"This box is nice." Ye Kai couldn't help but praise it as soon as he saw the rosewood box.
Ye Kai's praise is not without reason. As the saying goes, only the flesh between the hollow and the surface of rosewood can be used. Therefore, since ancient times, there has been a saying that every inch of sandalwood is valuable.
Europeans and Americans had never seen red sandalwood as aniseed material at first, so they thought that red sandalwood had no aniseed material and could only be used to make some small utensils. Legend has it that there was a five-inch long red sandalwood coffin model in front of Napoleon's tomb, which greatly surprised the visitors and thought it was rare.
.
Rosewood was valued by the royal family, beginning in the Ming Dynasty. Due to the scarcity of rosewood, domestic sandalwood was quickly exhausted, and then officials were sent to Southeast Asia to purchase it, which lasted until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
Not all the wood purchased at that time was for current use, and much of it was stored for future use.
This kind of procurement was predatory to a certain extent. Therefore, almost all the fine trees produced in the Nanyang Islands were cut down, especially rosewood. All those that could be turned into utensils were bundled away.
The red sandalwood wood used in the Qing Dynasty was mainly harvested in the Ming Dynasty. Although new materials were purchased from Nanyang in the Qing Dynasty, most of them were thick and rough, and the joints were not straight. This was due to the slow growth of red sandalwood and it would take hundreds of years to mature.
The rosewood box that Nangong Jinghong was holding was actually about a foot in diameter, and judging from the carving and production techniques, it was made of complete wood. This was surprising.
"Haha, the box is good, but the contents inside will definitely not disappoint." Nangong Jinghong smiled nonchalantly.
Ye Kai nodded and thought that inside this box, it should be the inheritance of the Nangong family mentioned by Nangong Jinghong. No matter how precious the box is, it is not as significant as the contents inside. He is a little curious as to what is inside.
Where's the stuff?
Seeing how Nangong Jinghong took things seriously, Ye Kai was somewhat looking forward to it.
"The inheritance of the Nangong family has always been preserved by the head of the family, and no third party can know the inside story..." Nangong Jinghong did not open the rosewood box directly, but held the box and spoke to Ye Kai solemnly.
Said, "Now even Nangong Shouzhuo and Nangong Yun don't know what our family's inheritance is."
"In this case, it's not convenient for me to take a look, right?" Although Ye Kai also wanted to know what was in the box, since he said so, even the former head of the family, Nangong Shouzhuo, and the current head of the family, Nangong Yun, had never seen this.
Thing, he is an outsider and is really embarrassed to look at other people's inheritance.
"This thing is of great importance and it is not suitable to leave China. If not, I would not have been unable to take it with me back then." Nangong Jinghong said solemnly, "But now I feel that it is better to hand this thing into your hands than to hand it over to Nangong.
Yun is better preserved."
"Oh?" Ye Kai was stunned after hearing this.
Although it is said that he and Nangong Yun do have a special relationship, and Nangong Yun cannot marry anyone else, Ye Kai can only be regarded as an outsider anyway, but Nangong Jinghong's words made him feel a little strange.
Treat him as the de facto head of the Nangong family.
What exactly is inside the box that a big shot like Nangong Jinghong pays so much attention to?
Ye Kai's eyes fell on the rosewood box. At this time, the box was under the light, with little golden lights shining like stars in the night sky. It turned out to be the rare Venus rosewood box.
Purple also has a very special status in traditional culture. Purple energy comes from the east, and it is so red that it becomes purple. These words can all explain one thing, that is, purple is a very noble color, compared to the color that was once only used by the royal family.
Compared with bright yellow and true yellow, purple is also very noble, which is one of the reasons why the Ming and Qing royal families attached great importance to rosewood.
With a "click", Nangong Jinghong opened the lock on the rosewood box and lifted the lid.
Ye Kai opened his eyes and saw a piece of precious light surging out of the box, which looked very dazzling in this closed room.
Looking down from above, you can see that the inside is lined with bright yellow silk fabric, which is probably a cushion to prevent bumps. Inside is a group of jade-carved dragon shapes, intertwined together, and the carvings are complex and vivid. It is really good.
thing.
But Ye Kai also felt a little strange. If it was just a ball of jade carvings, Nangong Jinghong wouldn't be so precious. Just when he was full of doubts, Nangong Jinghong reached out and took the ball of jade carvings out of the box.
He slowly brought it up.
"This thing... this thing..." After Ye Kai saw the complete picture of the object, he couldn't help but stutter, and his eyes widened.
Ye Kai looked at the thing that Nangong Jinghong mentioned. The inheritance of the Nangong family turned out to be a precious seal.
Look at the Fang Baoxi, which is about four inches in diameter. It is green in color and has a soft color. Even under the light, you can see that it is shining with a pure white light.
The seal is engraved with the pattern of five dragons intersecting, but one corner below is inlaid with gold.
Nangong Jinghong lifted the bottom of the jade seal and let Ye Kai look at it. He saw that it was engraved with eight small seal characters in the shape of dragons, phoenixes, birds and insects, including "Ordered by heaven, you will live forever".
