Christie's and Sotheby's are transliterated, and since Hong Kong was formerly a British colony, Hong Kong has many foreign names.

Sotheby's and Christie's both operate in chains, not only setting up branches in their own territories, but also developing cross-border auction businesses, relying on chain management mechanisms and means, and quickly occupying a large share of the world auction market.

According to a statistic as of the end of the last century, Sotheby's has chain auction agencies or offices in 109 cities in 39 countries and regions around the world, while Christie's has chain auction agencies or offices in 34 cities in 46 countries or regions around the world.

It can be said that the two major auction houses of Sotheby's and Christie's are worthy of being the hegemons of the international art auction market, and even people like Xiang Ye Tian, who have nothing to do with auction houses, have heard of their names.

"Ye Tian, I don't know much about Taoist classics, this time there is a batch of scriptures to shoot, you see if it is useful, if it is useful, I will definitely help you take it!"

Some of the things that he spent a lot of money on the first few auctions had no effect on Ye Tian, Tang Wenyuan was an old-school businessman, although he may not feel sorry for money, but he was unwilling to spend money in vain.

After hearing Tang Wenyuan's words, Ye Tian took his eyes off the catalog, raised his head and said with a smile: "Old Tang, you sort out a number for me for the expenses you took a few times ago, and I'll let Xiaotian call you when I go back." ”

"Don't, didn't you slap me in the face?"

As soon as he heard Ye Tian's words, Tang Wenyuan's eyes suddenly widened, and at the same time, he regretted in his heart, why did he do so much. Ye Tian can take pictures of it when he needs it, and his health is far from being measured by this amount of money.

"Old Tang, I don't miss this amount of money, you help me find this news, even if it is the rent of living here, you naturally can't pay for it."

Ye Tian laughed when he heard this, not long ago. Song Weilan gave him a card with 100 million US dollars in it, but Song Weilan was afraid that her son would give her all the money. I didn't have to use it, so I set aside $100 million in funds.

Coupled with the four or five billion US dollars that he lent to his mother, Ye Tian is now very confident in his heart. It's just 100 million Hong Kong dollars, he doesn't pay attention to it at all.

"Okay, needless to say, I received my heart, and I still have to give the money."

Seeing that Tang Wenyuan still wanted to explain, Ye Tian waved his hand, and his eyes were suddenly attracted by a page on the catalog, "Old Tang, this is the scripture you are talking about?" ”

Although Christie's is also a major auction house with a history of one or two hundred years, it was established 22 years later than Sotheby's. The limelight is also slightly less than that.

The competition between the two companies in the market is very fierce, and even the catalogue of the lots used for publicity is very beautifully printed, and there are enlarged recent photos under the corresponding lot list.

Ye Tian's gaze at this time. I was fascinated by a set of photographs, which are three linear books arranged in a fan-shaped shape, the paper of the scrolls is yellowed, and there are traces of insects in the corners, and the condition is not very good.

But on the cover of the classic book placed on the top, the words "Kaiyuan Daozang" were written impressively. Under these four words, there are also two small words "Dong Zhen", after seeing these, Ye Tian's eyes suddenly couldn't move away from them.

The so-called "Daozang", in fact, is the same as the "Shuzang" inherited in Ye Tian's mind, which is a collection of Taoist scriptures, and is a large-scale Taoist series of books arranged according to a certain compilation intention, collection scope and organizational structure, including Taoist books below Zhou and Qin and Taoist classics since the Six Dynasties.

From the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Lu Xiujing compiled the Taoist "Catalogue of the Three Caves of Scriptures" in 471 AD, which is the earliest prototype of the "Taoist Collection".

The formal integration of the Taoist book into the "collection" began in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, and then the Song, Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties all edited the "Daozang", and the Qing Dynasty compiled the "Daozang Collection". …,

The contents of the Taoist collection are very complex, including a large number of Taoist classics, treatises, scientific precepts, runes, spells, fast rituals, praises, palace view mountain chronicles, immortal genealogy and biographies of Taoist figures.

In addition, it also includes hundreds of works of Zhuzi, some of which are ancient books that have been lost outside the Taoist collection, and there are many works on ancient Chinese science and technology, such as books on medicine and health preservation, works on internal and external Dan, works on astronomical calendars, and so on.

In fact, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were also books such as "Tibetan Foreign Taoist Books", "Dunhuang Taoist Collection", "Chinese Taoist Collection", etc., all of which Ye Tian had read during this time.

However, what disappointed him was that the content of these modern Taoist classics was plain and unremarkable, no different from ordinary Taoist scriptures, and the so-called cultivation exercises in them were far worse than the inheritance in his mind.

But Ye Tian knew that the "Kaiyuan Daozang" on this photo was far from being comparable to the modern "Daozang", because it was the first Taoist collection in the history of Chinese Taoism.

Tang Xuanzong ascended the throne, so that Shi Chongxuan and other more than 40 people wrote "All Taoist Classics Yinyi", on this basis, and in the Kaiyuan Dynasty, he sent envoys to search for Taoist scriptures everywhere, plus the original Beijing Tibet, compiled and repaired into "Tibet".

It's just that according to relevant records, by the end of the Tang Dynasty and the fifth dynasty, the war was raging, and these precious classics were destroyed in the swords, and no one in later generations could see it out.

