Chapter 338: Seeping Through

Zhang Fei’s “unintentional” donation this early winter opened the curtain on an educational reform.

But speaking of educational reform, it had actually been fermenting in the Song Dynasty for quite some time. The Qingli Era reforms had already stirred up a wave of academic reform.

The main thrust was Fan Zhongyan’s ten reform proposals, including “refining the imperial examinations and selecting competent officials,” which reformed the educational system of the time. This changed the prevailing shallow academic atmosphere that worshipped flowery rhetoric, emphasizing instead classical meanings, current affairs, and practical matters.

Today’s Wang Anshi and Sima Guang were also following this path.

Simply put, they wanted to be pragmatic.

The “textual commentary and annotation studies” of the Han and Tang dynasties had become truly decadent and seriously constrained the development of Confucianism.

This wasn’t really just Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi’s personal philosophy, but a widespread demand among scholarly circles.

Historically, Wang Anshi had also dealt a heavy blow to the “textual commentary and annotation studies of the Han and Tang,” leaving them languishing for hundreds of years afterward until they made a comeback in the early Qing period.

Zhang Fei’s arrival merely added an educational competition to the mix.

Emperor Zhao Xu seemed quite satisfied with this state of affairs, appointing both Wang Anshi and Sima Guang to concurrent positions as Vice-Directors at the College of National Scions, overseeing educational policies.

The differences in philosophy between Sima and Wang immediately became apparent.

Sima Guang directly adopted Zhang Fei’s curriculum, but he made no major modifications to the College of National Scions’ previous teaching regulations.

Simply put, he still counted the Law Academy as part of the College of National Scions.

But Wang Anshi completely overturned the College of National Scions’ system, immediately establishing the Three Halls system at the Mathematics Academy.

The Outer Hall had 2,000 students, the Inner Hall 300, and the Upper Hall 100.

Based on certain time limits and conditions, students would advance from the Outer Hall to the Inner Hall and then to the Upper Hall.

Previously, the College of National Scions recruited only sons of officials who entered through the grace appointment system, along with some who had passed the provincial or imperial examination, resulting in fewer than two hundred total students.

But Wang Anshi stipulated they could recruit two thousand students.

Where would these people come from?

So the Mathematics Academy not only included the former two categories but also allowed commoners to enter through entrance examinations.

He didn’t change the previous grace appointment system but simultaneously opened up new sources of students.

This also aligned with his consistent political philosophy: expanding sources of revenue.

But this wasn’t the key point. The key was that Wang Anshi stated qualified graduates could directly enter the Reform Planning Commission.

Grace appointees who entered government service through the College of National Scions still followed the traditional path of hereditary privilege. One could even say the College of National Scions was merely a shortcut for officials’ sons to enter government service, allowing them to bypass the brutal imperial examinations.

Those wastrels inside were nine times out of ten living it up and wasting time, since they were just going through the motions anyway. This also led to the area around the College of National Scions being filled with pleasure quarters and entertainment venues, while the college itself was thoroughly corrupt.

But with Wang Anshi’s changes, problems arose. On one hand, Wang Anshi allowed commoners to enter the Mathematics Academy through examinations, and qualified graduates from the Mathematics Academy could directly enter government service.

In other words, commoners could also bypass the imperial examinations and enter officialdom directly through the academy.

Education was directly linked to career advancement.

This actually embodied modern educational concepts.

This was exactly what Wang Anshi had hoped for. He had been contemplating this matter for some time; otherwise, he couldn’t have immediately produced a complete set of regulations. But Wang Anshi hadn’t explicitly stated this point yet, because this was also an unexpected development and he hadn’t made sufficient preparations.

However, through his clever arrangements, he had already achieved this goal, though it was limited to the Mathematics Academy.

He hadn’t changed the entire system.

This way, the opposition couldn’t say much. The original purpose of establishing the Mathematics Academy was to cultivate specialized talent for the new policies, so it was natural for graduates to enter the Reform Planning Commission directly.

However, Wang Anshi’s series of shrewd maneuvers nearly made Sima Guang spit blood in anger.

That old fox really had no martial virtue.

Sima Guang had no intention of bypassing the imperial examinations, but Wang Anshi’s actions were equivalent to breaking the rules. If studying at his Mathematics Academy could lead to official positions, but coming to the Law Academy couldn’t, who would come to the Law Academy unless they were true devotees?

How could they compete?

Sima Guang went to consult with Wen Yanbo, Fu Bi, Zhao Bian, and others.

After much discussion back and forth, everyone’s opinions became very unified.

They had to do the same thing.

