Preface: Marshal Chen Yi passed away and the whole country mourned. Although Chairman Mao was busy with all his life at that time, he decided to push other matters at the last moment and rush to the memorial service.

These descriptions describe Marshal Chen Yi's life with deep affection. It can be seen that the author not only knows Marshal Chen Yi very well, but also has a deep affection.

even made Chairman Mao think of the years when he once revolutionized and struggled with Marshal Chen Yi. He couldn't help but ask the people around him excitedly: Where is the author of this elegiac couplet

? Is this person here?

So, who did this elegiac couplet come from? How did he and Marshal Chen Yi meet?

High-spirited and dedicated national treasures

In March 1898, Zhang Boju was born in a prominent family in Xiangcheng, Henan. His father Zhang Zhenfang was not only the last governor of Zhili in the late Qing Dynasty, but also had a marriage relationship with Yuan Shikai .

Zhang Boju's family is not only very connected, but also very wealthy.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, due to the weakening of government control, the political environment became more relaxed, and the trend of private banks was quite popular. Zhang Zhenfang was the founder of the Salt Bank, which was known as one of the four major banks at that time.

Zhang Boju's father attached great importance to the education of his son. He not only paid great attention to his theoretical knowledge, but also cultivated his poetry, calligraphy, calligraphy, painting, and since childhood.

After adulthood, under the arrangement of his father, Zhang Boju entered the military industry. After graduating from military academy, he once worked under Wu Peifu, Zhang Zuolin and others. However, Zhang Boju was completely disliked military politics, and he could not stand the trend of his colleagues, so he soon gave up his post and went home.

Although the family lives a wealthy life, Zhang Boju's father could not tolerate his son being idle, so he arranged for him to work as a free job at his bank at home.

At that time, the salt bank began to carry out art quality mortgage business and often received antiques and cultural relics mortgaged by the Qing government. Zhang Boju also saw many treasures that were rare among the people.

Since then, Zhang Boju not only cultivated his hobby, but also found his lifelong hobby, and has since entered the collection world.

In 1927, Zhang Boju wandered around an antique shop in Liulichang as usual. At that time, Liulichang was the largest antique trading market in Beijing City . However, due to the inconsistent authenticity, Zhang Boju's acquisition has always been quite cautious.

And that day, Zhang Boju suddenly discovered a horizontal calligraphy, which was the four words Congbishanfang written by Kangxi .

Among the many emperors of the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi's calligraphy can be said to be the best. However, because of the style of writing and other original works that were left before, this calligraphy has not been bought for a long time.

But the long-term insight in early years made Zhang Boju know that this painting is a rare authentic work, so he immediately took it into his pocket.

was in the turmoil at that time. In exchange for gold and silver, people with collections began to sell in large quantities. Many antique dealers also took the opportunity to buy them at low prices and then sold them overseas to earn the difference. This led to countless national treasures leaving the country forever and missing.

Han Gan's photo of Yebai is one of them. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, his owner, Sun Puwei, of Prince Gong, actually resold him to the UK in exchange for funds.

Zhang Boju was very sad when he found out. He even contacted relatives and friends overseas for this, but in the end he was unable to buy it and was lost overseas forever. This incident has become one of Zhang Boju's lifelong regrets.

As Japan surrendered to , Puyi Manchukuo's dream was also shattered. He fled from the palace with a large number of treasures and calligraphy and paintings, and these national treasures were also spread among the people. Among them, there is the spring outing of Zhan Ziqian .

The Spring Escape is not only the only work that Zhan Ziqian has left in the world, but also one of the oldest landscape paintings in my country. It has the inscription written by Song Huizong , and its collection value is very high. After receiving the news, Zhang Boju immediately contacted the seller, but what he didn't expect was that the price of this painting actually reached 800 taels of gold. Zhang Boju, who couldn't afford that much money, had to keep bargaining and finally successfully talked about 200 taels.

At that time, this was undoubtedly a huge sum of money. In order to raise money, Zhang Boju had to sell a property in Beijing and finally successfully bought the calligraphy and painting.

Zhang Boju once said:

Buy these antiques and calligraphy and paintings not to make money, but he can't watch it, and the national treasures containing our country's history and culture are wandering abroad.

