Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 37 Antiques were valuable in ancient times
Zhu Yunfeng is not even a novice in the antique industry, he can only be considered a layman.

But even a layman can know which antiques are valuable by learning from others and reading information online.

It's just that his lack of understanding of the industry made him think that the older the item, the greater its value.

In fact, this is a misunderstanding.

Truly valuable antiques are not only valuable in modern times, they were also precious at that time.

For example, the bronze tripod from the Shang and Zhou dynasties was a ceremonial vessel that was cast at great cost by the royal family of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Ordinary princes were not allowed to own it, and it was a national treasure at the time.

There are also jade wares from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At that time, jade wares belonged to the aristocratic classes such as kings, dukes, officials, and scholars, and many of them were carried by celebrities.

Qu Yuan was very fond of jade, but due to the erosion of time, not many jades from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period have survived. Many of them are treasures of major museums, so they must be valuable.

In comparison, the pottery bowls and jars made by ordinary people during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, although very old and not many of them remain, do not have much historical value and naturally have little significance.

There are also Chongning Tongbao coins from the Northern Song Dynasty. Because of their large circulation and large number of coins in stock, they have certain historical value, but they are not very valuable. Depending on the quality, the market price ranges from a few yuan to several hundred yuan.

The Song Dynasty official kiln porcelain and Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain that Zhu Yunfeng wanted are rare in the world. Even in the Song and Yuan dynasties, they were extremely precious artifacts, specially used to supply the royal family, so they are naturally of extraordinary value.

For example, there are only about 300 pieces of Yuan blue and white porcelain in the world in later generations, including more than 100 pieces in China and more than 200 pieces abroad. The number of pieces in existence is extremely rare.

The same is true for Song Dynasty official kiln celadon. There are only more than 60 pieces of Ru kiln porcelain in the world, more than 100 pieces of Ge kiln, and less than 100 pieces of official kiln. The total number of surviving pieces of the five major official kilns does not exceed 500, which shows how precious they are.

The Ming Dynasty had just been established, and its financial resources were very limited. Treasures in the national treasury were very scarce, and those precious antiques were even fewer and pitifully few.

The most typical example is when Zhu Yuanzhang's son, King Zhu Chun of Shu, was enfeoffed as a vassal, Zhu Yuanzhang rewarded him with some porcelain from Jingdezhen. However, according to the cultural relics buried with Zhu Chun unearthed in later generations, many of the porcelains had defects.

For example, a Ming Dynasty Hongwu red-glazed plate with a printed cloud dragon pattern was a defective product. The glaze color was not correct and the glaze shrinkage on the bottom was obvious, but it was still awarded to the Shu Palace. This was enough to show that resources were scarce in the early years of Hongwu, and the defective product could only be awarded to Zhu Chun for daily use.

Now, the early Ming Dynasty is not far from the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan blue and white porcelain and the Song Dynasty official kiln porcelain were not affected by the wars of the Ming, Qing and Republic of China, so there must be much more of them in existence than in later generations.

But the problem still remains. The Ming Dynasty had just been established and these things had not yet been collected. Therefore, they may still exist in large quantities among the people, but Zhu Yuanzhang and his men just cannot get them out for the time being.

"Shen Wang!"

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from the study.

Zhu Biao's eyes lit up and he said, "Oh, and Shen Wang."

"Who is Shen Wang?"

Zhu Yunfeng was puzzled.

"Shen Wansan's son."

"Shen Wansan? Wasn't his family exterminated by our ancestors?"

"Who told you that?"

Zhu Biao was surprised and said, "Shen Wansan died before the Ming Dynasty was established. After their father defeated Zhang Shicheng, his sons Shen Rong and Shen Wang funded the construction of some pavilions, city walls, stairs, iron bridges and dams for the Ming Dynasty, and were rewarded by their father. The Shen family is a wealthy family in Jiangnan, and they should have these rare things at home."

"I see."

Only then did Zhu Yunfeng know the truth.

Although he was familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty, he was not as clear about the details as he was about the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms. Therefore, when watching the TV series, he thought Shen Wansan died in Yunnan.

However, few people know that Shen Wansan was a Yuan Dynasty person in his life and a Yuan Dynasty ghost after his death. He died at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The prototype of Shen Wansan who paid for Zhu Yuanzhang to build the city wall was actually his two sons, Shen Rong and Shen Wang.

