Chapter 335: Saying the Right Things to the Right Person

Sima Guang was a man of extremely strong principles. He would never allow Zhang Fei to act recklessly just because he valued him highly. When he first heard about this matter, he had felt very angry, thinking this young man was utterly lawless.

A pen-in-cap and merchant in his twenties actually wanted to change the empire’s education through donations – this was simply the most serious form of bribery.

It would not be excessive to execute him for this.

Confucians truly placed enormous importance on education.

But when he heard that Zhang Fei’s purpose was actually to donate to legal studies, he felt this was quite reasonable – indeed, it was a charitable act.

Regarding judicial reform, the court currently needed to cultivate more judicial talent. Although the Song Dynasty had always placed great emphasis on legal codes, requiring officials to first study legal statutes after entering service, the emergence of the procuratorate and police bureau had made legal studies critically important.

They needed to apply rigid legal texts flexibly.

In this regard, Zhang Fei absolutely had the capability to participate in compiling legal studies textbooks.

The key point was that Sima Guang had originally planned to ask for his help anyway.

Just as Zhang Fei himself had said, he was contributing both money and effort, wholeheartedly serving the nation.

However, the cautious Sima Guang did not immediately make an exception for Zhang Fei. He still needed to discuss this with the ministers, as this concerned the foundation of governance – it was not something he could decide alone.

Could this precedent be set?

They could allow Zhang Fei to provide assistance with legal education, even directly appoint him to a position at the College of National Scions, but could it be done through this method?

After all, this approach had never been used before.

Sima Guang was inherently cautious and would never make a rash judgment.

“Oh, Academician Wang?”

Zhang Fei, who had just been thrown out by the Court of Penal Review, encountered Wang Anshi halfway down the road.

“You little rascal really know how to stir up trouble.”

When Wang Anshi saw Zhang Fei, he laughed heartily.

Previously, Zhang Fei had stolen the spotlight from the New Policies, and recently things had finally gotten back on track. The court had been continuously debating the New Policies, and Wang Anshi had thought that during this period, Zhang Fei surely wouldn’t be involved in anything. He never expected Zhang Fei to create this kind of commotion again.

Immediately, attention was drawn away once more.

Zhang Fei immediately put on a wronged expression and said, “I went through fire and water for you, yet you laugh at me. How truly cold the world has become!”

Wang Anshi was stunned for a moment and quickly said, “You little rascal must speak with evidence. This matter has absolutely nothing to do with me.”

When he had first heard about this, he had felt quite surprised.

He had also been frightened by this young man’s behavior.

Good heavens!

Upon meeting face to face, he immediately tried to shift the blame. He knew that last time Zhang Fei had treated Sima Guang the same way.

He would not easily fall for this trick.

“I am absolutely not talking nonsense.”

Zhang Fei explained, “Doesn’t Academician Wang know why so many ministers in the court oppose the New Policies? Are they all truly acting out of selfish interests?”

Wang Anshi frowned slightly and asked, “Then what do you say is the reason?”

Zhang Fei said, “Because since ancient times, the emphasis has always been on benevolence and righteousness first, but Academician Wang’s New Policies emphasize money first. Naturally they would oppose this – it is more a conflict of ideologies.”

Wang Anshi sighed deeply and said with feeling, “The empire’s corrupt policies all stem from money. If we do not emphasize money, how can we prescribe the right medicine for the illness?”

He had received a deep Confucian education – did he not value benevolence and righteousness?

He had served as an official for many years, living simply and alone. When serving in local positions, he had also benefited the people. His private virtue was beyond reproach, and his talent was rare in the world. Wasn’t this exactly the kind of minister Confucians hoped to see?

This showed he did not disregard benevolence and righteousness, but rather hoped to prescribe the right medicine. The empire’s problem was lack of money – talking about benevolence and righteousness could not earn money, so they could only talk about money!

Zhang Fei smiled and said, “But there is not a single textbook that agrees with your philosophy. Talent cultivated by such textbooks will only provide the New Policies with an endless stream of enemies. If this doesn’t change, in my opinion, the situation of ‘policies dying with the person’ will still be unavoidable in the future.”

Wang Anshi looked at Zhang Fei with surprise.

How could he not be aware of this problem? In fact, historically, he had targeted educational reform. If his educational reform this time could succeed, it might truly change the course of history.

Because he advocated for practical education, combining civil and military skills, specialized knowledge, and consistency between study and application.

At the same time, he sought talent capable of managing finances and organizing the military, enriching the country and strengthening its forces, rather than those rigid scholars who spent their time discussing abstract principles and only knew to die for their ruler in times of crisis.