"Is this the national jade seal?! Is it real or fake?!" Ye Kai couldn't help but ask at this time.
It's not that Ye Kai didn't have a lot of calmness, it was because this thing was too important in the history of China. Every time it appeared, it would cause a bloody storm, so he couldn't help but pay attention to it.
"I don't know if it's true or not, but it must have been in our family's hands for thousands of years..." Nangong Jinghong's expression was also a little agitated. He held the Fang Baoxi and said, "It is said that
, our family is the descendant of Li Congke, the late Emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty. In order to avoid disaster, we later changed our surname to Nangong."
"From what you said, it's possible that this thing is genuine." Ye Kai's mood finally calmed down a lot, he touched his chin and guessed.
The Chuan Guo Jade Seal is actually an evolved version of the Heshi Bi. More than sixty years after the completed jade was returned to Zhao, Zhao was still annexed by the powerful Qin State, and the Heshi Bi fell into the hands of Qin King Ying Zheng.
The King of Qin unified China and claimed to be the first emperor. He ordered the jade workers to carve the eight bird- and insect-shaped seal characters written by Prime Minister Li Si on the He's Bi.
It became the national seal.
Later, Qin lost its deer and the whole world chased it away. Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, led his troops to invade Xianyang. Prince Qin killed Zhao Gao and presented the bi to Liu Bang. After Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, he took the bi as the national seal of the Han Dynasty.
The jade seal was passed down from generation to generation, and from then on the Heshi Bi became the national seal, passed down to nine generations of emperors.
Later, Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty. At that time, because the young emperor Liu Ying was young, the Imperial Seal was handed over to the Empress Dowager. Wang Mang asked his younger brother to go to Changle Palace to ask for the Jade Seal. The Empress Dowager angrily threw the Imperial Seal to the ground, so the Imperial Seal was passed on.
A corner was missing after being thrown, and Wang Mang later used gold to repair it, but to no avail, and the chip was left in the end.
After the fall of Wang Mang's regime, He's Bi was passed on to Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms period, Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty, etc.
When Emperor Li Congke of the late Tang Dynasty was trapped in Luoyang, he took the Chuanguo Seal to the Xuanwu Tower and committed suicide. The whereabouts of He's Bi have been unknown since then.
The jade seal of the state is passed down as a token of "the divine power of the emperor, orthodoxy and legality". Emperors of all dynasties have regarded obtaining this seal as a symbol of fulfillment. They regard it as a rare treasure and an important weapon of the country. If it is obtained, it symbolizes its "order from heaven", and if it is lost, it symbolizes its "mandate from heaven".
Its "energy has been exhausted".
Anyone who ascends to a great position without this seal will be ridiculed as a "blank slate emperor", showing lack of confidence and being despised by the world. This will encourage those who want to seek great treasures to fight for it, causing the jade seal passed down to the country to be changed repeatedly.
host.
After the end of the Tang Dynasty, although there were leaks of jade seals from the country, they were basically all fakes. However, they did not expect that Nangong Jinghong would hold this jade seal from the country, which had been passed down for thousands of years.
"I didn't expect that your family is actually the holder of the national jade seal..." Ye Kai couldn't help but feel very emotional after hearing Nangong Jinghong's explanation.
Although they, as the royal family of Li and Tang Dynasties, have been lost in history, the Nangong family is still extremely wealthy, especially the Fang Chuanguo Seal, which is enough to prove that their bloodline is indeed long-standing and noble.
"This national jade seal should be authentic." Nangong Jinghong said, "The Nangong family has inherited it for thousands of years. Each generation of family members has passed it down orally and left a seal to prove it to ensure that the inheritance continues. By my time, it is already three years old.
It has not been broken for fourteen generations, so I will leave it to you at this time."
"Ah?!" Ye Kai was shocked after hearing this.
He didn't expect that Nangong Jinghong would hand the Chuanguo Jade Seal into his hands so easily. Holding the heavy Chuanguo Jade Seal, feeling the warm touch and cold breath coming from above, Ye Kai's
I couldn't help but feel a little cautious.
It is indeed difficult to estimate the actual value of this thing, but it cannot be overshadowed by its great political significance. If not for this, emperors of all generations would not have pursued it diligently since the Northern Song Dynasty, just to prove their orthodoxy.
It's just identity.
But now that the emperor is gone, the imperial seal has naturally lost its most important symbolic meaning.
But no matter what, as a jade seal with a history of more than 2,000 years and a supreme sacred object that has experienced the changes of the entire feudal dynasty, the important historical value and political significance of the jade seal are still very powerful.
Ye Kai had no doubt that as long as a piece of news was released, countless people would swarm in, trying to collect the national jade seal. Thinking of this, he remembered one thing. It seemed that Hou Laosan from Haidong,
Later, I once received the precious seal of a Qing emperor. I touched and played with it every day, and I was very determined to aspire to the throne.
It was not until he failed that the matter was exposed.
If the imperial seal suddenly appeared at this time, how many ambitious people would be tempted to take action?
Holding the imperial seal in his hand, Ye Kai's head couldn't help but swell. This thing is indeed difficult to deal with. (To be continued. Please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!)