Tracing China: Through history, dialogue between ancient and modern

Chapter 247 The Picture Scroll Contains the Secret of the Demise of the Great Song Dynasty
"Mr. Lin, can you show the picture of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in the Song Dynasty?"

Time and space more than 1000 years ago.

In a banquet pavilion in the center of the imperial city, the Taizu who was sitting upright suddenly spoke.

"it is good!"

The host Lin Feng responded and swiped with one hand, and another beautiful picture scroll appeared in the air more than two meters above the ground outside the banquet.

One is a modern version of the image of going up the river during the Qingming Festival.

One is the scene of going up the river during the Qingming Festival in the Song Dynasty.

The scrolls are the same size.

However, the scene of prosperity that flickered in it was different. It was also prosperous and prosperous, but there was an indescribably strange feeling when the eyes glanced over.

"You dozen sons of the Great Song Dynasty, what can you realize from this peerless scroll?"

Zhao Kuangyin's gesture of pointing to Jiangshan showed a dignified expression.

"Taizu, what do you mean? Is there a mystery in this painting?" asked the handsome Song Renzong.

"Can't you see anything from this painting? Can't you understand the truth?"

Zhao Kuangyin glanced at the other seventeen Song Dynasty emperors wearing dragon robes, his expression was already displeased.

"Back to Taizu, this saying was created during the reign of the unfilial grandson Zhao Ji, a masterpiece by the famous Zhang Zerui. What this painting describes is exactly the scene of the prosperous people living and working in peace and prosperity in the imperial city at that time!" Song Weizong said.

When the emperor who was taken away by the shame of Jingkang was "led" by the host Lin Feng, Song Weizong was in the territory of the Jin Kingdom, suffering horrific torture, being enslaved, and treated as an inferior person.

have to say.

As a peerless masterpiece in our Chinese history, "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival", it turned out to be during his reign as emperor, which sounds like a great irony.

Zhao Kuangyin looked sideways, gave Song Weizong a supercilious look, and said coldly:

"Zhao Ji, when you were in power, did you really have a prosperous age?"

This word went to my heart.

There is such a prosperous economic situation, you, the emperor of the Song Dynasty, are you still reduced to a prisoner of foreign barbarians?
Song Weizong bowed his head, his old face flushed, facing the mighty power of his ancestor, he didn't dare to fart.

Sitting beside Zhao Kuangyin, Zhao Guangyi, the second emperor of the Song Dynasty, asked respectfully:

"Brother, what do you mean, what secrets are hidden in this "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"?"

Zhao Kuangyin said with cold eyes, "There is indeed a shocking secret."

More than a dozen emperors of the Song Dynasty frowned, showing puzzled expressions, not knowing why.

The host Lin Feng also couldn't understand the meaning of Zhao Kuangyin's words.

What big secret is hidden in this famous painting more than 1000 years ago?
The audience watching the show, sitting in front of the screen, also began to stare.

"This painting has a big secret? I haven't heard of it!"

"Could it be that this "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" is a treasure map? There is a hidden depiction of a gold mine in the Song Dynasty?"

"Brother, are you thinking too much?"

"Fuck, the painting depicts various scenes of life in the capital of the Great Song Dynasty. Where did the treasure come from?"

"I think Emperor Taizu simply thought too much."

"Impossible, Song Taizu, who ranks among the top five in feudal history, can't be talking nonsense."

……

Live footage.

Taizu Zhao Kuangyin stood up, walking like a dragon and walking like a tiger, and Diwei walked out of the pavilion in panic. He stood in front of the heavy scroll floating in the air, under the eyes of everyone, he said in an emphatic voice:
"You seventeen emperors, open your eyes and take a good look!"

"The secret of the demise of our Great Song Dynasty is hidden in this "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"."

"Old Zhao's family's Jiangshan Sheji, from the imperial court temple to the common people's market, why is there no Han style? No Tang Wufeng? It's all in this painting."

Zhao Kuangyin's words stunned a group of people.

The other seventeen great Song emperors opened their eyes wide and stretched their necks, trying to see through the secrets in the words.

The results of it?
Except for Taizu, no one noticed the clues.

The host, Lin Feng, nodded thoughtfully. At the same time, he admired in his heart that Zhao Kuangyin, the great ancestor, is indeed an outstanding emperor in the history of the Chinese feudal dynasty.