They knew in their hearts that seven or eight out of ten of those officials’ sons were worthless fellows. How much effort would it take to polish that bunch into jade?

And while those young officials had talent, only a minority would be willing to enter the Law Academy, so the numbers were limited.

Wang Anshi relied more on talent and intelligence to recruit people, so all the talented individuals from the common folk would flock to his side.

However, if all the talent went to Wang Anshi’s side, it was obvious that they would definitely lose in the future.

The court would be filled with large numbers of people supporting the New Policies.

This would change the balance of power between the two factions in court.

The answer was obvious – they could only do the same thing.

Sima Guang could only learn from Wang Anshi, opening wide the doors to commoners and selecting talent from among them.

This was competition.

Competition was completely different from factional strife.

Factional strife meant that if you supported something, I would oppose it, regardless of right or wrong, and vice versa.

If you break the rules, I would only go further.

This was why Sima Guang later wanted to completely erase all the New Policies, leaving not a trace, and even on his deathbed, he was still thinking about how to thoroughly eliminate the New Policies.

At that time, Sima Guang had completely confined himself to an extremely narrow space.

Later, Cai Jing launched a counterattack and erected the Yuanyou Party Monument, branding Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo, Su Shi, and all the others as treacherous ministers and carving their names into stone.

It should be noted that Su Shi later strongly recommended preserving many excellent laws from the New Policies.

According to factional theory, the conservatives would never do such things even if beaten to death, and would find various ways to oppose and obstruct.

But competition meant that if you did it this way, then I would do it this way too – each trying to outdo the other, competing to see who could attract more talent.

Although Sima Guang and Wang Anshi only had eyes for competition, education, and talent, and didn’t care much about funding issues, the origin of this matter was still because of Zhang Fei.

This money still had to be donated.

Of course, Zhang Fei was also very willing to donate this money, except that this charitable foundation wasn’t his alone.

At the White Crystal Inn.

The charitable foundation headquarters.

Today all the major donors had arrived.

They came here to discuss the scholarship matter.

But sitting here, they all felt somewhat strange.

A group of merchants like them, sitting here discussing matters of the College of National Scions.

This…

In the past, this would have been unimaginable.

Zhou Yan suddenly sighed: “This is really the first time I’ve learned that doing good deeds is so difficult. We’re just a group of merchants – we should just take out some money to help the poor. Why get involved in College of National Scions affairs? Isn’t this just asking for trouble?”

Many merchants nodded in agreement.

They all felt wronged by this matter. If given a choice, they would never have agreed. They only learned about it after the news broke, and of course everyone panicked.

Even today, everyone still had some dissatisfaction about this.

However, later two other wealthy patrons donated money to support the College of National Scions, which reduced their resentment.

A pot-bellied merchant said: “You can’t put it that way. Those students will all have opportunities to enter court as officials in the future. If we provide donations during their most difficult times, this kindness will surely be repaid. We don’t ask them to give us special treatment, but just ask that they don’t target us. I think this donation is very worthwhile.”

This merchant was none other than Gu Yiyuan, the manager of Spring Breeze Ten Li.

Although Gu Ji had already left the capital, the last thing he did before leaving was to donate land to the charitable foundation and have Gu Yiyuan serve as representative.

Their family still hoped to expand the charitable foundation’s influence in court, so that Gu Ji could return to Bianjing in the future.

Gu Yiyuan’s words also gained agreement from some merchants.

Anyway, this money had to be donated whether they wanted to or not. Donating to the poor was like throwing meat buns at dogs – gone forever with no value. It was better to donate to officials – even if only one out of ten was willing to repay them, it would be worth it.

Ma Tianhao said bluntly: “Things have come to this point, so there’s no use saying more. We might as well think about how to do this well, as that would be most beneficial to us.”

Everyone looked at Zhang Fei in unison.

For such matters, they dared not make decisions on their own. Since the idea came from Zhang Fei, they still had to follow his lead.

Zhang Fei smiled and said: “I believe you’ve all heard about some recent changes at the Mathematics Academy and Law Academy.”

Everyone nodded slightly.

“These changes are more favorable for our charitable foundation’s donations.”

Zhang Fei said: “Because there’s one very key point – whether it’s the Law Academy or Mathematics Academy, they will both recruit from commoners. As everyone knows, in the past, most students at the College of National Scions were grace appointment beneficiaries, and the College provided them with food and lodging. But many commoner students come from poor backgrounds.

This makes our charitable foundation’s donations much more meaningful. My idea is to use the examination scores from the Mathematics Academy and Law Academy as standards. Currently, I plan to select ten students from each of the three halls who are from poor families but have excellent grades, giving each twenty strings in living subsidies per year – that’s two hundred strings per year for ten people. After three years, the annual expenditure will reach six hundred strings.”

