The idle person who rowed boats and caught fish on the river every day eventually became a prominent minister of the Southern Tang Dynasty

Next, the editor of the History Encyclopedia will take you to explore the real Fan Ruoshui in history and uncover the historical stories that happened to them.
There have been many small figures in history who have influenced history, but they are not valued by rulers and are just small people. However, it is these seemingly insignificant individuals who have influenced history.
The Battle of Song Dynasty over Southern Tang, with Pan Mei crossing the Yangtze River, marked the annexation of Southern Tang. Prior to this, one person played an important role in this battle. If it weren’t for him, the Song army might not have easily crossed the treacherous Yangtze River and reached the Southern Tang.
This important person’s name is Fan Ruoshui.
Fan Ruoshui was a juren from the Southern Tang Dynasty, but failed several exams. But he had lofty ambitions and took the initiative to write a letter to the ruler of Southern Tang, Li Yu, carefully discussing national affairs and putting forward various opinions. Unfortunately, no one paid attention to him. He, who had no way to serve his country, was disheartened and had no way out of office, let alone any glory or wealth. This juren was very disappointed. He threw down his books and devoted himself to the mountains and rivers, rowing and fishing in the Yangtze River every day.
What’s puzzling is that every time he goes fishing, he goes to a place called Caishiji in the Yangtze River. Right here, he fishes day and night, occasionally throwing himself into the river like a fishing net, fishing line, or a buoy tied to a stone. Anyway, he is elusive and wandering alone. After persisting for a long time, the Southern Tang people never saw him again, and no one knew where he had gone.
Afterwards, Pan Mei attacked Southern Tang and had his soldiers build a floating bridge on Caishiji. Prior to this, Zhao Kuangyin made a request to Li Yu. Li Yu must immediately send someone to escort a family of Fan from the Southern Tang region to Kaifeng. Every member of the family must be present, and no one should be left behind. Although Li Yu had doubts, he still had to agree to Zhao Kuangyin’s request. It was just a family, so what about giving it to you? But afterwards, Li Yu regretted and wanted to jump into the river.
Cao Bin built the floating bridge, and they built it very quickly and accurately, as if they had eyes that could see everything and determine the depth of the river. After setting up the floating bridge, Cao Bin quickly led his troops and killed them, and the Southern Tang fell. (In ancient times, Cao Bin was the only one who was good at taking advantage of Jiangnan. That is to say, Cao Bin was the best at fighting from the north to the south of the river in ancient times. However, his smooth crossing of the river was inseparable from Fan Ruoshui.)
The person named Fan Ruoshui was the one who helped the Song army quickly cross the river. He played an important role in this river crossing battle. He appeared to be catching fish on the surface of the river, but actually measured the depth of the Yangtze River and drew detailed water flow maps. After disappearing from the Southern Tang Dynasty, he went to the Northern Song Dynasty and presented Zhao Kuangyin with a water flow map of the Caishiji section of the Yangtze River. Therefore, Zhao Kuangyin requested from Southern Tang to bring Fan Ruoshui’s family to Bianliang, and Li Yu did not know that such a scholar had actually destroyed the soldiers of Southern Tang.
He was originally a scholar, but he played an important role in historical wars.