Chapter 55: Solitary Mountain Eagle Picture (Please click here to recommend collection)
Jianmen is a natural moat in Qingdu, and there are many guards guarding it inside and outside. As soon as the convoy arrived in front of Jianmen, guards blocked the way.
Jiang Yan was a little surprised. Quite a few of these guards were enlightened people, and the leader of them had the cultivation level of the spiritual realm.
"Who is here and why are you coming to Jianmen late at night?"
"Liu He, who is at Wuling Trading Company, just met the Lishan bandits outside. He finally repelled them. He was afraid that something might happen, so he had to rush on the starry night. This is the customs clearance document. Please check it."
You must have documents to enter and leave Jianmen. Wuling Trading Company often goes in and out of Jianmen, so it is not unfamiliar for people to come and go.
"This gang of bandits is just roaming around in the Yunzhou Mountains. They dare to run wild in front of Jianmen. They are simply impatient to live."
As the guard spoke, he handed the letter back to Liu He.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be safe once you enter the Jianmen Gate.”
The convoy of Wuling Trading Company successfully passed through Jianmen, which was the only way to enter the Qingdu area. Of course, Zhao Guizhen also sent his family members to guard Jianmen, telling them to find Jiang Yan.
Wuling Trading Company was also well-known in the Qing capital. The people in Piyong City received the news that they were looking for a lone painter, so they didn't pay attention to the convoy. However, no one expected that Jiang Yan would be just right by accident.
Mixed in with the convoy of the trading company.
Zhao Guizhen listened to the reports from the people below in his mansion. He couldn't find it in Shangchi City, Piyong City, or even Jianmen Road.
He had already returned to Piyong City in a sedan. Even if the shadow muralist was walking, he should have arrived at Jianmen. How could he be so slow?
"If we send out people again, we must find him."
During the conversation just now, Jiang Gu learned that the Wuling Trading Company was well-known in the Qing capital, and that Liu He was a worshiper of the trading company. All the expenses for cultivation were provided by the trading company, and he was responsible for guarding the safety of the trading company.
"Liu Gongfeng, what kind of place is this Qingdu?"
After finally meeting a man who had lived in Qingdu for decades, Jiang Yan naturally wanted to find out more.
"For those Confucian scholars in the Confucian government, Qingdu was an absurd place, and everyone here was deviant.
For those monks and Taoists, Qing Dynasty is a place where gods and Buddhas do not shelter, and all people are resigned to sinking into hopelessness.
For Xuan Guo, Qingdu was a place that gave the royal family a lot of headaches. The emperor could not get on board the ship, and claimed that his ministers were wine-drinking immortals. Such crazy people abounded here, and the emperor's orders were a joke in Qingdu."
The more Liu He talked about Jiang Gu, the more curious he became.
"What do you think about Liu Gongfeng?"
"I am not originally from Qingdu, but I came here to study grammar. I stayed here for most of my life and never left again.
So in my opinion, Qingdu is an open and tolerant place. I can guarantee you that after living in Qingdu for a long time, you will not want to go anywhere." Liu He stroked his beard and smiled.
"For example, if you ride this old donkey, if you don't get scolded in other places, people will point fingers, but in Qingdu, even if you ride a donkey with your buttocks naked, no one will make any comments."
"Is it that exaggerated?"
Seeing that Jiang Yan didn't believe it, Liu He had to smile and share with him some of his experiences in Qingdu.
"Just take this time before I left Qingdu for Xihe. When I left, two scribes openly hugged each other and gnawed wildly on the street. What do you think?"
"How can I watch? Of course I stand and watch,?"
"Don't you think they are morally corrupt?" Liu He asked.
"I want to queue up to have a bite of whatever there is here. I have done this many times before, and now I still feel nostalgic when I think about it."
Jiang Yan himself had traveled through time, and such things had long been commonplace, so there was nothing surprising about them.
Liu He's eyes were full of approval and he patted Jiang Chan on the shoulder.
