Judge of the Song Dynasty

Cao Ping’s city defense argument had truly caught the ministers completely off guard.

From this perspective, the Three Military Divisions certainly had this authority.

And the emperor had given his support as well.

However, not a single person believed Cao Ping’s nonsense.

Looking at the provisions of the vehicle licenses, it was as if he wanted to tell them directly: “I’m coming to ask you wealthy officials for money.”

Those who rode private carriages were almost all privileged households. These people not only didn’t have to pay taxes, but also enjoyed many benefits.

And these vehicle licenses were specifically designed to make them pay taxes.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the common people.

This was what they found most unacceptable.

Although the money wasn’t much, once a precedent was set, they would wonder whether the court might gradually tighten the benefits given to them, or like this time, find ways to take it back from elsewhere. Everyone was human, and greed was human nature.

If they were like this, wouldn’t the court be the same? Wouldn’t the emperor be the same?

After this meeting ended, they immediately surrounded Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo, Zhao Bian and others.

Of course, they wouldn’t say they were unwilling to pay this money – that would be too undignified.

They still used the same old argument.

These vehicle licenses!

This was competing with the people for benefits.

It didn’t matter if they paid a little money, but the problem was that for those small common folk who hauled goods and did business, this money could cost them their lives.

The key issue was that there was a lack of supervision and legal basis. It hadn’t gone through court deliberation, and when the lower levels started collecting fees randomly, it would truly bring disaster to the country and harm the people.

Speaking objectively, this really didn’t need examples to illustrate, because whenever fees were collected, there had never been one that didn’t involve extra collections.

Although Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo and others all advocated collecting dignity fees, that was only based on moral grounds. They believed that riding in sedan chairs was treating people like animals, which was not befitting of scholar-officials.

But they also couldn’t prohibit others from riding in sedan chairs, because the imperial family had this tradition. So using dignity fees to compensate was reasonable and proper.

There still had to be a distinction between humans and animals.

But regarding the license fees for horses and carriages, they weren’t in favor either.

Because this involved too broad a scope, including everyone from high officials and nobles down to peddlers and laborers.

It was just that the fees came somewhat suddenly, and they hadn’t quite wrapped their heads around it yet.

Complaining about manure had resulted in license fees.

What a miscalculation it was.

But soon, both Sima Guang and Wang Anshi figured it out.

Manure?

Hmm.

When Zhang Fei wasn’t shoveling manure, there were absolutely no problems. Now that Zhang Fei had just started shoveling manure for a few days, all these strange and bizarre incidents had occurred.

To say this had nothing to do with Zhang Fei – even if you beat them to death, they wouldn’t believe it!

So that evening, the two men coincidentally came to the Zhang residence and ran into each other right at the gate.

The twin stars combined their might and charged through the entrance, grabbing Zhang Fei for an interrogation.

Faced with their questioning, Zhang Fei not only didn’t try to make excuses, but looked at them with surprise, “Isn’t this what you two were hoping for?”

Sima Guang immediately flew into a rage, “You little rascal are talking complete nonsense! How could this be what I was hoping for? I had absolutely no prior knowledge of this!”

Wang Anshi was relatively more gentle and asked, “What do you mean by that?”

He absolutely supported doing this. His purpose in coming here was different from Sima Guang’s. Sima Guang came here to interrogate.

But he came to ask Zhang Fei if he needed help – just say the word. After all, they were such pals.

Zhang Fei looked at Sima Guang and Wang Anshi with confusion, “Didn’t you two arrange for me to go to this Military Patrol Office so I could accomplish something? That’s… that’s what I thought.”

“We arranged for you to go…!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Sima Guang’s expression froze, “Wait! What do you mean we arranged for you to go to the Military Patrol Office? You were supposed to serve anyway. This… who told you this?”

Zhang Fei said, “Remonstrator Fan.”

Sima Guang and Wang Anshi felt quite guilty. Had Fan Chunren also figured it out?

