Chapter 284: Donating to the Government
Bian River Main Street, Left District Military Patrol Office.
Two men dressed in short brown jackets could be seen, each holding a ticket number in hand, chatting excitedly as they walked outside.
“What’s your license plate number?”
“1103. My birthday, easy to remember. What about yours?”
“Mine is 0583.”
“Is that your birthday too?”
“My birthday is 1212, but they said that’s a premium number and wouldn’t give it to me. This is my child’s birthday.”
“When are you going to register your plate?”
“Tomorrow at 1 in the afternoon. What about you?”
“Mine is in the morning at 9.” “Then we can’t go together.”
“At least this is better than standing outside waiting all day.”
“That’s right. Being able to make appointments in advance like this doesn’t delay our work. The Patrol Office really did well with this.”
As the two were chatting, they suddenly heard someone nearby complaining indignantly: “Of course you say it’s good since you got ticket numbers. Only fifty numbers a day, making it like disaster relief distribution. This is truly outrageous.”
The two turned their heads and saw a large crowd at the entrance looking at them with various expressions of envy, jealousy, and resentment.
The two quickly hid their ticket numbers and hurriedly left.
Those coming out from inside were excited and happy in various ways, while those still waiting at the entrance were anxious, fearful, and envious.
Just a few days ago, almost everyone was complaining about these license plates, but now…
How wonderful they were!
The Military Patrol Office’s sudden limited numbers had made many people nervous.
This also confirmed Zhang Fei’s words that there might be plate restrictions in the future to ensure the number of vehicles in Bianjing city.
Scarcity breeds value.
The fewer the vehicles, the more valuable the license plates!
This calculation wasn’t hard to figure out.
Across the street, two elderly men silently observed all this.
They were Sima Guang and Wen Yanbo.
Sima Guang said, “Would you like to go in and take a look?”
“Forget it!”
Wen Yanbo waved his hand and continued walking forward, his brow furrowed as if pondering something.
Sima Guang glanced at him and said, “What are you thinking about?”
Wen Yanbo said, “I feel something is not quite right, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
Sima Guang smiled and said, “Are you thinking about ‘speed’?”
“Speed?”
Wen Yanbo asked in surprise.
Sima Guang nodded and said, “The newspaper only published the new registration process yesterday, and today the people are already here getting ticket numbers. If the government were to do this, it would take at least half a month, or even a month.”
Wen Yanbo nodded repeatedly: “Yes, yes, yes! That’s exactly what’s so special. I understand Zhang San’s methods – scarcity breeds value. The fewer opportunities he gives, the more everyone wants to get it early.
But his execution ability is truly astonishing. With such complex affairs, he was able to make such major changes in just one day and still achieve success.”
Sima Guang said, “This is all because of that Authentic Books Store.”
Wen Yanbo nodded slightly: “Movable type printing has been around for a while, but no one has really used it. The government has tried it too, but always gave up. Yet it flourishes brilliantly in his hands.”
Speaking of this, he continued: “And it’s not just the printing technique, but also those symbols of his. Ordinary people can remember them in no time, and they’re quite convenient indeed!”
Sima Guang frowned and said, “But this still doesn’t prove his execution ability is superior. Setting rules is difficult, but following rules is even more difficult. The real test for the Military Patrol Office is yet to come. Whether these complex rules he’s established can be properly implemented – we can’t draw conclusions yet.”
Wen Yanbo nodded. Suddenly hearing a commotion ahead, he looked up and saw many people gathered around a large willow tree. “What’s happening up there?”
The two couldn’t help but quicken their pace.
Arriving under the large willow tree, they saw a uniformed patrol officer climbing up the trunk, tying a wooden sign to it. The sign depicted a horse cart with a diagonal line through it.
“What does this sign mean?”
Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang exchanged glances.
Sima Guang asked a young onlooker, “Young man, what is this for?”
The young man quickly replied, “They’re hanging warning signs. With these warning signs up, vehicles and horses can no longer go down that lane.”
As he spoke, he pointed to a side road nearby.
Another person said, “This really is a good thing. I live inside there, and this lane isn’t wide to begin with, but it’s also a shortcut from the left district to Xiang-guo Temple and Recorder’s Lane. In the morning, people going to burn incense and worship Buddha walk this way, and those horse bells disturb the residents. In the evening, people going to drink at Recorder’s Lane also walk this way, often bumping into the people who live inside.”
After hearing this, Wen Yanbo said quietly to Sima Guang, “It seems this Zhang San is planning to make a big move!”
Sima Guang chuckled and said, “Indeed! He wasn’t lying. He really does love whatever job he’s doing!”
They had previously thought that Zhang Fei just wanted to create a license plate system, but they never imagined that Zhang Fei would also implement traffic control.
