Chapter 1416 Controversy caused by the library!

When Ye Mingsheng heard someone say that the emperor was bored, although his expression remained normal and there was no change in his face, Zhang Hu and other guards immediately changed their expressions and looked at the scholar who had just spoken with some hostility.

While Jing Cheng was still concentrating on eating the prawns, Jing Ren couldn't help but say:
"The sage said that there is no discrimination in education. How can you let the poor read books for free?"

Facing Jingren's rebuttal, the scholar said disdainfully:
"What do you know, little brat?"

Seeing that this scholar dared to insult the prince, the guard Zhang Hu could no longer bear it and walked directly towards the scholar.

The drunken scholar sobered up a little when he saw the burly and powerful Zhang Hu approaching him. He said with some fear:

"What are you going to do? I tell you this is Yijing, a place with laws!"

However, before he could finish his words, Zhang Hu slapped him twice in the face. As Ye Mingsheng's personal guard, Zhang Hu's martial arts skills were very powerful. The two slaps were so heavy and loud that they knocked the scholar unconscious!
Seeing that this scholar was so weak, Zhang Hu scratched his head in surprise.

The shopkeeper, the waiter and other diners in the restaurant looked at each other in bewilderment at the sudden turn of events. The shopkeeper was the first to react and gave a signal to the other waiter, who then quietly slipped out of the restaurant, looking as if he was going to report to the police.

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng also opened his mouth and ordered:

"Wang Lei, go and see if you can save him!"

"Yes!"

After receiving Ye Mingsheng's order, a slender guard walked up to the knocked-out scholar and began to treat him...
Because Ye Mingsheng likes to travel incognito, for the sake of Ye Mingsheng's safety, the guards following Ye Mingsheng have all received training in medical school, so that they can rescue Ye Mingsheng in case of any situation.

Although Wang Lei's martial arts skills were mediocre, he performed well in the training at the medical school. The dean of the medical school, Li Tuo, even believed that his medical skills had reached the level of an imperial physician. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng brought him with him on several of his incognito visits just in case.

With Wang Lei's operation, the scholar just woke up from his coma. At this time, a captain of the police came to Baiweizhai with several officers!

"I'm Yang Tao, the head of the Yijing government. Which one of you is causing trouble?"

Seeing the captain coming, the scholar who had just woken up from a coma immediately felt that he had someone to rely on, and immediately cried to the captain:
"Lord Yang! These people have no respect for the law. They relied on their numbers to commit crimes openly under the emperor's feet!"

"Master Yang! Arrest them all!"

Yang Tao followed the scholar's finger and noticed Ye Mingsheng and others. After just a glance at these people, Yang Tao's eyes narrowed subconsciously. Chunhua Road is one of the more prosperous streets in Yijing. Recently, a new library has opened, so it is even more crowded.

Therefore, under the instruction of Yijing prefect Liu Ning, the constables of Yijing government office took turns to patrol Chunhua Road with their officers to maintain public order.

Today was Yang Tao's turn to be on duty. He was patrolling the street, and when he heard that there was a beating in Baiweizhai, he immediately rushed over with his officers...
However, looking at the attackers in front of him, Yang Tao realized that the current situation might not be under the control of him as a constable!
First of all, the middle-aged man who was in the lead, although his clothes were not particularly luxurious, he exuded a sense of majesty without anger. Even when the head of the police came, he was very calm, as if he didn't care at all!
Secondly, Yang Tao could vaguely feel from his subordinates that the skills of these dozen people were no worse than his own, especially the one who beat him up, who gave him a sense of oppression. Thinking of this, his years of experience also made Yang Tao realize that the background of this group of people must be very strong. He then walked over very politely and said:

"I am Yang Tao, the chief constable of Yijing Prefecture. May I ask who you are, sir?"

Looking at the polite captain in front of him, Ye Mingsheng waved his hand, and Zhang Hu immediately stuffed a token into Yang Tao's hand!
Looking at the word "Qian" on the token, Yang Tao immediately realized something and his heart trembled wildly. He subconsciously wanted to kneel on the ground, but then he changed his mind and realized that His Majesty did not want to reveal his identity. If he ruined His Majesty's plan, he would be dead.

Thinking of this, he returned the token respectfully to Zhang Hu. Zhang Hu pointed at the scholar and said:

"This guy just said that Your Majesty opened a library because he had nothing better to do. Everyone heard it, so I taught him a lesson!"

Seeing that the truth of the matter was revealed by Zhang Hu, the scholar who had spoken rudely just now hesitated and wanted to say something, but Yang Tao would not give him the chance to speak at this time. He simply waved his hand and asked his servants to take the scholar away...
Although he had experienced a small episode, it did not affect Ye Mingsheng's mood. He still had things to do today!
There are many large markets in Yijing, such as Changchunyuan Market and Guangde Market that Ye Mingsheng had inspected before. One of the main reasons why Ye Mingsheng inspected Chunhua Market today was that the library was opened on Chunhua Street. After he had done his research on prices in Yijing, he could take a look at the situation of the library.

Before, after Ye Mingsheng proposed his plan of building one hundred libraries, he did not act arbitrarily and immediately, but handed it over to the Ministry of Rites, which was responsible for Daqian's educational affairs, and asked them to give their opinions!
The Minister of Rites Su Yi highly affirmed and appreciated Ye Mingsheng's idea of ​​setting up libraries in the 100 major cities of Daqian, as well as Ye Mingsheng's practice of providing free libraries to the poor and charging fees to the rich, and he was not stingy with his praise.

However, Chu Zhiyi, who had been demoted to the Minister of Rites before, raised some questions!
He thought that although Ye Mingsheng's idea was good, it was an unprecedented move. Although the idea was good, it was still unknown whether it could achieve the expected effect. Therefore, it was very risky to rashly launch this plan. If it did not achieve the expected effect, the court's financial resources would be wasted.

