Chen Wenzhe tested this set of golden chimes based on this "Right Twelve Laws".
He even tried to sing "The East is Red". Although it was a bit unfamiliar, the sound was indeed very beautiful.
"It's not simple. Such a set of golden chimes can be preserved so well!"
Looking at the set of golden chimes in front of him, Chen Wenzhe was also very impressed.
After more than two hundred years, except for the stability within the Qing palace, and then flowing into the people, this set of golden chimes has also experienced ups and downs.
There is no way, everyone who sees such a set of golden chimes knows that it is a good thing, and everyone who sees it wants to keep it for themselves!
Therefore, each of their owners will carefully protect them, and it may not be easy for them to be passed down to this day.
As far as Chen Wenzhe knows, after the Revolution of 1911, Emperor Xuantong lost his title and became Puyi.
He huddled in the Forbidden City, but his annual expenses required three to four million taels of silver.
In order to seek "financial resources", the "Qing Dynasty Internal Affairs Office" tried to transfer and sell off the treasures and properties of the Forbidden City.
On May 31, 1924, through the "Minister of the Interior" Puyi's father-in-law Rongyuan and Shaoying, the elders and Yue Qianzhai, the manager of Shendu Salt Bank, signed a loan of 800,000 silver yuan.
They stipulated a term of one year, a monthly interest of one cent, and collateral must be delivered to the Salt Bank.
The first loan was 400,000 silver yuan, and the collateral was 16 gold bells.
The other 400,000 yuan of collateral is the gold treasures (gold seals) and gold books of the eight empress dowagers and five empresses.
The gold book is a gold piece with the canonization text engraved on it, and is strung with gold wire into a fold-out booklet.
Others include gold treasure chests (gold seal boxes), gold pagodas, gold plates, gold pots, etc.
In addition, there are 1,952 gold inlaid pearls, 184 gemstones, and 45 agate bowls.
Back then, when the national treasure left the palace, it was escorted late at night by "Highway Director" Liu Qingshan.
The route is out of Shenwumen (the back gate of the Forbidden City, on Jingshan Street) and transported directly to the outer warehouse of the Salt Bank in Dongjiaominxiang.
According to old records, Xing Peinong, a custodian (later promoted to section chief) from the foreign treasury, was responsible for counting and receiving.
The story of stealing the treasure out of the palace spread throughout the city of Gods within a few days.
Later, when Wang Shaoxian (deputy manager of the bank), one of the managers of Shendu Salt Bank at that time, was interrogated, he said that in order to divert the target, we spread the news to Nihong Zhengshe Bank and Shanzhong Foreign Bank.
Later, the "Beijing News" sponsored by Shao Piaoping officially exposed this matter (it was only a rumor at first), but the time was already February 1925.
In the following ten years, because Puyi was unable to repay the money and redeem it, the golden chime bell was kept in the outer warehouse of the Salt Bank in Dongjiaominxiang, Shendu.
But when I later went to Xiheyan Shendu Salt Bank to investigate, there was no trace on the books.
I just discovered a letter sent from Chicago to Yue Qianzhai on July 23, 1930, from the bank's business section chief.
It wrote: "As for the chimes, there is a market for them. Therefore, I would like to know how much they cost and how many pieces are in the complete set? ... Since we know that there are many problems, we must slow down the publicity."
Others include "It is better to be passive for the time being than to let the news come out."
The golden bell is a national treasure, and the thoughts of the person involved can be seen here.
After the "July 7th Incident" in 1937, Shendu fell into the hands of the Japanese enemies.
Suddenly there was a rumbling wind, and Yue Qianzhai was frightened several times a day.
The "mortgage loan" between the Salt Bank and Puyi, as well as the Forbidden City treasures such as the golden chimes, became a time bomb for the Salt Bank.
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This group of national thieves studied and first transferred the golden chime bell, the treasure of treasures, to the Salt Bank in the French Concession in Jincheng.