Wang Anshi asked, “What did Remonstrator Fan tell you?”

Zhang Fei said, “Remonstrator Fan said that you two great academicians made these arrangements hoping that we two could gain experience and do something for the people at the grassroots level. Therefore, both of us have been working very hard at our respective posts. Please look.”

He lifted both legs, revealing that both feet had been bandaged. “Over these past few days, I’ve developed more than a dozen large blisters on the soles of my feet. Every day when I return home, I have to be carried.”

After seeing this, Sima Guang thought to himself that no wonder this kid had retaliated so harshly. He deliberately changed the subject: “So you’re admitting that this matter was your doing?”

Zhang Fei nodded: “But I acted entirely out of consideration for the interests of you two great academicians.”

“Go away!”

Sima Guang hastily defended himself: “Don’t talk nonsense. What does this have to do with me?”

Wang Anshi chuckled silently. This kid’s mind was sharp—directly dragging Old Sima into the water. Let’s see how he opposes this now. Brilliant.

Zhang Fei said: “Academician Sima, you can’t do this—use me and then abandon me.”

Sima Guang exclaimed indignantly: “Who used you? Besides, what benefit did I get from this?”

Zhang Fei looked aggrieved: “The benefits are enormous!”

Sima Guang was stunned: “Then tell me, what benefits did I gain from this?”

What did this have to do with him? When he went out, he usually walked or rented a cart—the tax money never reached his hands.

Zhang Fei didn’t answer directly but asked instead: “What do you think is most important in judicial reform?”

Sima Guang now hardly dared to answer: “What do you say it is?”

“Implementation!”

Zhang Fei said: “Coming up with a perfect law isn’t difficult given the talents of Academicians Sima and Wang. The key lies in implementation—after all, you two academicians only have one pair of hands and one mouth each.”

Wang Anshi nodded repeatedly: “Very reasonable! Very reasonable! That’s exactly what Sima Guang thinks, and he reminds us of this daily.”

“Go away!”

Sima Guang waved his hand: “Stop meddling here.”

Then he asked Zhang Fei again: “Even so, what does this have to do with the matter at hand?”

Zhang Fei said: “I intended to use this matter to create a disciplined and law-abiding law enforcement team for you, to support your judicial reform.”

Sima Guang seemed not to understand, looking at Zhang Fei with confusion.

Zhang Fei continued: “Regarding vehicle licenses, this involves not only the minutiae of traffic disputes but also money. In other words, if the Military Patrol Office can implement this well without any problems, then Academician Sima can directly take it over, change the name, and effectively carry out your judicial reform.

As for me, I’m doing this entirely to repay Academician Sima’s care. After I finish my service, I’ll go back to my usual life. I truly gained no benefit from this—on the contrary, I might have to pay some taxes myself.”

Wang Anshi nodded repeatedly: “I see, you really put a lot of thought into this. No, no, no.” He smiled at Sima Guang: “Sima Guang really put a lot of thought into this.”

You’re the one who put thought into it, your whole family put thought into it. This is clearly framing and shifting blame. Sima Guang glared at him, then said to Zhang Fei: “I never told you to do this. Don’t try to frame me.”

Zhang Fei chuckled: “I, Zhang San, am famously well-behaved. How could I be so inconsiderate? For matters like this, how could Academician Sima speak directly? I understood your intentions.”

Sima Guang nearly spat blood. This misunderstanding was getting out of hand.

Wang Anshi listened with great interest: “Zhang San, you can’t just favor Sima Guang. What benefits do I get?”

When Sima Guang heard Wang Anshi ask this, his head spun with dizziness. It was over, over, over—this time he’d really been dragged onto their ship of thieves.

Zhang Fei’s “understanding of intentions” was pure nonsense, but the problem was that it really had been the two of them who arranged for Zhang Fei to serve.

The key issue was that Wang Anshi was eagerly joining in—how would they explain this later?

Would anyone believe them?