According to Wang Anshi’s system, only one hall would be established in the first year, and only those who passed the examinations would advance. At that time, the Great Song Charity Foundation would select ten students based on the examination scores and overall performance.

Chen Maoqian worried, “I heard that the Mathematics Academy plans to admit up to two thousand students. If we only sponsor ten people, won’t the College of National Scions be dissatisfied?”

The greatest fear in such matters was doing good with bad results.

They might give money but fail to earn goodwill.

Zhang Fei said, “The standard is set at two thousand people, but certainly not that many will be recruited in the first year. My budget is to donate a total of six hundred strings to the College of National Scions in the first year, reaching one thousand strings in the second year, and one thousand four hundred strings in the third year. After that, we’ll reassess based on our foundation’s income. Charity should be done within one’s means.”

Huang Can worried, “It would be good if such matters could truly be done within one’s means.”

This was a donation to the imperial court, not to the common people – it would likely only increase, never decrease.

Zhang Fei chuckled, “I actually hope we won’t be able to do it within our means.”

“What do you mean by that?” Huang Can immediately asked.

Zhang Fei sighed, “After three years, if we have to act within our means, wouldn’t we have to donate several thousand strings? It’s better to keep a low profile!”

“Haha!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Ma Tianhao suddenly asked, “By the way! How should the selection be conducted then?”

Zhang Fei said, “That will need to be discussed further with the academy, but what we’ve currently agreed on is that the academy will provide us with a grade report, or we can actively inquire ourselves. Our responsibility is to assess the authenticity of these grades.”

Fan Yong asked curiously, “How do we assess that? Not to mention we don’t understand these subjects – even if we did, this would be an offense to people!”

Gu Yiyuan also nodded, “Affairs in officialdom are extremely complex. It’s not necessarily those with excellent grades who enter government service, this…”

Zhang Fei smiled, “I’d be happy to buy favors, but the question is, can we afford it?”

Everyone fell silent.

Their charitable funds all came from their business profits. Using them for scholarships was fine, but using them for political bribery would require ten times more money.

Zhang Fei continued, “Therefore, I believe we should establish the rules properly first and follow them strictly. This way, there won’t be any complaints.”

Chen Maoqian said, “Brother San, you must establish these rules well. It’s best if everything can be clearly verified. Don’t let things become ambiguous – that would be the most troublesome.”

Zhang Fei nodded, “I know. I’ll pay attention to this.”

Just then, Fan Zheng suddenly walked in quickly and whispered a few words in Zhang Fei’s ear.

Zhang Fei said in surprise, “So fast?”

Fan Zheng nodded.

“What an honest man!”

Zhang Fei chuckled and stood up, saying to everyone, “Sorry, I have something to handle. You can discuss this with Elder Brother first. Please excuse me.”

With that, he left the main hall, walked through the corridor, and came to the adjacent lounge.

“Brother San, you’re here!”

Ma Xiaoyi walked over.

Zhang Fei nodded and asked, “Didn’t the young master come?”

Ma Xiaoyi said sheepishly, “Brother is instructing others in ball practice.”

Zhang Fei chuckled and entered the room with him.

Inside sat an official.

This person was Liang Shaodong, a secretary from the Armory Bureau of the Three Financial Bureaus. Since he had risen from clerk to official through solid technical skills, Cao Ping had assigned him to be responsible for weapons development specifically for the police force.

“Zhang San greets Secretary Liang.”

“You’re too kind! Too kind!”

Liang Shaodong rose and returned the courtesy.

Although Zhang Fei was still just a pen-in-cap, to them he was like a god of wealth and naturally deserved courteous treatment.

Zhang Fei quickly asked, “Secretary Liang, I heard that the Armory Bureau has developed weapons for police use.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Indeed.”

Liang Shaodong hurriedly opened the wooden box on the table and removed the top layer, revealing two weapons inside – one long and one short. The long one resembled a sword without an edge, with a handle like a staff, while the short one Zhang Fei recognized as the steel fork used by the third Ninja Turtle.

“Little Ma, what do you think?”

Zhang Fei turned to look at Ma Xiaoyi.

Ma Xiaoyi picked up the two steel forks, “This iron baton is quite suitable for our police – convenient to carry, and it can parry weapons while being good for both offense and defense, yet it won’t easily injure people. Brother San, why don’t you pick up that thin rod and we’ll spar a bit? I’ll demonstrate it for you.”

As he spoke, he actually began demonstrating the moves.

“No way! No way!”

