There are eight people standing on the auction table, namely Shen Yicong, the priest of Guozi, Tao Wanhua, the head of Xingzhi Academy, Mei Dengzhou, the head of Shidong Academy, Feng Shiqiu, the head of Youlu Academy, Zheng Yanzhi, the head of Hengyang Academy, and Wang Huixi, the head of the first academy, and the other two are Yang Jing, the head of Shuntian Mansion, and the Hanlin Academy is waiting for the edict of Shiqian.

On the auction table was a half-person-high bar table about seven feet long and less than two feet wide, and Yang Jing of Shuntian Mansion and Zhao Shiqian of Hanlin Yuan stood behind the bar table, and the other six people stood behind the two.

Yang Fucheng patted the waking wood on the table to signal everyone in the audience to be quiet, and after the hall calmed down, he cleared his throat and said, "In Xia Shuntianfu Cheng Yang Jing, this auction is intended to raise donations, all the auction items are provided by the participants, and the proceeds of the fundraising are registered and handed over to Guozijian after being registered in Shuntianfu, and all the money is planned by Guozijian and the five academies according to the disaster situation in each provincial capital. In addition, after the joint negotiation between Guozijian and the five colleges, it was decided that in this fundraising auction, the staff of each college will hand over the donated items to the heads of each college, and then each college will select three of the lots as the finale of today's fundraising auction, and then select the winning college according to the total auction price of the three items selected by each college. Speaking of which, Yang Fucheng paused for a moment to give everyone in the audience a little time to understand.

After a while, Yang Fucheng continued, "This auction is presided over by me and Lord Shi, and due to the large number of lots and different types of auctions, several of us have jointly formulated some rules, and Lord Shi will introduce them to you one by one. After speaking, Yang Jing made a gesture of please to the people standing beside him.

Another person behind the strip-shaped desk took over and said, "In Shiqian, in the Xia Hanlin Academy, I co-chaired the auction with Yang Fucheng, the auction is divided into two parts, the first part is an ordinary auction, that is, the auction of all items except the three lots selected by each academy, and the reserve price pricing power of these items is determined by the owner, but in order to prevent arbitrary pricing, once the auction of this part of the items fails, the owner will auction the items back according to the set reserve price. The latter part is a special auction, that is, the auction of three items selected by each college, a total of 18 lots, once selected, cannot be replaced. If each college has doubts about the appraisal of any of the lots, then an application can be made for one person from each college and a total of seven people to re-evaluate and set a reserve price for the doubtful lot. In the following hour, each college will register and select the auction items. ”

After Shi Qian finished speaking, he turned to the few academy members behind him and said with a smile, "It's going to be hard work for a few gentlemen, so let's go have tea first." ”

The six old gentlemen also smiled and said, "Two adults, please!" ”

Yang Jing and Shi Qian left the auction table and found a place to drink tea and wait, and the six courtyard leaders also hurriedly beckoned a group of people who had already been arranged by their own academy to prepare for the auction.

With the beginning of registration, the originally complicated hall was clearly divided into six areas, and the personnel of their respective colleges found the location of their own colleges for donation, identification, and registration, and everything was in order.

After more than half an hour, the colleges have completed the registration work one after another, only a few who came a little later are still registering, and after the donors have registered, they have found a good position to wait for the auction to begin, and there are still two quarters of an hour before the start time when the colleges will begin to carry out the identification and selection of special auction items later.

In addition to Xingzhi Academy, the items donated by several other academies are relatively simple, basically some ancient books and paintings, jewelry and jade, etc., only Xingzhi Academy has a lot of items, gold, silver, copper and iron, model wood, swords, guns, swords, halberds, flowers and herbs, cultural and antiques, everything, so the final selection of the workload is very huge, although many items have high value, but the participation in this auction is mostly literati, many things can not be auctioned at a good price, so can only be classified as an ordinary auction.

Xingzhi Academy is a little too late because of the large number of items and miscellaneous, Zhang Zhiji, as a student of Xingzhi Academy, came over to help sort out the items when he had nothing to do anyway. On the side, Mr. Xingzhi and the two masters in charge of the appraisal had already selected two items for auction, one was a blade from the Warring States period, and the other was an 800-year-old wild ginseng, but the third item could not be determined. Several people repeatedly considered the three items, the first is a piece of Hetian jade in the Yongle period, but it is a folk thing, the second is a pure gold Maitreya Buddha nearly a foot high, and the third is Wang Xizhi's "Clear Post when the Snow is Fast".

