Chapter 122: A Lost National Treasure
At this time, the three eastern provinces seem to be calm, but in fact, a shocking wave is brewing.
In a few months, something will happen!
There are multiple reasons for this, both internal and external, and here is a little internal cause.
Before the outbreak of the incident, the Japanese occupied Korea, built the "South Manchurian Railway" in Northeast China, and had the right to garrison troops along the railway, which was a very bastard agreement, and if you build a railway in someone else's country, you can station troops, what kind of thing is this?
In 1929, in order to recover the "Eastern Railway", Zhang Xueshan first fought with the Soviets, but he was disgraced and exposed his weak nature. The government of the Republic of China announced the severance of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, which created conditions for the Japanese.
Subsequently, the Japanese deliberately provoked a civil war in China, Wang David and Li Zongjian set up a separate central government in Guangzhou, Shi Yousan rebelled in North China, the Japanese assisted Yan Xishan, who was in exile in Dalian, to return to Shanxi, and attacked Beiping and Tianjin with Shi Yousan, Zhang Xueshan led a large number of Northeast troops into North China, and he himself was stationed in Beiping, so he had no time to take care of the Northeast.
In the south, in addition to the warlord scuffle, coupled with the flood disaster, it was a mess, so the Japanese would take advantage of the situation.
Speaking of which, this is the same as when the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Ming Dynasty in that year because of the great famine, coupled with plague and fever (similar to the covid-19 virus), peasant uprisings one after another, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong killed people like hemp, the Ming Dynasty government was unable to encircle and suppress, and finally the country was ruined, and the Qing soldiers came in!
As a country as big as China, if it weren't for the extreme weakness and civil strife, who would dare to bully the door when they were full?
Of course, external factors are also very important, the robbers have to fight first, and after the fight, they have to build a fence.
Qin Di went to the Northeast at this time, and it was impossible to reverse the chaos.
In any case, history will continue to move in the direction it should have! This catastrophe cannot be avoided, and this is also part of the process in which the Chinese nation endured a century of humiliation and then completed the phoenix nirvana.
In that case, what did he and Yan Xue do in the Northeast?
They're going to do something, and they're going to start from the beginning.
It is said that on February 12, 1912, the Qing court announced its abdication, and the outer part of the Forbidden City was owned by the government of the Republic of China. And Emperor Xun Puyi still maintained a miniature small court in the inner court, like a country within a country.
In October 1924, Feng Yuxiang launched a coup d'état in Beijing, took over the defense of the whole city of Beijing, revised the "Preferential Conditions for the Qing Dynasty", and moved Emperor Puyi to the palace of Prince Shichahaiol. The small court that had lasted for 13 years came to an end.
On November 20, 1924, the Forbidden City was completely annexed to the government of the Republic of Beiyang. In less than a year, most of the items in the palace were counted and registered.
After preliminary inventory, there are more than 1.17 million pieces of cultural relics left by the Qing Dynasty court, including three dynasties of Dingyi, ancient jade, calligraphy and famous paintings of the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, Song and Yuan dynasty ceramics, enamel, lacquerware, gold and silverware, bamboo, wood, tooth and horns, gold and bronze religious statues, and a large number of imperial and concubine costumes, clothing and furniture. It can be described as gold and jade, rare and exotic treasures, all of them. In addition, there are a large number of books and classics, literature archives, etc.
On October 10, 1925, after a year of preparation, the Palace Museum was established and a celebration was held.
In June 1928, the Nanjing Nationalist Government took over the Palace Museum.
However, these cultural relics are not complete, and before that, a large number of cultural relics have been lost!
The most serious loss of national treasures happened to Pu Yi. As early as July 1922, Pu Yi began to "reward" his younger brother Pu Jie in the name of smuggling precious Song and Yuan rare books out of the palace by taking advantage of Pu Jie and Pu Jia to enter the palace every morning to accompany him to study. Because the rare books were similar in size to the textbooks that the Pu Jie brothers usually carried with them, they were easy to carry, and the smuggling activities did not arouse any suspicion from the soldiers on duty of the "inner city garrison". After a few months, the scale of the smuggling gradually increased.
