When the Evening Clouds Have Faded

In the tenth year of the Xining era, Wang Anshi retired to Jiangning, and Emperor Shenzong took sole control of the government. The new laws were implemented across the realm, bringing a mix of benefits and drawbacks. The old and new factions at court continued their covert struggle, while local officials used government policies to squeeze the common people. Just then, the Yellow River burst its banks, turning a thousand li of eastern Jingdong into a vast floodplain, with the isolated city of Xuzhou trapped amid the muddy torrents. Beneath the veneer of a prosperous age, refugees were on the move, civil officials were disillusioned, and outlaws seized the moment to rise. A storm that would sweep through both court and countryside was quietly brewing.