He believed that the court currently placed too much emphasis on literary composition, which constrained scholars’ thinking. Many Confucian studies were useless, yet they crowded out other useful disciplines that had no room to survive, such as medicine, mathematics, military science, and even natural sciences.

During his administration, he strengthened education in medicine, mathematics, military science, and other specialized fields.

Clearly, he understood a fundamental principle: political reform must be preceded by educational reform.

His problem was that he spoke this truth too directly and acted accordingly, so the consequences were naturally predictable—the policies died before the person did.

But at this moment, Zhang Fei’s words struck right to his heart, perfectly aligning with his own thoughts!

“Why is Academician Wang looking at me like that?” Zhang Fei asked with feigned nervousness.

He knew Wang Anshi had such plans, which was why he dared to speak this way. He certainly wouldn’t dare say this to Sima Guang.

Wang Anshi withdrew his gaze and asked excitedly, “What exactly do you plan to do?”

Zhang Fei explained, “My intention is actually not to change current textbooks, but to pursue education in other fields, such as mathematics, law, medicine, military science, and so forth.

I feel that the court’s talent pool is too narrow. Take finance, for example—many officials’ abilities are inferior to those of merchants. But the state is an extremely complex entity that cannot be managed with a single discipline to address all problems.”

“Excellent! Excellent! Wonderfully said!”

Wang Anshi was overjoyed, clapping his hands in approval. To find such a kindred spirit in life was truly a great pleasure. He didn’t even bother to raise his cup, but urgently asked, “What did you tell Sima Guang?”

Zhang Fei replied, “I merely said I planned to donate to legal education, since that’s my specialty. Speaking this way wouldn’t arouse suspicion.”

Upon hearing this, Wang Anshi immediately looked at Zhang Fei with renewed wariness, thinking to himself that this young man might be telling different people what they wanted to hear.

You tell Sima Guang you’ll donate to legal studies, and you tell me you’ll donate to mathematics.

Which statement was true?

Wang Anshi stroked his beard and pondered for a moment, then suddenly sighed, “Educational matters concern the foundation of the state. It’s easy to talk about but difficult to implement! I can’t blame you—you should protect yourself first.”

The implication was: since you’ve already told them you’d donate to legal studies, then donate to legal studies first. As for mathematics and medicine, forget about it.

Zhang Fei understood perfectly that the old man was testing him, so he said, “If I can’t achieve my goals, I might as well not donate at all. After all, my money doesn’t grow on trees.”

Wang Anshi asked nonchalantly, “What do you plan to do?”

Zhang Fei replied, “I believe Academician Sima will definitely support me. Our Great Song Charity Foundation will donate to the College of National Scions to add legal studies as a subject, which will greatly help Academician Sima’s judicial reforms. Wouldn’t you be envious and jealous?”

Wang Anshi snorted, “Am I that kind of person?”

Come on! Zhang Fei thought one thing but said another: “You must be, otherwise my plan cannot succeed.”

Wang Anshi was stunned. “What do you mean?”

Zhang Fei explained, “My plan is this: after Academician Sima persuades the College of National Scions to accept our donation, you must start showing all kinds of envy and jealousy, strongly expressing your dissatisfaction and demanding that our Great Song Charity Foundation also donate to the subjects needed for your reforms, such as mathematics, medicine, military science, and so forth.

For the Great Song Charity Foundation, if we don’t treat everyone equally, it would be counterproductive. After all, you currently enjoy His Majesty’s deep trust and cannot be offended!

This way, you can subtly promote educational reform.”

Wang Anshi’s eyes flashed rapidly.

He had actually been testing Zhang Fei just now. If, after all this, you only donated to legal studies, it would prove you were just fooling me.

It had to be said that Zhang Fei’s move was truly ingenious. Once Sima Guang demanded that the College of National Scions accept donations from the Great Song Charity Foundation to strengthen education for legal talents, he would have grounds to act. Not only would the charity foundation need to maintain fairness, but the court would also need to maintain fairness. Were his New Policies illegitimate children? He also needed talented people!

“Haha, your scheming mind is truly unpredictable!” Wang Anshi pointed at Zhang Fei with a laughing rebuke, then asked, “But what are you seeking to gain from all this?”

Zhang Fei smiled and said, “First, I naturally also hope that our Great Song will become wealthy and militarily strong. Second, I also want to secure safety.”

“Safety?”

“Exactly.”

Zhang Fei nodded and said, “I previously told you that most merchants donate to the Great Song Charity Foundation for the purpose of tax avoidance, not for the country or the people. At the same time, I also promised you that the money donated by the Great Song Charity Foundation would be more, not less, than the taxes paid.

Therefore, I must rack my brains to spend this money where it matters most, satisfying both you and Academician Sima, so that my Great Song Charity Foundation can continue to develop.”