"What if your boy is born in our Qingdu? What if I tell you that both of these scribes are men?"
"puff…."
Jiang Yan was drinking. When Liu He said this, the wine in his mouth immediately choked his throat and flowed out of his nose. He couldn't help but start coughing. He had never done such a thing before.
"Is this possible?"
"Of course it works. The onlookers cheered enthusiastically, and some even recited poems for them in public. Even though I was walking by in a hurry, I applauded them. Lovers will eventually get married."
Seeing the intoxicated look on Liu He's face, Jiang Yan was startled, slapped the old donkey's butt, and hurriedly stayed away from the old guy.
Jiang Chan's little move made Liu He laugh. From the conversation just now, Liu He also got a lot of important information, the most important of which was that Jiang Chan was alone!
All the moderately successful painters in the Qing capital were basically supported by family forces. Painters in the Xuan Kingdom had a high status, but at the same time, the cost of achieving success in Danqing was several times that of other practices.
A helpless young man used the most limited resources and relied on his own talent to achieve such an achievement. If word spread about it, it would definitely cause a sensation in the Qing capital.
Liu He knew that this was the best opportunity. Wuling Trading Company lacked strong people to take charge, and Jiang Yan had no support behind him. This was an excellent combination.
With such a genius, Wuling Trading Company will definitely grow into a great painter who can control the scene in the near future. If Jiang Yan has the support of Wuling Trading Company, his cultivation speed will also be doubled!
However, he is just a worshipper, and the person who really wants to make the decision is the head of the Chamber of Commerce.
After passing Jianmen, there was a smooth river. Jiang Yan was riding lazily on his donkey when suddenly the clear sky suddenly darkened.
"Is it going to rain again?"
When Jiang Yan opened his eyes, he found that it was not dark clouds that blocked the sun, but huge strange birds. Each of these birds was two to three feet long, and their wings were nearly ten feet long.
Swarms flew across the sky and covered the sun.
"Liu Chongfeng, what is this?" Jiang Yan asked.
"Soap Eagle"
Liu He said with a bit of envy in his eyes.
"What are they used for? Why are there so many?"
"The Xuan Kingdom is a vast territory, and the distance between the nearest palaces is thousands of miles, while the far ones are even thousands of miles away.
Every time the Wuling Chamber of Commerce leaves Yunzhou to purchase goods elsewhere, it can only rely on animal power, which is very slow, ranging from ten days and a half to a year and a half.
As the most powerful and wealthy trading house in Yunzhou, Tongbao Pavilion originally used horses and boats to trade goods, but later Wan Jin bought a painting of the most expensive painting in the history of the Xuan Dynasty, "The Soap Eagle on the Solitary Mountain"
, and this is what you saw!"
"Are these giant birds painting spirits?"
Jiang Yan was also a little surprised. He didn't expect that the painting spirit could be used as a means of transportation.
This soap eagle is huge and fast. It is indeed much stronger than the horses of Wuling Trading Company.
"This is one of the reasons why Tongbao Pavilion was able to dominate the Qing capital."
"Is this kind of painting difficult to draw?" Jiang Yan asked again.
"The Solitary Mountain Eagle Painting is only a high-quality painting. The requirements for high-quality painting are not high. Anyone in the Wen Mansion can easily draw it. However, the biggest difficulty is that one painting has multiple qualities.
Paintings with ten spirits in one painting are already rare, and this painting of Solitary Mountain Eagle has reached the unbelievable level of one hundred spirits in one painting!"
"so smart"
Jiang Gu was a little stunned. In Duohualing's paintings, just one wrong stroke and the entire painting would be wasted. All efforts, whether it was paint or paper, would be in vain.
A painting of a hundred soap eagles means that the painter made no mistakes when painting, which has reached an unimaginable peak in technique.
"Because of this, we can sell high-quality paintings for the same price as high-quality paintings, and if we want to control these nearly a hundred painting spirits to go back and forth, we need to use up all the spiritual power of a strong person in the Mysterious Spirit Realm."