Li Ruoshui, originally named Ruobing and courtesy name Qingqing, was a high-ranking official during the late Northern Song dynasty. He died during the Jingkang Incident. According to the early Southern Song text Records of the Kui Chariot (Kui Che Zhi), Li Ruoshui once received a prophetic message in a dream, sent by divine means, foretelling the fall of the dynasty.
During Emperor Huizong’s Xuanhe era, Li Ruoshui served as the county constable (xianwei) of Yuancheng County, then under Daming Prefecture — in today’s Daming County, Hebei Province. The xianwei was responsible for local security, roughly equivalent to a modern police chief.
One day, a villager came to him and said, “Lord Guan has sent you a letter.” The “Lord Guan” referred to was Guan Yu (also known as Guan Gong), the famed general from the Three Kingdoms era who was widely worshipped as a deity by that time. Emperor Huizong himself had granted Guan Yu the noble titles Zhaolie Wuan Wang and Yiyong Wuan Wang.
Perplexed, Li Ruoshui opened the letter. The opening line read: “To County Constable Li, future Minister Li, from the Former Han General Guan Yunchang.”
Seeing that he was addressed as “Minister Li,” Li Ruoshui wondered if this meant he would one day rise from county constable to shangshu (minister). He immediately questioned the villager in detail about how this had happened.
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The villager replied: “One night I dreamed of a golden-armored general who told me, ‘In the coming days, go to the county town. There you will meet a Taoist priest wearing an iron crown. Ask him for a letter from Lord Guan — he will give it to you. Then, deliver this letter to County Constable Li.’ When I woke up, I thought it strange but followed the dream’s instructions. Sure enough, I met the Taoist and received the letter from him — so I came to deliver it.”
After reading the letter, Li Ruoshui grew increasingly alarmed — it described in detail the tragic future downfall of the Northern Song, later known as the Jingkang Incident. Because the contents were politically sensitive and involved current rulers, he dared not keep it. He dismissed the villager and burned the letter.
Still, he composed a poem about the event:
“The golden-armored general brought a wondrous dream,
The iron-crowned Taoist delivered a new book.
Though I and Yunchang are of different ages,
I half suspect this tale is mere illusion.”
Later, Li Ruoshui’s career truly did advance. By the first year of the Jingkang era (1126), he had earned the emperor’s favor and was appointed Vice Minister of Personnel (Libu Shilang). In the imperial bureaucracy, there were six key ministries — Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Works — each headed by a shangshu (minister), equivalent to a modern cabinet minister. The shilang was a deputy minister — only one step below the prophesied rank.
In the following year (1127), the Jin army besieged the Song capital, Kaifeng. The Jin commanders summoned the Song emperor to their camp for “negotiations.” Although the emperor was reluctant, Li Ruoshui reassured him, saying there was nothing to fear, and accompanied him. But as soon as they arrived, the emperor was taken hostage.
Li Ruoshui protested fiercely, denouncing the Jin army for their treachery. He went on a hunger strike and was brutally tortured — beaten, his tongue cut out, and finally beheaded. After the fall of the Northern Song, Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song posthumously honored him with the title Zhongmin (“Loyal and Sympathetic”).
Li Ruoshui’s son, Li Junchun, later engraved the story of how divine forces had warned his father of the coming disaster on a stone stele, preserving it for posterity.
The author of Records of the Kui Chariot, Guo Tuo (courtesy name Boxiang), was himself a government official who had passed the imperial examinations. The strange events he recorded were said to be based on eyewitness accounts, lending the work credibility.
So why didn’t Li Ruoshui ever become shangshu as Guan Yu’s letter predicted?
Upon reflection, the prophecy did come true: Guan Yu, through the Taoist and the villager, had already foretold the Jingkang catastrophe. Unfortunately, Li Ruoshui burned the letter and wrote in disbelief, calling it “illusory.” His later actions confirmed that disbelief — he stayed in the doomed city of Kaifeng and trusted the Jin army’s false promises, even persuading the emperor to go with him, which led to both their downfalls.
Had he believed the prophecy, fled in time, or warned the emperor against trusting the enemy, he might have survived — and perhaps fulfilled the destiny of becoming Minister Li, as foretold.
Source:Records of the Kui Chariot (睽车志)