This was really getting bigger and bigger.
Suddenly they heard a loud “smack.”
Then came a series of startled cries, as they saw a clump of mud hit squarely on the wooden sign, making the warning completely illegible.
Both Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang were startled and looked around.
“Who was that?”
The patrol constable in the tree immediately jumped down, and three other patrol constable nearby quickly walked over. They immediately surrounded a distinguished-looking young man.
The young man showed no fear and even took out a silk handkerchief, unhurriedly wiping his hands. “Who gave you this authority?”
One patrol officer directly grabbed his wrist. “Sorry. This is evidence and cannot be wiped away.”
The young man’s face showed surprise, as if he hadn’t expected them to take direct action.
His attendant immediately stepped forward to protect his master. “Scoundrels! You idiots dare to lay hands on my young master!”
Generally, those who could be called “young master” were sons of high ranking officials.
But the four patrol officers acted as if they hadn’t heard anything and directly seized both master and servant.
The young master was also stunned, having never seen such audacious patrol officers. After being seized, he finally reacted, struggling while shouting, “Let me go quickly! My father is Commander Ma. This area is under the jurisdiction of our Imperial Guards. Are you trying to rebel?”
The lead patrol officer turned his body and squared his shoulders. “My badge number is 007. If the young master has any complaints, you can file them against me at the Legal Aid Office later. Take them away.”
Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang exchanged glances.
When had the usually meek patrol constables become so impressive?
Sima Guang suddenly said cheerfully, “Now there’s going to be a good show to watch.”
Authentic Books Store.
“Ah?”
Zhang Fei looked at Wang Anshi in surprise. “Academician Wang wants us to help promote your new policies?”
Wang Anshi nodded with a smile. “Exactly. When the time comes, your newspaper will help our Reform Planning Commission publish new regulations.”
Zhang Fei asked, “Academician Wang, shouldn’t this be published in the official gazette?”
Wang Anshi gave him an annoyed look. “If the official gazette were reliable, would I need to come to you? The Bureau of Palace Communications is still using handwritten copies. It’s truly infuriating.”
This time he finally understood that the promotional power of this print newspaper was truly remarkable—it hit exactly where it aimed!
In comparison, the official gazette had lost miserably last time, completely wasting his excellent article.
He really had to admit defeat, so he was thinking of borrowing this newspaper to promote his new laws.
If even a minor runner could use newspapers to implement the license plate system, surely his new policies, created by a state counsellor, would be even easier to accomplish.
Zhang Fei’s eyes shifted as he said, “Academician Wang, regarding the new policies, these are matters of national importance. I think they should still be published in the official gazette to appear authoritative.”
Wang Anshi said, “That’s what I originally thought, but you know how that turned out. Can’t I admit defeat now?”
His personality was extremely stubborn, and getting him to admit defeat was very difficult. But the gap was too large and clearly visible—he had no choice but to concede!
Zhang Fei quickly said, “Academician Wang has misunderstood my meaning. What I’m saying is that we should find ways to improve the Bureau of Palace Communications. The court should have its own newspaper and shouldn’t rely entirely on private ones.”
Wang Anshi looked at Zhang Fei with surprise. “I really did misunderstand you.”
Zhang Fei asked in confusion, “Misunderstood me about what?”
“Nothing.”
Wang Anshi waved his hand dismissively. Actually, that had been his original idea—to develop the official gazette—but the result had been a disastrous failure. However, he had always believed that Zhang Fei definitely did not support him on this matter, so at the time he had never consulted with Zhang Fei. It was only later, when he had no other options, that he had sought Zhang Fei’s help.
Only today did he understand that Zhang Fei had been thinking the same thing all along.
“Sigh, I’ve already instructed the Bureau of Palace Communications to make improvements, but progress has been slow. I’ve inquired about it, and they say that perfecting this movable type printing will take at least another six months—it’s already too late.”
Wang Anshi shook his head and sighed helplessly.
Zhang Fei said, “It’s probably because the money isn’t sufficient. Under great rewards, there will be brave men.”
Wang Anshi replied, “Who says so? I already petitioned His Majesty earlier to allocate some funds to the Bureau of Palace Communications.”
Zhang Fei said, “But I imagine those funds weren’t very substantial, at least the craftsmen haven’t received any real benefits.”
Wang Anshi looked at Zhang Fei suspiciously. “What exactly are you trying to say, you rascal?”
Zhang Fei said, “Academician Wang should also know that I recently established a charitable organization.”
Wang Anshi nodded. “I saw it in the newspaper.”
Zhang Fei said, “Our charitable organization not only donates money to help the people, but also has another project—donating to the government.”
