A Kingdom in Crisis: The Floods of Kaifeng

In August 1065, the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng faced an unprecedented disaster. Torrential rains began on the third day, and by the next morning, only a handful of officials—including the chancellor—could attend the imperial court. The palace grounds flooded so severely that the Western Flowery Gate had to be opened to drain the water, only for the deluge to engulf the nearby imperial guard barracks. Official records reported over 10,000 military and civilian houses destroyed, with 1,588 confirmed deaths.

Yet this was merely the latest in a series of calamities. The previous year, floods had ravaged a dozen southeastern prefectures, reducing human lives to a value “cheaper than dogs and pigs.” An unnaturally warm winter brought black winds, followed by a summer plague that left “every household with someone dying.” Just as hope emerged with promising autumn crops, the August floods shattered both homes and dreams.

Heaven’s Warning: The Political Storm

In Confucian political thought, natural disasters were divine rebukes for misrule. Emperor Yingzong, shaken, issued a penitential edict inviting criticism. Opponents seized the moment, accusing him of excessively honoring his birth father (the Prince of Pu) over his adoptive father (Emperor Renzong), thereby violating ritual propriety. Chancellor Han Qi, they claimed, had manipulated the emperor and silenced dissent. With disaster looming, the court temporarily shelved the contentious issue.

Among the critics, historian and statesman Sima Guang stood out. His memorial bluntly accused Yingzong of squandering public goodwill through three failings: neglecting Renzong’s widow and daughters, indecisiveness that empowered overbearing ministers, and suppressing censors’ critiques. He urged canceling the costly Southern Suburban Sacrifice—a triennial imperial rite—to demonstrate fiscal prudence and piety. Yingzong ignored him.

The Sacrifice and the Snub

On November 4, 1065, Yingzong proceeded with the Southern Suburban Sacrifice, a grand ceremony affirming the emperor’s Mandate of Heaven. The subsequent amnesty edict conspicuously omitted any mention of the Prince of Pu. Was this newfound restraint? Sima Guang suspected otherwise. The omission signaled not compromise but preparation for a final showdown between two factions:

– The “Imperial Uncle” faction: Argued Yingzong, as Renzong’s adopted heir, should address his birth father as “imperial uncle” to preserve dynastic legitimacy.
– The “Imperial Father” faction: Championed by Han Qi and scholar-official Ouyang Xiu, insisted Yingzong honor the Prince of Pu as “father.”

The Censors’ Last Stand

Led by censor Lü Hui, the “Imperial Uncle” faction launched seven memorials demanding ritual compliance—all ignored. Lü then resigned four times, again to no avail. Turning his fury on Han Qi, he accused the chancellor of nepotism and usurping imperial authority, even blaming him for “deceiving Heaven” by pushing Yingzong toward filial impropriety.

The conflict reached fever pitch in early 1066 when Yingzong—egged on by Ouyang Xiu’s sly interpretation—dismissed Fan Zhen, a key “Imperial Uncle” supporter, for comparing Han Qi to the Duke of Zhou (implying Yingzong was a child ruler). Undeterred, Lü Hui and two remaining censors delivered a scorching indictment:

> “With wolves blocking the road and traitors in court… Ouyang Xiu initiated heresy, seeking to burden the Prince of Pu with an improper title and stain Your Majesty with error—a crime unforgivable by gods and men!”

Their ultimatum: “Either we stay, or Ouyang goes.”

The Empress Dowager’s Forced Hand

With the censors’ ranks decimated (only 3 of 20+ posts filled), Han Qi and Ouyang Xiu engineered a masterstroke. They pressured Empress Dowager Cao—Renzong’s widow—to endorse calling the Prince of Pu “father” in a “voluntary” edict. Yingzong then “modestly” declined granting him “imperial” status while accepting the familial title.

Sima Guang saw through the charade. In a searing memorial, he asked Yingzong: “Is this for honor? Profit? Or your father’s benefit? Han dynasty tyrants honored birth fathers—where’s the honor? Renzong’s legacy binds the people’s hearts—where’s the profit? A hollow title insults your father—where’s the benefit?”

Fallout: A Broken System

The censors, refusing to serve alongside “villains,” resigned en masse. Yingzong exiled them, dismantling the oversight system Sima Guang called “the court’s eyes and ears.” Han Qi, wounded by Fan Zhongyan’s son Fan Chunren’s betrayal (Fan had likened him to a usurper), grew bitter.

Yet Yingzong emerged stronger. By pitting factions against each other, he secured his father’s title while weakening both chancellors and censors. As historian Ji Xiaobin notes, he “practiced the art of rulership”—but at what cost? The checks and balances vital to Song governance lay in ruins.

Legacy: The Fraying of Song Politics

The “Great Rites Controversy” foreshadowed later conflicts, notably under Wang Anshi. Its toxic precedent—labeling opponents “traitors” over policy disputes—poisoned political discourse. Yingzong’s triumph also bred arrogance; he later sneered that ministers he once revered were “not so exceptional after all.”

By mid-1066, reforms began: streamlining bureaucracy, tightening official evaluations, and commissioning Sima Guang’s Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government—a monumental history project. Yingzong, finally free of illness and filial obsessions, seemed ready to rule.

But the cracks remained. As Sima Guang warned, a court without fearless critics was a dynasty risking unchecked error—a lesson the Song would learn too late.

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### Key Themes:
– Nature and Politics: Disasters as political leverage in Confucian thought.
– Ritual vs. Power: How filial piety debates masked power struggles.
– Institutional Erosion: The censors’ purge weakened Song governance.
– Historical Echoes: Parallels to Ming Dynasty’s “Great Rites Controversy” (1521–24).

This clash of principle and pragmatism, immortalized in Sima Guang’s chronicles, remains a cautionary tale about the cost of politicizing tradition.