Chapter 309: Bro, You Gotta be Crass |
As soon as Zhang Fei returned to the firm, he immediately brought prosperity to the establishment.
At the front counter, scattered “great benefactors” came in an endless stream.
In the back hall, wealthy merchants were also growing in number.
But it wasn’t difficult to see that the front counter and back hall represented two different groups.
Many of those making donations at the front counter were household servants, and behind them stood the vast scholar-official class.
The scholar-officials simply sent people to donate a small amount of money to express their support for the concept of “preserving wealth amongst the people”.
This was purely for political purposes.
Under this banner, and with the personal endorsement of Sima Guang, the leader of the conservative faction, if they failed to raise money, it would absolutely give Wang Anshi and his allies something to mock.
That was absolutely unacceptable.
But the wealthy merchants in the back courtyard weren’t supporting any concept of “preserving wealth amongst the people” – they came here with only one purpose: seeking risk mitigation.
Because the current situation was truly one where every sound seemed like the cry of cranes, and every tree and blade of grass appeared to be enemy soldiers.
Especially the case of Wang Hong, which had actually provided tremendous deterrence to many people.
Even after the lawsuit concluded, no one had categorized Wang Hong as either an upright or corrupt official. Because Wang Hong had worked so hard to collect taxes not out of greed for money, but because his political philosophy represented the old system and interest groups.
But the result was his harsh demotion.
These wealthy merchants were all extremely nervous. Having reached their level, who among them didn’t evade taxes? But now even Wang Hong couldn’t withstand the pressure – how could they possibly endure it?
This was the greatest difference between them and the scholar-official class. Actually, many scholar-officials also understood the underlying mechanisms, but they still had certain privileges and weren’t as panic-stricken.
These wealthy merchants were different – they weren’t part of the privileged class. Take the Fan family, for instance: no one in their household held office at court. They had reached their current position entirely through their own wisdom and social skills.
But if the court wanted to make an example of someone, they would certainly target people like them, because they had money but lacked real power. They were very clear about this in their hearts.
At this moment, Sima Guang’s article brought the notion of charity into their field of vision.
It was clear that Zhang Fei had all the advantages of timing, location, and popular support.
It would be difficult for him not to succeed!
At the second watch of the night.
The firm, which had been bustling all day, finally began to quiet down gradually.
Zhang Fei dragged his weary body to the counter, where he saw that the accountants sent by Li Guozhong were all slumped over their desks resting, each one completely exhausted.
“Old Fan, give each of them one string of cash.”
“Yes.”
Fan Li nodded, then asked, “Should I allocate it from the charitable organization’s funds or from our own books?”
Zhang Fei pondered briefly: “Charge it to my personal account.”
“Alright.”
Upon hearing about the money, these accountants all became energetic again.
They had only come to help out, but hadn’t expected to receive a full string of cash as compensation.
Truly worthy of being Zhang San.
He was indeed generous.
“Brother San, the food has arrived.”
Li Si walked in carrying a wooden basket.
Only then did Zhang Fei realize that he seemed not to have eaten all day, so he hurried to the back courtyard to call Xu Zhiqian, who was still busy working, to eat together.
When Xu Zhiqian worked, she was even more relentless than Zhang Fei, still holding an account book and reading it while eating.
“Can’t you just eat in peace?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Zhang Fei rolled his eyes speechlessly.
Xu Zhiqian asked again, “By the way! Although we received donations of hundreds of hectares of land in just one day, most of it came from Xiang-guo Temple and White Crystal Inn. The other wealthy merchants didn’t donate much.”
Zhang Fei explained, “Our charitable organization’s tax avoidance method is completely different from Xiang-guo Temple’s. When they use the temple to avoid taxes, they just register their land in name only – everything else remains unchanged. They still manage the land themselves and the grain goes directly into their own granaries. But once they donate land to our charitable organization, we manage it.
Today, what they asked about most was how this money would return to their hands. In our articles, there are only two profit-sharing clauses: the first is to set aside ten percent of total profits to provide living expenses for their descendants.
