Once Yuan troops penetrated the formation, the Song could neither reinforce the centre nor conduct an orderly retreat because ships remained chained together and battle command had broken down. The resisting court was slaughtered, unlike the comparatively lenient treatment earlier given to captured Emperor Gong. Zhang Shijie cut about a dozen vessels free and attempted to break out with picked soldiers, initially hoping to save the emperor. Lu Xiufu entered the sea carrying the child emperor, and many officials and concubines reportedly followed. The official History of Song records thousands of bodies surfacing seven days after the battle. A report places the emperor's body near Shenzhen, although his actual grave remains unlocated in this account. Zhang Shijie subsequently sought to have Dowager Yang name another emperor, but she had also died by suicide at sea after hearing of the emperor's death. With the emperor dead and the surviving court unable to arrange another succession, Yamen ended the Song dynasty.
Notable Point · 1:15:24-1:20:10
The fall of the Song court at Yamen
The collapse of the chained formation brought the slaughter of the court, the child emperor's death, and the extinction of the Song regime.