The Shen family was not exterminated by Zhu Yuanzhang in the early years of the Hongwu reign. Instead, the family declined due to the involvement in the Lan Yu case in the late Hongwu reign. Therefore, Shen Wansan never even met Zhu Yuanzhang.

The current head of the Shen family is Shen Wang. Shen Rong died in the ninth year of Hongwu. Some people in the Shen family are currently serving as officials in the court, so perhaps they can be asked to collect these treasures.

"It will take some time to get the Shen family to help. It may take a few days. Why don't you go to the treasury first?"

Zhu Biao suggested: "Or we can take gold as the base first."

Speaking of the Golden Vermilion Standard, I feel a little painful.

In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, financial resources were very tight and there was not much gold in the treasury.

After all, Hu Weiyong bribed Li Shanchang and only spent 200 taels of gold to be promoted from Huguang Ancha Qianshi to Prime Minister.

According to the calculation that one catty is equal to sixteen taels, which is equal to 596 grams, it is 7450 grams, which is about 460 million.

Zhu Yunfeng asked for gold worth 10 million, which was more than twice this amount, enough to buy two prime ministers.

But Zhu Yunfeng was also disappointed when he heard about giving gold.

After all, the value of a few dozen kilograms of gold is far less than that of antiques such as Yuan blue and white porcelain that cost hundreds of millions, and it is not easy to sell.

But it's better to have something than nothing.

What if there are some good things in the Ming Dynasty’s treasure house?
So he reluctantly said: "Then look at the treasury. If there is nothing good, we can only take the gold."

"Well, I'll take you there."

Zhu Biao stood up, and the agreement was reached.

They provided money and Zhu Yunfeng provided labor to purchase grain, fertilizers and silver from modern times to help Daming quickly improve productivity.

In this way, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty will be developed in a short period of time, and there will be no financial difficulties in the future.

"Father, I took Yunfeng to the treasure house."

Zhu Biao got down from the small bed in the warm room, walked into the study, bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and said.

Zhu Yuanzhang said impatiently: "Go ahead."

"Yes."

Zhu Biao came out immediately, waved to Zhu Yunfeng and said, "Let's go."

Zhu Yunfeng suddenly became excited.

Haven’t we been busy for so long just for this moment?

Although it is possible that no priceless antiques can be found from the Ming Dynasty treasury.

But if you can get dozens of kilograms of gold, that would be considered making a fortune.

As for how to do it, we’ll find a solution at night.

Now let’s put the money in our pocket first.

He immediately packed up his things, picked up the chainsaw and followed Zhu Biao.

Zhu Di also followed behind.

The three of them came out of the warm room, one in front, one in the middle, and one in the back, and arrived at the main hall of the Qianqing Palace again.

Passing by this spacious palace, Zhu Yunfeng couldn't help but look up at the dragon throne with curiosity. It was shining with golden light and full of majesty.

"This is the gold of the dragon throne. You can't take it."

Zhu Biao saw him looking at the dragon throne and said, "Besides, this chair is not made of pure gold. It is made of golden nanmu wood, and some gold powder is added to the lacquer on the surface."

"No, I'm just curious about what the dragon throne looks like. If I carry this thing back and sell it, it will probably be worth a lot of money. The dragon throne that our ancestors sat on is of great historical value."

Zhu Yunfeng said casually.

Zhu Biao and Zhu Di standing beside them were both confused.

Okay.

This guy even wants to sell the dragon throne.

It's really lawless.

"Can I see it up close? Can I go up and experience it?"

Zhu Yunfeng said this subconsciously, but suddenly came to his senses and quickly said, "I don't mean to offend our ancestors. The dragon throne of the Qing Dynasty is in the Forbidden City in Beijing. It was a Ming Dynasty dragon throne found by experts in the warehouse. It might have been passed down by the Second Ancestor. Many tourists have sat on that dragon throne. We modern people are not so afraid of the royal family anymore, so we are just curious and want to see and experience what it feels like."

"hehe."

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "If that's all you need, I can let you go up and sit for a while. To be honest, my father occasionally leaves the capital, and I often sit for a while when I was the regent. I don't think there's anything special about it."

"Wait a minute, bro."

Zhu Di beside him couldn't help but stop him. "What's wrong?"

