"The emperor's princess and princess have just been born, and the emperor specially solicited gifts from the people for the princess. If the people voluntarily give gifts to the prince and princess, the emperor will make a selection and give the top ten knighthood rewards. The first place received the honorary county count, and the second and third places received the honorary county viscount. Fourth to tenth place received the honorary county barony. The top 100 will receive a certificate signed by the emperor for encouragement! All citizens in our empire, regardless of nationality and some civil ranks, except for government slaves, can be eligible to participate. In the next 50 days, there will be a gift collection process, and anyone who has a gift to celebrate the birth of the princess can participate. There is no age limit, gender is not limited, and creativity is not limited. ”

This emperor's private telegram was sent to all parts of the country, but although it was the emperor's private telegram, the local magistrates did not dare to take it lightly. They soon took this as an important matter, and then ordered to go to every house to collect gifts, and began to use their brains to think for themselves. Even many government officials are thinking about this matter, especially those things about that honorary title, which are even more exciting. Many low-level government officials do not have titles, they actually live on their earnings, and they do not have such lofty things as titles.

So they're now hearing that they can get an honorary title, so who doesn't want to? So even the public servants themselves are quite tempted, and even they are preparing to make one by themselves. However, because Wang Guorui had already prepared, he ordered that the price of this collection of gifts must not exceed three yuan, and three yuan is less than a thousand yuan in the future generations, and at most it is only seven or eight hundred yuan. If there is no limit to the value, then these bureaucrats will definitely take the opportunity to extort money, and then use this as an excuse to charge all kinds of extra fees to the people. And if the people heard that they collected taxes for the emperor's gifts, then they would transfer this hatred to the emperor. In this way, the emperor's reputation will stink.

Therefore, Wang Guorui ordered that a single gift should not exceed three yuan, and that no precious metals or precious materials could be used, so as to ensure that they could not exploit the people more because of this. Even Wang Guorui asked everyone to supervise to prevent anyone from taking the opportunity to blackmail the people on this ground.

However, this solicitation of gifts is voluntary. It cannot be forcibly requisitioned. And even if it is forcibly requisitioned, it is useless, because in fact, most of this gift is actually just a gimmick, and even the vast majority of ordinary people have no chance to participate. Because their cultural level and artistic accomplishment are insufficient, it is difficult for them to discover the so-called "art". In the final analysis, art is a thing of spiritual civilization, and if material civilization cannot reach a certain level, it will be difficult for spiritual civilization to develop.

At present, the country is still in the stage of primitive accumulation, and many workers and peasants have not even reached the level of moderate prosperity, so it is really difficult for the strong to let them play art. So in fact, only those who have a certain financial situation can participate. Ordinary people just join in the fun, and it is impossible to really get this thing.

Wang Guorui also hopes to brush the sense of existence in the eyes of the people, and then prevent the people from forgetting it.

"This time, the emperor is soliciting gifts, and immediately prepare some good things for me, and give me all kinds of good things to use, so I must have a surprise! This time, I am imperative for the title! A jeweller said.

"No, host. This time, the court said that the value should not exceed three yuan. No matter how well you do this, you will be eliminated! The emperor said that this time it was about the sincerity of the gift, not the value of the material. If you use precious materials indiscriminately, you will be eliminated directly. The emperor doesn't like extravagance and waste, the important thing is art. It's not the value of the material! If you do, you're probably in vain. You say, will the emperor be short of this money? "Someone suggested it right away.

Wang Guorui is the biggest capitalist with countless wealth, will he lack this money? So giving those expensive gifts is not only not really happy. Instead, it's going to curse.

"Then you say, what should I do? If I don't use precious materials, how can I show my sincerity? The jeweler said.

However, the subordinate rolled his eyes, and then immediately said: "Boss, in fact, although the emperor stipulates that expensive materials cannot be used, there is no rule that you cannot use cheap but rare things!" For example, the owner, didn't you collect a table full of Han people? You see......"