"Old Tang, are there only three copies of this batch of lots? Where do they come from? ”

After seeing this photo, Ye Tian couldn't calm down anymore, because "Kaiyuan Daozang" is also called "Three Caves Qionggang", which is divided into three caves and thirty-six parts, that is, twelve parts of Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen.

The cave is really the sutra said by Tianbaojun, which is the Mahayana, the sutra said by the Lingbaojun of the cave is the middle vehicle, and the sutra said by the Shenbaojun of the cave god is the Hinayana scripture.

The people who pass on the scriptures corresponding to the three caves are Yuan Shi Tianzun, Shangqing Lingbao Tianzun and Taiqing Daode Tianzun, who are the patriarchs of Taoism.

According to ancient legends, the Cave True Sutra has the method of flying up and feathering during the day, but it has not been handed down, and no one in later generations knows whether it is true or false.

Therefore, after Ye Tian saw the word Dongzhen, his eyes immediately turned red, what he needed most at this time was to cultivate the exercises, and the realm of refining the gods and returning to the void, and the feather into immortals, it was not far away, and it was just the same as the Dongzhen scriptures.

"I heard that there are six volumes, and these three volumes are for propaganda purposes."

Seeing Ye Tian's anxious appearance, Tang Wenyuan smiled and said, "I also inquired about their origins, and they were collected from a descendant of a British family, it seems to be called ...... What's Stan's name, that guy is an archaeologist! ”

Knowing that Ye Tian was interested in this kind of thing, Tang Wenyuan really asked someone to inquire, but he was old and his memory was not very good, and he didn't remember the person's name after thinking about it for a long time.

"British, archaeologists?"

After hearing Tang Wenyuan's words, Ye Tian showed a sneer on his face, "I know, the Englishman you are talking about is called Stein, fart archaeologist, that person is a robber!" ”

"Yes, it's Stein." Tang Wenyuan nodded, and then asked strangely, "Why is he a robber?" ”

Ye Tian shook his head, and instead of answering, he asked, "Do you know where this scripture is?" ”

"I don't know, isn't there still a lot of things that have flowed out of our country in the past hundred years?"

Tang Wenyuan was a little unimpressed by Ye Tian's words, because a large number of cultural relics would be smuggled into Hong Kong every year, and to be honest, most of the bronzes in his collection were bought from these channels.

"Alas, if I'm not mistaken, this "Kaiyuan Daozang" should have flowed out of Dunhuang, and this Stein was the first person to steal the cultural relics of the Tibetan Scripture Cave from Dunhuang!"

Ye Tian sighed, in modern times, the two religions of Buddhism and Taoism are in decline, although there are many factors in this, but the loss of classics is undoubtedly the biggest blow to the two religions. …,

The theft of cultural relics from Dunhuang was the most painful of the people of the two religions, and after Li Shanyuan heard about it in the 20s, he rushed to Dunhuang, but most of the scriptures there had been lost, and he gritted his teeth in an old-fashioned manner.

In 1906, in the name of archaeology, Stan was deceived into obtaining 24 boxes of scriptures and 5 boxes of carefully bandaged silk paintings and embroidered artworks from Wang Daoren, the caretaker of the Dunhuang Tibetan Scripture Cave at that time, with only four horseshoe silver.

In 1914, when Stein came to China for the third archaeological "expedition", he came to Dunhuang again and obtained five large boxes of written documents through Wang Daoshi and others.

Although most of the documents had been taken away by the Birch expedition, the Otani expedition, and the Beijing government, most of what Stan had obtained was already taken out by Daoist Wang and transferred to a safe place to hide, thus making Stein the person who had obtained the most documents from the cave.

Therefore, as soon as Ye Tian heard the word Stan, he naturally knew the origin of this "Kaiyuan Daozang".

Although most of the scriptures in the cave are Buddhist classics, there is no lack of Taoist scriptures, especially the second generation of the Sui and Tang dynasties, it is the best period of Dunhuang's development, only the scriptures preserved here have not been burned by the wars of the past dynasties.

Although most of the artifacts Stein stole from China are now in the British Museum, he acquired so many scriptures that his descendants presumably commissioned Christie's to auction after they saw the popularity of Chinese art.

"Ye Tian, don't worry, I will definitely help you take pictures of these six scriptures!" Seeing that Ye Tian attached so much importance to it, Tang Wenyuan patted his chest.

"Is the auction tomorrow? Old Tang, you should have an invitation in your hand, right? ”

Ye Tian's eyes moved away from the album, looked at Tang Wenyuan and said, "I'm going to participate in this auction tomorrow, Old Tang, it's not that I can't trust you, these things can't fall into the hands of others anymore!" ”

Not to mention that these volumes of "Kaiyuan Daozang" are likely to have the cultivation exercises that Ye Tian needs, even for the sake of Master's wishes, they can't be allowed to continue to lose abroad.

And Ye Tian has been sick in bed during this time, but he was not lightly aggrieved, and he felt in good condition after getting up and walking today, and he also wanted to go out to let off steam.

PS: The second update, in order not to pad the end of the list, ask for recommendation votes, refresh every day, and ask friends to support the phase teacher!. (To be continued......)