"It's fine if we open the treasure house of the Ming Dynasty to this kid, but how can he even sit on the throne? After all, he is just a descendant of the younger generation, not a regent like my elder brother. If outsiders see this, it will damage the dignity of my father and elder brother."

"Oh, I almost forgot."

Zhu Biao suddenly realized what was going on, and then said to him, "Then go out for a while, so no one can see you."

'Um? '

Zhu Di showed a puzzled expression on his face: "???"

"It's okay. The Second Ancestor is not an outsider. After all, he is our ancestor."

Zhu Yunfeng waved his hand generously, then climbed up the imperial steps, came to the dragon throne and looked it up and down.

This dragon throne is made of golden nanmu wood, painted with gold lacquer, and has extremely fine carvings.

There is a dragon carved on the center headrest and three dragons on both sides. There are a total of six dragons carved on the backrest and the top of the armrests. There are also two dragon patterns standing on the front part of the armrests, which are lifelike.

He couldn't help but sit down, and felt a cold touch. As the room was too spacious, there was no place to put his hands, and the experience was very average.

"Means nothing."

After sitting for a few seconds, Zhu Yunfeng stood up, walked down the steps and said, "It's so cold even if there are cushions on it, it's still cold and hard. Next time I'll get you a few sofas. I guarantee they'll be more comfortable than the dragon chair."

“Then I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Zhu Biao laughed.

He felt that he could get along well with Zhu Yunfeng.

Unfortunately, they are not his direct descendants, but the descendants of the fourth brother.

How great it would be if they were my direct descendants.

The three of them then left the Qianqing Palace and, led by Zhu Biao, headed towards the treasury.

The full name of the treasury is the Treasure House, and the Forbidden City in Beijing inherited its function. It remained there until the Qing Dynasty and later became one of the exhibition areas.

But unlike the Qing Dynasty's Treasure House which was full of exquisite items, the Ming Dynasty's Nanjing Palace Museum Treasure House was a bit shabby.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang had just founded the country at that time, and he himself was not a cultural relic enthusiast. He did not collect antiques and cultural relics from the public on a large scale, resulting in very few collections in the Treasure House.

Basically, most of them were tributes from various countries, such as Goryeo, Champa, Annan, Borneo, etc., including ginseng, gold, silver, jade, jadeite, ivory and so on.

In addition, there are tributes from local areas, such as imperial porcelain from Jingdezhen, tea from various places, medicinal materials from various places, silk from various places, and so on.

"It has only been twelve years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Although most of China has been recovered, Yunnan has not yet been annexed. During my father's reign, he slept late and woke up early, resting no more than three hours a day, and diligently governed the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Biao pushed open the door of the Treasure House and said as he walked in, "So for the past twelve years, my father has only cared about the safety of the common people, but rarely cared about the rare and precious things. The treasure house is shabby, I hope Yunfeng can understand."

When Zhu Yunfeng stepped into the treasury, what caught his eye was the first-floor palace. There were many shelves in the room, on which were placed many porcelains, teas, medicinal herbs, silk products, etc., all of which were tributes from various places.

This is done for the convenience of access. Many of these tributes are daily necessities and are offered every year from all over the country. If they are placed upstairs, it will be inconvenient to carry them, so they are all placed on the first floor.

Zhu Yunfeng glanced around. These things must be worth a lot of money, but they could only be sold in the future if they were to be sold to someone who knew the value of them. Among them were quite a few porcelains from Jingdezhen during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. It was estimated that they could be sold for hundreds of thousands each in the future, and it was not impossible for those in good condition to be sold for millions.

But there's a problem.

That is, they are all newly made and have no sense of age.

It is estimated that in later generations, even if it looks very real, without the nearly 600 years of historical accumulation from the early Ming Dynasty to later generations, experts will not think it is from the Ming Dynasty, but from last week.

"What is the most valuable antique here?"

Zhu Yunfeng took a look and asked directly.

He knew that only items that could be included in the royal inventory had been authenticated, and there was no such thing as finding a bargain.

But he doesn't understand this aspect, so he might as well ask directly.

There were eunuchs guarding and managing the treasury, but Zhu Biao let Zhu Di go first and dismissed all the people with his oral order.

So at this moment, Zhu Biao picked up the treasury account book and said, "There are more than 42,200 taels of gold, some Tang and Song Dynasty porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, and among them there is also a copy of Su Dongpo's "Five Poems of Huanxisha" in ink."

