Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Xu Guangqi was very satisfied after hearing Liu Qiao's words.

Because he had no expectations for the soldiers in the patrol camp, Liu Qiao was able to eliminate these people, which was exactly what he wanted.

The freed up spots can be used to recruit other people. Use newly recruited soldiers to build a new army.

Now, he is already thinking about how to use the 11,000 places and whether to leave some for Liu Qiao:
"Five thousand elite soldiers and five thousand auxiliary soldiers are basically enough."

"It is better to leave a thousand people and let Liu Qiao build a patrol team."

After private discussions with Sun Yuanhua, Xu Guangqi made this decision.

After all, the patrol camp has the task of catching thieves, in order to prevent those complicated things from affecting the training. Xu Guangqi left a thousand places for Liu Qiao and used those people to catch thieves.

The remaining 10,000 people will all recruit new troops. Select the best from the best and create five thousand elite soldiers.

After deciding on this strategy, Xu Guangqi quickly wrote a memorial, described the situation of the patrol camp, and explained his plan to the emperor.

And because of Liu Qiao's cooperation, he also defended him. Liu Qiao cannot be entirely blamed for saying that many things are bad habits accumulated over the years.

Zhu Youjian still believed in these. But he didn't want to let Liu Qiao go easily.

Because Liu Qiao's great-grandfather Liu Shouyou did something that made him very angry.

It all starts with the auction house. Zhu Youjian had previously planned to hold an auction in the capital while the candidates for the examination were gathering, to auction off the stolen goods and obtain some money.

In order to attract people to participate, he also planned to select a few treasures from the inner treasury as the finale items.

After the eunuch took over all the treasuries in the palace, he also began to count the items and classify the treasures under his orders.

There was an immediate problem with this investigation, and many treasures in the palace were mysteriously missing. In addition to some recovered from the eunuchs, there are also some that have been lost long ago and whose whereabouts are not clear at all.

Among them, the one that struck Zhu Youjian’s heart the most was Zhang Zeduan’s “Along the River During the Qingming Festival”. He planned to take it out during the Qingming Festival and enjoy it with his ministers.

As a result, after taking inventory of the internal inventory, I discovered that this picture had long disappeared. According to the eunuch in the palace, Feng Bao took it home and hid it privately.

Feng Bao's house had been confiscated a long time ago and this picture should theoretically be returned to the palace. However, nothing was found during the inventory. Many people said that Feng Bao's property was hidden by Liu Shouyou, the commander in charge of searching the house, and his staff Zhang Zhao, Pang Qing, Feng Xin and others.

When Zhu Youjian thought about this, he felt a little angry. Of course, he also has opinions about Liu Qiao, Liu Shouyou's great-grandson.

Therefore, while he agreed with Xu Guangqi to reorganize the patrol camp, he did not let Liu Qiao go as lightly as he suggested. Instead, he was charged with lax military management and ordered an inventory of the money and food consumed by the patrol camp since Liu Qiao took office. Let Liu Qiao and others make up for the corrupt parts.

As a result, Liu Qiao lost his position as Tongzhi of the Jinyi Guard. Although his position as Weiwei Temple Minister was still retained, if he did not make up for the money and food, it would be a matter of time before he was taken down.

This made him complain, but he had nothing to say.

After all, the training situation of the patrol camp can be said to be a long-term shortcoming, but with so many vacancies, and most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, they have to make up for the money and food they consume from the court, right?
The emperor held this issue to account, and no one had anything to say.

The money and food for 11,000 people, even if it only covers half, is not a small number. Liu Qiao and the military attachés from the patrol camp worked together here and there to finally make up for it.

But this is not over yet, because the source of Zhu Youjian's hatred for him has not yet been solved.

Taking advantage of this incident, Zhu Youjian ordered all senior Jinyiwei officials to declare their property to the Metropolitan Supervisor. Let them take the initiative to hand over their illegal income and gain their own understanding.

The other senior officials of Jinyiwei never expected that the incident at the patrol camp would involve them. After quietly finding out the cause of the incident, he hated Liu Qiao extremely.

Liu Qiao also realized at this time that the source of his punishment by the emperor was actually "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". He complained in his heart and secretly blamed his great-grandfather for tricking him:

"Others are leaving blessings to their descendants, but you, the old man, are bringing disaster to their descendants!" 』

"Can we greedily use the things in the inner treasury?" 』

That's it for ordinary objects. For treasures like "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", it was fine that the emperor couldn't remember it. Once he remembered and wanted to see it, he couldn't hide it.

Faced with the accusations from outsiders, Liu Qiao could only deny it, and at the same time pretend that he had collected it himself, treated it as illegal income, and declared it to the governor of the capital. At this point, this famous painting passed down from generation to generation finally returned to the inner court and into the hands of Zhu Youjian.

Looking at the inscriptions and postscripts left by Feng, Zhu Youjian frowned, feeling that although this person's calligraphy was good, he still tarnished the famous paintings.

He also praised the paintings left by Zhang Zeduan:
"This is Bianliang in the Song Dynasty!"

"The capital of Ming Dynasty must also be so prosperous!"

Wang Wenzheng heard it nearby and said with a smile:
"The prosperity of our Ming Dynasty is far better than Bianjing of the former Song Dynasty."

"Qiu Ying once imitated this picture and drew a picture of "Along the River During Qingming Festival" in Suzhou."

"The prosperous and beautiful scenery is far better than that of the previous Song Dynasty."

Zhu Youjian didn't know much about this. When he heard what Wang Wenzheng said, he immediately became interested and asked:

"Is there such a painting?"

"Where does it exist now?"

Because of the emperor's concern for "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", Wang Wenzheng inquired about it carefully and said:

"It is said that it was collected by Xiang Yuanbian and is probably in the hands of his descendants now."

"If your Majesty wants to watch, you can let them offer it!"

After Zhu Youjian heard this, he immediately waved his hand and said:
"I just want to see it, there's no need to offer it!"

"In this way, you ask Wang Chengen to hold a calligraphy and painting exhibition at the auction house, and invite collectors from all over the world to bring calligraphy and painting to the exhibition."

"This matter will be put in the autumn, and an autumn auction will be held then."

This was the name he came up with to invite rich people to Beijing.

Most of these collectors are wealthy, and they come with treasures, which I believe will attract many rich people.

When the autumn auction is held, there will be no shortage of customers.

At the same time, it can also establish the status of the auction house in the collection world and become a platform for the circulation of collections.

These thoughts flashed through Zhu Youjian's mind.

At the same time, he looked at the "Along the River During Qingming Festival" in his hand and had an idea:
"Please come over, Mr. Dong, and look at this painting together."

"Qiu Ying can imitate one, and Mr. Dong should be able to do the same."

"Using the scene of the capital, I drew a picture of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"."

Dong Qichang is not only a famous calligrapher, but also a famous painter.

Zhu Youjian wanted him to draw a picture to show himself the current scene of the Ming Dynasty capital.

At the same time, it is stored in the inner treasury as money left to future generations.

If future emperors fail to live up to expectations and are short of money like themselves, I believe Dong Qichang's paintings can be sold for a lot of money.

Dong Qichang naturally didn't know that the emperor had this idea. When he heard the emperor's order to draw "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" based on the scenery of the capital, he immediately became interested.

Because of the emperor's order, this picture obviously needs to be handed down from generation to generation. When people in later generations talk about the scene in the capital, they will definitely mention this picture.

So he accepted the task enthusiastically, planning to wander around the capital and try to draw sketches. During the Qingming Festival, painting officially started. (End of chapter)