Zhang Fei immediately said: “Of course I wouldn’t dare show favoritism. The benefits Academician Wang gain are no less than Academician Sima’s.”

“How so?” Wang Anshi asked immediately.

Zhang Fei said: “Actually, my vehicle license law was entirely inspired by Academician Wang’s New Laws. Simply put, it’s about collecting more money to hire runners to clean the streets. Now we can better clean the streets while reducing the burden on corvee runners.

I’m fighting the first battle for Academician Wang, so you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of victory.”

Wang Anshi smiled so broadly his eyes disappeared: “Wonderful! Wonderful! Your idea is truly brilliant. I won’t deny that our Reform Planning Commission has greatly benefited from this—it wasn’t in vain that I put so much effort into this.”

Sima Guang’s brain was already becoming engorged with blood. He stood up agitatedly, his lips trembling as he pointed at Zhang Fei and said: “Can you guarantee nothing will go wrong in all this?”

Zhang Fei clasped his fists with righteous determination and said: “How could I dare to be negligent regarding the orders from the two Academicians? Academician Sima, please rest assured!”

“Bah!”

Sima Guang immediately said: “Let me say this again—I never ordered you to do this. Don’t you dare try to drag me down with you, boy. If something goes wrong, I absolutely will not protect you.”

Having said this, he left. This was a crime scene, and staying even a moment longer would add another degree of suspicion.

“Sima Guang! Sima Guang!”

Wang Anshi called out twice, then turned to Zhang Fei with admiration: “You little rascal, you truly live up to being Sima Junshi’s nemesis. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone other than myself capable of scaring Sima Guang into running away.”

Zhang Fei smiled without warmth: “Compared to the methods of you two Academicians, I’m still far behind.”

He had already figured it out earlier—this was absolutely something the two of them had orchestrated. Given their status and position, how could they possibly be unable to protect a small commoner like him from corvee service?

And it was just too coincidental that Fan Chunren had lost his official position.

Wang Anshi didn’t deny it. He laughed heartily and chased after Sima Guang.

Just as he stepped outside, he was grabbed by Sima Guang, who had been lying in ambush at the door.

“Tell me honestly, was this matter a trap you set up with Zhang San?”

Sima Guang asked with a ferocious expression.

Wang Anshi quickly raised his hands: “I swear to heaven, in this matter we two are on the same side.”

“Bah, who’s on the same side as you?” Sima Guang glared at him angrily.

Wang Anshi wasn’t annoyed. With tears in his eyes, he said: “But this matter truly has nothing to do with me. Like you, I only discovered it today. This is clearly that boy finding ways to take revenge on us—can’t you see that?”

“I can see that,” Sima Guang said. “But since you know this, why did you still speak as you did? Doesn’t that make us accomplices with him?”

Wang Anshi said boldly: “This is a matter that benefits the country and the people—why wouldn’t I support it? If he can recover the lost territories of Yan and Yun, defeat Western Xia, and restore our dynasty to the might of the Tang Dynasty, I wouldn’t care even if my name were cursed for ten thousand years!”

Sima Guang snorted: “So according to you, I’m the only petty person here.”

Wang Anshi quickly consoled him: “That’s not what I meant. I understand your concerns, though I also think they’re unnecessary worries!”

“Hmm?”

“I misspoke! I misspoke! What I mean is, let’s just watch that boy’s methods. If he can handle this matter well, why shouldn’t we be happy about it?”

“You make it sound easy. If he botches it, wouldn’t we become the masterminds behind it all?”

“If he botches it, then we’ll righteously eliminate him. No one would suspect us then.”

“You… you truly are a petty person.”

“This matter was never meant for gentlemen to handle anyway.”

“Aiya!”

Sima Guang slapped his forehead. “How could I have… this truly is a case of one misstep causing eternal regret!”

Wang Anshi looked at Sima Guang’s distressed appearance and desperately held back his laughter, his shoulders shaking violently.