Film and Television: Starting from the Journey to Guandong
Chapter 108 Bronze Head; Big Business
Chapter 108 Bronze Head; Big Business (1w)
In fact, these old nobles all have similar ideas, and they don't look down on the common people at all. However, due to various reasons, they are now lonely, and they act like everyone is equal, as if they are very nice people.
In fact, whenever they get the chance, they will try their best to restore the glory of the nobility.
Of course, Zhu Chuanren also knew that if he had this opportunity, he would definitely fight for it. In this era, with a noble status, many things would be easier to handle.
After chatting with Luo Sai for a while, he found that this young man still had some brains and was not like other nobles who cocked their heads to the sky.
And he is indeed very interested in Chinese culture, especially porcelain and antiques, and can even keep a treasure trove of them.
"Mr. Zhu, do you know the twelve bronze heads of the Old Summer Palace?"
Zhu Chuanren was stunned for a moment:
"Of course, that is the pinnacle of Yuanmingyuan sculpture."
"I have one at home~"
Zhu Chuanren's eyes glowed green:
"Oh? Which one is it?"
"That's a mouse~"
"Does the rat suffer?" Zhu Chuanren thought thoughtfully. He had never thought about this problem before, but now he can think about it. It will be very difficult to welcome the bronze head back in the future, but now there is a chance.
Whether it is an exchange of interests or an outright robbery, the opportunities in the future are much greater.
The most important thing is that these foreigners may not yet realize the true value of these animal heads.
Maybe they know it's a good thing, but no one knows how much it can sell for.
Luo Sai gave himself a heads up.
Historically, the Old Summer Palace was composed of Old Summer Palace, Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden. The three gardens were closely adjacent and collectively referred to as "Old Summer Palace".
Founded in the 46th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, it is a large-scale royal palace created and operated by the six generations of emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng over more than 150 years.
The Old Summer Palace was famous for its large geographical scale, outstanding construction skills, exquisite architectural scenery, rich cultural collections and profound national cultural connotations, and was known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens".
In the 29th year of Kangxi's reign, Changchun Garden, the first royal garden in the Qing Dynasty, was built on the former site of Qinghua Garden by Li Wei, Marquis of Qing Dynasty in Ming Dynasty, covering an area of about 800 acres.
In the 48th year of Kangxi's reign, Emperor Kangxi gave a garden named Houhuajiatun, one mile north of Changchun Garden, to the fourth son of the emperor, Yinzhen, and personally inscribed the garden with the name "Old Summer Palace".
According to Yinzhen's explanation, the meaning of the garden's name is: "Round and spiritual, a gentleman is in the middle of his time; bright and shining, it brings wisdom to others."
Among them, "round" refers to the perfect personal character, which is beyond ordinary people;
"Ming" refers to political achievements that are bright and perfect and wise.
This was the ideal standard used by the ruling class in the feudal era to promote wise kings and virtuous ministers.
At this time, the Old Summer Palace was just a garden given by the prince, covering an area of about 600 acres.
In the third year of Yongzheng's reign, the expansion project was officially launched based on the original "pavilions, terraces, hills and valleys" of the Old Summer Palace.
First, redesign and plan the entire park.
The design idea is mainly to imitate the charming natural scenery of the south and reproduce the artistic conception in classical poetry and painting.
Yongzheng served as the chief designer, the Royal Academy of Painting was responsible for the specific planning, and the Fengzi Lei family was responsible for the construction.
Secondly, in the south of the garden, the Zhengda Guangming Hall and the Qinzheng Hall were built, as well as the cabinet, six ministries, and military aircraft offices.
According to the Records of the Old Summer Palace: Emperor Yongzheng “built a pavilion and divided it into imperial offices so that all ministers on duty could have a place to look after their affairs.
The palace is built in the south of the garden, where the emperor listens to the government."
On August 8 of the same year, Emperor Yongzheng visited Old Summer Palace and issued an edict:
"I am no different in the Old Summer Palace than in the palace. Whatever needs to be done, I will handle it as usual."
From then on, the Old Summer Palace became the political center where the rulers of the Qing Dynasty often lived and issued orders to the whole country.
The Yuanmingyuan Mountain rises from the northwest and flows from the southeast, which is completely consistent with the terrain of China.
The purple mountain house in the west is a symbol of Kunlun Mountain, and the Pengdao Yaotai in the east is nestled against the East China Sea. The place where the emperor handled government affairs and the royal family lived is the heart of the Old Summer Palace.
On the land around the heart, there are various pavilions and palaces.During the Yongzheng period, the area of the Old Summer Palace increased to more than 3000 acres, with 28 important building groups.
Compared with the huge and closed Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace is more free and open, and every space in it is a masterpiece of design and architectural excellence.
When Emperor Qianlong came to the throne in 1736, the Qing Dynasty had been established for nearly a hundred years.
The unification of the country, the consolidation of political power, especially the recovery and development of the economy, provided a solid material foundation for Qianlong's new round of expansion of the Old Summer Palace.
During the 60 years of Qianlong's reign, he spent tens of millions of dollars on the purchase and construction of the Old Summer Palace year after year, dredging water and removing rocks. However, he did not expand the site of the Old Summer Palace, but adjusted the garden landscape within the original scope and added new buildings. Several buildings are grouped together to enrich the landscape.
Emperor Qianlong's expansion of the Old Summer Palace mainly included the construction of the attached gardens Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden (renamed "Wanchun Garden" during Tongzhi) in the east and southeast neighbors of the Old Summer Palace.
By the 35th year of Qianlong's reign, the layout of the Three Yuanming Gardens had basically taken shape.
These three gardens are connected together, covering a total area of more than 5200 acres, with more than 100 scenic building groups, including halls, halls, buildings, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, corridors, etc.
In the mid-18th century, when European royal families were competing to imitate the Old Summer Palace, Emperor Qianlong also used the Palace of Versailles in France as a prototype. With the support of missionaries, he built a European-style garden in the Old Summer Palace, called the "Western Tower".
The Western-style Building consists of more than 10 scenic spots such as Xieqiqu, Wanhua Array, Bird Cage, Fangwai, Haiyantang, Yuanyingguan, Dashuifa, Guanshuifa, Xianfa Mountain, Fanghe, and Xianfa Painting. .
Its architectural form and gardening form have the Italian "Baroque" style and the French "Le Notre" style of the late European Renaissance. At the same time, it absorbs traditional Chinese brick carving, glazed decorations and stacked stone techniques. It can be said to be a beautiful combination of Chinese and Western styles. Huan.
The Old Summer Palace is a miniature version of the Qing Empire, full of political symbols, a model of the perfect combination of natural charm and artistic processing, and a glorious summary of ancient Chinese architecture and garden art.
Emperor Qianlong once praised the garden in his "Postscript to the Old Summer Palace":
"The grand scale, the depth of the hills and ravines, the beautiful scenery and vegetation, and the presence of high-rise buildings and sophisticated chambers can also be called a sight to behold. It is truly an area where nature protects the earth and the spirit. There is no place where emperors can travel beyond this."
The Old Summer Palace also occupies a very important position in the history of world gardens. Its reputation has spread to Europe and is known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens" and the "Oriental Palace of Versailles".
After introducing the Old Summer Palace in detail in a famous letter, French missionary Wang Zhicheng wrote:
"Everything here is magnificent and beautiful, both in design and construction. It amazed me because my eyes had never seen anything like it.
The Chinese people's architectural performance is ever-changing and complex. I can only admire their genius and wealth. Compared with them, I have to believe that we are poor and lack vitality. "
During the Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty had one-third of the world's population, and one-third of the world's grain output and industrial output.
The era of unprecedented prosperity created the Yuanmingyuan with unprecedented splendor.
But in the late Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty gradually declined.
After Emperor Jiaqing came to the throne, he mainly repaired and expanded Qichun Garden, making it one of the main garden residences.
By the time of Daoguang, the state's affairs were declining and financial resources were insufficient. However, the emperor would rather remove the furnishings of the "Three Mountains" such as Wanshou Mountain, Xiangshan Mountain, and Yuquan Mountain, and give up the Rehe Summer Resort and Mulan Hunting, but still did not give up the reconstruction and decoration of the Three Yuanming Gardens. .
By the time of Xianfeng, bad luck finally befell the Old Summer Palace.
In June 1860, the British and French forces invaded the Dagu Fort, occupied Tianjin, and launched an attack on the capital.
In late September, the main force of the Qing army suffered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Baliqiao.Emperor Xianfeng heard the news and fled to Rehe in a hurry.
On October 10, the British and French forces broke into the Old Summer Palace. Ren Liang, the patriotic general of the Qing army guarding the palace gate, led his soldiers in a desperate struggle with the British and French forces. In the end, he was outnumbered and died for his country.
