This book is bounded by the Xining reign of Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty (1068-1077), chronicles events, and describes the beginning and end of the reform. The material is based on "History of the Song Dynasty" and "Xuzizhi Tongjian Changbian", as well as private works such as "Shao Shi's Hearing and Seeing Records" and "Sushui Jiwen". It touches on political disputes in the court, the pros and cons of people's livelihood, and the safety and security of frontiers.
At that time, after Renzong and Yingzong, the Song Dynasty had been in peace for a hundred years, but the accumulated disadvantages gradually deepened: redundant officials were consumed at the top, redundant soldiers were lost at the bottom, annual coins were lost in the north, and river troubles were disturbed in the east. When Shenzong was first established, he was weak in his youth, but he had great ambitions to revive the decline. Seeing Wang Anshi, a Hanlin scholar, discussing governance, he said, "Isn't it just right to benefit the people because they benefit them?" This deeply resonated with the emperor's heart, and he decided to reform.
Purpose: Use Xining's reform as a mirror to observe the difficulties of governance: not only the debate between the old and the new, but also the discord between ideals and reality, the contradiction between the system and the people's sentiments; see the limitations of human nature: those who aim to benefit the people may make mistakes Those who are anxious to maintain success or are stuck in the same old ways are trapped in the current situation and find it difficult to escape from the cage; study the shortcomings of the Song Dynasty: hundreds of years of accumulated habits cannot be changed in a day, and the difficulty of reform reflects the chronic autocracy, leaving behind the sigh that "it is difficult to govern the world."