Therefore, just like the previous steps in promoting the work method, we should first conduct pilot projects in some cities. If the effect is good, we can then promote it in batches, so as to reduce the risk of the plan and ensure that the court's money can be spent on the right things...
To be honest, although Ye Mingsheng knew that Su Yi and others' affirmation and praise of his 100 library projects were just flattery, Ye Mingsheng still felt somewhat benefited from it. Therefore, when he saw Chu Zhiyi's memorial, he inevitably felt a little disgusted.

But after thinking about it carefully, Ye Mingsheng felt that what Chu Zhiyi said made sense. Although Ye Mingsheng felt that there was nothing wrong with his idea, it was indeed a new thing for Daqian at the moment, and it was also related to the education level, so he should be cautious.

So Ye Mingsheng finally adopted Chu Zhiyi's suggestion and announced the construction of three libraries in the three cities of Yijing, Dongning and Yuyang. Yijing prefect Liu Ning was very supportive of the idea of ​​opening a library, so within a month after Ye Mingsheng's order was issued, Liu Ning cooperated with the Ministry of Rites to open the library on Chunhua Road.

There are actually quite a few libraries in Daqian. All major academies and some large families have such a library specifically for storing books, but basically these libraries are for the study of their own children and are rarely open to the public.

Therefore, when people heard that the court had opened a library where people could read and study for free, many people became interested and praised Your Majesty for his wise move.

But soon this library also caused some controversy!
The first point is the rule set by Ye Mingsheng that poor people who come to the library on foot in cloth clothes can read books for free, but rich people who come to the library in carriages in luxurious clothes need to pay to read books...

Many common people applauded this rule, but some rich people had strong opinions about it. They thought it was very unfair. They believed that although they had money, they earned it through their own sweat and wisdom. Why should they pay for it while others could read books for free?

There are also some children of powerful and wealthy people who also have objections to this rule. They believe that they have made contributions to the establishment of Daqian, and therefore they should enjoy some special treatments, such as reading books for free in the library, while others have to pay for reading!
But now, the situation is reversed. Those who have made great contributions to Daqian are asked to pay, while those civilians who have made no contribution can read books in the library for free!

This made these people very dissatisfied and caused some conflicts. The Yijing government had to arrange for the head of the police to patrol this area with officers to ensure the safety and stability of the library.

In addition to this issue, the content of the books in the library has also caused a lot of controversy!

In other libraries of Daqian, the types of books can be said to be basically the same, all of which are articles by saints, Confucian classics, and there may also be some historical books.

However, in the library, according to Ye Mingsheng’s requirements, there are many types of books, including not only the articles of saints, Confucian classics, but also books like Kaigong Tianwu, Qimin Yaoshu, Jiuzhang Suanshu, etc. In addition, there are books on medicine...

What caused the greatest controversy was that the books in the library also included some books on farming, books on livestock such as the Cow and Horse Classics, and some books on business!

Many scholars who entered the library to study said that in such a sacred place as the library, why should books on how to farm, how to treat cattle and horses, and how to do business be placed here together with the articles of saints and Confucian classics for people to read and circulate? This is a blasphemy and insult to Confucius and other sages!
For this reason, many scholars jointly wrote a letter requesting that these books be removed from the library so that the library can become purer and holier!

These two issues also made the library the focus of Yijing, and aroused great discussion and attention in Yijing!

Honestly speaking, the development of this situation was somewhat beyond Ye Mingsheng's expectations. Ye Mingsheng is also a human being, not a god, and he cannot plan everything for sure. Ye Mingsheng's original intention in establishing the library was to improve the cultural level of the people of Daqian, so as to cultivate more talents and jointly promote the development of Daqian!
Ye Mingsheng had not expected things to develop to this point, but judging from the current situation, Chu Zhiyi's idea was correct. The existence of the library was indeed a new thing for Daqian at present. People from all walks of life in Daqian had different views on the library.

It caused such a big controversy in Yijing alone. If a hundred libraries had been established in Daqian, it would probably have caused unimaginable public opinion and controversy.

Fortunately, Ye Mingsheng was able to accept Chu Zhiyi's advice with an open mind, so that things were still under control and did not go beyond Ye Mingsheng's control...

Today, Ye Mingsheng went on a secret visit to inspect the Yijing Library and see what was happening in this library that he had high hopes for.

The address of Yijing Library is a two-story building at the east end of Chunhua Road. It was originally a restaurant in Yijing called Chunxiang Hotel. The owner was Wang Deshun, a native of Liaoyang, who was engaged in ginseng business in Liaoyang.

After the Fengwu Army entered the pass, Wang Deshun also came to Yijing and opened the Chunxiang Hotel on Chunhua Road. Although the location of Chunhua Road was very good, the competition in the catering industry in Yijing was very fierce, and the cooking level of Chunxiang Hotel was very average, so the business of Chunxiang Hotel was getting worse and worse!

Seeing that Chun Xiang Hotel's business was not doing well, Wang Deshun had evil thoughts in order to make money. He used Chun Xiang Hotel as a cover and joined forces with several illegal members to start gambling and money lending business!

Two months ago, the Youyan Censorate investigated the illegal activities of this gang and launched a capture operation, successfully arresting Wang Deshun and 21 people including his protectors, and seized more than 20,000 taels of cash, as well as some property such as land deeds and field deeds. Even the Chunxiang Hotel was sealed and confiscated!

After Liu Ning received the order from the court to build a library, he also felt that the location of Chunxiang Hotel was very good. First, the place was large enough to accommodate one or two hundred people studying at the same time. Second, the location was also good, so he negotiated with the Ministry of Rites and built the first public library of Daqian, Yijing Library, here...