After the British and French forces occupied the Old Summer Palace, they carried out massive looting in the garden and established a special "spoils sharing committee".
French Commander Montauban wrote in a letter to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs that day:
"I have ordered the attention of the French commissioners to first take the most valuable objects in art and archeology and send them to the French museums, which are extremely rare in France and dedicated to His Majesty the Emperor (Napoleon III)."
On the first day, the officers looted, but the soldiers did not dare to act rashly.
The next day, the soldiers couldn't stand the temptation and started robbing crazily.
He took the gold and threw away the silver. When he saw pearls and agate, he threw away the gold and silver.
A foreign military reporter once described the robbery scene like this:
"In a room, you can see several scenes at the same time. Officers and soldiers are in a box together. They are fighting for treasures with their heads and hands touching. Now the distinguished identity can no longer be seen. All you can see is Complete chaos.”
Before the British troops evacuated, carts filled with treasures lined up for 3 kilometers.The French army's cart took more than an hour.
After more than ten days of looting, the Old Summer Palace was in a mess and in disarray. However, British Commander Grant and Ambassador to China Elgin said:
"In order to deal a heavy blow to the Qing government and keep the British Empire always ahead of the Chinese, burning the Old Summer Palace is the most feasible way."
So on October 10, they brazenly ordered the Old Summer Palace to be burned down.
That day, the British and French allied forces dispatched three to four thousand cavalry to set fires everywhere in the 5200 acres of Old Summer Palace.
Suddenly, the sky above the Old Summer Palace was filled with dense clouds of smoke, and thick smoke covered the sun.
Mark Machaji, a British military chaplain, described the scene like this:
"After the order to burn was given, soon I saw heavy smoke rising from the trees...
Wisps of smoke gathered into clouds of smoke, and then gathered into a huge black cloud. Thousands of flames burst out, and the smoke was green and black, covering the sky and the sun.
All temples, palaces, and ancient buildings, regarded as sacred and solemn objects of the country, and items containing the royal flavor and essence of past dynasties were burned to the ground and reduced to ashes...
These buildings are unique enough to demonstrate the technology and style of the past. Nothing in the world can compare with them. You have seen them once, and you can never see them again. They are invisible and cannot be rebuilt by humans. "
In this way, a magnificent palace and garden, one of the few in the world that had been in operation for more than 150 years, integrated the achievements of Chinese and Western architectural arts, gathered ancient and modern art treasures, and books and classics from all ages, was reduced to nothing after being looted and burned by the British and French forces.
For more than 30 years after the British and French forces burned the Old Summer Palace, the Qing government still regarded the Old Summer Palace as a heavily guarded forbidden garden and carried out a series of restoration projects.
Emperors Tongzhi and Guangxu and the Empress Dowager Cixi also often visited here.
However, due to the constant internal and external troubles, the Qing government's financial resources were stretched and it was unable to pay more attention to the Old Summer Palace.
In the 26th year of Guangxu's reign, the Eight-Power Allied Forces captured the capital, burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil.
Empress Dowager Cixi took Emperor Guangxu and fled to Xi'an. The order in the capital was in chaos and was once out of control.
Allied Commander-in-Chief Waldersee publicly allowed the invading troops to loot Beijing for three days, and the Old Summer Palace was destroyed again.
According to an officer of the Italian invading army, he confessed in his diary:
"Within three or four days of our attack on the capital, most of the moveable rare furnishings, valuable objects and world-famous works of art in the Chinese Imperial Palace were robbed."
Dilevitz, the general of the Bear Invading Army, said in a telegram to the Tsar at that time:
“All kinds of novelty silk clothes and accessories that are rare in the world were piled as high as a mountain; precious leather goods, priceless felts, and all the gorgeous furnishings in the palace were snatched away by the British and piled up by dozens of piles. A big house.”
Direvizi robbed countless emeralds, pearls and agate from the imperial palace and private collections in the capital, and then directed the Russian army to destroy and smash things that could not be moved or transported.
A large number of precious historical relics and classics were also destroyed in this disaster... After this looting, the Old Summer Palace was completely destroyed.
To make matters worse, the stragglers and local gangsters who lost their control in the western suburbs took the opportunity to enter the Old Summer Palace and looted the remaining buildings and furnishings. A large number of ancient trees in the garden were also cut down. Some were sold as charcoal, and some were transported to the timber market at that time. ——They piled up in Qinghe Town. This is the so-called "Wood Tribulation".
Later, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Old Summer Palace lost its status as the "talisman" of the royal garden.
During the Republic of China, item [-] of the "Preferential Treatment Conditions for the Qing Dynasty" clearly stated that "the original private property shall be specially protected by the Republic of China government", but in fact the emperor had basically lost control of the Old Summer Palace.
Under such circumstances, some warlords and bureaucrats took the opportunity to expropriate the remaining stones in the garden and appropriated them for themselves:
For example, the then commander-in-chief of the Gyeonggi Garrison and the commander of the No. 13 Division sent people to demolish the large walls and Western-style building stones of Savatthi City and Anyou Palace to build his own private garden, Dawon, and a private residence in Dong 41. This is what is called "Stone Tribulation".
In the 20th century, as the status of the imperial garden changed, the Old Summer Palace fell into almost no management. Farmers began to fill the mountains and lakes in the garden, open fields to grow rice, and used the soil and bricks in the garden as construction and production materials. Come on, this is the so-called "earth disaster".
So far, the once "famous garden of a generation" has been reduced to ruins.
In later generations, the twelve zodiac bronze heads, which were originally the most inconspicuous in the Old Summer Palace, became the pinnacle of art in the Old Summer Palace.
The twelve bronze heads are in the Western-style Building. This is a garden built by Emperor Qianlong specifically for himself to take care of himself in his old age. It was designed by the European missionary and Italian Castiglione, supervised by the Frenchman Chiang Youren, and built by Qing court craftsmen.
According to "A Brief Exploration of the History of the Changes of the Old Summer Palace":
In the third year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, Hongli first visited the Old Summer Palace and ordered Castiglione, an Italian missionary and painter who served in the Palace Painting Academy, to draw the "Complete Picture of the Old Summer Palace".
Since the seventh year of Qianlong's reign, "a lot of construction work has been carried out, and there is almost no peace."
One day in the 12th year of Qianlong's reign, Emperor Qianlong watched the tributes presented by French missionaries in the Qinzheng Hall of the Old Summer Palace, including the album "The Most Beautiful Architectural Landscapes in France" presented by Louis XIV.
Emperor Qianlong "saw a drawing of a water jet machine, so he enlisted the priest Lang Shining to explain it, and asked if there were three Europeans in the court who could make a machine similar to this one... So the public paid full attention to Father Jiang Youren. . He devoted himself to this work and immediately paid an audience with the Qing Emperor."
Jiang Youren came to the Qing Dynasty in the ninth year of Qianlong's reign. "When he was studying physics in Europe, he explained, imitated and simulated various water diversion machines. He was engaged in this for academic research or for the improvement of life."
Soon, Lang Shining introduced Jiang Youren to Emperor Qianlong.
"The Qing Emperor was very happy and talked to him kindly, showing his kindness."
Soon, the model of "Water Method" was completed. "The first one presented by him (Jiang Youren) was very much in line with the Qing Emperor's wishes. The Qing Emperor ordered it to be sent to his private room so that he could observe it carefully in his spare time.
Therefore, he decided to build a European-style palace. He personally selected the location in the garden and ordered the priest Lang Shining and the priest Jiang Youren to work together to draw a general structural plan. "
In other words, Qianlong combined European architectural style with Chinese taste. It was designed and directed by Lang Shining and Jiang Youren and built by palace craftsmen.
In order to build the Western-style building as soon as possible, Emperor Qianlong also issued a decree:
"Everything he (Jiang Youren) dispatches the workers to do must be followed and implemented."
"All old systems and rules must be lifted and Chiang be given freedom."
Qianlong not only provided strong material support, but also made many technical suggestions.
During the construction period, he visited the site many times to observe the progress of the project and provide opinions.
Because "all the work was a new experiment, the progress was quite slow. It was not until the end of the autumn of the 16th year of Qianlong's reign that the water diversion machine and the first water spray machine were completed."
"The first waterworks designed and supervised by Jiang Youren was built in front of the first European-style building at the north end of Changchun Garden.
Qianlong was delighted when he saw it.The construction of other European-style buildings and waterworks in the Changchun Garden began around this time. "
After the "Xie Qiqu" waterwork was completed, Qianlong personally selected a site in the Changchun Garden, and his sons Shi Ning and Jiang Youren built several more waterworks, among which "Haiyan Hall" was one of them.