In fact, in the days that followed, whenever Zhang Boju saw someone selling national treasures, he would do his best to buy them.

In the following days, Zhang Boju visited many times when the Puru sold and reposted, but they all returned because of the high price.

Finally, when the mother of Puru died urgently needed funeral expenses, Zhang Boju directly provided financial support, which moved Puru and acquired Pingfupai at a lower price.

However, the acquisition of antiques again and again was a bit high-profile after all, so Zhang Boju's behavior attracted the attention of the Wang puppet government.

In 1941, as usual, Zhang Boju went to Shanghai to attend the monthly regular meeting of the Salt Bank. But this time, Zhang Boju, who had just got off the plane, was directly taken away by a group of unknown people.

This shocking kidnapping case quickly spread throughout Shanghai. Although no one dared to say it clearly, the identity of the kidnappers was already an open secret in Shanghai. They were all subordinates of the Wang puppet government.

These crazy spies are not only fearless about crime, but also openly demanding a ransom of up to 3 million from their families.

Zhang Boju knew that his family could not afford so much cash at all, and the only way to raise money was to sell calligraphy and paintings. At this time, the Japanese really wanted to buy a flat copy from him.

In that era, kidnappings against celebrities often lasted quite a long time, reaching a few weeks or even months.

Therefore, during the imprisonment, Zhang Boju tried every means to pass the message to his wife Pan Su , telling her not to sell national treasures, and she would rather die in it than sell a collection.

Although Pan Su loves her husband deeply, she understands her husband's ideals better, so she has to agree with tears.

Because Zhang Boju insisted, the two sides were in a stalemate for eight months. In the end, with the reversal of many parties, the ransom was reduced again and again, until it dropped to 400,000, and Zhang Boju's family was finally able to raise money to redeem it.

Zhang Boju's perseverance shows how deeply he loves the treasures of famous artists and how firm he believes that national treasures must not be left out.

In the early days of the Liberation War, a businessman took advantage of the war to bring a batch of precious calligraphy and paintings to Taiwan. In order to raise funds, he mortgaged them to the bank for auction.

Zhang Boju knew that this time he was out of reach, so he could only react to the Communist government at that time.

Premier Zhou attached great importance to this matter when he learned about it and personally sent someone to take pictures of the calligraphy and paintings. This incident also greatly encouraged Zhang Boju and made him full of confidence in the future new government.

So, after the founding of New China, Zhang Boju made an amazing decision. He wanted to donate eight collections with the highest value of cultural relics, including the flat post and the balcony post of Li Bai in his hand, to the National Palace Museum.

The museum director at that time was extremely shocked. You should know that due to years of turmoil, a large number of precious cultural relics were scattered in Taiwan and even Japan. Zhang Boju's donation even doubled the amount of top-level calligraphy and painting collections of the Palace Museum.

The country immediately proposed to give Zhang Boju 200,000 economic compensation, but he flatly refused. Zhang Boju said:

has collected the collections for many years, not for money, fame and fortune, but for the hope of passing on Chinese culture.

Later, the Ministry of Culture of China issued a special certificate to Zhang Boju to commend his outstanding contributions to the national cultural relics cause over the years.

, but Zhang Boju has never shown it to anyone, and even the certificate was carefully put away and placed in a hidden corner of the house.

Late life

Zhang Boju's noble behavior has also attracted the attention of many central leaders. Therefore, at a private collection exhibition held by Zhang Boju, Marshal Chen Yi also visited. And this time, the two of them hit it off at first sight.

You should know that although Marshal Chen Yi is a soldier, he comes from a family of literati and has been influenced by a lot of literature since he was a child.

However, in the turmoil of the times, in order to defend the country, he had to give up his ideals and embarked on the road of revolution.

However, even if he joined the army, Marshal Chen Yi did not give up his literary creation. He was quite accomplished in poetry, and even often worked with Chairman Mao and poetry.

Therefore, not only Marshal Chen Yi has admired Zhang Boju for a long time, but Zhang Boju has also always liked Marshal Chen Yi's poems very much.

Both of them have a love for literature and art and have unique opinions. Therefore, they had a great conversation at this meeting and became very good friends.

However, the good times did not last long, and soon Zhang Boju's life suffered changes and he lost his job.

