Riding the wind of rebirth

Before reading the scriptures, the Bimo would offer sacrifices. When opening a large scripture, he would usually kill a white rooster and stick some feathers with the chicken's blood on the book. During the New Year, some would also kill large livestock such as cattle and sheep.

These books are usually kept on the shrine. If they are rotten, the Bimos who are in their forties or fifties can copy them themselves. After copying, the old books will be burned and the new books can be passed on to their sons.

The scriptures here are relatively old, with strong signs of use. Many of them are still stained with chicken blood and chicken feathers, indicating that many of them were brought here for storage by the great Bimos who were reluctant to burn them, and a ceremony was also held here at the end.

Therefore, in a sense, it is more appropriate to call this big hole at the innermost part "Jing Tomb".

This cave was also the most messily cluttered. Some scriptures were even piled in a messy manner at the deepest part. The state of preservation made Zhou Zhi shake his head at the sight of it.

That is to say, this cave is quite dry, and with proper anti-biological measures, only some parchments have decayed, while the rest of the silk, cloth, paper, and even wood carvings have been preserved quite well.

However, Zhou Zhi brought the crew here today, more to express an attitude and collect first-hand information. The parchment books and woodblocks in the innermost cave are estimated to be very old, and their value also needs to be evaluated by experts.

Therefore, he didn't dare to move the materials piled together, but he was very experienced in dealing with the scattered ones. He still had to take some valuable things out for identification before reporting to his superiors.

The specific level of reporting depends on the results of the identification.

Sheepskin was difficult to handle, and folding it might cause damage. Zhou Zhi selected a small piece, wrapped it with straw paper, clamped them with two scattered carved blocks, wrapped it with woolen cloth, and took it out of the cave.

The things in the outer cave and the middle cave can be moved away at will. The horse team that Lao Chi Ri brought is used for this purpose.

"Elbow! Come and see what this is!" Everyone started to come over to help. According to Zhou Zhi and Lao Chi Ri's instructions, they moved things onto the horse's saddle basket. Chi Xueli found a scroll that was a little different from the other scriptures.

"Huh?" Zhou Zhi took the scroll and found that the center was not a bamboo pole, but two wooden shafts.

With a push of the hand, one end of the wooden shaft revealed a deep color, which turned out to be extremely aged red sandalwood.

New red sandalwood cannot be used to make wooden scrolls for calligraphy and painting, or it can be said that red sandalwood is not a suitable material for making wooden scrolls for calligraphy and painting, because red sandalwood itself can be used as a dye to dye cloth and paper purple-red.

Only wooden axes and paperweights made of old red sandalwood can be used after they have been aged for many years and a layer of patina protective film has formed on the surface due to oxidation and other effects.

Who in a general calligraphy and painting store would have the time to buy materials and then leave them alone for decades after they were finished? Therefore, apart from those who dismantled old paintings for immediate use, there was basically only one place that could afford this luxury and leisure time - the Imperial Palace's Inner Collection.

The scroll was wrapped in a piece of brocade made of the finest silk. Zhou Zhi was now very familiar with the brocades used for calligraphy and painting. He knew at a glance that this was a double-sided jacquard brocade with interchangeable front and back surfaces, produced under the unified supervision of Jiangning Prefecture and specially woven for the imperial palace to issue imperial edicts and other materials.

This is a common high-grade brocade in the Ming Dynasty. The warp and weft of different colors are arranged in a one-to-one ratio according to the relationship between the warp and weft of the same or similar colors. The warp and weft of the same or similar colors are interwoven into a double-sided floral fabric with the same patterns on both sides and interchangeable colors of the patterns and ground.

This kind of jacquard is actually still complicated. For example, this one uses miscellaneous treasure patterns, including auspicious patterns such as fire beads, silver ingots, square wins, Ganoderma lucidum, rhino horns, corals, and ancient coins.

Because the patterns are very repetitive, such brocades in the Ming Dynasty also have another function, that is, anti-counterfeiting. Those patterns are multiple anti-counterfeiting marks, so they are often used to issue colorful imperial edicts to officials above the fifth rank, which are gorgeous and elegant. When the brocade bundle is removed, a silk scroll with colors is found inside. The scroll shows a middle-aged imperial edict-bearing woman sitting upright in a gorgeous dress. She has a pretty face and a gentle expression. Her clothes are quite wide, with a bright red round collar, a long jacket and a long skirt inside, a phoenix crown on her head, and a shawl with a gold-embroidered cloud and phoenix pattern.

"This is the uniform of the second rank official. This woman who was granted an imperial decree has a high political status." Zhou Zhi carefully searched for other words on the scroll, hoping to confirm the identity of this woman.

Soon, Zhou Zhi saw a line of small characters written vertically in fair official script - "Portrait of Mrs. Shunde, the Regent Shuixi Xuanwei Envoy".

Seeing this line of small words, Zhou Zhi understood the identity of this person and asked Old Chi Ri, "Grandpa Chi Ri, I seemed to hear you say yesterday that this place is called Niangniang Temple?"

"Yes." Lao Chi Ri said, "It is said that there used to be a temple here. The one who was worshipped was Niangniang Shexiang, who started the prosperity of our Yi people's culture."

"That's it." Zhou Zhi nodded: "This is the portrait of Madam Shexiang."

"Eh? Isn't this the Han ethnic group's formal attire?" Chi Xueli looked at the woman in the scroll. She didn't see any minority characteristics in her clothes. "Isn't this the kind of... how do you say it? A lady of imperial title?"

"Yes, this is painted according to the regulations for the portraits of important officials and imperial edicts in the Ming Dynasty." Zhou Zhi nodded: "No matter the materials of the scroll or the painting skills, it is obvious that it came from the imperial palace."

"The History of Ming Dynasty records: 'A lady of the first rank is called a lady of the first rank, a lady of the second rank is called a lady, a lady of the third rank is called a lady of virtue, a lady of the fourth rank is called a lady of honor, and a lady of the fifth rank is called a lady of courtesy.' Only those of the fifth rank and above are qualified to be called imperial edicts, while the rest can only be called imperial decrees."

"Madam Shunde is the title Zhu Yuanzhang gave to Madam Shexiang after she went to Beijing to file a complaint. Titles like Shunde and Huaide are usually given to the relatives of officials in the prefectures and counties under his control."

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"But Lady Shexiang is a little special. After her husband's death, she took control of the Shuixi Xuanweishi's power on behalf of her son, so she was called 'regent'. She was not an official Xuanweishi, so 'regent Shuixi Xuanweishi' was her official title, while Lady Shunde was just a title of nobility."

"In history, the only person who held both titles was Lady Shexiang, which is consistent with the fact that this place is called the 'Niangniang Temple'."

"This is a portrait of Madam Shexiang painted by the imperial court. Of course, she must be wearing imperial robes. Therefore, in this painting, Madam Shexiang looks like a Han Chinese woman wearing imperial robes, and she cannot wear ethnic clothing."

"This artifact is incredible! Brother Wei, did you record the whole process?"

Da Wei carried a camera on his shoulder, his eyes fixed on the viewfinder, and made an OK gesture to Zhou Zhi.

"How old is this painting?" Mai Xiaomiao asked curiously.

"This happened during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, Hongwu, about... about 600 years ago."

"Six hundred years?!" Mai Xiaomiao came from the United States, and felt that China was really like that, with things often being hundreds of years old, there was so much history. (End of this chapter)