Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 36 Meeting Li Rusong Again

"Zhang Shidu, I, Dong, don't have anything good to give in return, so I will give this to you." After Dong Qichang said this, he took out a scroll and solemnly handed it to Zhang Xiao.

"Can you take a closer look now?" Zhang Xiao asked

"Of course." Dong Qichang said.

Zhang Xiao opened it carefully and saw an article called "Xiaoyaoyou".

"Brother Dong, thank you for your trouble." Zhang Xiao reinstalled "Xiaoyaoyou".

"I saw Zhang Shidu's pen name, so I sent this painting as a gift. As long as Zhang Shidu likes it. I don't have any paintings that I'm satisfied with at the moment. I'll give you another painting another day," Dong Qichang said.

"Then thank you Brother Dong. I almost forgot. This is the sample book of "Fifty Years in the World" which I wrote recently. It is not yet on sale in the market, so I gave it to Brother Dong as a small gift. Brother Dong, no need You are so polite. From now on, you and I will be like brothers." Just Zhang Xiao.

"I wonder how Brother Zhang is doing? What is his brand name?" Dong Qichang asked.

"I am twenty-three years old. I have no business name and live by my name." Zhang Xiao replied.

"Oh, how old am I? How old are you and me?" Dong Qichang asked.

"Of course that's good." Zhang Xiao said.

"Brother Xian, haven't you ever thought about starting a name?" Dong Qichang asked.

"Before, rice was expensive in the capital and I was busy making a living, so I didn't even think of mentioning it," Zhang Xiao said.

"Then let Dong help me think of one, let's call it Minglue. I think you have a deep understanding of strategy, brother, and you are also a person who understands strategy well."

"Thank you, Brother Dong. I will use this word in my life from now on." Zhang Xiao thanked him.

"Brother Xian wants me to draw, what kind of painting method should I use? Dong has really never drawn book illustrations. In the past, he mostly painted landscapes, but if brother Xian asks me to draw figures and utensils, I can also draw them. ." Dong Qichang said.

"I have ten paintings in mind. I will discuss with Brother Dong here how to draw them more appropriately. Some paintings are inconvenient to paint, so you can also replace them with other paintings." Zhang Xiao said as he put the ten pictures together. The design idea was handed to Zhang Xiao.

Dong Qichang took the piece of paper and read it carefully, but the look on his face seemed to be a little unclear.

"Xiandi's wording is quite novel. I can still roughly understand the composition, background, and rendering, but how do you understand this layering? There is really a lot to be drawn in each picture. It's indeed a big job." Dong Qichang cast an appraising look at Zhang Xiao.

"If this were not the case, why would you dare to trouble Brother Dong? I hope Brother Dong will not be surprised. I will explain to Brother Dong what Brother Dong cannot understand now." Zhang Xiao replied.

"I can probably guess what this sense of hierarchy means. Let's not worry about these words for now. Let's talk about what we want to draw first. In this first picture, we want to draw the ships of the Francois sailing in the sea. Buddha I, Dong, have little experience with Lang Jiren's ship. I have never seen it before. What does it look like?" Dong Qichang asked first.

"Brother Dong, borrow a pen and let me draw a rough sketch. It looks like a three-masted ship with a hull shape like this. There are also cannons on it. The long one is the Hongyi cannon, and the short one is the Folang machine cannon." Zhang Xiao picked up a pen and paper and roughly drew.

"What do these Folangji people look like? What weapons do they hold?"

"Folangji people have curly hair of various colors, a higher nose bridge, and darker eye sockets. As for weapons, except for fire blunderbuss, which are broadswords and spears, there is nothing special. As for armor, the main There are a lot of iron armors, so I’ll probably draw some common shapes.”

"So what do these Native Americans look like, and what are their weapons?"

"The Americas are hot, so the Aztecs wore a variety of clothes, but they didn't have iron armor. Their weapons were swords and spears, but they were all made of wood or stone."         “That's really simple enough.”

……

There was a lot of things when he entered the house. When he came out of Dong Qichang's house, Zhang Xiao only had a pair of calligraphy and paintings in his hands.

However, Zhang Xiao is very satisfied. Not to mention that the calligraphy on his hand will be priceless in future generations. Even now, Dong Qichang's calligraphy and paintings are not easily accessible. It is much better to hang them at home. There is a cultural atmosphere. Moreover, someone has drawn the illustrations for my book.

Zhang Xiao returned home humming a song. As soon as he opened the door, a servant came over in a hurry and handed him an invitation.

"Sir, this is an invitation from General Li Rusong."

"When did it happen?" Zhang Xiao asked.

"Not long after, it was delivered personally by the housekeeper of Uncle Ning Yuan's residence."

Zhang Xiao opened the invitation and Li Rusong invited him to the banquet tomorrow. Zhang Xiao asked his servant to buy gifts, and then he sat in the study and thought about it. Although Li Rusong is considered acquaintance with him, at this juncture, he might not have heard the news about Li Chengliang's loss of power. But you have to go when you have to. There is always a need to exchange some information between officials.

On the second day, Zhang Xiao finished packing the gifts, got on the carriage and walked to Uncle Ningyuan's mansion.

"Brother Zhang came on time." As soon as Zhang Xiao entered Uncle Ning Yuan's house, he saw Li Rubai waiting for him.

"General Zizhen, I haven't seen you for a few days. I feel that you are more energetic." Zhang Xiao said.

"I can't help it. It's hard for me to think without being energetic. Zhang Shidu, please come with me." Li Rubai laughed at himself.

"Thank you, General Zizhen, for your guidance." Zhang Xiao said.

After walking for a while, Zhang Xiao finally arrived at the banquet place. But it was different from what Zhang Xiao imagined. There was just a table set up with the Li brothers sitting on it. Seeing Zhang Xiao arriving, Li Rusong and Li Rumei both stood up.

"Zhang Shidu, I have only been back to the capital for a few days, and I heard that your reputation has spread far and wide. People in the capital are rushing to see your new work." Li Rusong said.

"It's an old work for Governor Li, right? You all listened to this book along the way and helped polish a lot of it," Zhang Xiao said.

"Come on, Zhang Shidu, please sit here." Li Rubai pointed to the seat and said.

"This is the main position, I can't do it." Zhang Xiao declined.

"Zhang Shidu, please sit down. To be honest, today's game is specially set up for you, Zhang Shidu. We brothers really want to ask for help from you today." Li Rusong said sincerely.

"Okay, then I'd rather be respectful than obey." Zhang Xiao saw that he had reached this point and sat down quickly.

"What does Zhang Shidu think of my Li family's mansion?" Li Rusong asked.

"It's quite big and pretty. I'm not afraid of Governor Li's jokes. I still live in a small courtyard now. I just hired two more servants. It will take a while before I can rent a slightly larger house. I can be a frontman or someone else." I'm too embarrassed to open the door when I'm a guest," Zhang Xiao said.

"Zhang Shidu has won your majesty's trust. Sooner or later, we will be able to live in a big house. But brother Zhang, I am not afraid that you will call me fake. Living in Ningyuan's Mansion, I am afraid every day that something will happen to my father in Liaodong." What's wrong. This mansion was given by the Holy Emperor as a reward for my father's merits. I have to think about the great emperor's grace when I live there. If my father causes trouble, loses the battle, and loses His Majesty's face, this house will be uncomfortable to live in. " Li Rusong said.

(End of this chapter)