The Most Powerful Young Master of the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 35: He Really Got Smacked

Around that time, Old Liao’s voice could be heard from outside, sounding puzzled: “Huh, why isn’t there a single soul in the house?” “Could it be that Bang’er has fallen ill again? Everyone’s gathered in his room.” Wang Anshi’s voice drifted in, and then he entered. Upon entering, without even pausing to greet his mother, Wang Anshi hurried to the bedside and said with deep regret, “Ying’er just can’t seem to overcome his physical frailty. It’s truly heartbreaking. It’s all because your father set the bar too high for you and was too strict in his discipline.” Wang Bang nodded slightly. Then the room was filled with another wave of sobbing. Wang Anshi frowned and said, “None of you should be sighing and lamenting here. That’s not the Wang family way. Go outside. Crying here accomplishes nothing; on the contrary, it’s upsetting me.” His mother, Wu Qiong, and his grandmother saw the logic in this, so they led Wang Xiaoya out of the room. Wang Bang quickly raised his hand, trying to signal them to stay with a gesture. However, Wang Anshi, quick on his feet, grabbed Wang Bang’s hand and began taking his pulse. Finally, his pulse steadied. After feeling his pulse for a moment with his eyes half-closed, Wang Anshi rose from the bedside and ordered Old Liao, “Hang this brat up—and stuff a gag in his mouth while you’re at it.” And so Old Liao really did hang him up. While the Sword Saint stuffed a cloth into Wang Bang’s mouth, he signaled with his eyes: Don’t blame me—I didn’t reveal your misdeeds. It was Old Master Sima from next door, who was waiting right outside the city gates. After capturing the master, he poured out his grievances and even cursed, saying, “The Wang family has no discipline.” He spilled everything about you. Wang Anshi, calmly twirling his mustache, asked, “Bing’er, do you admit your mistake?” Wang Bang felt frustrated. “My mouth is stuffed shut—how am I supposed to admit my mistake?” So Old Liao feigned loyalty and said, “Minister, he can’t speak. Could you please unplug his mouth?” Wang Anshi shook his head. “No. Ever since he got kicked in the head by a donkey, he’s been up to no good. If you let him speak, he’ll surely call his mother and grandmother in, and then I won’t be able to discipline my son.” “All right, never mind.” Old Liao backed down. “Can you nod?” Wang Anshi asked. Snort, snort—Wang Bang nodded. “Then hurry up and admit you were wrong,” Wang Anshi said. Wang Bang was frustrated. When watching movies in later generations, he hated those interrogators who kept asking, “Forget everything else—just tell me whether you did it or not.” So it turned out that even his “Demon King” father’s judge acted the same way. To avoid getting spanked, Wang Bang, ever adaptable, nodded—better to admit his mistake first and deal with the consequences later. But he stumbled again. After he nodded, Wang Anshi said, “Since you’ve admitted your mistake, go ahead and spank him—on the butt. No faking it—give him twenty real swats.” “But he already knows he’s wrong,” Old Liao said, looking a bit awkward. Wang Anshi replied, “Admitting a mistake is a matter of attitude, not a way to avoid punishment—otherwise, what’s the point of the law? This only shows he has a sense of right and wrong and isn’t completely corrupt. Since he has that sense and has admitted his mistake, he’ll accept the punishment. If he’s wrong, he must be punished.” So Old Liao really did spank him. The pain made Wang Bang writhe in agony. Afterward, seeing that he was, after all, just a ten-year-old brat, Wang Anshi’s heart softened, and he waved his hand, saying, “Let him speak.” Only then did Old Liao remove the gag from his mouth. With tears welling in his eyes, Wang Bang said, “Your son knows he was wrong, but a judge’s ruling must be based on legal statutes. I wonder which one Father is citing in this case?” Wang Anshi gave him a light tap on the head and said, “Don’t try to be clever. Under the laws of the Great Song Dynasty, you’re obviously not guilty—that’s why Sima Guang couldn’t do anything to you. He didn’t find any fault with you, so of course I wouldn’t just come here out of boredom to put you on trial. That’s why I didn’t use the ‘Intimidation Rod’ to beat you, but Old Liao’s hand instead. This is family discipline. How can you think that a father disciplining his son is equivalent to setting up a private court?” Ugh. Wang Bang actually felt he couldn’t argue with him, so he could only nod to show he understood. Only then did Wang Anshi’s expression soften slightly as he said, “Sima Guang didn’t say you were guilty. Would you like to hear his assessment of you?” Wang Bang replied, “I’d like to hear it.” Wang Anshi twirled his mustache and said, “He described you as follows: ‘At first glance, you don’t look like a child; upon closer inspection, you don’t look like a decent person; upon closer examination, you don’t seem to have broken any laws; but when questioned, you’re a sly one.’ ” After a pause, Wang Anshi asked, “What do you think? Is his assessment wrong?” “……” Wang Bang felt that Sima Shengren’s assessment was, in fact, quite accurate. Only then did Wang Anshi continue, “It’s good that you’re not trying to wriggle out of this, Bang’er. Your father and Sima Guang may disagree on political matters, but these affairs are none of your business. That’s no reason for you to mock him or show him disrespect. As for whether I prefer the you of the past or the you of the present, even I cannot say for certain. In any case, you are my son. Whether you are a dragon or a snake, you are still my son. This time, you made your father travel hundreds of li, and it achieved the desired result. I am grateful to you, yet I also fear you. It is just as if you were rallying a gang of ruffians to do the right thing. I admire the outcome you’ve achieved, but I worry about the process by which you go about it.” “Xu Langshan told me that you hardly ever go to the prefectural academy anymore. But even after learning this, I don’t wish to scold you. The purpose of studying is to understand道理, and the purpose of understanding道理 is to become a good person. Cultivate oneself, put one’s family in order, govern the state, and bring peace to the world. In fact, you’ve never been a bad person, but you’ve read so much that you’ve gone to extremes and lost your sense of how to conduct yourself in life. That’s why I’ve tacitly allowed you to stop attending the prefectural academy; I hope you’ll focus on learning how to be a good person first. After all, you won’t starve if you stop studying, but if you fail to conduct yourself properly, the more you read, the greater the harm.” Having spoken these heartfelt words, Wang Anshi continued, “Sima Guang didn’t say you were wrong, but he said you deserved a beating. I think his conclusion is sound, so this time you were beaten. To borrow your own words, isn’t that simple?” Wang Bang could only nod obediently. With that, Wang Anshi shifted into a more serious tone, twirling his mustache as he said, “I’ve heard that you’ve been associating with a gang of ruffians, and I find that deeply objectionable. But now I’m wondering: could this also be a way to save wayward youths? Sima Guang can’t understand this; he believes we should isolate that group, have the public guard against them, and ultimately make it impossible for them to move or do anything—and then, when they reach out, cut off their hands.” “One cannot say he is wrong in his legalistic thinking. But I, too, find it unsound. If we were to arrest them, there isn’t currently sufficient legal grounds to do so. Devoting a large amount of government resources to monitoring a few petty thugs while waiting to enforce the law is, in fact, letting them lead us by the nose—putting the cart before the horse. Not only does it delay the government’s ability to act, but it also amounts to condoning their harassment of the common people. When everyone sees that the government can’t do anything about them, it attracts even more unemployed youths to follow their example. Legally, of course, there’s no issue with this, but public morals are lost this way, little by little. This is what’s called a decline in public trust. Wang’ang, do you understand what public trust is?” Wang Bang nodded and said, “I understand, Father. Public trust is the degree of confidence the common people have in the government. If these thugs are left unchecked as long as they don’t commit major offenses, more and more commoners will come to believe that ‘the government can’t control these people, nor can it control the common people.’ Once that mindset takes hold, it becomes difficult to maintain order.” This is why many who appear just end up with mediocre track records. Upholding the laws of the Great Song is not a mistake, but the negative consequences are clear. If we continue to let Sima Guang govern as he pleases, Shuzhou will be ruined, and that will truly affect the report on your term in office that you’ll submit to the imperial court next year.” Wang Anshi nodded and said, “Go on.” Wang Bang continued, “According to Ma Jinsi and others, the moral standards in Shuzhou are now very poor. For example, upon hearing the sound of horse hooves, some people deliberately emerge from alleyways and lie down directly in the path of the horses. Under Sima Guang’s rule, Ma Jinsi says such people faced virtually no consequences for their actions, so he and his associates used to do this frequently as well. This has shaped the current social climate in Shuzhou: whenever someone falls to the ground, the neighbors’ first