"Haiyan Hall" is the largest building in the Western-style building, consisting of the main building and the I-shaped water storage building.
The main building faces west, with eleven rooms at the top and bottom. There are stacked fountains on the left and right sides of the door, and a large fan-shaped fountain under the steps.
In the middle of the pool is a stone clam sculpture about two meters high. On the north and south sides are arranged in the shape of an "eight", bronze statues of human bodies and animal heads of the twelve zodiac signs. On the south side are rat, tiger, dragon, horse, monkey and Xu. dog;
To the north are the Chou Ox, the Mao Rabbit, the Si Snake, the Wei Sheep, the Unitary Rooster, and the Hai Pig.
At twelve hours every day and night, the twelve zodiac signs take turns spraying water. At noon, the twelve bronze statues spray spring water from their mouths at the same time.
These bronze statues of animal heads combine Eastern and Western cultures and are commonly known as "hydraulic clocks".
"Priest Letters" records:
"The twelve beasts represent the twelve hours of the day. Within every two hours, one beast shoots a fountain from its mouth, followed by other beasts, and so on in turn, over and over again."
After Emperor Qianlong carefully viewed this water sculpture, he was so pleased that he named it "Haiyan Hall".
"Haiyan" means "the river is clear and the sea is clear, the country is peaceful and the people are safe", which is derived from Tang Zhengxi's "The King of Japan and China":
"The river is clear and the sea is clear, the time is harmonious and the year is prosperous."The river is the Yellow River; Yan means calm.
"Heqing Haiyan" is also called "Haiyan Heqing", which means that the water flow of the Yellow River is clear and the sea is calm.
This term is used to describe peace in the world, implying peace and auspiciousness.
In fact, when he first designed this group of fountains, Castiglione's plan was to install twelve nude female sculptures with Western characteristics.After the model was made, it was submitted to Emperor Qianlong for inspection.
When Qianlong saw it, he was very displeased. This naked female sculpture was contrary to Chinese ethics and morals, so he ordered it to be redesigned.
Castiglione had served in the court for many years and had extensive research on Chinese culture, so he changed the nude female sculpture into the twelve zodiac shapes that the Chinese people are most familiar with.
That is, the heads of the twelve zodiac animals are cast in bronze and then placed on the seated person, combining Chinese and Western styles.
Its head is shaped in a realistic style, with fine casting, and details such as the wrinkles and down on the animal's head are clear and lifelike.
The material used to cast the animal heads was red copper refined by the Qing Dynasty at that time. It has a deep color on the outside and a polished interior, which is simple and heavy.
In the water method, a high platform is built with bricks and stones, and a storage pool is built on the high platform to supply water to the surrounding fountains.
The water tank is wrapped tightly with tin plates to prevent leakage, so it is called "Tin Sea".
The water is stored and transported upward to the "Xinhai" using a "dragon tail car" (a waterwheel that raises the water level based on mechanical principles), and then gravity is used to make the water flow through copper pipes to the fountain.
Unfortunately, Jiang Youren, who designed the "Water Technique", died of illness in October of the 39th year of Qianlong's reign. There was no successor of this technique left in the palace, and no one could repair and use the "Dragon Tail Car".
Whenever the emperor visited the garden, the little eunuch had to carry water upstairs with sweating sweat. When the emperor came, he would open the sluice and release the water to create a fountain scene.
When the emperor left, the fountain ran out of water.
Later, the British and French forces invaded the capital, and the Old Summer Palace was looted and burned, and the Western-style Building was not spared.
According to the article "Memoirs of Mr. Ya Leland" contained in "Old Summer Palace in Western Eyes":
"The strange appearance of the Twelve Star Beasts (bronze statues with twelve zodiac animal heads) intrigued Xianfeng's mother, so she ordered people to remove them and store them in the treasury. They disappeared during the Gengshen Rebellion (1860). "
The above is the ins and outs of the Twelve Bronze Heads. Back to the subject, after Zhu Chuanren learned that the rat heads were in Luo Sai's home, he had the idea of taking all the twelve bronze heads into his own hands.
But how to operate it and where the twelve bronze heads are located, he is still confused now.
"Rosay, I wonder if your rat head is willing to give up?"
Zhu Chuanren said directly.
"Mr. Zhu, I like Chinese culture very much. Please forgive me for not giving up my love."
“In my eyes, there is nothing that cannot be sold, it’s just whether the price is enough.”
"this."
At this time, Kant said:
"Luo Sai, since Zhu is interested in the copper head, then go back and discuss a price with your family. If the price is right, why not sell it? Don't you know the actual situation at your family?"
Luo Sai was a little embarrassed and didn't know how to answer. The family was indeed no longer as glorious as it used to be. To put it bluntly, there was no money. Now that someone was willing to pay a high price to buy the copper head, it was a good opportunity to cash in.
But Luo Sai was not lying just now. Of course he likes Chinese culture. When he was in his hometown, he often played with copper heads.
Seeing that he still refused to let go, Zhu Chuanren said:
"Well, I intend to collect all twelve bronze heads. If you can help me collect all twelve bronze heads, I will give you 5 yuan for each bronze head. After collecting them all, you can come to my house to visit and appreciate them anytime, anywhere. ,how?"
Luo Sai was finally moved. Sure enough, there is nothing in this world that is not for sale. As long as the conditions are in place, anything can be sold.
However, he still cautiously confirmed:
"Mr. Zhu, please excuse me, does this 5 dollars not include the purchase price?"
"Of course, the price of the copper head is between me and the seller. As long as you help us meet and negotiate, I will give you 5 dollars."
Rossay clenched his fist fiercely:
"Okay, I agreed to this. I will write home now and ask them to pack the rat head and send it over. Besides, I know who owns the horse head."
Zhu Chuanren knew that he made the right decision. This Luo Sai was indeed somewhat capable.
"Okay, once the rat head is in my hands, I will give you money as soon as possible."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Zhu~"
"Haha, considering my relationship with Kant, I won't cheat you. Just go ahead and do it. You can also treat it as a career."
During the chat, he knew that Rossay studied sculpture in college, and he has a good appreciation of art and is very enthusiastic. Such people are actually very simple, their minds are full of art, and they can be so complicated. Where to go.
Kant's promotion dinner went smoothly that night. Big figures from all walks of life in Shanghai were present. Hundreds of gifts were received, all of which were valuable.
This is why foreigners call Magic City the Far East Adventure Park.
In fact, it is not accurate enough. It is more accurate to describe it as picking up money.
This night, Zhu Chuanren drank a lot of wine, but he didn't have to worry about rushing. When he got drunk, someone would naturally help him to the 10th floor to rest.
However, he would not get drunk. For a person who is afraid of death, letting himself lose consciousness is absolutely unforgivable.
"Third Young Master, Smith is back and anxious to see you~"
"Oh? Didn't you say you wouldn't come back until the end of 22? Why is it so early?"
"I don't know either, Third Young Master~"
"Let him come to me."
"Yes, he is down there."
He patted Li Qing's butt and told her to go back to her room first. After a while, Lao Tan came back with Smith.
"Dear Zhu, I miss you so much~"
"Haha, you should think more about my money than me~"
"Who said that? Dear Zhu, you can't slander me!" Smith flatly denied~
"Haha, sit down quickly, Smith. It seems that your life has been good in the past two years, and you are getting fatter and fatter~"
"It's true. Chinese food is so delicious that everyone who comes here will get fat."
"I like to hear this. So Smith, why did you come back so much earlier than expected?"
Smith looked solemn:
"Because I have a big business to discuss with you~"
"Oh?"
"Have you ever heard of the Washington Convention?"
"Of course~"
Zhu Chuanren is so smart, he knows what Smith is going to say in a flash of his mind.
After the end of World War I, Chou Guo and Neon, who had not experienced the damage of the war, took the opportunity to show off their power and start a new round of naval violence competition.
丑国一改每年慢悠悠只建造2艘战列舰的节奏，一瞬间发力爆发产能，开工了16艘装备16英寸（406毫米）巨炮的新型巨舰，口径比英国15英寸（381毫米）大一档。
12 of them even exceeded 4 tons.
Neon did not show any weakness, tightened its belt and launched the "Eight-Eight Fleet" plan, planning to build:
Eight battleships + eight battlecruisers; 12 of them are equipped with 410 mm main guns, and the last four even have 4 mm main guns.
The tonnage all exceeds 3 tons or even 4 tons.
This is a crazy plan. According to estimates, 40% of Neon's annual fiscal revenue will be needed to complete this plan.