This is how the patriotic Chen Yihou performed his feat of protecting the national treasure.
But what about the other treasures of the "mortgage loan" between the Salt Bank and Puyi?
The scheming Yue Qianzhai asked Wu Dingchang, chairman of the Salt Bank and an important official in the Chiang Kai-shek Party at the time, for instructions on how to deal with the situation.
Wu Dingchang replied decisively: "Destroy!"
As soon as the secret order reached Shendu, Yue Qianzhai, the manager of Shendu Salt Bank, felt overjoyed.
Because among the treasures of the Forbidden City, other than the golden bells, gold books, gold pagodas, treasure boxes and other gold objects had already been sent to the furnace room in Langfang Toutiao in the 1920s to be turned into gold water and cast into gold bars.
The rest of the treasures can be directly owned by you.
However, although his home in Xitangzi Hutong is a large courtyard house, it is in full view of everyone and is too eye-catching.
So he gave the remaining treasures to several of his children in the name of dividing the family.
Since the 16 gold chimes were hidden in the Jincheng Salt Bank and were very valuable and well preserved, they were left to the bank as "off-book property".
After the liberation of the country, a campaign to increase production and save money was launched at the end of 1951.
After it was revealed that the salt shop was stealing precious eucalyptus, the Shendu City Production Increase and Conservation Committee stationed in the Xitangzi Hutong of Yueqianzhai for inspection.
They discovered an important clue: the "separation list of the children of the in-laws' family" and searched overnight. In addition to the overseas children of the in-laws' family, they seized and sealed more than a thousand treasures.
Among them are white jade landscapes, 40 decimeters high, 20 decimeters thick and 30 decimeters wide.
There are also national treasure-level cultural relics such as sapphire pillows, Hotan White Guanyin, and Gu Yuexuan jars.
In addition to the family separation list, a photo of a chime was also found at Yue’s house in Xitangzi Hutong;
After asking about the eldest son of Yue Qianzhai, I found out that he was one of the golden bells.
Fortunately, after going round and round, this set of golden chimes was finally brought back from abroad.
It was only after I came back that I realized that this set of percussion instruments was not just a decoration.
Therefore, the music "The East Is Red" later played by my country's first artificial satellite was played by the Golden Chime Bell.
I couldn't put it down and played with this set of golden bells for a long time. If Chen Wenzhe really didn't have much musical talent, he would want to play a song with it.
"Boss, don't just look at this set of golden chimes, this set of jade rings is also very good."
Chen Wenzhe took a look and said: "Is it unearthed from Guangdong Province? I seem to have a way with it!"
In fact, when Li Tianqiang took out these dragon-shaped weapons, Chen Wenzhe glanced at them all.
That set of golden clocks must have attracted him not only because they were valuable, but also because they were rare and rare.
At the very least, Chen Wenzhe definitely doesn’t have it, he has never even met him.
A few other pieces are different, such as this set of jade rings with hollow dragon and phoenix patterns.
The most famous set in China is definitely the one unearthed in 1983 from the tomb of the King of Nanyue next to Yuexiu Mountain in Yangcheng;
That set is shaped like an inner and outer ring nested inside one another, with a diameter of 10.6 centimeters and a thickness of less than 0.5 centimeters.
The entire set of jade rings is flat in shape and is made of high-quality sapphire using the hollow and through-drying method.
The outer ring is about twice as wide as the inner ring. The inner ring is engraved with an "S" shaped dragon, and the outer ring is engraved with a looking back and singing phoenix, also in the "S" shape. The inner and outer rings are independent of each other and integrated.
Chen Wenzhe is now very familiar with the tomb of the King of Nanyue.
Although such a set of jade rings is also a national treasure, it is not too rare for him.
Of course, the most important thing is that although the set given by Li Tianqiang is flawless, in terms of jade quality and workmanship, it is not as good as his set, let alone the set hidden in Yangcheng.