Jianbao life

Chapter 515 National Treasure at Auction
Hearing Zhao Qirui's words, Chu Chen was taken aback for a moment, thinking about the texture of the two paintings, there are really similarities.

Liu Sizhe said with some excitement: "So, it's really possible! Maybe the red dragon map has more textures, so it will show its true appearance when it rains, while the "Vast Sea and Starry Sky Map" has less textures. , that’s why it needs to be put into the water. From this point of view, the red dragon map may also be put into the water to show its true face. Brother Chen, do you think we should try it when we go back?”

Wang Xiaoyue said first: "I think it's better to forget it. If it's not like what you said, it will destroy the painting!"

"That's right!" Liu Sizhe scratched his head and said a little embarrassedly.

"I think it is possible to try!" Chu Chen said with a smile: "Let's try it on the corner of the scroll first, if it is as dry as "The Starry Sky", then it is almost proved to be feasible. !"

Liu Sizhe persuaded: "This, brother Chen, you should think about it before talking about it!"

Now that he thought about it, what he just said was somewhat irresponsible. If a strange painting was damaged because of his suggestion, even if Chu Chen didn't blame him, he would not forgive himself.

Chu Chen somewhat understood his thoughts, so he nodded and said, "That's fine, let's let this go first!"

Next, everyone chatted for a while, and when it came to the auction in the evening, Zhao Qirui said to Chu Chen with a serious face: "By the way, there is one more thing I want to tell you. There will be two national treasures in this auction. We'll have to snap them up anyway."

Chu Chen was not surprised how his uncle knew about the items in the auction. What he was curious about now made his uncle declare his position so solemnly.

Liu Sizhe was short-tempered, so he asked first: "Uncle Zhao, what are the two national treasures you mentioned?"

"Among them are ten original oracle bone inscriptions, and 110 and two volumes of Dunhuang posthumous writings." Zhao Qirui replied.

After hearing Zhao Qirui's answer, everyone couldn't help looking at each other. These two things are indeed very important national treasures, so it's no wonder that Zhao Qirui paid attention to them.

"Uncle, the ten original oracle bone inscriptions must not be simple?" Chu Chen asked.

Zhao Qirui nodded and said: "Yes, those ten original pieces are the most quintessential part of the oracle bone inscriptions collected by Mr. Meng Guanghui before. It can be said that they are the most precious oracle bone inscriptions among the people, so no matter what, we must take pictures of them."

"Who is this Meng Guanghui?" Qiao Qian asked Wu Ke beside her in a low voice.

Wu Ke shook his head: "I don't know either!"

"Meng Guanghui was an expert on ancient characters and a famous calligrapher during the Republic of China."

Chu Chen explained: "It is generally believed that the earliest discovery of oracle bone inscriptions was first discovered by Wang Yirong in 1899. But in fact, the oracle bone inscriptions discovered by Meng Guanghui were one year earlier than Wang Yirong's discovery. Therefore, Meng, Wang Yirong, and Wang Xiang are the earliest in my country. One of the scholars who discovered, identified, and studied oracle bones."

"According to reports, the Meng family bought the original oracle bones from an antique merchant in Lu Province named Fan Shouxuan at that time. He collected 430 oracle bones in his lifetime. After his death, the oracle bone inscriptions left behind first belonged to Mr. Yang Fucun, and then to Li Henian."

"In 1951, Li Henian selected and kept 30 pieces. The remaining 400 pieces were introduced by Mr. Guo Moruo and resold to the Social and Cultural Affairs Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Culture. The remaining 30 pieces are not only large in size, with many writings, but also more important in content. The most essential part of the oracle bones in Meng Guanghui's collection. It is a pity that ten pieces were lost during that period of turmoil."

Having said that, Chu Chen asked, "Uncle, are the ten oracle bones in this auction the same ten that were lost back then?"

"Yes, it's those ten pieces, that's why I said I must get them!"

Zhao Qirui said: "Fortunately, not many people know about this auction, and most of the people who come here are locals from Xiangjiang, as well as wealthy people near Xiangjiang. Moreover, I have already greeted the owner of this auction in advance. , so that he is not allowed to notify foreign buyers to come, otherwise we will be under great pressure."

Chu Chen didn't think there was anything wrong with his uncle's behavior of greeting. After all, these ten oracle bones are national treasures, and it is natural to keep them in the country. It is normal to use some tricks for this. Buying and selling hard, the organizers of the auction should not do things that are not conducive to the country.

Chu Chen said firmly: "Uncle, don't worry, no matter what, I will definitely take those ten oracle bones."

Zhao Qirui patted Chu Chen's shoulder in relief, and said with a smile: "Okay, I just want to tell you that you will take the lead then, are you still worried that I won't be able to take the shot?"

Chu Chen complimented: "You go out in person, that's a god blocking and killing a god, and a Buddha blocking and killing a Buddha. Needless to say, you will definitely be able to catch it!"

"You kid!" Zhao Qirui laughed.

After a while, Liu Sizhe asked again: "Uncle Zhao, those Dunhuang posthumous writings must be treasures, right?"

