His four-year-old son Zhao Xian was enthroned as Emperor Gong of Song with the assistance of chancellor Jia Sidao.
In this period, the army of the Mongol Empire had already taken control of the northern and south western areas of China, crossed the Yangtze River acquiring key strategic locations on the way including control of Xiangyang City (part of modern Xiangfan, Hubei), and were heading towards the Song capital at Lin'an (modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province).
Grand Empress Dowager Xie pursued a dual solution: on the one hand ordering the people to rally behind their emperor and save the country, and on the other suing for peace with the advancing Mongols.
The Song army suffered defeat and not long afterward, bowing to public pressure, the empress dowager ordered Jia Sidao's execution.
Later the same year, in February 1276, Grand Empress Dowager Xie carried the five-year-old emperor out of Lin'an and into the Mongol camp where she too surrendered.