The Most Powerful Young Master of the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 33: The Butterfly Effect

When Wang Bang entered, he was holding a rattle in his hand; as soon as he shook it, it made a “thump, thump” sound. Sima Guang glanced at it and said in astonishment, “What are you doing with a rattle?” “I’m a kid—why wouldn’t I be holding a rattle?” Wang Bang chuckled, though he’d actually bought it for a little girl to play with. Sima Guang felt a bit awkward, realizing he’d asked a silly question. It was mainly because Wang Bang’s various actions had led Sima Guang to believe he wasn’t a child at all, but rather a truly despicable wolf in sheep’s clothing. This had caused him to overlook the fact that Wang Bang really was just a child. Sima Guang said, “I didn’t summon you here to reprimand you, but to ask about some things I can’t quite wrap my head around.” Wang Bang replied, “Please speak, Your Excellency. This young man will speak openly and without reservation. As you know, when the Great Way is practiced, the world belongs to all; we heroes…” Sima Guang waved his hand in exasperation, cutting him off: “All right, all right, I know you’re a hero—you don’t need to emphasize it every time you come here. I ask you this: why have you been hiring people to wreak havoc in the marketplace and prey on the common people for so long, yet commercial taxes are actually increasing?” Wang Bang spread his hands and said, “That’s precisely where your logic fails. Since the fiscal situation is improving and healthy, it proves that my men aren’t wreaking havoc on the marketplace—they’re serving it.” “You…” Sima Guang frowned deeply and changed the subject. “All right, explain to this old man the reason behind this increase in market taxes.” “Let me put it this way, my friend.” Wang Bang began, but upon noticing the prefect’s exasperated expression, he quickly corrected himself: “Uh, Your Excellency, this is where order comes in. In the past, the rice noodle vendor’s business was poor because every day, police officers and thugs would come to her stall to eat, drink, and extort money—one group would leave only for another to arrive. She could barely scrape by and dared not dream of anything more. But now the officers aren’t giving her trouble, and the thugs aren’t coming either. With that drain on her income gone, she has some money left over when she closes up for the day. So she can buy meat from Butcher Wang next door. Once Butcher Wang has money from his sales, he goes to Cuiyun Tower to visit Hongniang after closing up. Hongniang, having earned money from her clients, needs to dress up to retain customers and improve her service, so she buys rouge from Shuilian Workshop. With increased sales, Shuilian Workshop needs to expand production and hire more workers, which is how Ermaozi from Sima Workshop goes from being unemployed to having a job. Now that Ermaozi has a job, not only does the pressure from local thugs decrease, but he also takes his daughter to eat rice noodles at Rice Noodle Lady’s. As a result, Rice Noodle Lady has more money and buys more meat. “Once basic needs are met, people turn to pleasure.” Wang the Butcher, being even wealthier, became even more lustful; whenever he visited, he’d book Hongniang for two hours straight. This is what’s called a virtuous cycle. Your Honor, do you now understand where money and taxes come from?” Sima Guang thought for a moment, unwilling to believe that reality could be so simple; there had to be some trickery involved. Some of this brat’s tactics and way of thinking were somewhat reminiscent of Wang Anshi. And more often than not, it was precisely in these areas that Sima Guang and Wang Anshi’s differences arose. “Is it simple or not?” asked Wang Bang. Sima Guang pointed at his nose and said, “You’re just a little brat—how dare you lecture me on state affairs like this? How could it possibly be as simple as you say? There are so many talented and capable people in the world; if it were that simple, the Song Dynasty would have become a utopia long ago.” Wang Bang said dejectedly, “You don’t need to use your vast erudition as a platform to overcomplicate simple matters. Do you know the saying, ‘Empty talk ruins a country’? Execution is the key. It’s not that I look down on you, but even if I gave you my entire secret recipe for raising chickens, unless I stayed out of the game—and you had the advantage of a generational gap—you’d only survive. Otherwise, the moment I entered the fray, you’d go under, losing everything down to your underwear.” “How dare you speak to me this way, you upstart!” Sima Guang couldn’t help but fly into a rage. Wang Bang said, “Please calm down, Your Excellency. Reason doesn’t