pressure on Goryeo by occupying Uiju (Poju) area along the Yalu river; from their point of view it was a repair of the frontier defenses.

Following the purge Yi married one of his daughters to Injong,[10] and increasingly filled the mid- and high-ranking government positions with his loyalists and relatives, including his five sons.

[8] According to this report, there was a popular prophecy that a man of the sippal cha, or eighteen child, an anagram on the Chinese character for the surname Yi, would become king and the transfer his court to the Southern Capital (modern Seoul), leading Goryeo to a renewed prosperity.

He planned performance of royal ritual music at the tombs of his forefathers and celebration of his birthday as the anniversary of a king (insujeol).

The plan involved gaining control of the palace and king's person as the first stage of the coup, followed by a strike against other key targets.

The conspirators captured the palace and killed several of Yi Cha-gyŏm loyalists, including the Minister of War (a brother of Ch'ŏk Chun-gyŏng).

[8] Banished officials — Choe Hong-jae, members of Tanju Han and Cheongan Im clans and their associates — were recalled and reinstated in their positions.

Provincial clans, particularly from the Western Capital (Seogeong, modern Pyongyang) area were important in toppling Yi Cha-gyŏm and contended for a larger share in the decision-making.

Paek Su-han, Chong Chi-sang, a famous poet and Confucian scholar, and Myo Cheong, a Buddhist monk and geomancer were prominent representatives of this faction.

Ten Injunctions of Taejo accepted geomantic considerations as an important factor influencing government policies and ascribed a particular significance to the Western Capital.

[18] In foreign relations Injong's government, while admitting the superiority of Jin, aimed to preserve independence and trade interests of Goryeo.

[5][6] The Jurchen armies conquered Kaifeng, and both Huizong, now retired, and the reigning emperor Qinzong were captured and exiled to Manchuria.

Not long afterwards Song envoys tried to convince Goryeo officials to give them a direct overland access to the Jin and negotiate the release of the captured emperors.

[23] This policy continued under Injong, even if twice (in 1127 and 1130) the Jin used presence of the Jurchen refugees in Goryeo to pressure it into formal submission.

Myo Cheong claimed that moving a capital to Seogeong (Pyongyang) would reinvigorate Goryeo to the extent that thirty-six states, including Jin, would pay homage to it.

Disappointed by the rate of reforms, insufficiently decisive stance against Jin, and alarmed by purges of some of it supporters, Myo Cheong rebelled in 1135.

From the suppression of the Myo Cheong rebellion until his official retirement in 1142 Kim Bu-sik was an unchallenged leader of the Goryeo government.

By the early eleven forties the conflict of the Southern Song and the Jin reached an equilibrium that was formalized during the negotiates of 1141–1142.