reaction is to scatter like birds and beasts. Sima Guang may not have been wrong, but he has, in fact, caused the loss of public trust and cohesion—a sign of incompetence. If the public spirit in Shaanxi were like this, who would defend our Great Song’s borders and territory? Therefore, public trust and cohesion are actually the true legacy that Grand Master Fan Zhongyan left in the Northwest of the Great Song—the very reason the Western Xia could not invade. Unfortunately, the existence of this group of conservatives led to the failure of the Qingli New Policies.” Wang Anshi twirled his mustache and pondered for a long time before saying, “What you’ve said goes far beyond what one would expect from a child—no wonder His Majesty was so determined to bestow upon you the title of ‘child prodigy.’ I must give this some serious thought. At the same time, I understand the crux of what you’re saying: we must not allow ourselves to be arbitrarily shackled by the law, nor should we casually abandon the subjects of the Song Dynasty—including Ma Jinsi. The importance of guiding and educating them far outweighs waiting for them to commit crimes and then arresting and beheading them. Bang’er, is that what you mean?” “Dad, you’re awesome—that’s exactly what I mean,” Wang Bang said with a smile. Wang Anshi thought for a moment, nodded slightly in agreement, and said no more… After receiving a lesson in conduct from his father, Wang Bang wrote a sincere self-criticism, addressing the Great Demon King and Uncle Sima: From this day forward, I will be a very well-behaved person—a child prodigy who lives up to the Great Song Dynasty and the Emperor. I vow to use all my passion and positive energy to reform hooligans like Ma Jinsi, protect the interests of the common people, and safeguard the citizens of the Great Song Dynasty. I swear to defend the righteous path of humanity to the death and make it my mission to save the world. Period. Now that this kid had been bestowed the title of “child prodigy,” he’d started using the Emperor’s and the Great Song Dynasty’s reputations to pull off all sorts of shenanigans, whether there was a reason or not. Faced with this, Wang Anshi could only offer a wry smile—there was truly nothing he could do about him. Sima was quite flustered, finding Wang Bang’s self-criticism both grandly righteous and utterly brainless. The kid didn’t think he’d done anything wrong; between the lines, he was making it clear that he intended to carry on with his “gang-forming” activities to the very end. The problem was that the “Child Prodigy” had become too famous. Bao Zheng had already issued a directive to Sima Guang, stating: “You are not to concern yourself with what he says or thinks; just watch what he does.” From Bao Zheng’s perspective, it was rare for him to scold Sima Guang. Old Bao was simply not the type to give the emperor any face, so this time, Bao Zheng’s rebuke of Sima Guang certainly wasn’t because of the “Child Prodigy” title. That left only one explanation: Old Bao had truly set his sights on Chancellor Pang Ji. As far as this little brat is concerned, that’s the only possibility. Old Bao is really being underhanded here. It looks like he initially planned to use the Di Qing issue to target Pang Ji, since Di Qing’s deployment this time was recommended by Pang Ji, the Chief of the Imperial Secretariat. In reality, appointing Di Qing was the Emperor’s decision. However, Zhao Zhen valued balance and saved face; since Di Qing attracted too much animosity, the Emperor felt awkward about saying so directly. Grand Tutor Pang, being quite attentive to Zhao Zhen’s needs, intuitively understood the situation and stepped forward to recommend him, and the Emperor went along with it. If Bao Zheng were the considerate type, he certainly wouldn’t have stepped forward to speak up. Unfortunately, Old Bao isn’t like that—he’s the kind of person who thrives on causing trouble for the emperor. Now that the Di Qing incident has essentially been resolved, Xiao Suanbang is certain that some dirt will soon be dug up on Pang Ji. If such dirt actually exists, Pang Ji is essentially half-finished. No matter how much the emperor favors him, it won’t matter—Pang Ji’s dismissal as chancellor this time will likely be permanent, and he’ll never have a place on the political stage again. In reality, Pang Ji has his merits—he’s a man who’s considerate toward the emperor. Since Wang Bang has won the emperor’s favor, he’s naturally swayed Old Pang as well. The downside is that protecting Pang Ji is tantamount to elevating Grand Master Sima. Wang Bang refused to accept this. If Pang Ji remained in power, no matter how great Wang Anshi’s achievements were, Sima Guang would still take top honors when they reported for duty in the capital next year, while Anshi’s father would merely be a subordinate…