The reason why these three items are uncertain is because although the first Pisces pendant is some years old and the material is also very good, it belongs to the folk play, and it is for ordinary people to change this piece of jade pendant may be enough for the family to eat and drink for a lifetime, but in the second half of this auction, I am afraid that it can only be the bottom thing. And the golden Buddha, there is no need to appraise, just weigh it to calculate the price, at least five or six thousand taels of silver, but using gold to compete with other academies for auction, Mr. Xingzhi is really afraid of losing the reputation of Xingzhi Academy. And the third piece, Wang Xizhi's "Sunny Post When the Snow is Fast", if it is genuine, I am afraid that the price of this one is enough to surpass the price of the three lots of other academies, but Mr. Xingzhi and several masters have studied for a long time and cannot determine whether it is a genuine work, although they can't find out where the problem is, but they always feel that something is wrong, because "Sunny Post when the Snow is Fast" has been lost for many years, and the legend is that it was brought into the mausoleum by Tang Taizong to accompany the burial, and even the Tang facsimile's "Clear Post when the Snow is Fast" is hidden in the palace and cannot appear here, if it is rashly taken out and identified as a fake, even if Song Facsimile can't sell for any price, then Xingzhi Academy will lose, but the value of other items is not as good as these three, which makes several people embarrassed.

Zhang Zhiji looked at the sad looks of several old masters on the side, and he was also a little anxious, at this time, the time of the auction was very close, and the lots selected by other academies had been submitted, and several old gentlemen here were still entangled. At this time, Zhang Zhiji sorted out two hand-copied poems, and complained in his heart, "I don't know who took these messy and worthless things out." "Zhang Zhiji has sorted out a lot of this kind of hand-copied poems, the better ones are still framed in advance, and the worst is this kind of rice paper and then sent after copying, I'm afraid it's not enough to waste energy.

Zhang Zhiji opened the poem while complaining, and first saw a line of words "In the spring of the forty-eighth year of Wanli, Zhu Gongzi wrote Xu Ming'er book in Xingzhi Academy", and said in his heart, "This first talented girl in Jiangnan is too stingy, and she can't even be framed." ”

After Zhang Zhiji opened it all, he recognized that this was the poem written by Zhu Youzhen before, and then he realized that it was copied in a hurry and had not had time to frame it.

Seeing that the gentlemen had not yet made a decision, Zhang Zhiji hurriedly rolled up the two poems and handed them to one of the masters and said, "Since the gentlemen can't make up their minds, it's better to use this work, although it is a little simple, the student guarantees that this item can be photographed for more than 10,000 taels." ”

"Oh? We've seen all of these items, and none of them seem to be worth 10,000 taels, so is there something we've missed? When the master opened the rice paper, he saw that they were two simple poems, and although the poems were good and the words were good, they had just been written. The master handed the two pieces of paper to Mr. Xingzhi and said to Zhang Zhiji, "Aren't you kidding around?" It's nice that this thing is worth a tael of silver. ”

Mr. Xingzhi looked at it and recognized that it was the poem that the son surnamed Zhu had made before, and he understood after thinking about it, "Could it be that Ziyu wants to shoot these two poems at a price of 10,000 taels?" ”

"Sir, don't underestimate these two works, after I take a picture and frame it, I will find the person who wrote the poem to help me use a seal, and then ask someone to inscribe a word, I am afraid that these two pieces of paper will be more than ten times more than doubled." Zhang Zhiji has already thought of a follow-up move, even if it is worthless, help his works raise the value, and he should return his skateboarding affection.

"Then let's do what Ziyu said, otherwise there is no other good way, our academy is not as rich as others, and we can take out 50,000 taels without blinking an eye." After listening to Zhang Zhiji's words, Mr. Xingzhi had already made a decision.

An hour has just arrived, Shuntian Mansion Cheng Yang Jing, Hanlin Yuan to wait for Zhao Shi to return to the auction table, this time is no longer like an hour ago in the auction hall was still bustling, at this time in addition to the students of the academy, some wealthy gentry and nobles in the capital have gathered here, including some tooth merchants in Liuli Lane, some foreign merchants and foot merchants also came, and even some yellow-haired and blue-eyed ghosts.

Yang Jing said, "The donated items of each academy and all the personnel have all been registered, and the auction will start now, because there are many auction items, and some similar lots will be auctioned as a whole, and the first to start the auction are Guozijian Cheng Cha, Lu Bing, and Gao Xianqing...... Seventy-two sons' poems, the content of the work is as follows, the first Cheng Cha Gongzi's "Four o'clock does not read music", spring is not a reading day, summer is scorching and sleeping, autumn is bleak and winter has snow, pack up books for the New Year. Song 2...... Song 3...... A total of 72 poems, with the authorization of the original author of the poems, all the auction proceeds can be printed and sold free of charge. The comprehensive starting price of the seventy-two poems of Guozijian is 18 taels of silver, and the price is increased by one tael of silver each time, and the auction starts now. ”

These poems are generally not of high level, it seems to be a little cold, no one auctioned for a long time, Yang Jing had to speak up again, "There are still many fine poems in this auction, if you do printing and trading, I believe there will be good results, and there will be many similar auctions in the future, so it will be good to choose a poetry book to be released." Yang Jing also understands that many of these poems are incomprehensible, but as an auctioneer, if the first auction is lost, it is always difficult to get over the face.

