On the afternoon of January 10, 1972, in the auditorium of Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, Chairman Mao was dragging his already heavy steps to attend the memorial service of his old comrade Chen Yi.

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" Is this person here too? Did he come to attend the memorial service today? "

On the afternoon of January 10, 1972, in the auditorium of Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, Chairman Mao was dragging his already heavy steps to attend the memorial service of his old comrade Chen Yi . When he saw a pair of elegiac couplets, he suddenly turned to look at Chen Yi's wife Zhang Qian and asked the above sentence.

Chairman

Zhang Qian shook her head slightly and said in a low voice: "Chairman, he did not come. He is not allowed to attend on occasions like memorial service. "

Chairman Mao was obviously surprised, and then turned his eyes to a pair of elegiac couplets and was silent for a while. Afterwards, he said to Premier Zhou beside him: "You have to ask about , and you have to help him solve the problem as soon as possible. "

Premier Zhou nodded, and his solemn expression suddenly revealed some ease.

Premier Zhou

So, what is the content of this elegiac couplet? What special intersections does the person who wrote the deputy elegiac couplet have with Marshal Chen Yi and Chairman Mao?

Things have to start from the beginning.

The collector of Xiang Yu's hometown

Xiangcheng City, Henan Province, is a place with a long history. It was once the fief of the Xiang Yu family of Chu 5 King of Chu 6. I have long been used to seeing historical evolution. During the Republic of China period, due to its location in the Central Plains, many famous Kuomintang generals appeared in cities. It can be said that Xiangcheng is the hometown of generals of the Kuomintang .

Today's Xiangcheng

On March 14, 1898, a healthy male baby was born in the Zhang family, a big family in Xiangcheng. The child's father Zhang Jinfang was very happy and gave the child a very profound name called Zhang Jiaqi .

The Zhang family is a wealthy family in Xiangcheng City, so Zhang Jiaqi never felt worried about eating and clothing in his childhood. However, when Zhang Jiaqi was four years old, a big and small change happened to him: he changed his father.

This is the thing. Zhang Jiaqi's father Zhang Jinfang has an older brother named Zhang Zhenfang. This person passed the Jinshi exam in 1892 and became the last group of Beijing officials in the late Qing Dynasty. He is the most prominent in the entire family.

Zhang Zhenfang

However, although Zhang Zhenfang has profound knowledge and a bright career in his career, he also has an indescribable hidden secret of his own.

Zhang Zhenfang originally had a son and a daughter, but he died one after another due to improper care. When Zhang Zhenfang was in his forties, he looked at his knees and found that there was no one who could pass on the family line, which made him very distressed.

Today, in his forties, he is not considered old and can give birth again. However, Zhang Zhenfang did not dare to take risks. He thought that he could choose one of the children of his family brothers to be his own son.

Zhang Boju

When he returned to his hometown to visit relatives, Zhang Zhenfang saw Zhang Jiaqi, the son of his younger brother Zhang Jinfang. He immediately felt that the child was very smart and had a good relationship with him. So he suggested to the clan leader that he wanted Zhang Jiaqi to adopt him.

things like this were not unusual in the feudal era. So, after discussing with Zhang Jinfang, the clan leader held a ceremony to adopt Zhang Jiaqi to Zhang Zhenfang. After that, Zhang Zhenfang gave Zhang Jiaqi a new name, Zhang Boju.

Since I have followed Zhang Zhenfang, I must be with this new father. So after completing the ceremony, Zhang Boju followed Zhang Zhenfang to Beijing. Zhang Zhenfang likes this son very much. He uses all his social relationships to provide Zhang Boju with the best life and education opportunities.

Zhang Boju

Zhang Zhenfang has a well-known connection in the officialdom, so she has paved several ways for her son. According to his idea, when Zhang Boju grew up, he could choose any industry such as politics, business and finance.But what Zhang Zhenfang did not expect was that Zhang Boju was not interested in any of the paths given by his father. His favorites are piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, and antiques. So after growing up, he often became a big shot in the antique industry on Liulichang Taobao in Beijing.

In fact, entering the antique industry is also a good choice. At that time, many well-known people liked to be artful and used some antique calligraphy and paintings to appreciate. And Zhang Boju really likes these antiques. He devoted all his energy and financial resources to this, and gradually achieved a profound cultural heritage.

Moreover, due to the origin of Pang’s academic background and extremely generous personality, later, someone called him “ The Four Young Masters of the Republic of China ”, “ The Four Young Masters of the Republic of China ”.

Do not allow national treasures to be leaked

Whether it is as famous as celebrities is not what Zhang Boju cares about. What he cares about is to protect national treasures as much as possible in his own hands and prevent those ill-intentioned foreigners from being involved.

