Don't the officials and ministers know Song Huizong's temper? Is it just for fun? There must be something to gain. Every time the dragon boat goes to a place, the local officials must offer delicious food and wine. At the same time, in order to please him, the officials will pay tribute to rare curios on the boat when the royal boat passes by. It is euphemistically called the imperial tribute. If you win the favor of Song Huizong, you will most likely be promoted.
Later, Huizong simply stopped traveling, and only sent the imperial ship to parade, patrolling the north and south along the rivers. If any officials saw the ship, they would feel like seeing the emperor, and they would pay tribute as soon as they saw it, so it was also called the imperial tribute ship. .
It can be said that this imperial treasure ship is like a moving cornucopia. Officials will stop the treasure ship anytime and anywhere to deliver treasures.
John Hua looked around with bright eyes: "I conclude that this treasure ship is actually the imperial tribute ship of Song Huizong. Otherwise, this building would not dare to be so luxurious. When Bianjing was destroyed, this imperial treasure ship As they were carrying rare antiques back to Bianjing, the Jin generals hijacked the ship and used it to raid towns along the river."
"Let's open these boxes and see what's inside." After Luo Shiniang said, the Qingchuan Club walked to the box closest to them, tore off the rotten cloth seal, and then gouged out the fire paint Seal, he opened the box as big as a water tank upwards, and what appeared inside was a box of South Sea pearls, each as big as an eyeball and glowing with oily gold.
John Hua walked to the box, picked up a pearl, compared it with the magnifying glass and said: "This is the southern pearl of the South China Sea, especially the one near Qiongzhou Island. The sea mussels near the South China Sea grow in warmer waters, and the time for pearl formation every year is The longest and the longest time to cultivate pearls, so that the best southern pearls can be cultivated.”
"I heard that the best southern pearls are about the size of an egg, round and smooth, and can still see a colorful halo when placed under the light. These beads in front of you are not the best. The size of eyeballs can be considered a good treasure, even if Even now, it can’t be easily obtained.”
"One is worth at least five thousand US dollars." After saying that, the gang continued to open the box next to them. What was inside were two huge corals that were as bright as blood.
"Red coral!" Yue Qingshan blurted out when he saw the bright red color in the box.
"Old sir, you also have research on these things." John Hua asked curiously. Yue Qingshan knew that the old foreign dog was inquiring for information, and said perfunctorily: "How many times have you heard in the world that coral grows an inch in ten years, especially red coral, which is the most precious? Such a large coral has been growing for thousands of years, and even the outer shell has become jade, as if it has been painted with a layer of transparent glaze, and its value has doubled several times." John Hua praised: "Not bad , Coral is almost impossible to imitate and cannot be aged. It is as old as it is, and the size is as large as it is. The brighter the color, the more valuable it is. After thousands of years, the glaze is revealed. Just these corals It’s already a sky-high price.” After they finished speaking, the other boxes were opened one after another, and they walked to the third box. The contents inside were porcelain wrapped in soft cloth.
"These porcelains don't look very valuable." Yue Erpao walked nearby. The porcelain wrapped in cotton cloth was rarely white, and almost all were black, gray, blue and dark colors. There were gorgeous patterns on the inside of the tea cup, and the light shone golden light. Flashing, extremely eye-catching.
John Hua walked over, picked up a tea cup, looked at it carefully under the light and said: "These are Jianzhan, and they are the best celestial eyes. The inner tubes look like stars in the universe, extremely bright and eye-catching. Song Dynasty people I like to drink tea, and even the tea sets are made in sets. These tea cups are indeed commonplace items. However, the tea cups are too precious and ordinary people cannot afford them, so they are used as tributes such as jewelry and curios." After that, they opened more than a dozen boxes one after another. The contents included gold and silver jewelry, pearls and green hairpin rings, calligraphy and painting calligraphy, antiques, rare treasures, and precious utensils. They almost collected all the ancient curios.
"Strange, why are there no gold and silver ingots?" Xu Xiake looked at the opened box. The only gold and silver jewelry inside could be considered gold and silver. As for the other items, they were all treasures outside the category of gold and silver.
Song Siyuan looked at the treasures filled with treasures and explained: "I think it's because Song Huizong was very elegant. For him, if he wanted gold and silver, he could withdraw it from the national treasury at any time. If it didn't work, it could be paid by local taxes. , there is really no need to use the imperial ship to receive gold and silver, what is more valuable than gold and silver are precisely these rare treasures."
"The era of Song Huizong and Song Qinzong was already the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. After being corrupted by bureaucrats, a large amount of private wealth was collected in the imperial city of Bianjing in the form of tribute, and used to provide for the enjoyment of the royal family and the nobility of the capital. As wealth accumulated At some point, gold and silver will no longer be scarce.”
"For them, gold and silver are just money. They take it like baht and use it like sand. They have no concept of money. Art is what really makes them feel precious. The habit of collecting gold and silver, It will be replaced by the collection of more valuable works of art." She paused and continued: "I also checked the information when reading the local chronicles. When the Jin Kingdom conquered Bianjing, everyone from the emperor to the officials thought that as long as they If gold and silver are given to the people of the Jin Kingdom, these people will retreat. How do they know that what the people of the Jin Kingdom want is not gold and silver but books of rituals." Xu Xiake asked: "Books of rituals? They don't want gold, silver and jewelry. , What do you need etiquette books for?"
"Of course it was to establish a ritual and music system." Song Siyuan continued to explain: "When the Jin Kingdom conquered the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jin Kingdom was still a tribal slave society, not close to the real feudal society. They actually didn't want to conquer the Northern Song Dynasty. The Northern Song Dynasty, at most, was like the grassland peoples, who went south to extort a few times and then went back." They did not expect that even the imperial city of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty could be captured effortlessly. It was then that they had the idea of annexing the north. At the same time, Jin Taizu also knew that tribal rule had too many disadvantages and decided to start developing the feudal system.
The feudal system is nothing more than the imperial ritual and music system of the Central Plains dynasty. In order to transform into a feudal society with imperial power, they paid special attention to collecting books. Even jewelry was not required. As long as they were classics, they had to be taken away.
Among the 100,000 people they took away, the royal family only accounted for a small part. Most of them were various craftsmen in the imperial city, as well as etiquette and music officials who were familiar with the ritual and music system.
These nobles of the Northern Song Dynasty never imagined that their value was much lower than that of classics. When they were escorted north by the Jin soldiers, many nobles and civilians died. Some of them even had a breath. In order not to drag down the team, the Jin soldiers would directly Abandoned in the mountains, there are only many classics and ritual music craftsmen.
"This also shows from the side that the Northern Song Dynasty royal family has long been corrupted to the point of being worse than the barbarians. If the civilized world was destroyed by the barbarians, the strong force of the barbarians would certainly be the reason for defeat, but the corruption of the civilized world would be the root of the defeat. "