The grand shipbuilding plans of Chouguo and Neon with over 406 tons and over [-] mm main guns have attracted the attention of the United Kingdom.
After seeing the crazy battleship production plans of the two countries, the British, as a former empire on which the sun never sets, decided to tighten their belts and fight to the death to preserve the last glory of the British Empire.
他们随后推出了4艘16英寸（406毫米）主炮战列巡洋舰+4艘18英寸（457毫米）主炮战列舰的建造计划，吨位更是丧心病狂的逼近5万吨。
But these crazy plans have brought the British finances, which have just experienced one stop, to the brink of bankruptcy.
In the end, the great powers couldn't stand this crazy shipbuilding competition that bankrupted the country's finances.
Except for the defeated tanks and the no longer existing woolly bears, the remaining five major powers met in Washington. They had a good talk and sat down to negotiate slowly and agreed on a naval size ratio. No one should cross the line.
After all, it is no good to anyone if the vicious shipbuilding competition bankrupts the finances.
We sent people to jointly set up a supervisory committee to supervise that the total tonnage of each country's "capital ships" should not exceed the upper limit stipulated in the treaty.
However, the treaty allows countries to "recycle" some semi-finished or soon-to-be-dismantled battleships into aircraft carriers.
Warships with a standard displacement of less than 203 tons and a main gun caliber not exceeding [-] mm are not subject to restrictions.
A cruiser with a pressure line just below the 203-ton [-]mm main gun is called a "treaty cruiser."
In fact, a total of three major conventions were signed in Washington at that time. These three major conventions can be understood in this simple way:
Treaty on the Limitation of Naval Arms - We shall not allow a vicious naval arms race;
"Four-Power Convention" - no vicious competition to seize the island;
"Nine-Nation Pact" - Vicious competition is not allowed to rob China;
The birth of this first large-scale treaty to limit the vicious arms race in human history has brought 15 years of peace to the world.
Known in history as the "Navy Holiday" era.
The treaty stipulates:
Any warship with a standard displacement of more than 1 tons or a main gun caliber exceeding 203 mm is called a "capital ship."
Countries prohibit the construction of warships exceeding 3.5 tons and with main gun caliber exceeding 406 mm.
Countries are not allowed to build new capital ships within 10 years, and they must be slowly updated in accordance with treaty requirements after 10 years.
After the treaty was signed, the crazy money-burning naval race immediately stopped, and everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief and rest.
However, due to the neon splashing and rolling, the two "Nagato" class ships with 2mm main guns must be retained.
As a condition of balance and reciprocity, the treaty also allows the United States to complete two more "Colorado" class battleships with 2 mm main guns, and the United Kingdom also allows the construction of two more new battleships with 406 mm main guns as compensation.
由于条约十年内不得再开造其他新战列舰，这7艘拥有16英寸(406/410毫米)级最大口径主炮的战列舰被称为“big7”，也就是公认“海军假日”时代最强大的7艘战舰。
However, no country will actually implement the convention, and more or less all countries will hide their own tricks.
For example, this news brought by Smith:
"Dear Zhu, it's great now that you know. Have you ever thought about buying a battleship? I mean a serious battleship!"
Zhu Chuanren's eyes narrowed. He had just thought of it, but after Smith said it, he still felt crazy.
"You'd better go into detail. You should know how involved this is."
Hearing what Zhu Chuanren said, Smith simply couldn't stop his smile and continued:
"Delaware-class battleship, have you heard of it? It doesn't matter if you haven't. I can describe it to you."
Zhu Chuanren really wanted to roll his eyes at him. As a senior military fan, how could he not have heard of the Delaware class?
In fact, the Delaware class has a close relationship with China.
After the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-], the Qing Dynasty always focused on rebuilding its navy.
In the last years of Guangxu, although the restoration of the navy was proposed and preliminary plans were made, due to financial difficulties and lack of determination to establish it, it was not implemented.
After Zaifeng became regent, he resolutely decided to revive the navy.
With Zaifeng's support and promotion, the Qing Dynasty clarified the goal of naval rejuvenation and formulated a revival plan. The naval reconstruction of the Qing Dynasty has begun to get on track.
With the war between Neon and Lao Maozi, the national defense and sea power ideas of various countries have strengthened, and the development of navies has become inevitable.
After Zaifeng came to power in 1909, he not only appointed himself Grand Marshal of the Army and Navy, but also appointed his younger brother Zai Xun and Navy Admiral Sa Zhenbing as Ministers of the Preparatory Navy, responsible for establishing the Office of Preparatory Naval Affairs.
After the young and energetic Zai Xun took office, he immediately announced an ambitious seven-year plan for the development of the navy. On the basis of rectifying the old warships of various oceans, in the five years from the third to the seventh year, he planned to add more naval forces. Build 8 first-class battleships, 20 armored cruisers, and 10 various warships.
8 battleships and 20 armored cruisers. This is almost twice the size of the Eighth Eighth Fleet launched by Neon in [-], which was led by eight battleships and eight cruisers. They are also the latest Western warships. .
The Neon people were once again shocked by the wealth of the Qing Empire. Even if the Neon people exhausted all the people's pockets and searched all the people's pockets for such a large shipbuilding plan, they would not be able to accomplish it.
The grand plan of the Qing Dynasty to rebuild the navy made the Neon United Fleet exclaim that disaster was imminent.
The Eighty-Eight Fleet planned by Neon Man is still a piece of cake in the sky. It is not yet known whether the budget bill will be passed by Congress in the Year of the Monkey, let alone the completion of the construction. Will the launch date be ten years or 15 years later?
The Neon people themselves had no idea, and in seven years the Qing government would have eight battleships and twenty armored cruisers.
At that time, the old combined fleet will appear small and insignificant when facing this latest powerful fleet.
The initial funding for the Great New Navy Preparatory Plan is only 2000 million taels of silver, and the subsequent investment will reach an astonishing 8000 million taels.
This huge order is a temptation that all major shipyards around the world cannot refuse.
In 1909, Zai Xun, Sa Zhenbing and others took a team to travel around the world, buying and selling along the way, and their arrogance of spending money made all the shipyards salivate.
After going around in a circle, we finally came to the Kingdom of Ugly and visited the famous Bethlehem.
After the visit, an agreement was signed with Bethlehem. The agreement included:
Help the Qing Dynasty build naval shipyards and new cannon factories.
The Chou State is willing to provide a first-phase loan of 2500 million taels of silver to improve the existing docks of the Qing Dynasty.
At the same time, Qing naval officers and soldiers were allowed to intern in the Chou Kingdom's navy. The Qing Dynasty students accepted by the Chou Kingdom must receive the same education and training as American students.
The signing of the contract also comes with the introduction of a complete industrial system from the U.S., starting from the expansion and construction of the most basic metallurgy, chemical industry, machinery, shipbuilding, and artillery, to the transfer of the entire required industrial system and technology.
At the same time, it was decided to spend 2000 million taels of silver to order new battleships based on the Delaware class.
But the Qing Dynasty at that time was unable to come up with this huge sum of money at once, so it had to pay back the request many times.
The Delaware class is the latest warship that was commissioned by the United States in 1910. It has a displacement of 22325 tons, a speed of 21 knots, 10 twin 305mm main guns, and can carry 933 crew members.
However, the next year, the old Qing Dynasty became a thing of the past, which also ended this huge naval plan, and the construction plan of new battleships finally disappeared.
Although the Wyoming class was subsequently ordered, the fate of the Delaware class and China still impressed Zhu Chuanren, a military fan.
Before the construction of the Delaware class, the 600-long-ton (16000-ton) displacement limit imposed on naval battleships was removed while the country's single-ship budget limit remained unchanged at $16257 million.
As a result, the Construction and Repair Bureau made a large number of modifications to the design of the Delaware-class battleships under construction, making the two Delaware-class ships the first battleships with a displacement of more than 20000 tons (20321 tons) in the history of the U.S. Navy.
首舰特拉华号于1907年11月11日在纽波特纽斯造船公司开工，1909年2月6日下水，1910年4月4日服役。
二号舰北达科他州号1907年12月16日在昆西福尔河造船厂建造，1908年11月10日下水，1910年4月11日服役。
According to the provisions of the convention, both battleships should be dismantled and dismantled after the construction of the Colorado class is completed.
But Zhu Chuanren remembers that the North Dakota didn't break up in Baltimore until the 30s.
But now, things may take a new turn!
It is entirely possible that the North Dakota will continue the glory of the Delaware-class battleship and shine in the Chinese waters.
Of course, the premise is that Zhu Chuanren nods and agrees.
But to be honest, buying passenger ships and cargo ships were within the scope of his imagination and plans, but buying a warship, or a Dreadnought-class battleship, was beyond his wildest dreams.