Wang Anshi exclaimed in shock, “Donating to the government?”
Your charity work is getting rather outrageous—now you’re even extending it to the government.
Zhang Fei nodded. “Yes, we also know the government is quite short of money, so we thought we’d help out the government a bit.”
After hearing this, Wang Anshi truly didn’t know whether he should be moved to tears or scold Zhang Fei—who are you looking down on? Both amused and annoyed, he asked, “How much money does this charitable organization of yours have?”
Zhang Fei said, “Currently we don’t have much money, just twenty to thirty thousand strings.”
Wang Anshi snorted. “With just that little money, you want to help out the government? That’s not even enough to help the people!”
Zhang Fei said, “Little money has its own way of helping.”
Wang Anshi was quite interested. “I’d like to hear the details.”
Zhang Fei said, “From what I know, many tools beneficial to people’s livelihood are developed by the government, so we plan to concentrate our donations on such projects.
While we say we’re helping the government, we’re actually still donating to the people. When the government develops better tools, the people benefit as well. Take this movable type printing, for example—this is also technology beneficial to the people. We can directly donate to this project and help the government obtain this technology more quickly.”
Others might have dismissed this theory, but Wang Anshi’s eyes lit up. His economic philosophy also included developing certain technologies—for instance, he placed great importance on hydraulic engineering projects. “This idea is quite good. But how would it work in practice?”
Zhang Fei said, “It’s very simple. Our charitable organization would cooperate directly with the Bureau of Palace Communications to provide research and development funding. But we wouldn’t give this funding to any officials—we’d mainly reward craftsmen or clerks who contribute to the research and development.”
Wang Anshi nodded. “I think this could work.”
When someone offers to donate money for free, how could there be any reason to refuse? Wang Anshi wasn’t afraid of losing face.
But then Wang Anshi continued, “However, I’m still entrusting you with promoting the New Policies. Heh heh, many people think your vehicle licensing succeeded entirely because of that newspaper of yours, but I know that having just the newspaper wouldn’t be enough—you had to use some tactics.
When you had Fan Chunren write articles criticizing your vehicle licensing, the criticism was absolutely brilliant! With that criticism, you forced those who opposed you to reluctantly support your newspaper, which resulted in your newspaper winning people’s hearts. Consequently, whatever you published later, the people didn’t dare question!”
“Nothing can be hidden from Academician Wang.” Zhang Fei smiled sheepishly, then said, “Since you favor my establishment so highly, we naturally cannot refuse. It’s just that regarding the price…”
Wang Anshi waved his hand and said, “I won’t take your money.”
Zhang Fei was stunned. “You won’t take my money?”
He cursed inwardly: Is your face made of steel? You’re asking me to do something for you, and all you have to do is not take my money.
Wang Anshi said, “What? Do you want to ask me for money instead?”
“Uh.”
Wang Anshi’s tone left Zhang Fei speechless. “I just don’t understand why I should be giving money to Academician Wang.”
Wang Anshi chuckled. “You should be know that many people are paying attention to my new policies. If my new policies are published in your newspaper, your news publication would sell well even if it were distributed to Qiongzhou. Shouldn’t you be paying me?”
So shrewd? Zhang Fei’s expression changed, and he bowed with cupped hands. “Thank you for your patronage, thank you for your patronage.”
Wang Anshi snorted. “If I didn’t value your abilities, I would find another establishment. Do you believe that your Authentic Books Store would then suffer a complete decline?”
“I believe it, I believe it!”
“You should donate some of this money.”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
Zhang Fei nodded repeatedly, thinking to himself: Once you’ve taken my money, would you have the nerve to ask me for taxes later? Heh heh heh.
Just then, someone outside the door panted, “Zhang San, are you inside?”
It was Tao Yonghan’s voice.
“Yes.”
The door was immediately pushed open. Tao Yonghan had just entered when he suddenly saw Wang Anshi sitting inside and was so frightened his legs went weak. “This humble person greets Academician Wang.”
Wang Anshi said, “No need for excessive courtesy.”
Zhang Fei asked, “What’s the matter?”
Tao Yonghan blinked.
Zhang Fei stood up and walked over. Tao Yonghan grabbed him and pulled him directly outside the door.
After a while, Zhang Fei returned to the room and said to Wang Anshi, “Academician Wang, I have some urgent business to handle.”
Wang Anshi asked, “Do you need my help?”
Zhang Fei said, “That won’t be necessary.”
Wang Anshi said, “Then you should hurry and handle it. I should be heading back soon anyway.”
But after Zhang Fei left, Wang Anshi thought to himself: That old man was also wearing a patrol constable’s uniform. Could something have happened with the vehicle licensing? I should go take a look as well.