"This is all the gold in the national treasury?"

"There's no other way. The imperial treasury relies on either tribute or taxation, and we can't rob people. And every year we have to give out a lot of gold and silver as rewards. Father gave hundreds of taels of gold to meritorious officials. With so many rewards, naturally there won't be much left."

"I see. Forget about the calligraphy and paintings. If these things are preserved in later generations, I will have trouble taking them out. I will record the calligraphy and paintings later, and then check online to see which ones have been lost. I will come back to do it."

When Zhu Yunfeng heard Su Shi's authentic works, his mouth almost drooled.

If I take this thing back, how much would it be worth?

But reason still prevailed.

Calligraphy and painting are different from porcelain. There are few famous artists in porcelain. All porcelains are made by government supervision and private individuals, and there is only a difference between official kilns and private kilns.

Imperial porcelains from the official kilns are rarely exactly alike, but later dynasties often imitated things from previous dynasties. Even if they are imitations of official kilns, as long as they are produced by official kilns, they are priceless.

On the other hand, it is different with celebrity calligraphy and paintings. If you take them back and find that they are collected by a certain museum or a certain private individual, if they are exactly the same, they must be distinguished between the real and the fake. In that case, not only will the antiques not be sold, but the person will also be sued.

Therefore, to be on the safe side, he decided to take some porcelain back first. As for calligraphy and paintings, he could check online to make sure they have been lost in later generations and there would be no trouble in this regard, and then he could take the things over.

"Then let's take a look at the porcelain. Although we don't have Yuan Dynasty celadon or Song Dynasty official kiln porcelain, there are a few Tang Dynasty porcelains that are pretty good. They were all confiscated from the inner treasury of the Yuan Dynasty."

Zhu Biao introduced.

"Okay, let's go and have a look."

Zhu Yunfeng nodded.

Then the two of them went to the third floor.

Compared to the first and second floors, there are much less things here.

The first floor contains tributes from various places, the second floor contains tributes from vassal states, and only the third floor contains spoils of war seized from the Yuan Dynasty’s treasury.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang had clear rewards and punishments in battle, and he often gave away the spoils as rewards, so his collection was very small.

Among them are "Early Spring" by Northern Song Dynasty court painter Guo Xi, the manuscript of "Five Poems of Huanxisha" by Su Shi, "River Bank" by Five Dynasties painter Dong Yuan, and so on.

In addition, there are a large number of books, printed books, and some porcelain.

Zhu Yunfeng didn't care about the printed books. His eyes went straight to the porcelain, which included porcelain from the Tang Dynasty and porcelain from the Southern Song Dynasty.

Of course he couldn't tell the value, but based on the principle that valuable antiques are very valuable even in ancient times, Zhu Yunfeng searched for a long time and finally chose a Tang Dynasty sancai camel pottery figurine about 48 cm tall.

Zhu Biao was very surprised to see this, and asked him why he chose such a thing, as Tang Sancai was mostly used as burial objects in the Tang Dynasty, and they were preserved in the treasury because they were seized from the treasury of the Yuan Dynasty and had been kept there for future burial.

However, Zhu Yunfeng also knew that this was a burial object, but it was still valuable now.

Hearing that Tang Sancai is very valuable nowadays, Zhu Biao couldn't help but sigh that the market price of antiques in later generations was unexpected, and even the value of burial objects had risen sharply.

After taking a piece of Tang Sancai, Zhu Yunfeng took out another 10 taels of gold. The total weight was about kilograms. Although it was not heavy, he could still feel his body sluggish when carrying it with the equipment on his back.

But Zhu Yunfeng was excited, not feeling heavy at all, and said with full of joy: "Then I'll go over first, come directly if you need anything."

"I'll give it to you."

Zhu Biao said with a smile.

"You are too polite, Grandpa Taibo. Just let Second Ancestor follow."

Zhu Yunfeng was also smiling.

"That's fine."

Zhu Biao nodded, looked at Zhu Di and said, "Fourth brother, you go."

His attitude towards Zhu Yunfeng was completely different from his attitude towards Zhu Di, and his tone was much colder when speaking to Zhu Di.

Zhu Di secretly complained that these descendants of their ancestors had alienated the relationship between him and his eldest brother, but he did not dare to say anything. He could only nod and go to the underground palace outside the Qianqing Palace with Zhu Yunfeng.

(End of this chapter)