(End of this chapter)
In fact, these old nobles all have similar ideas, and they don't look down on the common people at all. However, due to various reasons, they are now lonely, and they act like everyone is equal, as if they are very nice people.
In fact, whenever they get the chance, they will try their best to restore the glory of the nobility.
Of course, Zhu Chuanren also knew that if he had this opportunity, he would definitely fight for it. In this era, with a noble status, many things would be easier to handle.
After chatting with Luo Sai for a while, he found that this young man still had some brains and was not like other nobles who cocked their heads to the sky.
And he is indeed very interested in Chinese culture, especially porcelain and antiques, and can even keep a treasure trove of them.
"Mr. Zhu, do you know the twelve bronze heads of the Old Summer Palace?"
Zhu Chuanren was stunned for a moment:
"Of course, that is the pinnacle of Yuanmingyuan sculpture."
"I have one at home~"
Zhu Chuanren's eyes glowed green:
"Oh? Which one is it?"
"That's a mouse~"
"Does the rat suffer?" Zhu Chuanren thought thoughtfully. He had never thought about this problem before, but now he can think about it. It will be very difficult to welcome the bronze head back in the future, but now there is a chance.
Whether it is an exchange of interests or an outright robbery, the opportunities in the future are much greater.
The most important thing is that these foreigners may not yet realize the true value of these animal heads.
Maybe they know it's a good thing, but no one knows how much it can sell for.
Luo Sai gave himself a heads up.
Historically, the Old Summer Palace was composed of Old Summer Palace, Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden. The three gardens were closely adjacent and collectively referred to as "Old Summer Palace".
Founded in the 46th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, it is a large-scale royal palace created and operated by the six generations of emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng over more than 150 years.
The Old Summer Palace was famous for its large geographical scale, outstanding construction skills, exquisite architectural scenery, rich cultural collections and profound national cultural connotations, and was known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens".
In the 29th year of Kangxi's reign, Changchun Garden, the first royal garden in the Qing Dynasty, was built on the former site of Qinghua Garden by Li Wei, Marquis of Qing Dynasty in Ming Dynasty, covering an area of about 800 acres.
In the 48th year of Kangxi's reign, Emperor Kangxi gave a garden named Houhuajiatun, one mile north of Changchun Garden, to the fourth son of the emperor, Yinzhen, and personally inscribed the garden with the name "Old Summer Palace".
According to Yinzhen's explanation, the meaning of the garden's name is: "Round and spiritual, a gentleman is in the middle of his time; bright and shining, it brings wisdom to others."
Among them, "round" refers to the perfect personal character, which is beyond ordinary people;
"Ming" refers to political achievements that are bright and perfect and wise.
This was the ideal standard used by the ruling class in the feudal era to promote wise kings and virtuous ministers.
At this time, the Old Summer Palace was just a garden given by the prince, covering an area of about 600 acres.
In the third year of Yongzheng's reign, the expansion project was officially launched based on the original "pavilions, terraces, hills and valleys" of the Old Summer Palace.
First, redesign and plan the entire park.
The design idea is mainly to imitate the charming natural scenery of the south and reproduce the artistic conception in classical poetry and painting.
Yongzheng served as the chief designer, the Royal Academy of Painting was responsible for the specific planning, and the Fengzi Lei family was responsible for the construction.
Secondly, in the south of the garden, the Zhengda Guangming Hall and the Qinzheng Hall were built, as well as the cabinet, six ministries, and military aircraft offices.
According to the Records of the Old Summer Palace: Emperor Yongzheng “built a pavilion and divided it into imperial offices so that all ministers on duty could have a place to look after their affairs.
The palace is built in the south of the garden, where the emperor listens to the government."
On August 8 of the same year, Emperor Yongzheng visited Old Summer Palace and issued an edict:
"I am no different in the Old Summer Palace than in the palace. Whatever needs to be done, I will handle it as usual."
From then on, the Old Summer Palace became the political center where the rulers of the Qing Dynasty often lived and issued orders to the whole country.
The Yuanmingyuan Mountain rises from the northwest and flows from the southeast, which is completely consistent with the terrain of China.
The purple mountain house in the west is a symbol of Kunlun Mountain, and the Pengdao Yaotai in the east is nestled against the East China Sea. The place where the emperor handled government affairs and the royal family lived is the heart of the Old Summer Palace.
On the land around the heart, there are various pavilions and palaces.During the Yongzheng period, the area of the Old Summer Palace increased to more than 3000 acres, with 28 important building groups.
Compared with the huge and closed Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace is more free and open, and every space in it is a masterpiece of design and architectural excellence.
When Emperor Qianlong came to the throne in 1736, the Qing Dynasty had been established for nearly a hundred years.
The unification of the country, the consolidation of political power, especially the recovery and development of the economy, provided a solid material foundation for Qianlong's new round of expansion of the Old Summer Palace.
During the 60 years of Qianlong's reign, he spent tens of millions of dollars on the purchase and construction of the Old Summer Palace year after year, dredging water and removing rocks. However, he did not expand the site of the Old Summer Palace, but adjusted the garden landscape within the original scope and added new buildings. Several buildings are grouped together to enrich the landscape.
Emperor Qianlong's expansion of the Old Summer Palace mainly included the construction of the attached gardens Changchun Garden and Qichun Garden (renamed "Wanchun Garden" during Tongzhi) in the east and southeast neighbors of the Old Summer Palace.
By the 35th year of Qianlong's reign, the layout of the Three Yuanming Gardens had basically taken shape.
These three gardens are connected together, covering a total area of more than 5200 acres, with more than 100 scenic building groups, including halls, halls, buildings, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, corridors, etc.
In the mid-18th century, when European royal families were competing to imitate the Old Summer Palace, Emperor Qianlong also used the Palace of Versailles in France as a prototype. With the support of missionaries, he built a European-style garden in the Old Summer Palace, called the "Western Tower".
The Western-style Building consists of more than 10 scenic spots such as Xieqiqu, Wanhua Array, Bird Cage, Fangwai, Haiyantang, Yuanyingguan, Dashuifa, Guanshuifa, Xianfa Mountain, Fanghe, and Xianfa Painting. .
Its architectural form and gardening form have the Italian "Baroque" style and the French "Le Notre" style of the late European Renaissance. At the same time, it absorbs traditional Chinese brick carving, glazed decorations and stacked stone techniques. It can be said to be a beautiful combination of Chinese and Western styles. Huan.
The Old Summer Palace is a miniature version of the Qing Empire, full of political symbols, a model of the perfect combination of natural charm and artistic processing, and a glorious summary of ancient Chinese architecture and garden art.
Emperor Qianlong once praised the garden in his "Postscript to the Old Summer Palace":
"The grand scale, the depth of the hills and ravines, the beautiful scenery and vegetation, and the presence of high-rise buildings and sophisticated chambers can also be called a sight to behold. It is truly an area where nature protects the earth and the spirit. There is no place where emperors can travel beyond this."
The Old Summer Palace also occupies a very important position in the history of world gardens. Its reputation has spread to Europe and is known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens" and the "Oriental Palace of Versailles".
After introducing the Old Summer Palace in detail in a famous letter, French missionary Wang Zhicheng wrote:
"Everything here is magnificent and beautiful, both in design and construction. It amazed me because my eyes had never seen anything like it.
The Chinese people's architectural performance is ever-changing and complex. I can only admire their genius and wealth. Compared with them, I have to believe that we are poor and lack vitality. "
During the Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty had one-third of the world's population, and one-third of the world's grain output and industrial output.
The era of unprecedented prosperity created the Yuanmingyuan with unprecedented splendor.
But in the late Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty gradually declined.
After Emperor Jiaqing came to the throne, he mainly repaired and expanded Qichun Garden, making it one of the main garden residences.
By the time of Daoguang, the state's affairs were declining and financial resources were insufficient. However, the emperor would rather remove the furnishings of the "Three Mountains" such as Wanshou Mountain, Xiangshan Mountain, and Yuquan Mountain, and give up the Rehe Summer Resort and Mulan Hunting, but still did not give up the reconstruction and decoration of the Three Yuanming Gardens. .
By the time of Xianfeng, bad luck finally befell the Old Summer Palace.
In June 1860, the British and French forces invaded the Dagu Fort, occupied Tianjin, and launched an attack on the capital.
In late September, the main force of the Qing army suffered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Baliqiao.Emperor Xianfeng heard the news and fled to Rehe in a hurry.
On October 10, the British and French forces broke into the Old Summer Palace. Ren Liang, the patriotic general of the Qing army guarding the palace gate, led his soldiers in a desperate struggle with the British and French forces. In the end, he was outnumbered and died for his country.