"You mean...... "The jeweler's boss was also a little in pain.

This Manchu and Han banquet is actually not a real dish. In fact, it is a strange stone, and this jeweler has always sold jewelry, and when he mines these jewelry, he often collects something that is very rare although it is not jewelry. And he used these strange stones, which were inexpensive but rare, to make a set of "dishes" for the Manchu and Han full banquets. These dishes are actually made of strange stones, and all kinds of things on them are also very rare. In fact, if you really talk about the value of those materials, you don't bother to pick up this stone on the ground.

But in fact, this kind of stone, in the final analysis, is still scarce. The reason why jade, jade, gemstones, etc. are valuable is because they are scarce and have a good luster, which is what makes them valuable. But other stones are not necessarily, although other stones are not of high value in terms of materials, but? It has very peculiar characteristics, and the magic of nature has created many strange stones.

The owner of this jeweler is also a person who is very good at playing with stones, and he runs his own jewelry business, but he is not interested in ordinary jewelry. This is also a kind of aesthetic fatigue, maybe others think that jewelry is very rare, but for him as a person, jade and jade are tired of him. But on the contrary, this kind of stone made by nature made him very interested. Over the years, he has actually collected them even after watching them, and even spent a lot of money to buy these strange stones. It is absolutely natural without any traces of artificial carving, so this is rare.

"Owner, this strange stone is just a stone after all. The emperor just said that it could not be made of expensive materials, but these strange stones were just ordinary materials, and the value of the materials was actually worthless. But if it is so ingenious, it makes him rare. The emperor just said that the value of materials should not exceed three yuan, and the emperor valued art. Isn't this art? What could be more of a reflection of this art than the natural work of heaven and earth? When the time comes, this one will be sent, and you say how much he is worth, and he will be worth it. After all, this stone is only bought by people like yours who spend a lot of money, so the value of this material is not high. But if you send it, it's definitely very arty. The emperor only stipulated that the value of the material could not exceed three yuan, and you said that these stones were not worth anything, that is, they were not worth much. But he is valuable, but it seems to be very complicated. After all, it is priceless in the eyes of enthusiasts, but in the eyes of people who don't like it, it is completely justified by the public. In this way, we can take advantage of loopholes, which are very rare and expensive, but we will not be eliminated because of the use of expensive materials! ”

I have to say that as a Chinese people, exploiting loopholes is the best and the smartest. They saw that Wang Guorui only stipulated that the value of materials should not exceed three yuan, so they began to prepare to make a fuss about art. This one uses strange stones to make a fuss, and others simply go directly to invite various art masters to help them make it. Of course, these materials are not valuable, and most of them are made from cheap materials. But if those masters come to make it, then their value is different. The appearance fees that these art masters did not give were not low, and they were even much more expensive than those materials.

They were supposed to be responsible for making expensive materials, but now they were asked to make them. Their manual fees are not worth three or two yuan, but Wang Guorui only stipulates the value of the materials, but does not specify the value of the cost of those production personnel, so that they have a loophole to exploit. So in this way, many art masters have also joined in, and have been hired to make these gifts with high salaries.

And those masters also think that this is an opportunity, and if their work can be selected, it is also a very good way. Especially the fame they gained was even greater, but Wang Guorui himself didn't expect that his unexpected move would actually lead to an exchange and competition between various art masters, and even indirectly let various art competitions start to compete on a regular basis. In this way, art can be effectively communicated, and the problem of working behind closed doors is avoided.

However, many masters of art have also taken action, and have made a lot of preparations for this gift. This time, the use of all kinds of expensive materials was forbidden, but the essence of art was restored, and it was not the pursuit of the expensive charm of those materials, which was the most testing of art. Something made of expensive materials may be admirable, but it may not be too artistic. Perhaps, more people are concerned with the value of the material than the art itself. In primary school textbooks, isn't there also an allusion to "falling the piano"? That is to say, once the material value of itself is too expensive, it will not be able to reflect art. (To be continued.) )