The reason why he had this idea was because a big event that happened in 1936. In this year, Puru, the great-grandson of Emperor , took out his collection of paintings from the Tang Dynasty, "Zhaoye White Horse Picture" from home and sold it. As a result, after many twists and turns, this national treasure fell into the hands of foreigners.

Photo Night White Horse Picture

After learning this news, Zhang Boju felt extremely angry for the first time. His idea is that Chinese things naturally need to stay in China, because only in China is called cultural heritage. If it is overseas, it can only be regarded as a merit monument of the spoils of the colonial era. So he felt that selling national treasures to foreigners is a bad behavior of forgetting one's ancestors.

However, before he could breathe, he suddenly heard another news: Pu Ru, who had disregarded etiquette, righteousness and shame for money, actually intentionally sold " Pingfu Title " to foreigners!

"Pingfu Tie" is a famous cursive work by the calligrapher of Jin Dynasty Lu Ji . It is known as " China's No. 1 " and occupies an important position in the history of ancient Chinese calligraphy. In terms of the value of national treasures, it is even above "Zhaoye White Horse Picture"! If this copybook is left overseas, it will be a disaster for Chinese culture.

Pingfu Post

After hearing the news, Zhang Boju immediately couldn't sit still and quickly found Pu Ru to discuss, expressing his desire to buy "Pingfu Post". But unexpectedly, Pu Ru lowered his eyebrows in front of foreigners, but when facing his compatriots, he suddenly opened his bloody mouth. He asked for 200,000 silver dollars at once, and he was not allowed to bargain. The price of

is obviously too high, and it almost made Zhang Boju vomit blood on the spot. Although the Zhang family is very rich, they are powerless to take out 200,000 yuan at once.

After the first acquisition failed, Zhang Boju thought that if he could not buy "Pingfu Tie", he would let some celebrities influence Pu Ru, which might reduce the price or dispel the idea of ​​selling it to foreigners.

Zhang Daqian

So after returning home, Zhang Boju quickly took action and found Zhang Daqian, a big shot in Chinese painting , and asked him to come forward to take 60,000 silver dollars and discuss with Pu Ru. However, Pu Ru's heart is as hard as iron. Anyone who negotiates the price will kill him 200,000 silver dollars. He said that if there is no 200,000 silver dollars, no one will sell it when they come. In the end, Zhang Daqian had to leave sadly.

After this series of blows, Zhang Boju was still unwilling to give up. He thought about it from the perspective of others, thinking that why did Puru, who was in a wealthy state, lack money to such a level? He asked someone to inquire, and then he realized that Pu Ru had lost his mother recently and urgently needed a large amount of money to send. If he could not get it, the necessary decency of the royal family would not be guaranteed.

Qing Dynasty royal family funeral

Knowing the cause and effect, Zhang Boju visited Pu Ru again. He said: It doesn’t matter whether the goods are sold or not. Let the old man be buried first, this is the main thing.He took out the 60,000 silver dollars and handed it over to Pu Ru first, asking him to handle the funeral. Pu Ru was very moved, so after burying his mother, he sold "Pingfu Tie" to Zhang Boju at a relatively low price.

At this time, Zhang Boju didn't know that what he intercepted was the Japanese business. "Pingfu Tie" is a cultural relic that the Japanese have long been optimistic about, and their bid was exactly 200,000 yuan. After learning that Zhang Boju had acquired "Pingfu Tie", the Japanese immediately visited and expressed their willingness to buy Pingfu Tie. However, Zhang Boju had a firm stance and refused the other party with his words.

Foreign antique businessman

However, Zhang Boju underestimated the shamelessness of the Japanese. Seeing that these invaders could not buy them with money, they prepared to rob them. In 1941, under the command of the Japanese, the secret organization of the Wang puppet regime, 76, kidnapped Zhang Boju. In order to put enough pressure on his family, the spy organization found Zhang Boju’s wife, Pan Su and offered a sky-high ransom of 3 million fake coins!

After receiving the news, Pan Su borrowed money from relatives and friends everywhere. However, the amount of 3 million is too large, no matter how you make up, it is still far away. Later, Pan Su could only negotiate with the kidnappers through various channels. Fortunately, at this time, the Japanese were already involved in the Pacific War , and their control over China was reduced. The secret organization of the Wang Puppet regime has long been in a state of "self-bearing profits and losses". They were not interested in helping the Japanese get national treasures, and they just wanted to make some money on their own, so soon they reduced the ransom from 3 million to 400,000.