After the British and French forces occupied the Old Summer Palace, they carried out massive looting in the garden and established a special "spoils sharing committee".
French Commander Montauban wrote in a letter to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs that day:
"I have ordered the attention of the French commissioners to first take the most valuable objects in art and archeology and send them to the French museums, which are extremely rare in France and dedicated to His Majesty the Emperor (Napoleon III)."
On the first day, the officers looted, but the soldiers did not dare to act rashly.
The next day, the soldiers couldn't stand the temptation and started robbing crazily.
He took the gold and threw away the silver. When he saw pearls and agate, he threw away the gold and silver.
A foreign military reporter once described the robbery scene like this:
"In a room, you can see several scenes at the same time. Officers and soldiers are in a box together. They are fighting for treasures with their heads and hands touching. Now the distinguished identity can no longer be seen. All you can see is Complete chaos.”
Before the British troops evacuated, carts filled with treasures lined up for 3 kilometers.The French army's cart took more than an hour.
After more than ten days of looting, the Old Summer Palace was in a mess and in disarray. However, British Commander Grant and Ambassador to China Elgin said:
"In order to deal a heavy blow to the Qing government and keep the British Empire always ahead of the Chinese, burning the Old Summer Palace is the most feasible way."
So on October 10, they brazenly ordered the Old Summer Palace to be burned down.
That day, the British and French allied forces dispatched three to four thousand cavalry to set fires everywhere in the 5200 acres of Old Summer Palace.
Suddenly, the sky above the Old Summer Palace was filled with dense clouds of smoke, and thick smoke covered the sun.
Mark Machaji, a British military chaplain, described the scene like this:
"After the order to burn was given, soon I saw heavy smoke rising from the trees...
Wisps of smoke gathered into clouds of smoke, and then gathered into a huge black cloud. Thousands of flames burst out, and the smoke was green and black, covering the sky and the sun.
All temples, palaces, and ancient buildings, regarded as sacred and solemn objects of the country, and items containing the royal flavor and essence of past dynasties were burned to the ground and reduced to ashes...
These buildings are unique enough to demonstrate the technology and style of the past. Nothing in the world can compare with them. You have seen them once, and you can never see them again. They are invisible and cannot be rebuilt by humans. "
In this way, a magnificent palace and garden, one of the few in the world that had been in operation for more than 150 years, integrated the achievements of Chinese and Western architectural arts, gathered ancient and modern art treasures, and books and classics from all ages, was reduced to nothing after being looted and burned by the British and French forces.
For more than 30 years after the British and French forces burned the Old Summer Palace, the Qing government still regarded the Old Summer Palace as a heavily guarded forbidden garden and carried out a series of restoration projects.
Emperors Tongzhi and Guangxu and the Empress Dowager Cixi also often visited here.
However, due to the constant internal and external troubles, the Qing government's financial resources were stretched and it was unable to pay more attention to the Old Summer Palace.
In the 26th year of Guangxu's reign, the Eight-Power Allied Forces captured the capital, burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil.
Empress Dowager Cixi took Emperor Guangxu and fled to Xi'an. The order in the capital was in chaos and was once out of control.
Allied Commander-in-Chief Waldersee publicly allowed the invading troops to loot Beijing for three days, and the Old Summer Palace was destroyed again.
According to an officer of the Italian invading army, he confessed in his diary:
"Within three or four days of our attack on the capital, most of the moveable rare furnishings, valuable objects and world-famous works of art in the Chinese Imperial Palace were robbed."
Dilevitz, the general of the Bear Invading Army, said in a telegram to the Tsar at that time:
“All kinds of novelty silk clothes and accessories that are rare in the world were piled as high as a mountain; precious leather goods, priceless felts, and all the gorgeous furnishings in the palace were snatched away by the British and piled up by dozens of piles. A big house.”
Direvizi robbed countless emeralds, pearls and agate from the imperial palace and private collections in the capital, and then directed the Russian army to destroy and smash things that could not be moved or transported.
A large number of precious historical relics and classics were also destroyed in this disaster... After this looting, the Old Summer Palace was completely destroyed.
To make matters worse, the stragglers and local gangsters who lost their control in the western suburbs took the opportunity to enter the Old Summer Palace and looted the remaining buildings and furnishings. A large number of ancient trees in the garden were also cut down. Some were sold as charcoal, and some were transported to the timber market at that time. ——They piled up in Qinghe Town. This is the so-called "Wood Tribulation".
Later, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Old Summer Palace lost its status as the "talisman" of the royal garden.
During the Republic of China, item [-] of the "Preferential Treatment Conditions for the Qing Dynasty" clearly stated that "the original private property shall be specially protected by the Republic of China government", but in fact the emperor had basically lost control of the Old Summer Palace.
Under such circumstances, some warlords and bureaucrats took the opportunity to expropriate the remaining stones in the garden and appropriated them for themselves:
For example, the then commander-in-chief of the Gyeonggi Garrison and the commander of the No. 13 Division sent people to demolish the large walls and Western-style building stones of Savatthi City and Anyou Palace to build his own private garden, Dawon, and a private residence in Dong 41. This is what is called "Stone Tribulation".
In the 20th century, as the status of the imperial garden changed, the Old Summer Palace fell into almost no management. Farmers began to fill the mountains and lakes in the garden, open fields to grow rice, and used the soil and bricks in the garden as construction and production materials. Come on, this is the so-called "earth disaster".
So far, the once "famous garden of a generation" has been reduced to ruins.
In later generations, the twelve zodiac bronze heads, which were originally the most inconspicuous in the Old Summer Palace, became the pinnacle of art in the Old Summer Palace.
The twelve bronze heads are in the Western-style Building. This is a garden built by Emperor Qianlong specifically for himself to take care of himself in his old age. It was designed by the European missionary and Italian Castiglione, supervised by the Frenchman Chiang Youren, and built by Qing court craftsmen.
According to "A Brief Exploration of the History of the Changes of the Old Summer Palace":
In the third year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, Hongli first visited the Old Summer Palace and ordered Castiglione, an Italian missionary and painter who served in the Palace Painting Academy, to draw the "Complete Picture of the Old Summer Palace".
Since the seventh year of Qianlong's reign, "a lot of construction work has been carried out, and there is almost no peace."
One day in the 12th year of Qianlong's reign, Emperor Qianlong watched the tributes presented by French missionaries in the Qinzheng Hall of the Old Summer Palace, including the album "The Most Beautiful Architectural Landscapes in France" presented by Louis XIV.
Emperor Qianlong "saw a drawing of a water jet machine, so he enlisted the priest Lang Shining to explain it, and asked if there were three Europeans in the court who could make a machine similar to this one... So the public paid full attention to Father Jiang Youren. . He devoted himself to this work and immediately paid an audience with the Qing Emperor."
Jiang Youren came to the Qing Dynasty in the ninth year of Qianlong's reign. "When he was studying physics in Europe, he explained, imitated and simulated various water diversion machines. He was engaged in this for academic research or for the improvement of life."
Soon, Lang Shining introduced Jiang Youren to Emperor Qianlong.
"The Qing Emperor was very happy and talked to him kindly, showing his kindness."
Soon, the model of "Water Method" was completed. "The first one presented by him (Jiang Youren) was very much in line with the Qing Emperor's wishes. The Qing Emperor ordered it to be sent to his private room so that he could observe it carefully in his spare time.
Therefore, he decided to build a European-style palace. He personally selected the location in the garden and ordered the priest Lang Shining and the priest Jiang Youren to work together to draw a general structural plan. "
In other words, Qianlong combined European architectural style with Chinese taste. It was designed and directed by Lang Shining and Jiang Youren and built by palace craftsmen.
In order to build the Western-style building as soon as possible, Emperor Qianlong also issued a decree:
"Everything he (Jiang Youren) dispatches the workers to do must be followed and implemented."
"All old systems and rules must be lifted and Chiang be given freedom."
Qianlong not only provided strong material support, but also made many technical suggestions.
During the construction period, he visited the site many times to observe the progress of the project and provide opinions.
Because "all the work was a new experiment, the progress was quite slow. It was not until the end of the autumn of the 16th year of Qianlong's reign that the water diversion machine and the first water spray machine were completed."
"The first waterworks designed and supervised by Jiang Youren was built in front of the first European-style building at the north end of Changchun Garden.
Qianlong was delighted when he saw it.The construction of other European-style buildings and waterworks in the Changchun Garden began around this time. "
After the "Xie Qiqu" waterwork was completed, Qianlong personally selected a site in the Changchun Garden, and his sons Shi Ning and Jiang Youren built several more waterworks, among which "Haiyan Hall" was one of them.
