Actually, when Zhang Fei initially decided to establish a charitable organization, he had already been observing the entire economic structure of Bianjing.
He was mainly looking for a business that could absorb large amounts of capital investnt.
Major commodities like grain, salt, alcohol, and sugar were basically under court regulation, and powerful families were entrenched everywhere in these trades, making such businesses unreliable.
After calculating everything, only the entertainnt industry could swallow such a massive investnt.
At the ti, he had two choices: first, invest in pleasure quarters and entertainnt districts; second, invest in football and establish a new league.
However, given that there were no microphones at present, the influence that pleasure quarters and entertainnt districts could create was very limited, while sports had no such restrictions and even had peripheral products.
In the end, he chose football.
He also deliberately scheduled Wang Anshi’s article and the football finals on the sa day, wanting to see the influence of football.
The result was obvious – the first shot of the New Policies did not affect everyone’s attention to football.
But this did not an the New Policies lacked influence.
This issue of the Scholar’s Gazette caused quite a stir in court.
The conservatives nearly cursed the roof off, believing that Wang Anshi was the reincarnation of Sang Hongyang!
And Sang Hongyang’s economic policies had absolutely no standing in the Song Dynasty. Back then, Sang Hongyang had provided Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty with finances for warfare, but nearly brought the country to collapse as well.
Facts had already proven this approach was inadvisable.
But they really did not understand economics.
Sang Hongyang’s Balanced Delivery Policy and Wang Anshi’s Balanced Delivery Policy seed similar, but were essentially different.
Sang Hongyang’s economic policy was to activate the state machinery and extract wealth from across the realm to supply the nation’s wars. The fatal flaw of this policy was that the prolonged warfare did not bring wealth to the Han Empire.
Especially continuing even after eliminating the threats.
Wang Anshi’s Balanced Delivery Policy was rely to solve the supply and demand problems of the capital reduce waste in the process, and incidentally earn so money to supplent the finances.
But to say the two were completely different would also be wrong, since Wang Anshi’s Balanced Delivery Policy was indeed derived from Sang Hongyang’s Balanced Delivery Policy.
Court of Penal Review.
“Academician Sima, I want to return to the Prosecution Office.”
Fan Chunren’s expression was stern as he bowed to Sima Guang.
Sima Guang looked at Fan Chunren’s murderous expression, feeling sowhat unnerved, “Why are you suddenly eager to return to the Prosecution Office?”
Fan Chunren said, “I want to prosecute the Reform Planning Commission for violating ancestral laws.”
Sima Guang frowned, “Violating ancestral laws?”
Fan Chunren nodded, “Correct. According to this Scholar’s Gazette article, if they want to implent the Balanced Delivery Policy, the Transport Commissioners will control the entire tribute system, free from central control and local supervision. Then they can act with impunity, which will certainly produce corruption.
However, this is not the most fatal issue. More fatal is that this will destroy our Great Song’s ancestral laws in one fell swoop, with great power concentrated in one office. The consequences would be unthinkable.”
Actually, Sima Guang had already known the provisions of the Balanced Delivery Policy beforehand, and he also felt so dissatisfaction with certain clauses.
However, he also believed that fixed and unchanging tax-in-kind obligations was wrong and indeed needed to be changed.
His attitude toward this law was that it had both benefits and drawbacks.
But since it had not yet been implented, he felt they should wait and see.
But Fan Chunren was firmly opposed to doing this. When he read this article, he nearly cursed Wang Anshi as a traitor who would steal the country.
Because this would an the Transport Commissioners would control the entire nation’s procurent authority, and this was a task spread across the whole country, making it very difficult to supervise this departnt – everything would be up to them.
Previously, the Song system always said that if you wanted to establish a departnt, you must first figure out how to supervise that departnt.
For example, the establishnt of the General Police Bureau.