After Yang Jing finished speaking, there was still no reaction, and just as he was about to announce the unsuccessful auction, a slightly cowardly middle-aged man raised his hand and said, "I'll give you eighteen taels of silver." ”

Yang Jing saw that someone was bidding, and his heart suddenly had confidence, and his unconscious tone also increased by half a point, just like a hawker shouting in Liuli Lane, "This master offered eighteen taels of silver, is there anyone still bidding?" I don't know your surname? ”

"Don't have your surname Yang, the shopkeeper of Liuli Lane Wuwei Bookstore." The middle-aged man who raised his hand.

"It turns out that Mr. and I are still of the same clan, Mr. Yang of Wuwei Bookstore is eighteen taels, is there anyone else who wants it?" After asking three times in a row, no one raised his hand, Yang Jing patted the wood and said, "The seventy-two poems of Guozijian belong to Mr. Yang of Wuwei Bookstore. ”

"The second auction is Qin Siguang, Jia Yudao, and Liu Lanfeng of Xingzhi Academy...... Forty-eight sons' poems, the content of the work is as follows, the first Qin Siguang son's "Heavy Snow", the country is general, the well is black hole, the black dog is white, and the white dog is swollen. Song 2...... Song 3...... A total of 48 poems, all of which are authorized to be printed free of charge. The starting price is 12 taels of silver, and the price is increased by 1 tael of silver each time. ”

This time I didn't have to wait long, but it was still the shopkeeper Yang of Wuwei Bookstore who raised his hand and said, "I'll give you twelve taels of silver." ”

Yang Jing asked three times procedurally, and no one increased the price, so it was obtained by the shopkeeper Yang.

"The third auction is the early morning light of the Stone Cave Academy, the corgid, and many talents...... One hundred and twenty-eight poems, the content of the work is as follows, the first poem of the early morning light child's "Flying Flowers", a piece of two, three or four, five six seven eight ninety pieces, thousands of pieces of countless pieces, flying into the flowers are not seen. Song 2...... Song 3...... A total of 130 poems, with the same permission. The starting price is twenty-four taels of silver, and the price is increased by one tael of silver each time. Yang Jingnian's mouth was a little numb, and they were all bad poems that couldn't be put on the table, and there were two people in Shidong Academy who had the courage to dedicate two poems in a row.

The poems of Shidong Academy are still auctioned at the reserve price of the shopkeeper Yang of Wuwei Bookstore.

All the poems were divided according to the colleges, and the auction of the other three colleges was presided over by Shi Qian, the Hanlin Academy, with a total of 412 poems and 56 unframed paintings, of which the poems were all auctioned by the shopkeeper Yang of Wuwei Books, plus the previous poems for a total of 129 taels of silver. Fifty-six ink paintings were sold by 16 people, and a total of 114 taels of silver were auctioned.

The auction of these poems and paintings accounted for most of all the donated items, and the auction alone took half an hour, and most of the time was spent on reciting poems.

The next step was to auction some framed poems and paintings, and there were more than 80 of them in several academies, and the auction of these seemingly high-level works finally had some bidding, and the price fluctuation was much larger than before.

More than 80 works were auctioned at a low price of two taels of silver, and the two works with the highest price were poems made before Mo Shengbai of Guozijian directly copied them on the framed scroll, reaching 140 taels. The other is Xu Ming'er's painting "Smoke and Rain in the West Lake", which was snatched by Xu Erjue, and won 180 taels. The couplet carefully framed by Liu Jinsong and Liu Gongzi of Guozijian was priced at 60 taels, but it was unsold and was auctioned back by himself at the reserve price, which was the first unsold work since the start of the auction.

The works of these college students are considered to be the end of the auction, followed by some miscellaneous auctions, mostly some handicrafts of Xingzhi Academy engineering students, these works are mostly auctioned away by some vendors selling handicrafts in Liuli Lane, basically some gadgets of more than twenty taels, the highest auction price is a Xingzhi Academy engineering student named Wen Daozhen's work "World Globe", and several bidders are foreigners who came to Daming from the West to do business and preach, there are Franc machine people, Britons and Frenchmen, and finally "World Globe" was auctioned away by Liu Jifen's father, Fernand, for one hundred and sixty taels of silver.

He was also a member of Fernand's Church, who was baptized into the Catholic Church by the Jesuit Fernand, and often discussed astronomy, geography, and navigation knowledge with Fernand and other foreigners. Later, based on the nautical charts of these people and the ancient globe, this latest "World Globe" was made. It's a pity that this "World Globe" is only regarded as a good thing by foreigners, and the people in various academies can't understand why this round thing is worth spending so much silver taels on the auction by foreigners.

After the handmade miscellaneous objects were auctioned, all that was left were some cultural toys, antiques, and antiques of much higher value, and there were only more than 30 pieces left in several academies together.