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   Chapter 983 979 [Jinling School of Painting]

  Zhao Kuangji set off in a carriage, followed by several palace guards, all the way to a certain mansion west of the Forbidden City.

  He is looking for a classmate, both of them like dogs.

  The classmate's family warmly welcomed him, but they were a little unhappy behind the prince's back.

   "Brother Ji, let's play in the dog park together." Zhao Kuangji shouted as he ran into the inner courtyard.

  Zhan Shao walked out of the study with his head downcast: "Your Highness, go by yourself, I have to study at home."

  Zhao Kuangji smiled and said: "With your grades, you will definitely be able to get a diploma, but public-funded students don't even think about it. Anyway, your family is rich, and you get a diploma, so you can go to college at your own expense."

"Ugh!"

Zhan Shao sighed: "My three pet dogs were all killed by my father. They were also stewed into dog meat soup. I was told that I was mutton soup. I drank two full bowls and ate several pieces of dog meat. That night I had to Knowing the truth, I became nauseous and vomited, and vomited out all the jaundice water."

   "This, this... how can this be so?" Zhao Kuangji couldn't believe it.

  Zhan Shao said: "There are still three months before the middle school graduation exam. My father told me to study hard and not waste any more time. Everything will be discussed after I go to college. Don't come to see me again during the holidays from now on."

  Zhao Kuangji shook his head and said, "No wonder I saw your father and Lingtang just now. Although they greeted you with smiles, they always made me feel a little uncomfortable. Forget it, you can prepare for the exam at ease, and you can play with you after graduation."

"Feel sorry!"

  Zhan Shao cupped his hands and bowed, and sent the prince's gift out.

   Zhao Kuangji came to the street, too lazy to ride in the car, and took his mangy dog ​​for a walk.

  He didn't want to go to Meizizhou. In today's Cuju competition, there was no team he liked. He was already tired of watching Suwashe's performance, but Hunwashe didn't dare to go, otherwise the accompanying guards would definitely sue.

  Thinking about it, he turned to the Hanlin Academy.

   Don't look at Zhao Kuangji's love of fun, but after middle school, he often went to the Imperial Academy and Qintian Academy. As long as he is interested in something, he will study hard for a while, and then do other things when he loses interest. At the age of twelve, he was obsessed with astronomy, and even went to live in Zijin Mountain, and went to the observatory in the middle of the night to learn the art of stargazing.

  Scholars from Hanlin Academy and Qintian Academy, many of them have been Zhao Kuangji's teachers.

  The prince came to ask for advice, who would dare not teach him carefully?

  Most scholars are still secretly proud of this, the prince master said it nicely. As long as Zhao Kuangji came, he would put down his work and concentrate on imparting knowledge. It's a pity that they are destined to be disappointed. Zhao Kuangji's enthusiasm for learning never exceeds three months.

   This guy learns things very quickly. What others learn for a year, he can master in two or three months. Then I didn't want to make progress, I was doing things here and there, and I suddenly remembered one day, and went to study for a few days.

   Initially, Zhao Kuangji surprised scholars, but now it only makes people feel speechless and sigh.

   Arriving at the Imperial Academy, he went straight to the Painting and Calligraphy Hall. Zhao Kuangji planned to study painting today.

   However, the small courtyard of the calligraphy and painting hall was crowded with people, as if something big happened today. Zhao Kuangji was shocked immediately, handed the mangy dog ​​to the guards, ran in excitedly, caught the person in front of him and asked, "What is there to see today?"

  The man obviously knew the prince, and hurriedly bowed his hands together: "Does your Highness know that there is a fight in the painting academy?"

   "There are a lot of appointments and fights, and you often fight paintings." Zhao Kuangji said.

The man said in detail: "From the beginning of the establishment of the Painting and Calligraphy Museum, Your Majesty asked to study the combination of Chinese and Western painting methods. This painting method is divided into two schools. One school is dominated by Zhu Mou, a former royal family, and the other is dominated by Thai and Western scholar Li Zhicheng. Who are they? They didn't agree with anyone, so they made a fight five years ago and asked each other's favorite disciples to draw a picture."

   "What painting needs five years of fighting?" Zhao Kuangji became more and more curious.

  The man explained: "Using the combination of Chinese and Western painting techniques, draw a picture of the city of Nanjing. One person draws Changqianli, and the other draws Loujiangli. There is also an agreement on the size of the painting, which is three feet wide and fifteen feet long."

  The name Changganli is very old, and it often appears in Tang poems. The allusion of "childhood sweetheart, childhood sweetheart" comes from this. The location is outside the south city wall of Nanjing. Although it is located outside the city, it is the most prosperous market in Nanjing.

  As for Loujiangli, it is a name that only existed in the New Dynasty of Datong. The address is also outside the city, but it is next to the northwest city wall and the north city wall. The whole area is the Yangtze River Wharf area. There are no large shops, but small stalls and hawkers are everywhere.

"I'm coming!"

  However, several people came out of the painting academy, headed by Zhu Mouyi, the former Ming clan, and Li Zhicheng, a western missionary, divided into two groups clearly.

  They didn't fight the paintings themselves, but by their lovers: one named Zhu Da and the other named Tang Fu.

  Zhu Mouyi was over seventy years old, he stood on the steps with his beard smoothed, then cupped his hands and said, "Your Excellency, please first."

   "Being respectful is worse than obeying orders!" Li Zhicheng looked like a foreigner, but his accent and movements were no different from Chinese.

   Li Zhicheng's disciple Tang Fu took out the work, asked his disciple to hold the scroll, and slowly pulled the painting away. The huge painting, which is one meter wide and five meters long and took five years, appeared in front of everyone bit by bit.