76 spy

So after some operation, Zhang Boju was finally rescued. However, when he saw his wife, the first thing he said was: " doesn't sell anything, right? ." Pan Su of course understood what Zhang Boju meant, so he nodded firmly, and Zhang Boju was relieved.

The collector who donated national treasure

After this incident, Zhang Boju also learned a lesson: In the chaos, the best way to protect national treasures is to give the national treasures to the country. When an individual faces power directly, his power is too thin.

Zhang Boju

However, at this time, either the Japanese were in power, or the Kuomintang was in power. Zhang Boju believes that it would be better to burn it if he gave the national treasure to them. So in the following years, Zhang Boju kept guarding the collection in his hand tremblingly, for fear of suffering a little damage.

On October 1, 1949, New China was officially established, and Zhang Boju had great interest in this new regime. He wanted to see what kind of regime New China is and whether it is worth entrusting himself.

Founding Ceremony paintings

The performance of New China is indeed refreshing. From 1950 to 1953, in a state of inactivity, the New China defeated the Americans armed to the teeth on the Korean Peninsula, consolidating the new people's regime. Next, a series of economic construction began, which brought earth-shaking changes to the lives of the Chinese people. Zhang Boju realized that such a government can represent the nation and is a good government worthy of entrusting.

So, in 1956, Zhang Boju donated several precious national treasures he had collected, such as Lu Ji's "Pingfu Tie", Tang Dynasty Du Mu's " Good Poems ", Li Bai " On the Balcony Post ", Song Dynasty Huang Tingjian's " Zhu Zuo's Post ", Yuan Dynasty Zhao Mengfu's "Thousand Characters Text", and all of them were donated to Palace Museum free of charge.

Palace Museum

At that time, the Minister of Culture Mao Dun , was very moved by Zhang Boju's righteous act, but he said that collectors cannot make donations free of charge, and the country must also make some statements. Therefore, he specially approved a bonus of 200,000 yuan and wanted to hand it over to Zhang Boju. However, Zhang Boju refused to accept the money. He said that the purpose of donating the national treasure was only for the safety of the national treasure itself, not for money.

Soon, the matter of Zhang Boju offering treasure attracted attention among the senior leaders in China. Chairman Mao praised Zhang Boju, and Chen Yi, the most talented among the top ten marshals, also admired Zhang Boju very much. He said that if you have the chance, you must meet this person.

Martyman Chen Yi

Martyman's interactions with collectors

1957, Zhang Boju joined forces with many cultural departments to hold a painting and calligraphy exhibition in Beihai, Beijing. Chen Yi was very interested. After watching the exhibition, he invited Zhang Boju to his house for dinner.

In fact, Zhang Boju has always been very interested in Marshal Chen Yi. He likes Chen Yi's poems very much, and he can recite some representative sentences at will. Therefore, the two felt that they met too late and immediately became friends. From this day on, Zhang Boju became a regular visitor to Chen Yi's family.

Marty Chen Yi

However, just one year later, Zhang Boju was hit politically. Chen Yi was very anxious when he learned about it and spoke for Zhang Boju in various departments. Later, Chen Yi learned that Zhang Boju was going to be transferred to live in Northeast China, so he immediately found the secretary of the provincial party committee in Jilin and said to him: " Zhang Boju is my good friend. His current situation is not good. Do you think you can take care of him? Arrange a suitable job for him. "

Marshal Chen Yi's speech was of course very effective, and the other party agreed. Soon after, the secretary of the provincial party committee came forward and appointed Zhang Boju as the first deputy director of the Jilin Provincial Museum.

After receiving the appointment, Zhang Boju was overjoyed. He knew that it was Mr. Chen who was helping him. He wanted to come to the door to thank him, but he was afraid of implicating the other party, so he could only write a letter to express his gratitude.

Jilin Provincial Museum

However, what Zhang Boju did not expect was that Marshal Chen Yi did not care about his identity at the moment and made a special trip to send someone to pick him up to his house as a guest. After the two met, Chen Yi said very kindly: " and the country know you. You have dedicated all the treasures to the country. You are a patriotic person. Don't worry, your problem will be solved in the end. "

So under the care of Marshal Chen Yi, Zhang Boju and his wife really lived a relatively stable life in Jilin, Northeast China for several years. And their arrival also brought vitality to the unknown Jilin Provincial Museum.

