Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 349 Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition

Another result reached with Zheng Hongkui is to buy a boat.

An excuse? Of course, Zheng Hongkui let the Japanese come to Daming privately, making Yang Chao very passive, so the Zheng family needs to make some compensation. Yang Chao needs [-] ships.

Yang Chao didn't want them in vain, Yang Chao would give the money, and use their payment to offset the deduction.

The shipbuilding ability of the Ming Dynasty was not as bad as later generations imagined. If it was so bad, could the Zheng family still dominate the maritime merchants?

Both the government's shipbuilding ability and the Cao merchant's private shipbuilding ability are not bad, but when it comes to building large ships, the Zheng family can only be counted. If the Zheng family wants to be the second, no one dares to say the first.

The Zheng family built the largest shipbuilding base in the East in Fujian.

Yang Chao is willing to purchase 8000 boats from Zheng at a price of [-] taels.

However, the small boats in the eyes of the Zheng family are also big ships in the Yangtze River, all of which are two-masted ships. As for the larger three-masted ships, the Zheng family does not sell them at all.

This kind of two-masted ship costs about 6000 taels of silver, so 8000 taels per ship is reasonable. After all, what Yang Chao wants is an existing ship, and the future payment will be used to pay for it. No interest will be given on the installment loan.

With these [-] large ships, Yang Chao will have around [-] brigs. With the [-] small ships in the future, it will not be a problem to dominate the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The art exhibition opened the next day. It was said to be an art exhibition, but it was actually a painting and calligraphy exhibition. In addition to Chinese paintings such as ink wash and fine brushwork, there were also calligraphy posts by famous masters.

The paintings and calligraphy exhibited today include those newly created by literati, as well as their collections, such as the calligraphy of the late Dong Qichang, the orchids of Ma Xianglan, the calligraphy and paintings newly created by Yang Wencong, Wu Meicun, Qian Qianyi, etc., and even a large number of Qinhuai paintings. Paintings of courtesans.

The calligraphy and painting exhibition in Jinchai Building is probably the most successful and most commendable event. It is more famous than the most profitable singing and dancing performances. The reason is that it is very popular with literati. They spread word of mouth, and it was held for the fourth time. It's already very famous.

This time, not only the works of literati from Jiangnan, but also the literati in Zhejiang and Jiangxi have entrusted people to put their favorite works on display here. a pleasure.

Early in the morning, there were a group of young scholars with nothing to do, including the shadows of Erlishe people. Although Yang Chao said that they were refused to enter, in fact, it was basically impossible to operate it, but it was impossible for a leader like Si Gongzi to come in, and he had no face to come in. .

In addition to these people, there are also some authors.

Yang Chao also saw the figure of Kono. After evaluating each painting and calligraphy, if the author was present, he would immediately ask if he was willing to sell it, and he would buy it for as much as he was willing to sell it.

At noon, some honorable disciples also came, and Yang Chao still saw Kono, who was still appreciating and collecting paintings tirelessly.

In the evening, a large number of civil servants also flocked in. After they got off work, they came here to enjoy the masterpieces and exchange ideas. Kono was still there.

At first, Yang Chao admired Kono's local tyrant behavior, but later found that those authors often didn't care about the price after a few words of praise from Kono. Sold it.

When Kono took these paintings back, it was estimated that the price would be ten times higher, and there were people snapping them up.

These authors can sell their own labor at a low price, but not to foreigners, because what they are selling is not their own fame, but there is the signboard of "Daming Culture" in it. With this endorsement, it will cost ten times .

So Yang Chao felt that the calligraphy and painting exhibition should have a price tag, which is easy to do. He found some merchants who deal in antique calligraphy and painting, and asked them to estimate the price, so as to save these people from selling it cheaply. At the same time, he threatened Kono in private, telling him not to be so cheap. If you buy precious works of art from Ming Dynasty, you have to pay taxes. If you buy them with ten taels of silver, you have to pay 50 taels of tax. The tax rate of [-] taels is not high.

Of course, Yang Chao did not do these things himself. As a dignified and loyal uncle, it is not appropriate to go to someone to collect taxes. He asked Kang Xiaobao to come forward and tell Kono that this is the rule of Jinchailou. Either accept it or not in Jinchailou I bought it, probably after paying heavy taxes, I can still make money. Kono still agreed, but he was more careful in purchasing after that, and only picked high-quality goods to buy.

In fact, looking at the calligraphy of these famous masters, Yang Chao is also very influenced by art. China has always been high-end in the field of art. The freehand brushwork of Chinese calligraphy and painting is more artistic than the impressionistic flow of the West.

Yang Chao had a sudden whim and asked someone to bring over his sketches, which aroused some criticism, but Kono didn't buy any of the praises, which made Yang Chao feel a little disappointed, it seems that he still can't reach In the realm of selling paintings for a living, these sketches are not good, and it is estimated that they will not be appreciated if they are painted as oil paintings and placed here.

The calligraphy and painting exhibition was finally over. Seeing the scribes discussing enthusiastically while leaving the Jinchai Building, Yang Chao knew how successful he was.

But Kang Xiaobao's expression was not very happy, and he found Yang Chao with a worried look.

"What's wrong?"

Kang Xiaobao nodded.

"The group of scholars?"

Kang Xiaobao nodded again.

Yang Chao sighed: "Tell me, what kind of trouble have they made?"

Kang Xiaobao said: "Brother Yang, I guess I caused trouble for you, and maybe the court as well."

Yang Chao couldn't help being moved: "What's going on? The scholar still has to rebel!"

Kang Xiaobao said: "Scholars are spreading rumors, saying that His Majesty is not the real prince, you just found someone from the north and brought it back, because you have a heavy army in your hand, so Jiangnan civil and military can only submit, and you are in trouble!"

Yang Chao frowned: "Who spread it?"

Kang Xiaobao said: "The group of scholars in Erli Society."

Yang Chao asked again: "Did the government catch anyone?"

If such rumors are released, some people will definitely believe that in this troubled world, there may not be no one who takes the opportunity to make trouble. In the original history, the prince was killed by the Qing Dynasty, and after the fake prince who appeared in Jiangnan was arrested, many people insisted that it was Really, even the civil servants thought it was true, which made Zhu Yousong so annoyed that no one listened to his explanation.

Because of things like rumors, he couldn't explain them clearly.

Kang Xiaobao shook his head: "I can't catch it. I thought there was no one who could be found. The Fourth Young Master didn't show up at all. He only found a few low-level scholars. After the rumors spread, the people spread them indiscriminately. I can't help it."

Yang Chao couldn't help feeling overwhelmed. He didn't expect that these scholars really found a good way to cause trouble for himself, but they also created a big trouble for the court.

Sure enough, they are capricious, and they have no sense of the overall situation at all. Don't they know that what the court urgently needs is stability, and this court is a court that maintains their privileges?
But you can't really catch them.

(End of this chapter)