The second is to let their children take positions in the charitable organization.
The rest require operational maneuvering. For example, Chen Maoqian hoped to donate as much money as possible so the government would build more public rental housing. Based on the current situation, most rental properties were controlled by realtors, so he could use this to recoup his profits.”
Xu Zhiqian said, “But clearly this still hasn’t won them over.”
Zhang Fei smiled. “That’s perfectly normal. Many of them still don’t understand how this charitable organization actually operates, so they’re only donating small plots of land to learn about the organization’s operational model. But I believe they’ll eventually donate their land.”
Running charity was technical work – not direct profit transfer, but indirect. This actually tested the vision of these wealthy merchants. Those with long-term perspective, like Fan Zheng, could see the subtleties involved.
Donating directly to the government rather than to the people was an interesting phenomenon worth exploring.
Xu Zhiqian nodded slightly. “In the end, it still has to be profitable, and earn quite a bit of money, since you have to satisfy their needs while also donating to the government and the people.”
Zhang Fei nodded and smiled. “Exactly.”
Xu Zhiqian said, “But how much money can we make just from producing movable type?”
Zhang Fei replied, “Of course we can’t rely entirely on the printing workshop to make money. Don’t we also have the carriage rental service?”
Xu Zhiqian said, “That’s still not enough.”
Zhang Fei said, “There’s no rush. We can think of more ideas slowly. Let’s eat first, let’s eat.”
The next day remained just as bustling, with wealthy merchants coming to donate or gather information in an endless stream.
But currently, it was still much thunder with little rain – everyone was still feeling their way forward.
For the entire morning, Zhang Fei didn’t even have a sip of tea, constantly explaining the charitable organization’s regulations to them.
It wasn’t until noon that Zhang Fei got a chance to catch his breath. Just as he was about to have lunch with Xu Zhiqian, Wang Anshi and Lu Huiqing suddenly arrived.
Zhang Fei could only welcome Wang Anshi and Lu Huiqing into the inner private room while still hungry.
“Zhang San, what you’ve done here isn’t very honorable!” Lu Huiqing said half-jokingly as soon as he sat down.
Zhang Fei replied very cautiously, “What do you mean by that, Lord Lu?”
Lu Huiqing smiled. “We’re the ones playing the villains, while Academician Sima gets all the reputation. You can’t tell me you don’t know that Academician Sima’s fame has been thunderous these past two days.”
Although Sima Guang was the leader of the conservative faction, his current reputation wasn’t actually top-tier, since there were still veteran ministers like Han Qi, Fu Bi, and Wen Yanbo above him, literary giants like Wang Anshi beside him, and rising stars like Su Zhe and Su Shi below him.
But this article, along with the popularity of the Bianjing Law Firm, had really earned Sima Guang tremendous attention, catapulting him to top-tier status.
Because everyone believed the firm’s popularity was due to Sima Guang – the facts spoke for themselves, and with people echoing each other, many became Sima Guang’s devoted fans.
Wang Anshi, standing in opposition to Sima Guang, naturally became the villain.
Although Lu Huiqing was half-joking, he was actually expressing dissatisfaction.
Zhang Fei understood this clearly and nodded directly. “This matter was indeed my oversight. I didn’t expect it would attract such attention, but I guarantee I’ll do my best to help you promote the New Policies.”
Wang Anshi chuckled. “No matter! No matter! He is just joking with you. If we can get these people to contribute money, I don’t mind being the great villain – I’m determined to play this villain anyway.”
After a pause, he continued, “We came to find you today to have you help us promote the New Policies.”
With that, he placed a sheet of paper on the table. “This is an article I wrote, mainly explaining the principles of the New Policies. Take a look.”
Winter was approaching, and Wang Anshi hoped to complete the publicity by late autumn, announce the New Policies in winter, and begin full implementation next year.
But regarding publicity, Wang Anshi was completely convinced – this still had to be left to Zhang Fei to handle.