Jilin Provincial Museum was a provincial museum with relatively weak collections in China at that time, and there was almost no outstanding treasure for the museum. After Zhang Boju took office, in order to improve the overall status of the museum, he took the initiative to donate dozens of his precious collections. The reputation of Jilin Provincial Museum has also quickly increased in a short period of time. Zhang Boju always says to others: ", President Chen once asked me to make more contributions to Jilin Province. I have no other ability, and all I can do is to support the construction of the museum without reservation. "

Jilin Provincial Museum

From this sentence, we can understand that there is a deep private relationship between Zhang Boju and Marshal Chen Yi

In 1962, Zhang Boju's problem was solved. Although he is still in Jilin, he has gained a new life in politics. On the New Year of this year, Zhang Boju returned to Beijing and brought some local specialties from the Northeast to Marshal Chen Yi. The two sat there and drank and chatted with each other like they did a few years ago.

After Marshal Chen Yi passed away, he helped his friend

1969, a bigger political trend came, and Zhang Boju was detained for historical issues such as background. The position of Jilin Provincial Museum was also removed. Although he later regained his freedom, he was arranged to live in the rural areas of Shulan County.

Zhang Boju

However, when he arrived in Shulan County, things changed again. Staff from Shulan County believed that Zhang Boju was too old and had never done farm work before. When he came, he would only add to the burden on his brigade, so he refused to accept him. Zhang Boju had to turn around and return to Beijing and think of other ways. However, when they came back, they found that their house had been expropriated for his use. The accommodation arranged by their superiors for them was only a small house of about ten square meters.

Zhang Boju was helpless, but he had to settle down first. He had no source of income, so he could only live an extremely simple life with the help of a few friends.

Zhang Boju and his wife

Shortly after, Marshal Chen Yi fell seriously ill and was admitted to Beijing 301 Hospital. However, even though his health was not good, Marshal Chen Yi was still thinking about Zhang Boju. He has asked Premier Zhou many times, hoping that he can speak for Zhang Boju and help Zhang Boju. Although Premier Zhou agreed, he was powerless to do something in that era. Therefore, Zhang Boju's situation has not been improved for a long time.

On January 6, 1972, Marshal Chen Yi passed away. In addition to grief, his wife Zhang Qian informed several of the Marshal's living friends, including Zhang Boju.

Chen Yi and his wife took a photo

Zhang Boju was deeply saddened after receiving the news, so he picked up his pen in the form of a literati and wrote an elegy couplet for Marshal Chen Yi. The content is as follows:

"By the sword from the clouds to build a city, loyalty is not easy, the voice of the army is in Huaihai , the love is in the south of the Yangtze River, all the people are mourning, looking back at the beautiful rivers and mountains, eternally separated from Chi County

Waving the sword to win the sun to receive the honorary sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial sacrificial He had been waiting for the notification from his superiors, but he had never been able to wait, so in the end, he was unable to appear at the memorial service.

Martyman Chen Yi’s memorial service

In fact, this memorial service was also very difficult.

Before the memorial service, Premier Zhou did not intend to let him attend considering Chairman Mao’s physical condition. But just over an hour before the memorial service, Chairman Mao suddenly said that he wanted to see off this old comrade who had been fighting side by side since the Jinggangshan period. After receiving the notice temporarily, Premier Zhou rushed to the auditorium of Babaoshan Cemetery and found Chen Yi's wife Zhang Qian and asked her to prepare.

After the chairman arrived at the venue, he saw many familiar faces and many old comrades who had fought side by side, and his mood was difficult to calm down. However, when he saw Zhang Boju's elegiac couplet, he suddenly felt that it was unusual. When I checked the signature of the elegiac couplet, I realized that it was written by Zhang Boju. So the chairman quickly asked Zhang Qian if the person who wrote the elegiac couplet was present?

Martyman Chen Yi’s memorial service

The beginning scene happened next, and Zhang Qian briefly explained the situation of Zhang Boju to the Chairman.

Although Chairman Zhang Boju has little interaction, he still remembers that this person has donated precious cultural relics to the country. So in my heart, Chairman Mao also knew that this person was definitely not a bad person. When he learned from Zhang Qian that Zhang Boju’s condition was not good, he instructed Premier Zhou to solve Zhang Boju’s problem as soon as possible.

With the support of the chairman, Premier Zhou was finally able to let go of the arrangements. He instructed the Central Literature and History Research Institute to hire Zhang Boju as a librarian, which gave him a stable income.

Zhang Boju (middle)

After learning about this, Zhang Boju sighed very much that his friend Marshal Chen Yi still helped him after he passed away. This moved him quite, so in the future, he wrote many poems praising Marshal Chen Yi.

The relationship between Zhang Boju and Marshal Chen Yi can be seen as both a mutual appreciation of both literature and martial arts, or as a close interaction between two traditional cultural people. Although they have different growth experiences, they have a common ideal, which is to protect the cultural relics of the motherland and protect the cultural heritage of the motherland. Their stories have become a good story in the cultural world and will be passed down forever in future generations.