At first, 10 or 10 volumes were given every few days, and then they were rewarded almost daily, and the number of rewards increased day by day. The theft continued until Pu Yi was expelled from the Forbidden City.
After Pu Yi was expelled from the palace, he first lived in his father's mansion, and the stolen calligraphy, paintings, and ancient books were stored in the palace of the prince, and soon Pu Yi hid in the Japanese Legation in China.
On February 23, 1925, under the escort of the Japanese police, Pu Yi sneaked to Tianjin. The cultural relics stolen from the palace were transported by rail to the British Concession in Tianjin. In order to maintain his luxurious life, Pu Yi began to build bridges through various characters and sell calligraphy and paintings that were stolen out of the palace. Those paintings are very precious, one can sell for a thousand taels of gold!
Later, under the arrangement of the Japanese, Pu Yi moved from Tianjin to Northeast China, with about 30 boxes of handscrolls of famous calligraphy and paintings, 4 boxes of albums of famous calligraphy and paintings, a box of hanging scrolls of calligraphy and painting, containing 21 pieces, 31 boxes of Song and Yuan edition books, and 3 boxes of palace edition books, the contents of which are unknown.
In the end, most of these treasures fell into the hands of the Japanese.
Qin Di and Yan Xue went to the northeast for these things and the treasures of the Great Marshal's Mansion.
They first sneaked into the Shenyang Forbidden City at night, found the place where Pu Yi lived, and looted the treasures!
The specific details do not need to be described, because Qin Di's skill is too high, and the foundation building monk can jump for two or three miles with a slight jump, and the movement speed is hundreds of meters per second, taking advantage of the night to rush past, who can see it?
Moreover, he still has a few flying swords in his hand, those flying swords are all left by the ancient Jindan, Yuanying, and Buxu monks, each of which has been practiced for hundreds of years, even thousands of years, not only extremely sharp, sharpening iron like clay, but also under the urging of his spiritual power, there is not even a sound at all when he pierces through the wall and punches holes!
The big iron lock outside the door? Qin Di reached out and pinched it and shattered!
The guards inside and outside the palace? Don't care about the distant ones, the near ones can make him sleep all night with a slap on the top of his head!
Therefore, if Qin Di wants to be a thief, he will take all the treasures in the world! Even if a division's army guards it, it is useless! Because he is no longer afraid of swords and guns!
Immortals live in the mundane world, and they are only afraid of the heavenly calamity, not the human calamity! The heavenly calamity refers to the heavens, and it also has a certain relationship with the will of the state, and it is precisely because of this that they cannot interfere with the national system. Human robbery refers to injuries between private individuals.
In fact, at this time, the Shenyang Forbidden City did not have many collections.
The Shenyang Forbidden City was first looted by Tsarist Russia. In September 1900, the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded China, and the Russian army occupied Shenyang, opening the door to the forbidden land of the Shengjing Imperial Palace. The Russian army occupied the Shenyang Forbidden City for two and a half years, during which some buildings were damaged and a large number of treasures were lost. The remaining treasures were transported to Beiping and Nanjing by the Beiyang government in 1914.
And the treasures looted by Qin Di and Yan Xue were stolen and carried by Pu Yi. The number seems to be small, only forty or fifty boxes, but there are many fine products, including Tang Zhou's "Hairpin Lady", Huang Zhen's "Sketch of Rare Birds" in the Five Dynasties, Zhang Zeduan's "Qingming Riverside Picture" in the Northern Song Dynasty, "Xiaoxiang Lying Tour" in the Southern Song Dynasty, Li Di's "Red and White Hibiscus", and a set of "The Four Libraries of the King James Dynasty".
In addition, they also sneaked into the treasure room in Puyi's dormitory, opened the safes one by one, and got 180 gold bricks, each 10 kilograms, 10 taels of large yellow croaker three boxes, 5 million silver dollars, and six or seven boxes of pearls, agate, jade, and precious stones.
And these things are just appetizers for Qin Di! The real earth-shattering move is still to come!
After all, Pu Yi was a disadvantaged emperor, and most of his wealth was deprived by the government of the Republic of China, but Zhang Xueshan's Marshal's Mansion was not! The Marshal's Mansion was founded in 1914 and collected the wealth of the Zhang family's father and son for two generations!