It is true that there are many factors of instability hidden in the prosperity shown in this scroll!
Perhaps the author Zhang Zeduan may also be expressing that there is no perfect prosperity, and the world is peaceful.As long as there is a human being, there will be humanity; as long as there is human nature, there will be good and evil.

Faced with the reaction of his own descendants, Zhao Kuangyin was a little disappointed. They all said that dragons beget dragons and phoenixes, and the son of a mouse can make holes.

But what happened to me?

You are not a dragon.

Anyway, a snake will do!

There is no way, Zhao Kuangyin can only say: ""Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is 528.7 cm long and 24.8 cm wide. There are more than 800 people in the painting, more than 60 livestock, 28 boats, more than 30 buildings, 20 cars, sedan chairs, etc. There are 8 roofs and more than 170 trees. If you zoom in on any part and take a closer look, you will find that the characters are of different classes, different clothes, and expressions are also very different. There are a lot of details hidden in it, and various activities are interspersed, which is very interesting.”

"For example, here is the picture scroll."

"A group of people and horses who went home to visit relatives came from a distance. At the front of the group, a white horse was frightened and ran away (the front half of the body was damaged). Two grooms hurriedly chased after it, and people suddenly panicked."

"In front of the white horse, a black donkey also neighed in fright. The diners sitting in the shop heard the sound, and an old man on crutches panicked and wanted to escape."

"Most buildings in Bianjing are of brick and wood structure. There is a watchtower on the outskirts of the city. This is the unit responsible for guarding the capital of the Song Dynasty. But you have a good look. There is no one here, not even an officer and soldier on duty. People are slack Sitting in a small restaurant and watching the excitement, the fire protection system is useless."

"The owner of the restaurant is decorating the storefront, the fortune teller is chatting with the passers-by, the stevedores are unloading the ship, the official grain that is about to be transported to the official warehouse arrives at the dock, and no official is present to supervise it. The food is shipped to private warehouses."

……

Zhao Kuangyin talked a lot, and after explaining the picture scroll paragraph by paragraph, everyone was relieved.

Looking at the prosperous Song Dynasty, there are actually countless problems.

It has the inner smell of centipedes that are dead but not stiff.

It looks prosperous and powerful on the outside, but in fact, many things, including gold and jade, have begun to rot inside.

"Taizu, I saw it too!"

Emperor Song Shenzong, who presided over the reform, walked out of the pavilion, stood behind Taizu, pointed to a place and said:
"For another example, the city gate in "A Picture of Shanghe During the Qingming Festival" does not have any fortifications or garrisons, but a tax office is set up inside the city gate to collect business taxes from passing merchants..."

Unspoken.

This detail "truly reflects the declining military strength and the increasingly indifferent awareness of prevention" in the early days of Song Huizong's dynasty, as well as the "heavy business tax" problem.

of course.

If we look at it from another angle, we can say that Zhang Zeduan actually used his paintbrush to illustrate the openness of Tokyo City in the Song Dynasty and the Song government's emphasis on commodity taxation.

"Taizu, Zhao Zhen also has some insights." Song Renzong was the third to stand up.

"Go in and tell me." Zhao Kuangyin said.

"As ordered!"

Song Renzong also walked to the side behind Taizu, pointed to a Bianhe water transport on the scroll and said:
"In the Song Dynasty, there was a prosperous water transport on the Bianhe River, which looked down on the world, but these three places clearly hinted at the "serious problem of merchants hoarding grain."

Zhao Kuangyin said, "Zhao Zhen, when you were in power, did you ever discover the problems of people's livelihood here?"

Song Renzong bowed his head respectfully, and replied, "Back to Taizu, Zhao Zhen had reviewed such memorials, but at that time, in order to maintain the stability of the imperial court, it was impossible to conduct a thorough investigation."

Zhao Kuangyin didn't give a good face, and said, "That is to say, you know the shortcomings of the Song Dynasty, but you didn't actively deal with it? You know that merchants hoard grain and raise grain prices, but you, the emperor, let the situation develop and let the people I can't eat, just because your shit involves a stable mind..."

Facing Taizu's questioning, Song Renzong didn't answer, and stood where he was, ashamed.

"You guys, have you ever seen something strange in this "A Picture of Rising the River during the Qingming Festival"?"

Zhao Kuangyin's eyes were shining, and he scanned the other people in the pavilion.

The meaning is obvious.

Every old Zhao family emperor, no matter if you are a real dragon or an idiot, at this very moment, you must find a shortcoming of the Great Song Dynasty and a problem of people's livelihood in this peerless painting.