This explanation couldn’t even be called straightforward—it was absolutely blunt.

Spending money to buy peace, it was that simple.

Wang Anshi couldn’t help but believe this. He didn’t care about Zhang Fei’s little schemes either. Spending money to buy safety was perfectly reasonable. What was detestable were those who used the safety the court provided them to evade taxes.

He naturally chose to support Zhang Fei’s plan.

For him, this was like a windfall from heaven. It wasn’t that without Zhang Fei he couldn’t complete educational reform, but using the Great Song Charity Foundation to promote reform would reduce resistance and allow him to devote more energy to other aspects of reform.

If successful, this would absolutely be exchanging the smallest cost for the greatest return.

However, the person most concerned about education was neither Wang Anshi nor Sima Guang, but Emperor Zhao Xu, because education directly related to imperial power. Throughout all dynasties, every ruler placed great importance on this matter.

Although Zhao Xu knew about this affair, he didn’t know what Zhang Fei’s true intentions were.

This had to be clarified.

Having just parted from Wang Anshi and not yet left the imperial city, Zhang Fei was again quietly summoned to the palace by Zhao Xu’s people.

They truly gave Zhang Fei not a moment’s respite.

Facing Zhao Xu, Zhang Fei naturally dared not conceal anything and truthfully reported the whole sequence of events, including Xiang-guo Temple’s true purpose.

“So it was Xiang-guo Temple.”

Zhao Xu felt somewhat surprised.

He had previously thought all this was Zhang Fei’s idea, never imagining that the behind-the-scenes manipulator was someone else entirely.

Of course, Zhang Fei also informed Zhao Xu that Xiang-guo Temple’s true purpose was not to reform education, but rather they worried about becoming too prominent and thus wanted to gain support from some rising talents.

Zhang Fei said, “To be honest with Your Majesty, I also conceived this plan from Xiang-guo Temple’s intentions, but I didn’t know if it will succeed, so I didn’t inform Your Majesty beforehand.”

This was truly honest. He really hadn’t previously thought of infiltrating the College of National Scions, at least not for the time being, because he knew this was very sensitive. He needed to wait for an excellent opportunity. It was when Xiang-guo Temple proactively proposed donating to the College of National Scions that Zhang Fei decided to go with the flow and give it a try.

Zhao Xu asked again, “So what are your plans now?”

Zhang Fei pondered briefly, “If Your Majesty wishes to surpass Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang, in my opinion, education is the only opportunity.”

Zhao Xu was startled, then leaned forward and hurriedly asked, “What do you mean by this?”

These words held tremendous allure for any emperor. Who wouldn’t want to surpass Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang? But generally, emperors with such ambitions approached it through civil governance and military achievements. Zhao Xu’s calculations were along the same lines, but no one had ever said that education was the only opportunity.

This was truly the first time he’d heard such a statement.

Zhang Fei explained, “Between these two, especially Emperor Taizong of Tang, he achieved near perfection in both civil governance and military prowess. The golden age he created was one where doors weren’t locked at night and lost items weren’t picked up from roads. The territory he conquered was basically the maximum an emperor could conquer in a lifetime.

In other words, even if Your Majesty achieved all this, at most you would tie with Emperor Taizong of Tang. But since Emperor Taizong came first, if Your Majesty doesn’t achieve something beyond that, you would still fall short.

So thinking about it from another angle, what else could be surpassed? Undoubtedly, it would be scholarship, which is also our dynasty’s strength. For example, in legal studies, our dynasty’s Song Code of Punishments was completely inherited from the Tang Code and Legal Commentaries. Even if we perfect some statutes based on this foundation, it cannot be considered surpassing—it would actually better demonstrate the value of the Tang Code. But if judicial reform succeeds and the entire judicial system changes, we could break free from the shadow of the Tang Code.

Because the new public justice system is a system that didn’t exist in the Tang dynasty. It is completely original to our dynasty. It will surely be recorded in history, and future generations will no longer use the Tang Code to summarize our dynasty’s legal thought.”

Zhao Xu said thoughtfully, “What you say has some merit, but historical evaluation still places greater weight on civil governance and military achievements. Even if this new public justice system is recorded in history, its influence would be extremely limited.”

Zhang Fei said, “Your Majesty’s words are mistaken. The extent of influence depends on whether you achieve great success through it, because people often aspire to success stories. If our Great Song’s golden age is completely based on the new public justice system, its influence will surely be worshipped by future generations.

Of course, the new public justice system is just one example. Since Emperor Wu of Han, all golden ages have been attributed to Confucianism. But if Your Majesty can blaze a new trail, drawing from the strengths of all schools of thought to create a golden age, then Your Majesty would be an innovator, a founder, and could surpass Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang.”