Why was Ouyang Xiu demoted to Chuzhou (Ouyang Xiu was still able to make a difference after being demoted to Chuzhou)

Ouyang Xiu was one of the “Eight Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties”, a well deserved literary leader and important politician during the Northern Song Dynasty. Ouyang Xiu, also known as Yongshu, Zuiweng, and Liuyi Jushi, was born in Ji’an, Jiangxi in 1007 AD and passed away in Fuyang, Anhui in 1072 AD at the age of 66. And the most well-known one is his “Record of the Drunken Weng Pavilion”. Many of us know that Ouyang Xiu was demoted to Chuzhou, Anhui before writing “Record of the Drunken Weng Pavilion”, but few people know why Ouyang Xiu was demoted. I had no idea that Ouyang Xiu was demoted due to a case of incompetence and incorruptibility.
Ouyang Xiu’s experience in politics was very bumpy. At the age of 24, he passed the imperial examination and rose to fame in the early stages of his political career. He personally participated in the famous “Qingli New Policy” during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, which played a positive role in revitalizing the government and rectifying the bureaucracy. It also brought crisis to Ouyang Xiu’s career in his youth. However, a sudden political persecution erupted in a completely unexpected form. Because someone sued Ouyang Xiu for having an improper relationship with his niece in his private life.
Ten years before Ouyang Xiu was demoted, Ouyang Xiu’s sister left behind this pair of orphaned daughters and their mother due to her husband’s death. Ouyang Xiu’s sister had no one to rely on, so she had to seek refuge with Ouyang Xiu. The daughter her sister brought with her was also Ouyang Xiu’s niece. And this niece is not the biological daughter of Ouyang Xiu’s sister, she was born to her former husband’s wife. Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, this niece has grown up to the age of discussing marriage. So it was up to Ouyang Xiu to marry her to one of his distant nephews, Ouyang Sheng.
Ouyang Sheng had a male servant who was young and charming, and this Zhang was also beautiful and passionate. The two of them spent their days together, exchanging glances. After Ouyang Sheng discovered the illicit relationship between the male servant and the Zhang family, he sent these two individuals to the Kaifeng Prefecture Right Army Patrol Office for arrest.
At that time, the governor of Kaifeng, who was also the mayor of Kaifeng City, Yang Riyan, was unusually excited when he saw this case and decided to make it bigger. Why is this? Originally, when Yang Riyan was the governor of Yizhou, he was accused of corruption and dereliction of duty by the then remonstrant Ouyang Xiu. Therefore, he had always held a grudge against Ouyang Xiu and wanted to seek opportunities for revenge.
This time he saw that this case was somewhat related to Ouyang Xiu, and felt it was a godsend opportunity. He wanted to delve deeper into this simple case and complicate it, especially to establish a direct connection with Ouyang Xiu. It would be best to uncover some of Ouyang Xiu’s “hidden” secrets, so that he could avenge this one arrow! So Yang Riyan ordered his subordinates to interrogate Zhang severely, hoping to extract something beneficial from Zhang and retaliate against Ouyang Xiu.
Although Zhang was infatuated with the handsome and charming appearance of the male servant and did some outrageous and indecent things, she was still a humble woman from a humble family who had never seen much of the world. If it weren’t for her exposure and detention in Kaifeng Prefecture, she might never have had much contact with Kaifeng Prefecture in her life. Under the intimidation, repeated questioning, and enticement of the prison guards, she was naturally terrified and spoke without hesitation. In order to release herself from this prison as soon as possible, she talked nonsense and talked nonsense. Most of the things involved in her testimony were messy and ambiguous before she got married. Not only was it filthy and shocking, but she also had some relationship with Ouyang Xiu.