On the third day of Zhu Cijiong's return to the capital, the "Beijing News" released an explosive news that the Ministry of Rites of Daming will hold the "Shengshi Daming" calligraphy and painting contest with the United Nations Supervisor, the General Political Envoy, the Daming Royal Nikxing Bank, and the Daming Royal Xinglong Firm!

As soon as the news was announced, almost all the readers in the entire Ming Dynasty were crazy, and the famous calligraphers and painters around the country were even more excited and almost didn't turn their backs, and the whole Shilin was going crazy, whether it was a court official or a student, all opened their mouths on this day to be "The Prosperous Ming Dynasty", the ...... of the calligraphy and painting competition.

The calligraphy and painting contest seems to be a new thing, and there is really no such thing as a calligraphy and painting contest at that time, not that the reader speaks of Sven and does not like the competition, the main thing is that no one organizes it, and the organization of a calligraphy and painting contest does not get any benefits, who has nothing to do such a thankless thing!

If you want to say something like "Wen Wu is the first, Wu Wu is the second", so people don't like to compete, that's, since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there has been a champion every few years, what is the champion not the first?

A new thing like a calligraphy and painting contest should not make readers so excited, readers are reserved, and this calligraphy and painting contest is not a imperial examination, what is the excitement?

There is naturally a reason why they are so excited, first of all, the rewards of this calligraphy and painting competition are scary enough.

Isn't it a bit exaggerated to describe the reward as scary? It's really not an exaggeration at all, if nothing else, the money rewarded alone can scare people:

The prize money for the first prize is 10,000 taels of silver, and there is not one, but twenty-four, twelve each in the calligraphy category and the painting category!

The second prize is 1,000 taels of silver, 100 for calligraphy and 100 for painting!

The third prize is 100 taels of silver, 1,000 for calligraphy and 1,000 for painting!

Why is this reward scary? You must know that at this time, one stone of grain is only one tael of silver, one stone of grain is enough for an ordinary person to eat for two or three months, five pieces of cloth are only one tael of silver, and the clothes made of five pieces of cloth are enough for a person to wear for a few years, that is to say:

As long as you win a third prize, the family can live a good life for a few years without worrying about food and clothing;

As long as you win a second prize, the family can live a good life without worrying about food and clothing for decades;

If you win the jackpot, then generations won't have to worry about eating and drinking!

Of course, if monetary rewards alone are not enough to make all scholars crazy, and there are many people who regard money as dung at this time, then why are the self-proclaimed people crazy?

It's not for profit, it's for fame, and the glory rewards of this competition are also amazing.

The 24 winners of the first prize will be awarded the titles of 'Master of Calligraphy of the Ming Dynasty' and 'Master of Chinese Painting of the Ming Dynasty', and the Emperor will personally present them with honorary certificates!

Among them, the works of 12 calligraphy masters will be placed in Guozijian for all students to see;

The works of the twelve masters of Chinese painting will be miniature on the new silver stamps issued by the Ming Royal Nikko Bank, which will be passed down from generation to generation;

The works of all the second prize winners will be miniature and printed on stamps by the political envoy of the Ming Dynasty and distributed nationwide;

The works of all the second and third prize winners will also be framed and exhibited in all provinces and vassal states of the Ming Dynasty in turn for people to observe and learn!

It can be said that once it wins the award, it will be world-famous, fame and fortune, so although the calligraphy competition is a new thing, but once it is announced, it will make the entire Ming Dynasty readers crazy.

For a time, along the railway, inside and outside the Great Wall, near the Yangtze River Bridge and the Yellow River Bridge, Dongdaying, and Nandaying, there were people everywhere who read books.

This also makes those students who don't listen to things outside the window and only read the books of sages and sages broaden their horizons, and they suddenly found that the Ming Dynasty is so powerful, the majestic giant ship, the bridge that crosses the moat, the railway that stretches for tens of thousands of miles, and the super city that can accommodate millions of people, all make them proud of it, proud of it, the prosperous Ming Dynasty, it is really the prosperous Ming Dynasty, such a prosperous era is enough to shake the past and the present!

Not only the readers are excited, but many people are excited:

Like those who sell pen, ink, paper and inkstone, it can be said that they are more excited than readers, where do readers usually write and paint so crazy, this calligraphy and painting contest notice came out, the shops selling pen, ink, paper and inkstone all over the Ming Dynasty were immediately crowded, no matter how many goods were purchased, they would soon be swept away, can they not be excited!

Like those who open inns, the general business relies on those merchants who come and go from the south to the north, and there are so many people who come and go, and it is basically difficult for the business to be hot, but as soon as the announcement of the calligraphy and painting competition came out, the millions of readers who were nesting at home suddenly ran out, and they were full and full every day, can they not be excited!

There are also restaurants and tea shops, as well as snacks sold in various places, etc., which are also full everywhere, and the readers also have to eat and drink, and even the ports of Dongdaying and Nandaying have a lot of small tables, chairs and benches, and the business is also so good that it is so good that it is impossible to draw while standing!

Saying that Daming is so big, the place where you want to pass the train is good to say, what if you don't have a place to go to the train, the submission date of the calligraphy and painting contest is only half a month, many places even if you hurry up, it will take a few days to rush to the railway line, and then take the train to the capital, and it will take a few days, most of this time is wasted on the road, isn't it very unfair to them.

This problem does not exist at all, the notice is very clear, as long as the calligraphy and painting works are packaged, marked with their own name and place of origin, and sent to any post office, the post office will deliver it to the capital for you free of charge, and you don't need to rush to and fro at all.

When the readers who participated in the competition are crazy, it will be the turn of the household department, the national superintendent, and the general political envoy who organized the competition to go crazy, they are not crazy for fame and fortune, but they are driven crazy by the terrifying number of entries, what is it like to receive hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of works every day, it is strange not to be crazy!

Xu Guangqi, Huang Daozhou and Wu Meicun were forced to have no choice, had to enter the palace to ask the emperor for help, the four of them urgently negotiated for a while, Zhu Cijiong immediately issued an order, so that the yamen in the capital immediately selected 100 officials with profound skills in calligraphy and painting, reported to Guozijian, conducted a primary selection of all works, and first eliminated those bland and even unsightly entries.

Then, Zhu Cijiong issued an order to convene ten famous calligraphers and painters in Beijing to assist Xu Guangqi, Huang Daozhou and Wu Meicun to conduct the final evaluation of the selected entries, in order to prevent them from favoritism, Zhu Cijiong directly asked Luo Yangxing to send 10,000 taels to each of the ten judges, that is to say, no matter whether they participate in the competition or not, no matter how many ranks their works can be, they have already received the jackpot bonus!