Chapter 956 Screwed Over

Chapter 956: Screwed Over Chapter 956: Screwed Over Editor: Atlas Studios “Other than military books, medical books and books related to craftsmanship are also very difficult to find in bookstores.

Most of them are passed down from generation to generation.” Qi Haoran sighed and said, “Why can an aristocratic family be an aristocratic family?

It’s not because they have a lot of land and money, but because they have a lot of books.

With more books, they can pass on more knowledge, and they won’t be unable to recover from a setback.

Even if they decline, it’s only temporary.

They can always learn and make a comeback.” “This is monopolizing knowledge.” Mu Yangling hugged his arm and asked, “Then what kind of books do we have at home?” Qi Haoran glanced at her and said, “Didn’t you take a look at all the books in our study?

How can you not know what books are there?

Other than the four books and five scriptures, the most common ones are military books, miscellaneous books, and agriculture books.” “What about the palace?” Qi Haoran smiled.

“There are quite a lot of books in the palace.

At that time, the chaos didn’t spread to the capital, so the books in the palace’s library were all preserved.

However, the palace collection is still inferior to that of the aristocratic families.” There were three library buildings in the palace, and each one had two floors.

Mu Yangling couldn’t help but click her tongue.

“So the aristocratic families own so many books.

No wonder they are held in high regard.

Just this point alone makes those scholars willing to be controlled by the aristocratic families.” Qi Haoran nodded.

“Emperor Shizong of the previous dynasty knew this.

Back then, he shamelessly asked the aristocratic families to take out their books and let the royal publishing house publish them.

He wanted to build a royal library and open it up to all the scholars in the world.

Unfortunately, the construction had just begun when the war in the north started again.

When Emperor Shizong returned from pacifying the north, he fell seriously ill in less than two years.

At that time, the books were only half-printed.

When the aristocratic families saw this, they took back their books.

No matter how much the royal publishing house begged, they refused to take out any more books.

Emperor Gaozong, who was the Crown Prince at that time, pitied the aristocratic families and made the decision to terminate the printing.

It was said that when Emperor Shizong found out, he was so angry that he vomited blood and died in less than two days.

“After Gaozong became close to the aristocratic families, he directly canceled the construction of the royal library using an empty national treasury as an excuse and kept the published books in the palace’s libraries.

“When Emperor Jingyan fled south, he only brought out a portion of the books.

The rest were either destroyed by the flames of war or divided up by the aristocratic families or plundered by Great Jin.

Therefore, although the palace library is huge now, the number of books in it is less than one-third of what’s available during Emperor Shizong’s era.” Qi Haoran simply didn’t like to read.

Speaking of this, he couldn’t help but sigh.

He knew that culture should be passed down from generation to generation, and books were the carrier of culture.

Great Qi had inherited too few books, and their foundation was too little.

“How do you know all this?” “Zijin told me.” Qi Haoran folded his hands behind his head and lay on the bed.

He crossed his legs and said, “Wanting to find a few rare books, he looked for a long time, but he couldn’t find any.

He refused to give up and ran to flip through Emperor Shizong’s books.

After all, it wasn’t a secret that Emperor Shizong had gone to great lengths to request books from the aristocratic families to print more copies.

All scholars knew about that.

Thus, Zijin didn’t believe that there were only so many books in the library.

He almost vomited blood from anger when he saw them.

Just the catalog for the titles of the books had to be stored in five large boxes, yet less than half of those books had remained.

When he flipped through the secret history of that era, he almost ran to Emperor Gaozong’s tomb to lash out at him.

He came to me to complain, and that was how I knew.” Fan Zijin was not a good person, but he was a scholar who loved books.

How could he not be angry when he saw that a perfectly fine royal library had been destroyed by Gaozong’s words?

“Actually, Big Brother can complete what Emperor Shizong didn’t manage to complete.” Mu Yangling felt that Emperor Shizong, a transmigrator, was really quite brilliant.

If he could have lived for a few more years, Great Zhou might not be what it was today.

However, she was very curious.

As a transmigrator, how did he raise his son?

Why was Gaozong always going against him?

