Great Song: The Censor Who Smashed the Pot

During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song, Shen Yan intended to play by the unspoken rules and keep his family safe.

That was until he witnessed a county magistrate who had championed new policies framed for “smashing the pot” after his reforms threatened the interests of the powerful. The magistrate was stripped of office and exiled.

Then Shen Yan himself was drawn to the dangerous front lines of the political struggle over reform by a case involving a corpse found floating in a canal.

At that moment, he realized: if I don’t smash this pot, this realm may never know peace!

At the palace examinations, he abandoned the safe, conventional essay and submitted “A Memorial Urging the Elimination of Superfluous Officials.” Its thunderous impact thrust him into the sight of Zhao Xu and into the raging whirlpool of factional strife.

From then on, the Song court had a new “maverick official.”

He impeached the prime minister with irrefutable evidence, overhauled the grain transport system and cut off people’s livelihoods, then pushed through new laws.

His colleagues cursed him: “Wherever Shen Yan goes, all hell breaks loose. He’s the worst pot-smasher of them all!”

Yet the emperor wrote in vermilion on Shen Yan’s resignation memorial: “In this court full of rotten timber, you alone can break the deadlock. I grant you leave to smash this pot to the very end.”

But Shen Yan knew full well that the pot he wanted to smash was never just the rice bowls of a few corrupt officials. It was the century-old malaise that had grown too deep to cure.