lie in raising one’s voice. As long as you keep the constables and the gangs in check, Shuzhou will improve. Unfortunately, you lack the ability—not only can you not manage them properly, but you also suppress Little Wang and Old Wang, who actually could. Now, do you see where the Song Dynasty’s problems lie? Do you understand the harm caused by political infighting?” Sima Guang slammed his fist on the table and rebuked him, “How dare you, a mere brat, lecture me on state affairs? My duty here is to keep your Wang family in check and prevent you from running amok. That is this old man’s responsibility and right!” Wang Bang replied, “It’s quite amusing how you’re scaring a child by shouting so loudly.” Sima Guang had never seen anyone dare to speak to the Prefect like this—not even Wang Anshi would have dared—so, his face as dark as the bottom of a cauldron, he pointed and shouted, “Take this brat… take him… take him out of here! He is never to set foot in the prefectural office again. I refuse to listen to this lunatic ever again.” Phew. Now Wang Bang could breathe a sigh of relief—it would be terrible to be “invited” for tea by him all the time. From now on, he’d finally be able to stay away. Don’t thank me for helping you raise the official taxes in Shuzhou. That was for Anshi’s father’s sake, and for my own—you, Old Sima, just happened to benefit from it as a bonus. Boosting the economy and people’s livelihoods in Shuzhou counts as an administrative achievement. As one of the prefectural officials, Old Wang naturally deserves some credit. When I go to the capital next year to report on my duties, my reputation will look better, and my new position will be more impressive. Sima Guang is a total pushover. He thought he’d swindled the secret formula and could use it to keep me, Da Bang, in check? Submitting the feed formula to the imperial court is the same as making it public to all poultry farmers across the land. But where there’s a Version 1. 0, there’s bound to be a Version 2. 0. Does he really think one idea can sustain him for a lifetime? When the time comes, I’ll still be the pioneer—I’ll just be selling the technology. So I’ll still be the only one raking in the big bucks, while everyone else just gets the credit. Besides, what’s really sneaky about Wang Bang is that feed alone isn’t enough to raise healthy chickens. As for the artificial incubation process—one of the “Three Treasures”—and the theory of chicken breed evolution, this young master still has them firmly in my grasp, waiting to sell them for a hefty price… Before we knew it, September had arrived, and the two Wang children were living the good life every day. Wang Xiaoya and the donkey had chores to do. As for Wang Bang, he was living the life of a true tech geek, already working on new feed formulas. He was calculating the nutritional composition to achieve the best results at the lowest possible cost, using the resources available in the Song Dynasty. At the same time, he was observing and supervising Wang Xiaoya’s chicken-raising efforts. The new formula involved only minor adjustments to the proportions of existing ingredients—tweaks and optimizations—with no revolutionary changes. This is commonly referred to as “squeezing toothpaste.” Hence, it could only be called Version 1. 1. As for Version 2. 0, there’s nothing particularly remarkable about it—it’s exclusively for Wang Bang’s personal use. It involves buying some fish to grind into powder, reducing the amount of beans used, and supplementing the missing amino acids while keeping the protein content largely unchanged. The eggs produced by Version 2. 0 are reserved for Chen Jiaohu to target the high-end market. No problem—it doesn’t matter that Wang Bang can’t be bothered to catch fish himself. Since Old Chen has high-end channels and can sell them for fifty wen apiece, Wang Bang stands to make a huge profit just by buying ready-made fish at the Shuzhou market. In short, the quality of the product depends on how much money you’re willing to spend. Meanwhile, Wang Bang observed the night sky and concluded that it was currently the ninth month of the lunar calendar. His mother responded by slapping him on the back of the head and saying, “That conclusion is nonsense—just as useless as your abacus.” Geez, actually, Wang Bang was worried about Di Qing’s situation. Historically, Di Qing defeated Nong Zhigao at the beginning of the year, but it’s already early September now, and even “Demon King” Dad has gone to the front lines, yet there’s still no resolution in sight. Perhaps this is the butterfly effect triggered by my little “Wang Bang” traveling through the wormhole—I have no idea how far-reaching these effects will be in the future…