The General Police Bureau’s predecessor was the Patrol and Inspection Bureau, which was managed separately by infantry and cavalry divisions that balanced each other. When rged into the General Police Bureau under the Chamber of State Affairs, new institutions had to be established to supervise the General Police Bureau.
It was just that with judicial reform, there was already a system of mutual supervision – the Prosecution Office, the courts, and the Legal Aid Office. These two governnt offices and one civilian institution could all supervise the General Police Bureau.
Power was still mutually balanced.
Fan Chunren was very sensitive to centralization of power. At the ti, he had readily accepted the Legal Aid Office precisely to ensure they could supervise the General Police Bureau.
However, Wang Anshi had not provided a set of supervisory institutions, because Wang Anshi wanted to improve efficiency. He thoroughly despised these bloated institutions. It had to be said that centralization was the most efficient thod – one person making all the decisions.
Sima Guang thought for a mont and said, “Who says there’s no supervision? Don’t you still have your Prosecution Office watching from the side? If there really is corruption, your Prosecution Office can prosecute when the ti cos!”
Fan Chunren replied, “It’s not that I haven’t considered this point, but currently only Bianjing has a Prosecution Office in the entire country. However, corruption in the Balanced Delivery Policy cannot possibly occur in the capital – it would mostly happen in local areas. Under current circumstances, establishing Prosecution Offices everywhere would take a very long ti, making supervision impossible.”
Just then, another official reported from outside that Deputy Prosecutor Su Shi had arrived.
This Su Shi really knew how to join in the excitent. Sima Guang felt a severe headache coming on.
When Su Shi entered and saw Fan Chunren there, he couldn’t help but show a guarded expression.
Sima Guang didn’t give Su Shi a pleasant look and asked, “What business do you have now?”
Su Shi bowed respectfully and said, “This official intends to prosecute the Balanced Delivery Policy for violating ancestral laws.”
Sima Guang glanced at both of them and laughed, “You two really are birds of a feather – great minds think alike!”
Su Shi quickly said, “Academician Sima speaks incorrectly. He represents the Legal Aid Office, I represent the Prosecution Office – one civilian, one official. They cannot be conflated.”
This ti Fan Chunren truly had no mood to compete with Su Shi for the right to prosecution.
Sima Guang was too lazy to argue with him and asked, “On what grounds do you prosecute the Balanced Delivery Policy?”
Su Shi said, “First, this Balanced Delivery Policy puts the cart before the horse. The financial problem lies in the Three Excesses, yet Academician Wang, without first resolving the problem of excess officials, has established a new governnt office throughout the nation. This will inevitably require establishing a batch of new official positions. With old officials not yet gone and new officials taking office, this will instead increase the financial burden.”
Both Sima Guang and Fan Chunren nodded slightly.
That made quite good sense.
Su Shi continued, “Second, who will supervise this new governnt office? Though Academician Wang is incorrupt, he cannot oversee everything personally. Internal corruption will inevitably breed, harming the country and people.
It was clearly stated at the ti that their Reform Planning Commission would be subject to judicial supervision. I believe the Prosecution Office must fulfill its duties. Unless they revise the regulations to resolve these hidden dangers, the new laws absolutely cannot be allowed to be implented.”
Sima Guang coughed once, “I am aware of your concerns, but currently, Wang Anshi has only published an article in the Scholar’s Gazette and has not yet formally promulgated new policies. I will discuss this with him when the ti cos.
Furthermore, you must rember one point – the Prosecution Office is not the Censorate or Remonstrance Bureau that can morialize upon hearing rumors. It requires solid evidence. The corruption you speak of has not yet occurred, which is not within the Prosecution Office’s jurisdiction.”
Fan Chunren imdiately said, “This has nothing to do with my returning to the Prosecution Office.”
If you want to return, that would be terrible. But Sima Guang said aloud, “I will petition His Majesty about this when the ti cos.”
“Thank you, Academician Sima.”
“You may both return now.”
“This official takes leave.”