"Haiyan Hall" is the largest building in the Western-style building, consisting of the main building and the I-shaped water storage building.
The main building faces west, with eleven rooms at the top and bottom. There are stacked fountains on the left and right sides of the door, and a large fan-shaped fountain under the steps.
In the middle of the pool is a stone clam sculpture about two meters high. On the north and south sides are arranged in the shape of an "eight", bronze statues of human bodies and animal heads of the twelve zodiac signs. On the south side are rat, tiger, dragon, horse, monkey and Xu. dog;
To the north are the Chou Ox, the Mao Rabbit, the Si Snake, the Wei Sheep, the Unitary Rooster, and the Hai Pig.
At twelve hours every day and night, the twelve zodiac signs take turns spraying water. At noon, the twelve bronze statues spray spring water from their mouths at the same time.
These bronze statues of animal heads combine Eastern and Western cultures and are commonly known as "hydraulic clocks".
"Priest Letters" records:
"The twelve beasts represent the twelve hours of the day. Within every two hours, one beast shoots a fountain from its mouth, followed by other beasts, and so on in turn, over and over again."
After Emperor Qianlong carefully viewed this water sculpture, he was so pleased that he named it "Haiyan Hall".
"Haiyan" means "the river is clear and the sea is clear, the country is peaceful and the people are safe", which is derived from Tang Zhengxi's "The King of Japan and China":
"The river is clear and the sea is clear, the time is harmonious and the year is prosperous."The river is the Yellow River; Yan means calm.
"Heqing Haiyan" is also called "Haiyan Heqing", which means that the water flow of the Yellow River is clear and the sea is calm.
This term is used to describe peace in the world, implying peace and auspiciousness.
In fact, when he first designed this group of fountains, Castiglione's plan was to install twelve nude female sculptures with Western characteristics.After the model was made, it was submitted to Emperor Qianlong for inspection.
When Qianlong saw it, he was very displeased. This naked female sculpture was contrary to Chinese ethics and morals, so he ordered it to be redesigned.
Castiglione had served in the court for many years and had extensive research on Chinese culture, so he changed the nude female sculpture into the twelve zodiac shapes that the Chinese people are most familiar with.
That is, the heads of the twelve zodiac animals are cast in bronze and then placed on the seated person, combining Chinese and Western styles.
Its head is shaped in a realistic style, with fine casting, and details such as the wrinkles and down on the animal's head are clear and lifelike.
The material used to cast the animal heads was red copper refined by the Qing Dynasty at that time. It has a deep color on the outside and a polished interior, which is simple and heavy.
In the water method, a high platform is built with bricks and stones, and a storage pool is built on the high platform to supply water to the surrounding fountains.
The water tank is wrapped tightly with tin plates to prevent leakage, so it is called "Tin Sea".
The water is stored and transported upward to the "Xinhai" using a "dragon tail car" (a waterwheel that raises the water level based on mechanical principles), and then gravity is used to make the water flow through copper pipes to the fountain.
Unfortunately, Jiang Youren, who designed the "Water Technique", died of illness in October of the 39th year of Qianlong's reign. There was no successor of this technique left in the palace, and no one could repair and use the "Dragon Tail Car".
Whenever the emperor visited the garden, the little eunuch had to carry water upstairs with sweating sweat. When the emperor came, he would open the sluice and release the water to create a fountain scene.
When the emperor left, the fountain ran out of water.
Later, the British and French forces invaded the capital, and the Old Summer Palace was looted and burned, and the Western-style Building was not spared.
According to the article "Memoirs of Mr. Ya Leland" contained in "Old Summer Palace in Western Eyes":
"The strange appearance of the Twelve Star Beasts (bronze statues with twelve zodiac animal heads) intrigued Xianfeng's mother, so she ordered people to remove them and store them in the treasury. They disappeared during the Gengshen Rebellion (1860). "
The above is the ins and outs of the Twelve Bronze Heads. Back to the subject, after Zhu Chuanren learned that the rat heads were in Luo Sai's home, he had the idea of taking all the twelve bronze heads into his own hands.
But how to operate it and where the twelve bronze heads are located, he is still confused now.
"Rosay, I wonder if your rat head is willing to give up?"
Zhu Chuanren said directly.
"Mr. Zhu, I like Chinese culture very much. Please forgive me for not giving up my love."
“In my eyes, there is nothing that cannot be sold, it’s just whether the price is enough.”
"this."
At this time, Kant said:
"Luo Sai, since Zhu is interested in the copper head, then go back and discuss a price with your family. If the price is right, why not sell it? Don't you know the actual situation at your family?"
Luo Sai was a little embarrassed and didn't know how to answer. The family was indeed no longer as glorious as it used to be. To put it bluntly, there was no money. Now that someone was willing to pay a high price to buy the copper head, it was a good opportunity to cash in.
But Luo Sai was not lying just now. Of course he likes Chinese culture. When he was in his hometown, he often played with copper heads.
Seeing that he still refused to let go, Zhu Chuanren said:
"Well, I intend to collect all twelve bronze heads. If you can help me collect all twelve bronze heads, I will give you 5 yuan for each bronze head. After collecting them all, you can come to my house to visit and appreciate them anytime, anywhere. ,how?"
Luo Sai was finally moved. Sure enough, there is nothing in this world that is not for sale. As long as the conditions are in place, anything can be sold.
However, he still cautiously confirmed:
"Mr. Zhu, please excuse me, does this 5 dollars not include the purchase price?"
"Of course, the price of the copper head is between me and the seller. As long as you help us meet and negotiate, I will give you 5 dollars."
Rossay clenched his fist fiercely:
"Okay, I agreed to this. I will write home now and ask them to pack the rat head and send it over. Besides, I know who owns the horse head."
Zhu Chuanren knew that he made the right decision. This Luo Sai was indeed somewhat capable.
"Okay, once the rat head is in my hands, I will give you money as soon as possible."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Zhu~"
"Haha, considering my relationship with Kant, I won't cheat you. Just go ahead and do it. You can also treat it as a career."
During the chat, he knew that Rossay studied sculpture in college, and he has a good appreciation of art and is very enthusiastic. Such people are actually very simple, their minds are full of art, and they can be so complicated. Where to go.
Kant's promotion dinner went smoothly that night. Big figures from all walks of life in Shanghai were present. Hundreds of gifts were received, all of which were valuable.
This is why foreigners call Magic City the Far East Adventure Park.
In fact, it is not accurate enough. It is more accurate to describe it as picking up money.
This night, Zhu Chuanren drank a lot of wine, but he didn't have to worry about rushing. When he got drunk, someone would naturally help him to the 10th floor to rest.
However, he would not get drunk. For a person who is afraid of death, letting himself lose consciousness is absolutely unforgivable.
"Third Young Master, Smith is back and anxious to see you~"
"Oh? Didn't you say you wouldn't come back until the end of 22? Why is it so early?"
"I don't know either, Third Young Master~"
"Let him come to me."
"Yes, he is down there."
He patted Li Qing's butt and told her to go back to her room first. After a while, Lao Tan came back with Smith.
"Dear Zhu, I miss you so much~"
"Haha, you should think more about my money than me~"
"Who said that? Dear Zhu, you can't slander me!" Smith flatly denied~
"Haha, sit down quickly, Smith. It seems that your life has been good in the past two years, and you are getting fatter and fatter~"
"It's true. Chinese food is so delicious that everyone who comes here will get fat."
"I like to hear this. So Smith, why did you come back so much earlier than expected?"
Smith looked solemn:
"Because I have a big business to discuss with you~"
"Oh?"
"Have you ever heard of the Washington Convention?"
"Of course~"
Zhu Chuanren is so smart, he knows what Smith is going to say in a flash of his mind.
After the end of World War I, Chou Guo and Neon, who had not experienced the damage of the war, took the opportunity to show off their power and start a new round of naval violence competition.
丑国一改每年慢悠悠只建造2艘战列舰的节奏，一瞬间发力爆发产能，开工了16艘装备16英寸（406毫米）巨炮的新型巨舰，口径比英国15英寸（381毫米）大一档。
12 of them even exceeded 4 tons.
Neon did not show any weakness, tightened its belt and launched the "Eight-Eight Fleet" plan, planning to build:
Eight battleships + eight battlecruisers; 12 of them are equipped with 410 mm main guns, and the last four even have 4 mm main guns.
The tonnage all exceeds 3 tons or even 4 tons.
This is a crazy plan. According to estimates, 40% of Neon's annual fiscal revenue will be needed to complete this plan.
The grand shipbuilding plans of Chouguo and Neon with over 406 tons and over [-] mm main guns have attracted the attention of the United Kingdom.