South City Wall, Zhongshan Temple, Glazed Pagoda, Restaurant, Charcoal Market, Sheep Market, Bull Market, Pig Market, Stage, Glasses Shop, Leather Goods Shop, Cloth Shop, Money Shop, Ships, Carriages, Sedan Chairs... There are countless figures in the paintings, including boatmen , Bearers, Scholars, Believers, Envoys, Merchants, Staff, Actors, Audience...

  For a while, I couldn't count how many people there were, and I couldn't count how many buildings there were.

  But all of them are painted vividly. If you look closely, you can even see the different expressions of the characters.

  Zhao Kuangji kept pushing forward, and no one else dared to fight. This guy actually got close to the drawing paper, took out a magnifying glass from his pocket, and praised: "It's meticulous and good at drawing!"

  Hearing the prince's praise, Li Zhicheng and Tang Fu, both master and apprentice, couldn't help smiling smugly.

  Li Zhicheng cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Bagui, please."

  Zhu Moou smiled slightly, and Zhu Da also began to show his paintings.

  Zhu Da’s painting is also meticulously drawn, but the form of expression is slightly different. He pays more attention to the characters, and the faces are not painted in detail, but with a few strokes, the expressions are vivid, and the movements are also lifelike, and some characters' movements are even slightly exaggerated.

  Every scene is very exciting.

  One is the crane on the pier. Suddenly, a rope broke, and the container was upside down and hung upside down, causing the foremen and coolies around to panic. Someone is yelling, as if to let the cargo box be put down quickly; someone is covering his head to avoid it, fearing that the box will hit him; someone is rushing to the crane winch, trying to stabilize the cargo box so that it does not fall...

   One is on the east side outside the north city wall, which is where King Jin ate his stomach. The food stalls there are very lively, some squatting, some standing, some sitting, all eating. There were also people waiting in line, looking back and laughing while waiting. There are also diners patting their stomachs and talking to their companions with five fingers, as if to show off that they have eaten five bowls of rice. There was also a person holding a rice bowl in one hand and a half-cut newspaper in the other, leaning to the side, as if asking for words he didn't know.

  One is that a large ship arrived in Beijing, traveled to the center of the river, and was about to dock. There was a group of candidates rushing for the exam standing on the deck. Some of them held their heads high and talked loudly, some pointed to the pier and shouted excitedly, and some were reciting poems with scrolls in their hands.

  One is in front of Dinghuai Gate, dozens of foreign envoys stared at the towering city tower in a daze. Several foreigners knelt down to worship on the spot, and the Chinese people next to them looked down on them.

  The two paintings, in addition to the different techniques, are also different in painting materials.

  Zhu Da's paintings on silk are calm, simple, thick and dark in color.

   Tangfu is painted on paper, elegant, extravagant, bright and colorful.

  Zhao Kuangji stood there and watched for a long time, but he couldn't tell which one was better, and he could only say that each had its own merits. These two paintings do not belong to traditional Chinese painting methods, and are also very different from European paintings. They can be regarded as two mature and different schools combining Chinese and Western styles.

  The artists from the Calligraphy and Painting Hall are all present at the moment, and the scholars from other halls next door have also heard the news. The small courtyard was full of people, buzzing with comments, some said that Zhu Da was better at drawing, and some said that Tang Fu was better at drawing.

  Even calligraphers and painters who are not used to Western painting techniques were shocked by these two paintings.

  Zhao Kuangji had learned calligraphy and painting a long time ago, and he was just getting started. At this moment, he bowed to the two painters, regardless of whether others agreed or not, he directly performed the disciple salute: "I admire the superb skills of the two gentlemen, please don't hesitate to teach me."

  Zhu Da couldn't laugh or cry, he had taught the fifth prince for two months before, but he couldn't find anyone after teaching. At this moment, he had no choice but to return the salute, not daring to refuse, but his heart was not fluctuating.

   Tang Fu was a little excited, and replied: "I dare not be your Highness's teacher, learn from each other, learn from each other."

  Zhao Kuangji laughed happily, stopped talking to the two teachers, and continued to admire the two paintings. First use a magnifying glass to look carefully, and then step back to look at the overall effect, no matter how far or near you can find any flaws. This strengthened his determination to learn painting, but even Zhao Kuangji himself couldn't guarantee whether he could persist for three months.

  The Hanlin Academy was busy for a whole day, and two paintings were sent to the palace the next day.

  Zhao Han was very happy to see it, promoted Zhu Da and Tang Fu to doctorate, and gave some gold and silver. Then, let the Painting and Calligraphy Hall of the Hanlin Academy take the painting back. If you want to copy it, you can copy it, and then send it to the palace to hang in a year.

  The news spread quickly, and a large number of scholars came to the Imperial Academy to ask for appreciation.

  Qian Qianyi, who has already decided to retire this year, feels that he has a good face. It was decided to exhibit these two paintings on the first and fifteenth day of every month, but they must be well-known literati to be allowed to enter, and they can only be viewed collectively from a distance, and if you want to get closer, you can see them one by one.

  The few folk literati who were lucky enough to appreciate the paintings all blew up the two paintings to the sky after they left the Imperial Academy, saying that Wu Daozi could be painted like this after his resurrection.

  The literati praised it, and naturally it spread quickly. After only half a year, there were even relevant news in Guangdong and Beijing.

  These two new styles of painting combining Chinese and Western styles have gained a firm foothold at once, and more and more learners are learning them. They are collectively called the "Jinling School of Painting".

  (end of this chapter)