During the reign of Renzong of the Song Dynasty, party strife in the court was fierce and wars on the border continued. Fan Zhongyan, who came from a poor family, entered his official career with the belief of "worrying about the world's worries first". When he first entered the officialdom, he was ostracized by the powerful because of his outspokenness and daring to remonstrate, but he was appreciated by the elites such as Bao Zheng. When handling local disaster relief, he innovatively established a "work-for-relief" system, which not only rescued victims but also built water conservancy projects, winning the support of the people. During his tenure as a local official, he rectified the administration of officials and severely punished corruption, but this angered powerful interest groups. When the war in the northwest frontier became tense, Fan Zhongyan was ordered to take charge of border defense in the face of danger. He invented the "fortress tactics" to build fortifications, and wisely defeated the Xixia cavalry, earning him the reputation of "Bachelor of Longtuge".
