After rebirth, I joined forces with my mortal enemy to seek revenge.

He looked up and exchanged a glance with Cen Xi, and they both smiled. I'm afraid this Honglu Temple Minister has already established contact with the King of Wu and has become a member of the King of Wu's party.

He picked up the teacup on the table and sipped it. Pei Jiaoran glanced at Jia Gonglu and saw that he was frowning and thinking. The corners of his lips rose slightly.

She had heard that Jia Gonglu's ancestor was Jia Chong, the founding hero of the Western Jin Dynasty. Unfortunately, due to the Eight Kings Rebellion, he later experienced the chaos of the North and South, and eventually fell into poverty. In order to restore the glory of his ancestors, he simply named his generation Gonglu. He only hoped that he could have the glory of his ancestors in the future.

Now that the King of Wu has left the palace to open his government, and the court needs to give books to Tubo, Jia Gonglu has somehow cooperated with the Minister of Honglu Temple. The so-called collection of books is actually to break the monopoly of the aristocratic families on classics and history books, so that the classics and methods of governing the country that have been passed down from generation to generation among them can all be presented to the public.

This is an inevitable step for the poor to achieve class transition.

Unfortunately, this matter is not so easy to handle.

That is what they rely on to make a living. It is not something that can be given to you just because you want to. If you want to take away someone's family heritage, how can you do it without paying a price? She was able to re-establish the school in Heshuo because the other party had not been educated by the government orders of Chang'an for many years.

Using violence and power to break the rules they had adhered to for many years, and at the same time giving them benefits, there was some effect. However, these were only temporary. The re-established school order could certainly make them return to the king's rule. But from a long-term perspective, it was far from being a deterrent.

She still had to share the profits with the other party, let alone Jia Gonglu.

Just as I was thinking about it, I suddenly heard Su Jinghui say, "People often say that there are five disasters of books, and the most distressing one is that Emperor Xiao Yi of Liang burned 140,000 volumes of books in the Bamboo Hall of the East Pavilion in Jiangling. Only 4,000 volumes were left after the fire was extinguished." After a pause, he continued, "Even after Yang Sui replaced Northern Zhou, they also organized to collect books from the people. Emperor Yang also ordered people to record the catalogs of the books in their collection as copies, and it is said that there were as many as 50 copies. As a result, Yang Sui's collection of books reached its peak, with a record of 370,000 volumes, but it still could not save the pain of the book burning in Jiangling. Jia Cao Shaoqing, you want to collect books to help your majesty relieve his worries. But as Pei Xianggong said, you should also consider the cost, right?"

Just after taking a sip of tea, Pei Jiaoran suddenly heard himself being mentioned. He put down the teacup and looked over.

"It is natural for Cao Siqing to lament that books scattered among the people are of no benefit to the country because of the matter of collecting books. However, collecting books requires a huge amount of manpower and material resources. If the investment is not carefully calculated, I am afraid that it may not be achieved as expected." Pei Jiaoran smiled and turned to meet Jia Gonglu's gaze. "I think it is better to report this matter to His Majesty first and then make plans."

At this point, she could guess what Jia Gonglu's fundamental purpose was for collecting books this time. If the noble families were destined to fight with the poor families over this matter, she, as an outsider, would not mind getting involved. Anyway, they would inevitably fight in the future, so it would be better to strangle them now and save a lot of trouble in the future.

However, she also didn't think that this matter would fall entirely on King Wu's head.

Just as I was thinking about it, I suddenly heard Jia Gonglu say, "Prime Minister Pei, you once presided over the re-establishment of the school in Hebei. I think you have rich experience. If Your Majesty agrees to this, I would like to recommend you to Your Majesty. What do you think?"

In an instant, everyone's eyes fell on Pei Jiaoran.

Pei Jiaoran raised her lips slightly. Jia Gonglu wanted her to do this offending job, just to transfer the conflict to her. As a court official who was neither from an aristocratic family nor from a poor family, if she got too involved, she would have to bear the hatred from both sides.

Now that she is in a high position, she can get involved, but she cannot express her position too clearly. Once she is caught by someone with ulterior motives and exaggerates it, her reputation will plummet. Regardless of whether she succeeds or not, both the poor and the aristocratic families will point the finger at her. It will be difficult for her to gain a foothold in the court in the future.

"Although Prime Minister Pei has experience in re-establishing schools, Hebei has refused to obey the king for many years, and the schools are no longer like those in Chang'an." Cen Xi took a sip of tea, stroked his beard and said, "If we don't re-establish the schools, it will be useless even if we return to Chang'an. It was only because the local nobles guaranteed the re-establishment of the schools and their gentle attitude that we were able to achieve the current results. However, this matter cannot be accomplished overnight, so why don't you take it step by step?"

Pei Jiaoran tapped the table with his fingers and relaxed his brows. "Mr. Cen is right. I was able to re-establish the school in Hebei because of your majesty and the help of the local nobles. But I never forced them to hand over their family books. After all, they are the capital for their livelihood, and I dare not take them by force."

Su Jinghui smiled slightly, "That's right. These are the capital that people use to make a living, how can we take them away by force? Lord Jia, your ancestors were once high officials, how can you not understand this? Is it because you have been in a poor family for many years that you have forgotten that you came from a noble family?"

Pei Jiaoran paused as he brought the teacup to his lips. He glanced at Su Jinghui and smacked his lips. It was true that Jia Gonglu's ancestors had been wealthy, but that was a hundred years ago. Today, the Jia family is considered a poor and lowly family in the eyes of the world. It is not a smart person to reveal the old stories of other people's families in front of so many people.

She glanced at Jia Gonglu and saw that he was still calm. The corners of his lips were slightly curved. His calmness was incomparable to Su Jinghui.

"Although our ancestors were among the Three Dukes, that is a thing of the past. I, Jia, am not talented enough to live up to their reputation. The burning of books in Jiangling caused a large number of ancient books to be burned, which is really a pity. Now we have a rare opportunity to collect folk books and store them in the Hongwenguan. This will not only spread our Han culture, but also fulfill your majesty's wish to educate the people with classics and history books. Why can't you gentlemen agree to my request?" said Jia Gonglu.

Listening to Jia Gonglu's words, Pei Jiaoran couldn't help but applaud him. Once this was said, regardless of whether His Majesty agreed to organize the collection of books by the court or not, his goal had been achieved halfway, and the reputation that was damaged by Yuan Rui in the past was also restored to him.

If he succeeds, the poor will continue to regard him as the leader, and the King of Wu will also gain the support of talented people from the poor. Both the king and his minister will get everything they want from this. If he fails, the poor will not hate him for this, but will hate the noble families even more.

"Mr. Jia is so noble that we look despicable. Collecting the scattered books from the people in the Hongwen Academy is what the scholars in the world wish for." Pei Jiaoran took a deep breath and smiled, "If Your Majesty can agree to this, it will be a blessing for us court officials and even for generations to come. Why don't we jointly petition Your Majesty and ask him to issue an edict to collect the books. How about letting the Crown Prince and King Wu handle this matter together?"