Jinyi Town Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 3 The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival

South of the city, Wanfu.

Wan Anliang is a prisoner.The people from Wucheng Bingmasi and the Ministry of Punishment did not dare to neglect, they had already sent their own people to surround the third and outer third floors of Wanfu.Just wait for Jin Yiwei to send someone to check.

He Liu led Lao Hu and fifty warriors to the gate of Wanfu.

The so-called Wanfu is just an ordinary courtyard house.Compared with Wan'an Liangzheng's prominent status as a member of the third rank, this courtyard house is really shabby.

Lao Hu said to He Liu: "Lord Baihu, it seems that Wan Anliang is really... just like what others said, an upright official. It's a pity that this person has a single mind and offended the emperor and Yan Shoufu."

At the beginning of this year, Emperor Jiajing used state funds to build Chaotian Temple.It took more than half a year to repair the Chaotian Temple, which cost the treasury 60 taels of silver.

Wan Anliang made a memorial on the day when the Chaotian Temple was completed and Emperor Jiajing worshiped the sky and prayed for blessings.This greatly touched Emperor Jiajing's bad luck.

In his memorandum, there is actually a sentence "the way of the emperor is not right, and the way of the ministers is not clear." Isn't this calling the emperor a foolish king, and the ministers in the cabinet are all villains?
Emperor Jiajing was furious.How smart is the Chief Assistant Yan Song?He knew that the emperor lacked a reason to dispose of Wan Anliang.

Yan Song asked his party members to jointly sign a letter to participate in Wan Anliang and accept bribes, resulting in a huge loss in incense taxes.

The right servant of the Ministry of Rites is in charge of the incense tax of temples and Taoist temples all over the world.

According to the tax system of the Ming Dynasty, one out of ten of the incense silver donated by Taoist temples and temples will be handed over to the Ministry of Rites as the incense tax.

Among the avenues at the foot of Mount Tai and the large temples at the foot of Mount Wutai, which one does not receive hundreds of donations from wealthy businessmen and gentry every year?

No one can say exactly how much donations have been received.

The abbots of those big temples, the Taoist priests of the Daoist temples, some are masters who disregard fame and fortune, while some are like merchants who regard wealth as their destiny.

Give some benefits to the officials of the Ministry of Rites who are in charge of the incense tax. For example, if you change the donation of 10 taels to 1 taels with a flick of a pen, the hosts and Taoists can put 9000 taels of silver into their pockets.

Incense tax has always been a muddled account.Since the former right ministers of the Ministry of Rites can make a lot of money because of this, the strict party can naturally slander Wan Anliang for taking bribes, resulting in huge losses in incense taxes.

Anyway, it is confused. Whether the incense tax is a real loss or a fake loss is just a matter of the mouth of the person who submitted the memorial.

Emperor Jiajing was already dissatisfied with Wan Anliang, so he approved the strict party's memorial and sent Wan Anliang to prison.

Wan Anliang is recognized as an upright official, but he was jailed for bribery.This is really inexplicable.

The imperial court has been like this in recent years. Ever since Mr. Yan Ge took power, some inexplicable things have always happened.

When He Liu entered Wanfu, he first took a rough tour of the twelve houses in the courtyard.

Lao Hu sat on a stone bench in the middle of the courtyard, took out a tin flagon from his pocket, and took a sip of wine.

A commander of the Wucheng soldiers and horses standing next to him patted Lao Hu's flattery: "I'm in a good mood. I'm going to search the mansion of the criminal officer Wan Anliang today. It seems that I can't finish it in one day. I'll go there at noon. What do you think of Fuxianlou getting you a table of good food and two jugs of high-quality drunken Eight Immortals old wine?"

There are ten commanders under the Wucheng Bingma Division.The commander is an official of the imperial court who is of the seventh rank and the eight classics.Lao Hu, the little banner of Jinyiwei, is from the eighth rank.

In terms of rank, [-]% of the commanders of the soldiers and horses are superior to Lao Hu.But Lao Hu was wearing Jinyiwei's tiger skin, and the commander of Wucheng Bingma Si could only respect him.