After seeing the crazy battleship production plans of the two countries, the British, as a former empire on which the sun never sets, decided to tighten their belts and fight to the death to preserve the last glory of the British Empire.
他们随后推出了4艘16英寸（406毫米）主炮战列巡洋舰+4艘18英寸（457毫米）主炮战列舰的建造计划，吨位更是丧心病狂的逼近5万吨。
But these crazy plans have brought the British finances, which have just experienced one stop, to the brink of bankruptcy.
In the end, the great powers couldn't stand this crazy shipbuilding competition that bankrupted the country's finances.
Except for the defeated tanks and the no longer existing woolly bears, the remaining five major powers met in Washington. They had a good talk and sat down to negotiate slowly and agreed on a naval size ratio. No one should cross the line.
After all, it is no good to anyone if the vicious shipbuilding competition bankrupts the finances.
We sent people to jointly set up a supervisory committee to supervise that the total tonnage of each country's "capital ships" should not exceed the upper limit stipulated in the treaty.
However, the treaty allows countries to "recycle" some semi-finished or soon-to-be-dismantled battleships into aircraft carriers.
Warships with a standard displacement of less than 203 tons and a main gun caliber not exceeding [-] mm are not subject to restrictions.
A cruiser with a pressure line just below the 203-ton [-]mm main gun is called a "treaty cruiser."
In fact, a total of three major conventions were signed in Washington at that time. These three major conventions can be understood in this simple way:
Treaty on the Limitation of Naval Arms - We shall not allow a vicious naval arms race;
"Four-Power Convention" - no vicious competition to seize the island;
"Nine-Nation Pact" - Vicious competition is not allowed to rob China;
The birth of this first large-scale treaty to limit the vicious arms race in human history has brought 15 years of peace to the world.
Known in history as the "Navy Holiday" era.
The treaty stipulates:
Any warship with a standard displacement of more than 1 tons or a main gun caliber exceeding 203 mm is called a "capital ship."
Countries prohibit the construction of warships exceeding 3.5 tons and with main gun caliber exceeding 406 mm.
Countries are not allowed to build new capital ships within 10 years, and they must be slowly updated in accordance with treaty requirements after 10 years.
After the treaty was signed, the crazy money-burning naval race immediately stopped, and everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief and rest.
However, due to the neon splashing and rolling, the two "Nagato" class ships with 2mm main guns must be retained.
As a condition of balance and reciprocity, the treaty also allows the United States to complete two more "Colorado" class battleships with 2 mm main guns, and the United Kingdom also allows the construction of two more new battleships with 406 mm main guns as compensation.
由于条约十年内不得再开造其他新战列舰，这7艘拥有16英寸(406/410毫米)级最大口径主炮的战列舰被称为“big7”，也就是公认“海军假日”时代最强大的7艘战舰。
However, no country will actually implement the convention, and more or less all countries will hide their own tricks.
For example, this news brought by Smith:
"Dear Zhu, it's great now that you know. Have you ever thought about buying a battleship? I mean a serious battleship!"
Zhu Chuanren's eyes narrowed. He had just thought of it, but after Smith said it, he still felt crazy.
"You'd better go into detail. You should know how involved this is."
Hearing what Zhu Chuanren said, Smith simply couldn't stop his smile and continued:
"Delaware-class battleship, have you heard of it? It doesn't matter if you haven't. I can describe it to you."
Zhu Chuanren really wanted to roll his eyes at him. As a senior military fan, how could he not have heard of the Delaware class?
In fact, the Delaware class has a close relationship with China.
After the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-], the Qing Dynasty always focused on rebuilding its navy.
In the last years of Guangxu, although the restoration of the navy was proposed and preliminary plans were made, due to financial difficulties and lack of determination to establish it, it was not implemented.
After Zaifeng became regent, he resolutely decided to revive the navy.
With Zaifeng's support and promotion, the Qing Dynasty clarified the goal of naval rejuvenation and formulated a revival plan. The naval reconstruction of the Qing Dynasty has begun to get on track.
With the war between Neon and Lao Maozi, the national defense and sea power ideas of various countries have strengthened, and the development of navies has become inevitable.
After Zaifeng came to power in 1909, he not only appointed himself Grand Marshal of the Army and Navy, but also appointed his younger brother Zai Xun and Navy Admiral Sa Zhenbing as Ministers of the Preparatory Navy, responsible for establishing the Office of Preparatory Naval Affairs.
After the young and energetic Zai Xun took office, he immediately announced an ambitious seven-year plan for the development of the navy. On the basis of rectifying the old warships of various oceans, in the five years from the third to the seventh year, he planned to add more naval forces. Build 8 first-class battleships, 20 armored cruisers, and 10 various warships.
8 battleships and 20 armored cruisers. This is almost twice the size of the Eighth Eighth Fleet launched by Neon in [-], which was led by eight battleships and eight cruisers. They are also the latest Western warships. .
The Neon people were once again shocked by the wealth of the Qing Empire. Even if the Neon people exhausted all the people's pockets and searched all the people's pockets for such a large shipbuilding plan, they would not be able to accomplish it.
The grand plan of the Qing Dynasty to rebuild the navy made the Neon United Fleet exclaim that disaster was imminent.
The Eighty-Eight Fleet planned by Neon Man is still a piece of cake in the sky. It is not yet known whether the budget bill will be passed by Congress in the Year of the Monkey, let alone the completion of the construction. Will the launch date be ten years or 15 years later?
The Neon people themselves had no idea, and in seven years the Qing government would have eight battleships and twenty armored cruisers.
At that time, the old combined fleet will appear small and insignificant when facing this latest powerful fleet.
The initial funding for the Great New Navy Preparatory Plan is only 2000 million taels of silver, and the subsequent investment will reach an astonishing 8000 million taels.
This huge order is a temptation that all major shipyards around the world cannot refuse.
In 1909, Zai Xun, Sa Zhenbing and others took a team to travel around the world, buying and selling along the way, and their arrogance of spending money made all the shipyards salivate.
After going around in a circle, we finally came to the Kingdom of Ugly and visited the famous Bethlehem.
After the visit, an agreement was signed with Bethlehem. The agreement included:
Help the Qing Dynasty build naval shipyards and new cannon factories.
The Chou State is willing to provide a first-phase loan of 2500 million taels of silver to improve the existing docks of the Qing Dynasty.
At the same time, Qing naval officers and soldiers were allowed to intern in the Chou Kingdom's navy. The Qing Dynasty students accepted by the Chou Kingdom must receive the same education and training as American students.
The signing of the contract also comes with the introduction of a complete industrial system from the U.S., starting from the expansion and construction of the most basic metallurgy, chemical industry, machinery, shipbuilding, and artillery, to the transfer of the entire required industrial system and technology.
At the same time, it was decided to spend 2000 million taels of silver to order new battleships based on the Delaware class.
But the Qing Dynasty at that time was unable to come up with this huge sum of money at once, so it had to pay back the request many times.
The Delaware class is the latest warship that was commissioned by the United States in 1910. It has a displacement of 22325 tons, a speed of 21 knots, 10 twin 305mm main guns, and can carry 933 crew members.
However, the next year, the old Qing Dynasty became a thing of the past, which also ended this huge naval plan, and the construction plan of new battleships finally disappeared.
Although the Wyoming class was subsequently ordered, the fate of the Delaware class and China still impressed Zhu Chuanren, a military fan.
Before the construction of the Delaware class, the 600-long-ton (16000-ton) displacement limit imposed on naval battleships was removed while the country's single-ship budget limit remained unchanged at $16257 million.
As a result, the Construction and Repair Bureau made a large number of modifications to the design of the Delaware-class battleships under construction, making the two Delaware-class ships the first battleships with a displacement of more than 20000 tons (20321 tons) in the history of the U.S. Navy.
首舰特拉华号于1907年11月11日在纽波特纽斯造船公司开工，1909年2月6日下水，1910年4月4日服役。
二号舰北达科他州号1907年12月16日在昆西福尔河造船厂建造，1908年11月10日下水，1910年4月11日服役。
According to the provisions of the convention, both battleships should be dismantled and dismantled after the construction of the Colorado class is completed.
But Zhu Chuanren remembers that the North Dakota didn't break up in Baltimore until the 30s.
But now, things may take a new turn!
It is entirely possible that the North Dakota will continue the glory of the Delaware-class battleship and shine in the Chinese waters.
Of course, the premise is that Zhu Chuanren nods and agrees.
But to be honest, buying passenger ships and cargo ships were within the scope of his imagination and plans, but buying a warship, or a Dreadnought-class battleship, was beyond his wildest dreams.
(End of this chapter)
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