A Scholar’s Retreat from Court

In 1071, one of imperial China’s most brilliant minds made a fateful decision. Sima Guang, the renowned historian and statesman, withdrew from the Song Dynasty capital of Kaifeng to retire in Luoyang. What appeared as a quiet retreat from political life would become one of Chinese history’s most productive scholarly exiles. Over the next fifteen years, while the imperial court pursued controversial reforms under Wang Anshi’s leadership, Sima Guang would compile his monumental work – the Zizhi Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government).

This period represented a critical juncture for the Northern Song Dynasty. Emperor Shenzong, initially supported by Wang Anshi’s reformist faction, had grown increasingly assertive in his governance. The first six years saw Wang Anshi as the visible architect of change with imperial backing, while the subsequent nine witnessed the emperor assuming direct control after Wang’s own retirement to Jinling. The imperial court became more authoritarian, with ministers reduced to mere secretarial roles. While some economic policies proved successful in enriching the state, territorial ambitions met with mixed results – ultimately leaving the proud emperor to die in frustrated isolation.

The Emperor’s New Year Discontent

The spring and summer of 1071 proved particularly challenging for both Sima Guang and Emperor Shenzong. During the New Year celebrations, while tradition dictated grand ceremonies in the capital’s Wen De Hall with officials offering congratulations amid incense smoke and ceremonial robes, an unusual silence fell over Kaifeng. Historical records note that “on the first day of the first month, the emperor did not hold court” – an extremely rare occurrence typically reserved for times of imperial illness or national crisis.

Two likely explanations emerge for this breach of protocol. First, severe droughts continued to ravage Shaanxi and Hebei provinces, prompting the emperor to demonstrate humility before heaven. More significantly, Emperor Shenzong’s northwestern expansion plans had encountered serious setbacks. The previous summer had seen escalating border clashes with the Western Xia state, initially producing some Song victories that delighted the emperor. However, the tide turned when Western Xia forces besieged Dashun City and advanced within forty miles of Qingzhou, shocking the entire northwestern frontier.

Military Reversals and Political Maneuvering

Despite early optimism that saw officials like Li Fugui rewarded for capturing five Western Xia outposts, the military situation deteriorated rapidly. After suffering defeats, Li was demoted, but Emperor Shenzong remained determined. He appointed Han Jiang as military commissioner with sweeping powers over the northwestern frontiers, even promoting him to chancellor rank while in the field – a position technically superior to Wang Anshi’s.

By mid-February 1071, the emperor issued an edict tempering the aggressive frontier policy, ordering border commanders to maintain peace and avoid provocation. This cautious shift came too late – before the orders reached the front, Western Xia forces counterattacked, capturing Funing Fortress and inflicting heavy casualties. The Song lost recently acquired territories and suffered over a thousand casualties, leading to Han Jiang’s dismissal and demotion to prefect of Dengzhou.

The Reformist Agenda Intensifies

These military setbacks ironically strengthened Wang Anshi’s political position. While both Sima Guang and Wang had opposed rash military action, their reasoning differed significantly. Sima opposed expansionism outright, while Wang advocated systematic preparation through economic and military reforms before territorial ambitions. His “New Policies” – including the Green Sprouts loan system, hired service reforms, and market regulations – aimed to strengthen state finances as the foundation for military power.

With the emperor chastened by frontier failures, Wang accelerated domestic reforms while suppressing opposition. Officials obstructing the Green Sprouts policy faced punishment, including senior statesmen like former chancellor Fu Bi, who was demoted despite being on approved medical leave. By 1072, the capital established surveillance teams to arrest critics of government policies. When anonymous accusations implicated hundreds of families, only Wang Anli (Wang Anshi’s brother) as Kaifeng prefect dared resist the purge – highlighting the political dangers of dissent.

Luoyang: Refuge of the Discontented

Amid this political climate, Luoyang became a gathering place for retired or disgraced officials. The city hosted over a dozen former high-ranking officials and nearly twenty renowned scholars, including Sima Guang’s predecessor Fu Bi and colleague Lü Hui. While ostensibly withdrawing from politics, Sima Guang’s private writings reveal continued engagement with national affairs, particularly through his funerary inscriptions.

In 1071 alone, Sima composed two significant epitaphs that became subtle political statements. The first memorialized his father-in-law Zhang Cun, who on his deathbed had anxiously inquired about northwestern military campaigns and whether court policies continued changing. Through this personal tribute, Sima Guang hinted at widespread concern over imperial policies.

The Defiant Epitaph

More boldly, Sima Guang’s epitaph for Lü Hui became an implicit indictment of Wang Anshi’s government. Lü had been the first high official to warn that Wang would “bring disaster to the realm” if appointed chancellor. Though Sima initially urged patience, Lü pressed his opposition until removed as censorate chief. The epitaph explicitly criticized the reformist leader’s methods: “relying on his talent to reject consensus, deliberately pursuing novelty, frequently altering ancestral laws, and obsessively extracting wealth from the people.”

The inscription’s political sensitivity caused Lü’s calligrapher Liu Hang to hesitate before his son Liu Anshi courageously completed the task – beginning his own lifelong association with Sima Guang. When a copy reached Wang Anshi, he reportedly displayed it in his study, praising Sima’s prose as resembling “the writing of the Western Han” – perhaps acknowledging the historical truth in the criticism while disagreeing with its interpretation.

The Legacy of Dissent

This episode reveals the complex intellectual landscape of Song politics. Despite profound disagreements, figures like Wang Anshi and Sima Guang shared a commitment to principled governance and historical truth-telling. Sima Guang’s Luoyang retirement produced not only China’s greatest historical work but also demonstrated how scholar-officials maintained moral critique amid political repression. The Zizhi Tongjian’s subsequent influence as a manual for governance ironically fulfilled Sima’s vision of serving the state through scholarship rather than partisan politics.

The events of 1071-1086 illustrate enduring tensions in Chinese political tradition between reform and continuity, between state power and scholarly conscience. Sima Guang’s quiet defiance through historical writing offers a model of intellectual integrity that continues to resonate, while the competing visions of Wang Anshi and his critics remind us that China’s imperial past contained multitudes of political thought often oversimplified in modern discourse.