Lao Hu doesn't take the command's flattery.He raised his finger and pointed to the main room of the courtyard: "Look at this shabby courtyard. Will it take a day to copy such a big place? I think two hours is enough. I won't bother you to prepare our lunch gone."

He Liu shouted at Lao Hu in the main room: "Old Hu, bring the criminal officials' family members here."

Lao Hu led the criminal official's family to He Liu.

The family members of Wan Anliang, a third-rank official, consisted of five people.

Among the other six servants and ministers in the capital, which family does not have dozens of servants and maids?
Seventy-year-old mother, forty-year-old wife, sixteen-year-old son, fourteen-year-old fat servant girl, and sixty-year-old personal servant.This is all of Wan Anliang's family members.

He Liu said to the five people: "Where are the property of the criminal officials hidden, tell me, so as not to suffer."

The old servant replied with a sigh: "Oh, our master's property is all stored in the big box behind the bed in his bedroom."

He Liu and Lao Hu came to Wan Anliang's bedroom.

Sure enough, there was a big box behind the bed in the bedroom.A tattered brass lock hung on the big box.

He Liu said to Lao Hu: "Please clear the box."

Lao Hu carried the innocence box from the yard to the bedroom.

He Liu opened the innocence box, and inside were all kinds of delicate appliances.

He Liu took out a weird brass key and inserted it into the keyhole of the broken copper lock.

"Crack!" The brass lock bounced open.

Lao Hu started and put the things in the big wooden box behind the bed on the bed one by one.

Two long gowns with patches, a pair of broken official boots, seven or eight hanging copper coins, and a painting scroll wrapped in cloth.This is all the family wealth of Wan Anliang, a member of the third rank.

Lao Hu and He Liu looked at each other.The old nonsense said: "Damn it, Wan Anliang doesn't understand how he is an official! How can a high-ranking third-rank official use such a few broken things to press the bottom of the box?"

He Liu unfolded the scroll.

What Liu Zhenfu envoy said before is true, it really is the volume of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" by Zhang Zeduan, a Song Dynasty man!
He Liu looked at the picture carefully.

Lao Hu doesn't understand calligraphy and painting: "It's just a scroll of broken paintings, what's so good about it?"

He Liu laughed loudly: "A scroll of broken paintings? Hu, you yawned like a toad, with a big tone. If this painting is real, take it to Guzhai at the east end of the city, and it can be exchanged for 10 taels of silver!"

Old Hu was confused: "Didn't you say that Wan Anliang is an upright official? How could there be a painting worth 10 taels of silver?"

He Liu said, "Call his servant over and ask him."

The old servant came into the bedroom.

He Liu pointed to "A Picture of Rising the River during the Qingming Festival" and asked the old servant, "Do you know the origin of that painting?"

The servant replied, "Yes."

The servant narrated the origin of this volume of "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" like pouring beans into a bamboo tube: Wan Anliang's father, Wan Yong, was originally from a scholarly family in the south of the Yangtze River.The family has quite some assets.

Wan Yong loves calligraphy and painting very much, and is known as a painting idiot.More than half of his wealth is used to collect famous calligraphy and paintings.

During the reign of Hongzhi, someone found Wan Yong and offered to sell him "A Picture of Shanghe During the Qingming Festival" by Zhang Zeduan, a Song native, for 4 taels of silver.

Wan Yong didn't think about eating or drinking after seeing this painting.He sold his family's [-] mu of fertile land, his ancestral house, and dozens of calligraphy and paintings of famous masters accumulated over the decades. Only then did he make up [-] yuan and bought "A Picture of Rising the River During the Qingming Festival".

After Wan Yong's death, "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" was passed on to his son Wan Anliang.

He Liu nodded after hearing this: "Oh, if the Qingming Riverside Picture is real, it is really a treasure that can be passed down from generation to generation. Unfortunately, this painting is fake."

"What? Fake? Our old man is a master of calligraphy and painting in Jiangnan! How could he spend [-] silver to buy a fake painting?" the servant shouted.

(End of this chapter)