This is not a request for advice.

It was Taizu's order.

In an instant, the other fifteen emperors filed out and quickly walked to the open space outside.

Then they raised their heads one by one, suffocating and observing.

After all, they are all sons of heaven. They have listened to sages and sages since they were young, read the Four Books and Five Classics, and learned the laws of governing the country.

Although the ultimate governance of the country is not good, personal wisdom is very comparable to others.

Under the supervision of Taizu Zhao Kuangyin.

Song Zhenzong, Song Weizong, Song Gaozong, etc., began to tell what they saw and realized.

In this painting.

Does it really contain the secret of the demise of the Great Song Dynasty?

There should be.

Because there are too many things reflected in the picture scroll, the prosperous Song Dynasty is already full of holes.

With the voices of the emperors, they realized, understood, and thoroughly.

Modern audiences are also gaining knowledge about Huaxia's "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival".

such as:

The stacked girder arch bridge in the center of the picture shows a thrilling scene of life and death. In the place where the river is narrow, the water is deep and the current is fast, several trackers are immersed in pulling the fiber, forgetting to call the boatmen to put down the mast. The big ship is about to crash into the bridge!

Pedestrians on and off the arch bridge yelled loudly, and the trackers let go of the ropes. Some boatmen steered the rudder, some poled, some threw cables, some lowered the mast, and some used long poles to withstand the bridge hole. There was chaos and tension.The melon-eating crowd on the bridge also stopped to watch. Five people had climbed over the railing and were ready to do something brave.

There are many dangers under the bridge, and the bridge is even more lively.The imperial civil servants sitting in sedan chairs and the imperial military attachés riding horses fought each other, and the two teams refused to give in to each other. The bearers and grooms of the two families each acted like a dog, making endless noise.

such as:

On the bridge, there are rope sellers, shoe sellers, iron hardware sellers... The stalls are placed directly on the main road, obviously occupying the road.The Hongqiao was originally narrow, and passers-by, bearers, and animals carrying goods had to pass through crowdedly, while peddlers solicited business safely by the side, and urban management in the Northern Song Dynasty was almost non-existent.

such as:

There is an office in charge of delivering official documents of the imperial court. The fat white horse is full and lying on the ground basking in the sun, and a groom is sleeping with the rein in his hand.There are 9 clerks at the gate of the yamen, and two briefcases are scattered on both sides, looking lazy, and the efficiency can be said to be very low.

such as:

When you enter the city and file your taxes first, the first shop is the tax office.Four carters brought a sack of textiles, but they quarreled with the tax collector.Due to the extravagant style of Song Huizong, the taxes in the Northern Song Dynasty were quite cumbersome and heavy.No, the people inside looked displeased, and the volume was so loud that passers-by looked sideways.This dispute is the epitome of the tense relationship between the government and the people at that time.

In general.

This is a famous painting of social customs in the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival" is very lively on the surface, but deep down it expresses that the society is already unstable, and there are murderous intentions hidden in the smiles in the various life styles.The government forces the people to rebel, and if they refuse to accept the heavy burden, they will give up the resistance.

If Lin Feng were to give it a modern painting name, maybe it could be called——

"The last night of the Northern Song Dynasty."

Zhang Zeduan, a painter more than 1000 years ago, chose to use this unpopular boundary painting. On the surface, he described the grand scene, but in fact, he was admonishing and worrying about the country. Various crises were buried in grassy snake lines, reflecting many social problems in Bianliang, the capital of the late Northern Song Dynasty: The gap between the rich and the poor, exorbitant taxes, inefficiency, cruel party and government, empty treasury, slack armaments... Sure enough, a few years later, the Jin soldiers went south and broke the capital, causing the "Shame of Jingkang", and the most powerful dynasty was destroyed in this way. .

Everything is like "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" itself, the center of the picture is the prosperity of Kyoto, but at the end of the picture is a cemetery!Heralds death!

Shortly after.

Lin Feng took back the ancient version of Shanghe Tu, smiled, and said meaningfully: "Seniors, now, you can look at the version of Shanghe Tu that will be millennia later."

His meaning is very cryptic.

Since there are many secrets hidden in the famous ancient prints.

So what about modern technological civilization cities?
Are there countless questions?
The meaning behind his words.

I hope that the eighteen emperors of the Song Dynasty will observe the modern civilized society and point out the hidden dangers and disadvantages.

……

(End of this chapter)