Sima Guang watched their unwilling expressions and couldn’t help muttering to himself that he probably couldn’t stop them.
As he expected, after Fan Chunren and Su Shi left the palace, they found a nearby teahouse to conspire.
“Academician Sima clearly doesn’t want us to prosecute the Reform Planning Commission,” Fan Chunren said. “I guess that he won’t let return to the Prosecution Office.”
A flash of joy crossed Su Shi’s eyes, “Really?”
Fan Chunren said gloomily, “Su Shi, at this point we should prioritize state affairs. How can you still be thinking about competing? Rest assured, I won’t compete with you for this case. The question now is whether we actually have the authority to prosecute the Reform Planning Commission.”
Su Shi smiled confidently, “If we prosecute based on ancestral laws, we can produce sufficient evidence, and we can also gain support from many people in court.”
Speaking to this point, he paused slightly, “It’s just that if Wang Anshi enlists Zhang San, we would find it difficult to win.”
Fan Chunren nodded, “The current ancestral laws were actually established by Zhang San, and when he won that case, one key piece of evidence was that ancestral laws were intended to eliminate corrupt policies, which required reform. Currently there are indeed corrupt policies in the tax-in-kind system, and Wang Anshi’s regulations do appear to address the symptoms on the surface. What we worry about has not yet occurred, and Zhang San will certainly make a big issue of this point.”
Su Shi said, “Do you still rember that lawsuit where you defeated Zhang San?”
Fan Chunren nodded, “How could I not rember? Actually, in that lawsuit, Zhang San only appears to have lost.”
Su Shi said, “We can follow that example. We don’t seek victory, we only seek to question how the imperial court should supervise the corruption that might occur.”
Fan Chunren glanced at Su Shi and smiled, “This was just published in today’s Scholar’s Gazette, yet you’ve already considered it in such detail.”
Su Shi just smiled.
Losing to Li Lei last ti had ignited Su Shi’s fighting spirit.
During this period, he had been constantly studying litigation, examining Zhang Fei’s case over and over again. Natural talent combined with hard work was the perfect answer.
anwhile, Sima Guang had not gone to discuss with Wang Anshi. Things had reached this point, and he knew he could not persuade Wang Anshi, so he went to find Zhang Fei instead.
Since Fan Chunren and Su Shi were planning to file a lawsuit, they had to find a professional.
At this mont, Zhang Fei had just returned to his law firm and was still considering how to organize a football league.
“Violating ancestral laws?”
Zhang Fei stood up in shock.
Sima Guang looked at him, “Why are you so surprised? Isn’t this just copying your approach?”
“That’s different!”
Zhang Fei quickly explained, “When I invoked ancestral laws back then, it was because I had solid evidence. The Shi family’s case truly involved corruption and murder for profit. But now Wang Anshi has rely published an article, and they want to sue using ancestral laws. Isn’t this nonsense?”
Sima Guang imdiately asked, “How do you prove they’re being nonsensical?”
“Ah?”
Zhang Fei’s expression froze, and he hurriedly said, “I was just speaking off the cuff. But Academician Sima, why do you ask this?”
Sima Guang sighed, “Although I have the authority to establish the Prosecution Office, I have no power to interfere in its affairs. If they want to file suit, I cannot stop them. Therefore, I wanted to ask you what legal grounds could be used to dismiss their lawsuit.”
Zhang Fei thought carefully, “If they sue using ancestral laws, they can certainly find so basis for it. Therefore, the best reason would be insufficient evidence.”
Ancestral laws were very general; finding basis for them was all too easy. They could only be dismissed using equally general thods.
Sima Guang said, “Insufficient evidence – this argunt is hard to convince people with. The judge could also say there’s sufficient evidence.”
Zhang Fei nodded, “If the judge wants to hear this case, then saying these things would be aningless.”
Sima Guang couldn’t help but sigh.
There were certainly judges who supported them.