"Yeah, they are indeed fine products!" After finishing speaking, Zhao Qirui let out a long sigh, with a depressed expression on his face.

敦煌遗书是指敦煌所出5至11世纪的古写本及印本。1900年道士王圆箓在清理敦煌莫高窟第16窟时，发现墙壁后面有一个密室，洞内满是各种佛教经卷等文物，总数量约5万余件。其中佛书占敦煌汉文文献的90.00%左右。

随后，1907年英伦人斯坦因来到敦煌，以14块马蹄银骗取走24箱遗书﹑遗画及5大箱其它文物。1908年，法兰西汉学家伯希和来到莫高窟，用大量银子骗取了6000余件写本和200多件古代佛画与丝织品。伯希和还在第464窟发现一批元代回鹘文遗书。

In 1905, Obruchev from Russia, Ruichao Ju and Koichiro Yoshikawa from Japan, Odenburg from Russia in 1914, Warner from America and others stole a large number of scriptures from Mogao Grottoes .Up to now, 3.5 pieces of these cultural relics have been scattered overseas, accounting for about two-thirds of all cultural relics.

It was not until August 1909, 8 that the Qing court knew the value of the Dunhuang posthumous writings, and Qiao Shunan, Zuo Cheng of the Academic Department, ordered Mao Shijun, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, to seal up the Mogao Grottoes.

Thinking of the precious cultural relics in his own country, how they ended up like this, not to mention Zhao Qirui would feel depressed, and everyone else in the room sighed.

Josie couldn't help but said angrily: "That Wang Daoist is really bad, because he caused so many cultural relics to be lost. Fortunately, he is still a learned Taoist, and he is not afraid of going to hell!"

Chu Chen shook his head: "Actually, although Wang Daoren is also the culprit, in fact, his responsibility in the whole incident is actually not great."

Josie frowned and said, "Why not? If it wasn't for him, how could those scriptures be sold to foreigners at such a low price?"

"If you know the cause and effect of this matter, you will know why I said that."

Chu Chen explained: "First of all, Wang Yuanlu is an out-and-out Taoist priest, and the Mogao Grottoes are Buddhist holy places, where Buddhists have always been active. However, the Qing court did such an outrageous thing , actually arranged a Taoist priest in the Buddhist cave."

After Wang Daoren arrived there, he saw that the sacred treasure cave was in ruins because no one was guarding it, and he was very anxious.Afterwards, he ran around, tried hard to solicit donations, lived frugally, collected money, and used it to clean up the accumulated sand in the cave. It took nearly two years to clean up the silt in the 16th cave, and because of this, the Dunhuang posthumous writings were discovered. .

After the suicide note was discovered, Taoist Wang could say that he had done everything he was supposed to do. First of all, he personally presented two volumes of scriptures from the scripture cave to the county magistrate. The text is regarded as two pieces of yellowed waste paper.

Later, a new magistrate came to the local area, and after the magistrate went to inspect, he just left a sentence and asked Taoist Wang to keep it on the spot, watch the scripture cave, and picked up a few volumes of scriptures to take away.

In the end, Wang Daoren was still not reconciled, so he picked two more boxes of scriptures from the scripture cave, drove a donkey, ate and slept in the open, single-handedly, risked more than 800 miles, and found the way that Ansu soldiers prepared for at that time. Tai Tingdong.

The Daotai master browsed it for a while, but finally came to a very absurd conclusion. The characters on the scriptures are not as good as his calligraphy, so let's just stop there!

Speaking of this, Chu Chen shook his head and sighed: "For 7 years, Wang Daoren has repeatedly asked the authorities to pay attention to it, and he reported it step by step, but no one asked. How can you say he is not discouraged? He lacked funds to repair the cave, and he didn't know the value of the cultural relics, so he finally sold the scriptures because of this, how much fault do you think he has?"

After listening to Chu Chen's narration, everyone was silent for a while, and thought differently, if they were kings, under the circumstances at that time, would they be able to change the fate of those cultural relics?

"I think the culprit is actually the Qing court at that time! Not only did they not know how to protect cultural relics, but also because of their own decay, there were so many corrupt officials with corpses!"

Chu Chen said angrily: "At that time, the Qing court learned of the value of the suicide note, so they sent someone to escort the scriptures back to Beijing, but the escort officer Fu Mou violated his order and did not report directly to the Ministry of Education, but drove the convoy privately. Enter He Zhenyi's private house."

"At that time, He Zhenyi, his father-in-law Li Shengduo, Liu Tingchen, Fang Erqian and other four people read all the Dunhuang posthumous books on the car and embezzled and stole some treasures. Many of the more than 8000 volumes of Dunhuang posthumous books were intercepted and embezzled by officials. The cultural relics selected by Confucian officials are all high-quality cultural relics!"

Hearing this, Zhao Qirui sighed and said: "Yes! I also think that although Wang Daoren was somewhat responsible for the loss of the suicide note, it was more caused by the corruption of the Qing court at that time. Just like those at this auction The suicide note is actually a treasure that was intercepted by those corrupt officials at that time! Do you mean irony or not?"

(End of this chapter)