“Not now.” Qi Haoran said, “The priority now is the people’s livelihood.

Putting aside the cost of printing the books, just communicating with the aristocratic families is very difficult.

The aristocratic families are not obligated to contribute the books.

Emperor Shizong was able to succeed back then because he was shameless.

He practically begged the aristocratic families and gave up a lot of benefits before getting them to take out the books.

Firstly, I can’t bear to let my royal brother suffer this humiliation.

Secondly, the aristocratic families are already much weaker than before.

If we continue to force them, I’m afraid there will be chaos.” Hence, this wasn’t going to happen for at least ten years.

Smiling, Mu Yangling said, “I’m not asking Big Brother to ask the aristocratic families for books.

We can just print the books owned by our family and the palace.

After we finish doing so, we’ll call for everyone to donate books.

The aristocratic families indeed own a lot of books, but there are also many books owned by the royal family.

In the beginning, just these books are more than sufficient.

Even Zijin, how many books has he read in the library?

After that, we can begin to ask for donations.

Perhaps those aristocratic families might not be willing to take out their books, but there are ministers in the court and scholars everywhere in the world.

Are none of them willing to contribute to the country?

At that time, it won’t make any difference if the aristocratic families donate or not.” Qi Haoran was puzzled at first, but then his eyes lit up and he sat up.

“That’s right.

We’re not going to beg them.

We’ll grind them to death with a soft knife.” The aristocratic families were unwilling to share the books because they wanted to monopolize the knowledge.

This way, no matter what system the Imperial Court used to recruit officials, they had the upper hand.

This was because they monopolized abundant education resources.

This was something that other civilians and even scholarly farmers could not achieve.

However, if the royal library was open to all the commoners in the world and its books could be borrowed and copied, the aristocracy’s advantage would be weakened.

Even if the royal library’s collection could not compare to that of the aristocratic families, it was enough for one to study for the Imperial Examination to become an official.

As for technical talents, the books in the library could also allow them to learn the basics or advance in their craft.

It was better than fumbling around blindly.

On the other hand, while systematic education had its benefits, unorthodox methods also had their advantages.

Who could be sure that the wild ones would not soar into the sky and surpass the domesticated ones?

Most importantly, their numbers greatly exceed that of aristocratic families.

They would be opening up their library to all the commoners in the world, while the aristocratic families’ collection was only made available to their family members.

In fact, even their family members might not be able to enter the aristocratic families’ private library to borrow books.

Considering the aristocratic families were not all impenetrable, Mu Yangling expressed that they could be divided.

The more the couple talked, the more enthusiastic they became.

The two of them were both bold and unrestrained people, and they were also talking privately.

In just a short while, the two of them had already begun to visualize the awe-inspiring scene of the royal library open to everyone in the country, and the subsequent demise of the aristocratic families.

With a chuckle, Mu Yangling said, “This is what it means to fight without bloodshed.

Back then, Emperor Shizong was too anxious.” “He couldn’t not be anxious, seeing as he was about to die.

Look, once he died, all his previous efforts had been in vain.” “Since the lifespan of humans is limited, the education of future generations is extremely important.

Otherwise, no matter how hard the ancestors work, if our descendants are unworthy, the results we achieve will all be in vain.” Mu Yangling sighed and said, “As soon as Gaozong took over, he destroyed the hard work of Emperor Shizong achieved over more than 20 years.

If not for the fact that Emperor Shizong left behind a solid foundation, Great Zhou would probably have perished at that time.

Therefore, in fact, this person should receive a ‘best at screwing over one’s father’ award.” Qi Haoran pondered for a moment.

“Are we too indulgent of our sons?” Also deep in thought, Mu Yangling leaned on him and said, “Why don’t we be stricter from tomorrow onwards?” “Is it too late now?” Qi Haoran hesitated.

“Didn’t you say that one’s personality becomes fixed after turning three years old?

The three children are already past three years old now.” Mu Yangling said firmly, “Then let’s set it straight.” Hence, what started out as lecturing his wife was forcefully turned into a discussion between the couple on how to discipline their sons.

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