Zhang Fei picked it up and saw that this article mainly explained the principles of the Balanced Delivery Policy, but it also left a hint about the corvee labor system.
Obviously, Wang Anshi planned to publicize the Balanced Delivery Policy first, then the reforms to the corvee labor system.
After Zhang Fei read it, he suddenly frowned: “Didn’t you say that I would arrange this publicity?”
Wang Anshi was stunned: “That’s why I’m giving you the article – you decide when the best time to publish it would be.”
Zhang Fei said: “Since you are entrusting the publicity to me, shouldn’t you inform me of the specific provisions of the New Policies, rather than writing an article for me and just having me help you print it?”
Lu Huiqing asked: “Is there something wrong with this article?”
Wang Anshi also looked at him in puzzlement.
With your kindergarten-level abilities, you think you can find problems with my article?
You must be joking.
Zhang Fei replied honestly: “This is art, but it’s not publicity.”
After hearing this, Wang Anshi stroked his beard and smiled: “Alright, alright, you can save the flattery! With your writing skills, even if you tried to flatter, you wouldn’t hit the mark. I’ve told you to practice more, but you never listen.”
My level isn’t good enough? With your publicity skills, no wonder your New Policies failed. Zhang Fei thought sarcastically to himself, then said with a straight face: “No, I’m being serious. I’m not flattering you. Your article is indeed written too well, but it’s only suitable for collection and scholarly study – it’s not suitable for publicity.”
Seeing that he didn’t seem to be flattering, Wang Anshi was completely confused.
What kind of standard is this?
Lu Huiqing was also puzzled: “So even writing well isn’t acceptable?”
Zhang Fei patiently explained: “Publicity doesn’t work that way. Publicity is meant to attract everyone’s attention and generate discussion. The language just needs to be clear – the content is what matters.”
Wang Anshi was displeased: “Is my content not good?”
Zhang Fei said: “Every word is a pearl, every point hits the mark. But someone like me has absolutely no interest in this type of content, because I simply don’t know how to appreciate it.
Moreover, the people who can appreciate this article are only a small portion of the population, but the New Policies concern everyone under heaven – they’re not serving just that small portion. This publicity needs to arouse the common people’s interest.”
Lu Huiqing nodded slightly.
But Wang Anshi said dissatisfiedly: “Then why did you ask Sima Guang to write an article? The people who could appreciate his article weren’t the majority either, yet it was a great success. How is it that when it comes to me, it won’t work?”
Zhang Fei smiled bitterly: “It’s different. I was trying to fool that small portion of people – uh, no – my charitable organization was trying to attract that small portion to donate money. As long as those people liked reading it, that was enough. Whether the common people read it or not had nothing to do with me.”
Wang Anshi said: “I’m also writing for that small portion to read. The people I want to persuade are also just the court officials.”
Zhang Fei scratched his head in frustration: “Grand Scholar Wang, if you doubt someone, don’t use them; if you use someone, don’t doubt them. Since you’ve chosen to entrust publicity to me, shouldn’t I have the final say?”
Wang Anshi frowned tightly and remained silent.
Lu Huiqing knew what Wang Anshi was thinking.
It was his New Policies, but not his article – this would definitely make people think Wang Anshi has lost to Sima Guang again.
He had lost last time.
Moreover, they had come here this time also hoping to suppress Sima Guang’s prestige.
But Lu Huiqing also thought Zhang Fei made some valid points, so he said: “Zhang San, this policy comes from my mentor’s hand. If my mentor doesn’t write it himself, that wouldn’t make sense either. Let’s publish this article first, then you can handle the publicity.”
Zhang Fei secretly glanced at Wang Anshi, roughly guessing what he was thinking, and nodded helplessly: “Fine!”
But his expression really stung Wang Anshi’s inner pride. Last time I lost because of printing technology, but this time I’m also asking you to print it – how could I possibly lose to Sima Guang again?
I refuse to believe in this curse. Wang Anshi said angrily: “That’s settled then.”