Zhang Fei added, “You could tell them that they will definitely lose this lawsuit – there’s no way they can win.”
Sima Guang chuckled, “What? Do you think Wang Anshi will fight this lawsuit with them? They’re clearly trying to give Wang Anshi a show of force. Would Wang Anshi give them any good outco? And this is what I’m most worried about.”
A gleam flashed in Zhang Fei’s eyes as he slowly sat down.
Sima Guang looked at him, “What are you thinking?”
Zhang Fei was startled, “Academician Sima, I believe Academician Wang’s new policies actually make a lot of sense. The key lies in supervision, and this is the purpose of your judicial reform.”
Sima Guang nodded.
Zhang Fei continued, “Currently, His Majesty firmly supports Academician Wang’s reforms. Continuing to argue is aningless – we can only wait until the new policies are promulgated and then speak with factual evidence. Therefore, the key to the struggle is not in the capital, but in the local provinces.”
Sima Guang said, “I understand this principle too, which is why I told them not to be so agitated. But I’m afraid they won’t listen to .”
Zhang Fei said, “What I an is, if that’s the case, why keep Deputy Prosecutor Su in the capital?”
Sima Guang’s eyes widened, “You an to use this opportunity to have Su Shi and Fan Chunren demoted out of the capital?”
Zhang Fei nodded, “With Academician Wang here, nothing can go wrong in the capital. If we want to supervise the new policies, we must establish a nationwide network. Keeping talent in the capital now is completely aningless.”
Sima Guang pondered – if all the talent were sent away, what would happen to him?
Zhang Fei saw his concern and added, “You could send out those upright officials or promising young talents. But you must remain patient and ensure you can stay in the imperial court to provide them with support.
Sima Guang struggled with the decision: “But this public justice system isn’t that simple. There are many intricacies involved that I still haven’t fully grasped. We must proceed step by step. Although Su Shi has talent, his personality is careless about details. He’s fine when I’m watching over him, but if he goes alone, he’ll definitely cause trouble.”
What are you afraid of? When the ti cos, I’ll go and take charge of the overall situation myself. Do you think you’re the protagonist? Zhang Fei said, “But what’s the point of keeping them in the capital?”
Sima Guang replied, “I’d rather keep them aninglessly in the capital than let them sabotage this judicial reform. If we lose the judicial system, then everything is finished.”
I’m really speechless. With your personality, if you could accomplish great things, that would truly be miraculous. Don’t you see how old you are? Still taking it step by step. Zhang Fei said awkwardly, “I was just making a suggestion.”
Sima Guang’s heart was filled with conflict. Fan Chunren had raised this issue before – Wang Anshi’s side was implenting nationwide policies directly, while his side was moving slowly. How could he supervise like this?
But the problem was, he had often criticized Wang Anshi precisely because he believed Wang Anshi was greedy for achievent and recklessly advancing without thorough consideration. If he himself also pursued speed, what difference would there be between them?
After thinking it over, Sima Guang suddenly looked at Zhang Fei. “Speaking of this public justice system, no one is more familiar with it than you.”
Actually, Zhang Fei had made indispensable contributions to establishing the public justice system. It was just that he had just gone with the flow.
Why are you in such a hurry? I will go, but the timing isn’t ripe yet. Zhang Fei smiled awkwardly, “My shop still has a pile of matters to handle.”
Sima Guang said, “Between the two, can’t you distinguish which is more important?”
Zhang Fei pretended to struggle for a mont, then said, “You should arrange for them to go first. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll go.”
Sima Guang asked, “If they ss up the law, do you have a way to turn the tide?”
Zhang Fei replied, “I do.”
Sima Guang frowned slightly, appearing sowhat hesitant.
Zhang Fei continued, “If you recomnd to go, along with Deputy Prosecutor Su and the others, Academician Wang will imdiately see what you are planning. It would be best to have Academician Wang be the one to recomnd to go.”
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