Zhang Boju has been obsessed with literary creation and collection for many years. Although he is well-read in poetry and books and has a very high level of culture, he does not understand interpersonal skills and cannot do any physical labor, so life has become quite difficult.

Martyman Chen Yi was very sad after learning about his old friend's difficulties. So after a few considerations, he finally found the Secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee, hoping that he could give Zhang Boju some help.

Soon, the opportunity for job transfer came. Zhang Boju was invited to Changchun and took office as deputy director at the Jilin Provincial Museum.

Zhang Boju naturally knew that it was his old friend Chen Yi who provided help to him, so he immediately wrote a letter to express his gratitude. As he picked up the pen, he was so excited that he wanted to shed tears. After arriving at the work location, Zhang Boju found that the Jilin Museum’s collection was not rich, and many places were quite lacking, and there was no way to compare with provincial museums in other places.

So he took out his collection and provided it to the Jilin Museum for free.

Although he lost all his money due to the acquisition of calligraphy and paintings over the years and had to face many unsatisfactory due to life difficulties, Zhang Boju didn't care about it at all. He said:

is so big, there are always some people who are unsatisfactory. It is even more difficult to see people by looking at calligraphy and paintings by themselves. A person is a big deal except for loving his own country, but everything else is a small deal.

He never regrets his cause of protecting national treasures, nor does he regret donating them for free. Even if he lives a little poor life now, he can enjoy himself.

In this spirit, Zhang Boju has always worked hard. Even though he is not rich in life, he often sponsors his old friends. He does not come forward to please others because of their success, nor does he stay away from others because of their despair. He has been sticking to his original heart for more than ten years.

When Zhang Boju was rich and was known as the fourth son of the Republic of China, he met his wife Pan Su. At that time, Pan Su was still a young lady who was sold to a brothel by her stepmother because of her family's decline.

Although his ancestors were the top scholar in the Qing Dynasty, they are now just fireworks women who are in chaos. Although they will be sought after by men, they are just for a while.

, but Zhang Boju fell in love with Pan Su at first sight. Not only did he spend a lot of money to redeem her, he also returned to his hometown and married Pan Su.

Later, Zhang Boju's family was in a downturn. Although he had many consultants working in museums and other places, his income was only enough to be fed and fed.

But Pan Su still remains unyielding. When Zhang Boju wanted to buy his beloved calligraphy and paintings but couldn't make up all the money, he took out the remaining jewelry and sold it to support Zhang Boju's hobby.

The relationship between the two has always been very loving. Once, Pan Su fell ill and her family's financial situation was quite embarrassing. Zhang Boju had to go to the restaurant alone, buy only two slices of bread, eat one slice by himself, and apply the other slice with butter , wrap it up and take it back to his wife.

In 1971, Marshal Chen Yi was seriously ill due to cancer. Zhang Boju's living situation was even more difficult at that time. He lost his job again and could only live with his wife in a small house less than ten square meters in Beijing.

Marshal Chen Yi was lying on the hospital bed before his death, and he was also paying attention to Zhang Boju's life. He tried to provide help many times, but for various reasons, he was still unable to do so, so he could only ask Premier Zhou to take care of him.

On January 6, 1972, Marshal Chen Yi passed away. Zhang Boju was heartbroken when he learned the news and wrote the elegy couplet with tears in his hand.

After seeing the signature of the elegiac couplet, Chairman Mao also asked about Zhang Boju’s recent situation. After learning that he was in a difficult life, Chairman Mao was also very concerned and asked Premier Zhou to solve his difficulties as soon as possible.

Soon, Zhang Boju's life improved. Although he was still not rich, food and clothing were no longer a problem.

He and his wife often draw and play chess, plant flowers and raise cats, and make their lives very interesting.

After the reform and opening up of , Japan and China also began to have a lot of economic and cultural exchanges, and Zhang Boju was also invited to the consulate for work exchanges.

It was the first month of 1982, and Zhang Boju, who returned from the banquet at , suddenly caught a cold.

Zhang Boju was in his eighties at that time. Even if such a disease was not serious, it would be difficult for him to recover, so the condition repeated.

In February 1982, Zhang Boju passed away at the age of 84.