Zhang Fei quickly retreated several steps. “I don’t know martial arts, so why are you sparring with me? Go find your brother to practice with later.”

“Brother San, don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.” Ma Xiaoyi chuckled, flicked his fingers, and the two steel forks spun several circles between his fingers before he inserted them into his belt.

This entire sequence of movements was truly fluid and graceful.

“You’re quite skilled at that!” Zhang Fei laughed.

Ma Xiaoyi said, “Brother San, you might not believe it, but I can handle any weapon.”

Zhang Fei nodded with a smile and said, “I can see you’re very satisfied with it.”

Ma Xiaoyi nodded.

Zhang Fei then asked, “What about this thin rod?”

Ma Xiaoyi replied, “It’s pretty good too, but I still prefer this iron baton.”

Zhang Fei then turned to Liang Shaodong and said, “Secretary Liang, I never imagined that your Armory Bureau could be so formidable. In just a few short days, you’ve managed to develop such handy weapons. I was actually thinking of donating even more money to you.”

Liang Shaodong was about to bow and offer some modest words, but when he heard the latter half of the sentence, he was immediately stunned.

Their enthusiasm was nothing more than wanting to secure some donations from Zhang Fei.

Usually when working for the court, they would drag their feet as much as possible, thinking of every way to slack off. After all, whether they worked more or less, the money they received would only decrease, never increase. But when working for the Great Song Charity Foundation, everyone put in real effort and thought, hoping to secure more charitable funds.

But at this moment, Liang Shaodong suddenly felt that perhaps they shouldn’t have finished so quickly. Once the development was complete, there would be nothing left to do, and no more money to be made.

This was awkward indeed!

A glint of amusement flashed in Zhang Fei’s eyes as he suddenly said, “Actually, speaking personally, I’m not entirely satisfied with these weapons.”

I’ll modify them! I’m willing to modify them! I’m willing to modify them for however long it takes! Liang Shaodong hurriedly said, “To be honest with you, Zhang San, these are just prototypes for you to look at. We’ll need to take them back and perfect them further.”

Ma Xiaoyi said, “I think they’re pretty good as they are. There’s nothing that needs perfecting.”

Liang Shaodong wished he could kick this fellow out.

This guy was also clever – he suddenly grasped the key to development: you had to bring out just a little bit at a time to pique people’s interest, so they would continue investing money. If you finished everything at once, it would all be over!

Zhang Fei nodded and said, “I agree with Little Ma’s words. There’s nothing about these weapons that needs perfecting.”

Liang Shaodong asked in confusion, “Then what do you mean?”

Zhang Fei said, “As the saying goes, swords and blades have no eyes. These two weapons cannot guarantee that our police will have an absolute advantage – the other side might also use weapons that counter these.”

Ma Xiaoyi said in confusion, “Brother San, you don’t understand weapons. Among weapons, there will always be one that counters another.”

Zhang Fei replied, “Then what’s the point of our donations? I hope to develop a weapon that criminals cannot obtain – one that only our police have. At the same time, I want our weapon to have an absolute advantage, able to subdue the enemy without fighting, so that just bringing it out would intimidate the other party.”

Ma Xiaoyi scratched his head and said, “Is there really such a weapon?”

Zhang Fei turned to Liang Shaodong and asked, “Secretary Liang, is there?”

Liang Shaodong racked his brains, thinking hard, when suddenly his eyes lit up. “Yes!”

Zhang Fei asked, “What weapon?”

“Firearms.”

Liang Shaodong said excitedly, “These firearms are exclusive to our court – ordinary thieves couldn’t possibly have them.”

Ma Xiaoyi countered, “Those thieves don’t use firearms because firearms are useless to them. Even on the battlefield, they’re not very useful – not as good as iron batons.”

Liang Shaodong’s mind raced. “We could find a way to create a type of firearm for police use that could kill or wound thieves from a distance, making them afraid to act rashly.”

“Interesting!”

Zhang Fei smiled and said, “In a couple of days, I’ll have someone allocate two hundred strings of cash to you. One hundred strings will be a reward for these iron batons, and the other hundred will be for developing firearms. If you can truly achieve what you’ve described, I’ll increase the donations even more.”

Liang Shaodong was overjoyed and quickly nodded, saying, “Zhang San, please rest assured. We will definitely be able to develop them.”

His earlier words had been pure boasting. Current gunpowder was only used on arrows, purely for intimidation. At best, they could put some small stones in fireworks.

But he never expected Zhang Fei to immediately agree to allocate funds.

He understood it now!

Completely understood!

These firearms were a treasure trove!

This funding wouldn’t stop for at least ten years.