Right and wrong, let future generations judge

Although Netizens were shocked, this time no one mentioned the issue of whether or not to hand this item over to the state.

Firstly, this was an artifact Nan Ye obtained with his own strength, and it was acquired from Duke Otto.

So strictly speaking, this belongs to Nan Ye.

Secondly, Nan Ye has already handed over the bronze turtle, and now asking him to hand over this scroll of the diamond sutra.

Do you have the nerve to ask?

Thirdly, as long as this artifact doesn't fall into the hands of Ono Kazuo and isn't obtained by Little Japan.

That's enough!

As for whether it's in Nan Ye's hands, or finally handed over to the state.

For Netizens, it's all the same.

Because it's still in the hands of Great Xia.

This point alone is already enough!

...

On the way back, neither of them was calm inside.

I didn't expect so many things to happen in just one night.

Getting the ""dunhuang music score"" was one thing, but they also went up against Ono Kazuo and even obtained a personal inscription from Empress Wu.

Everything felt like a dream.

"What are your plans for this diamond sutra?"

North Dust held the diamond sutra in one hand and the ""dunhuang music score"" in the other, feeling a bit lost.

They were all expensive artifacts, and he was afraid of damaging or scratching them.

"I don't know, I'll make plans later!"

Nan Ye actually wanted to keep the artifacts exchanged with the system together and take them out when the time was right.

Seeing that Nan Ye didn't want to say more about it, North Dust didn't ask further.

Instead, he asked another question: "The Dunhuang Grottoes Library Cave you mentioned earlier, is that the one where the Taoist Wang Yuanlu sold the artifacts?"

"That's the one!"

Speaking of Wang Yuanlu, North Dust recalled the critical words in "The Taoist Tower":

"For Wang Yuanlu, those sutra scrolls were just the easiest small business deal, like trading two needles for a chicken, or a button for a basket of greens..."

After hearing North Dust's words, Nan Ye was silent for a moment.

His mind was searching for information about that period of history.

After that, he let out a heavy sigh.

"Actually, saying that is one-sided.

Wang Yuanlu, living at the end of the Qing Dynasty, was indeed ignorant, but Wang Yuanlu, who took vows as a Taoist, was devout enough.

When he first arrived at Mogao Grottoes, Wang Yuanlu felt it was too dilapidated.

His idea at the time was actually very simple: he just wanted to renovate it.

And renovation required money.

He worked tirelessly for it, indeed putting in a lot of effort.

While renovating, he accidentally discovered the Library Cave, which was filled with sutra scrolls, printed texts, painted banners, bronze Buddhas, etc.

It could be said to be priceless!

A normal person encountering something like this would naturally be flustered, so his first thought was to report it to the authorities.

If these sutra scrolls were truly treasures, it would be most appropriate to hand them over to the government for handling."

Report to the authorities?

North Dust put a big question mark in his mind.

"If he had reported it, then there shouldn't have been the later incidents involving the great powers and Paul Pelliot, right?"

Nan Ye shook his head, a hint of helplessness in his expression: "It was precisely because he reported it that the later events happened.

Wang Yuanlu first took two scrolls of scripture and walked to Dunhuang County town 50 li away to seek an audience with the county magistrate at the time, Yan Ze.

Unexpectedly, the county magistrate's reply to him was: These are just some yellowed waste paper.

Isn't that ridiculous!

Such priceless sutra scrolls were actually considered waste paper, ignorant, foolish.

And that wasn't all!

A few years later, Dunhuang County town got another county magistrate, Wang Zonghan.

This magistrate had some knowledge of epigraphy.

After hearing Wang Yuanlu's account, he immediately rushed to Mogao Grottoes.

After inspecting, he gave an order: preserve them on the spot, and guard the Library Cave well.

Then he selected a few scrolls of scripture and left without looking back.

But a long time passed in a blink, Wang Yuanlu thought this new magistrate would send people to protect it and also renovate Mogao Grottoes.

Who knew there wasn't the slightest movement afterwards.

Wang Yuanlu was unwilling, so he packed two boxes of sutra scrolls and rode a donkey straight to Suzhou, 800 li away.

The journey was fraught with hardships, and finally he met the Daotai.

Oh, that's equivalent to a current vice-provincial official, quite high-ranking!

After some research, the Daotai said a sentence:

The writing on these sutra scrolls is not as good-looking as my calligraphy.

Listen to that, what a ridiculous thing to say.

Whether it looks good or not is one thing, the point is it's an artifact; he had no concept of this in his heart at all.

later, Wang Yuanlu met many officials, but they only had one sentence: Preserve them on the spot!

None of them did anything more practical.

After Wang Yuanlu was disappointed with the officials, he even wrote a letter to Empress Dowager Cixi, the top leader of the Great Qing Dynasty.

But at that time, the Great Qing was on the verge of collapse and couldn't even take care of itself, how could it have time to deal with this matter?

Or perhaps, that letter never reached the Empress Dowager's hands.

later, the great powers came, they took an interest in this batch of artifacts and lobbied Wang Yuanlu for a long time.

Wang Yuanlu saw that their attitude towards this batch of artifacts was even more devout than that of the officials.

He ran around for seven years, but the government never paid attention.

Isn't that infuriating!

Moreover, he indeed needed a lot of money to renovate Mogao Grottoes himself.

Finally, he sold them piece by piece to the great powers.

The most ridiculous thing is that when Wang Yuanlu was selling the artifacts, these officials all knew about it, but they just turned a blind eye.

They simply didn't want to deal with it!

Just like that, out of the more than 40,000 artifacts in the Library Cave, only 8,000 remain today; too many were lost..."

Nan Ye sighed deeply; sometimes when speaking of that period of history, it's more about a sense of helplessness.

"What's even more ironic is that Wang Yuanlu used all the money he got in exchange to renovate Mogao Grottoes."

From a historical perspective, Wang Yuanlu was ignorant.

He did make a mistake; since he found the sutra scrolls, and since the government didn't deal with them, he could have just buried them back.

Selling them to the great powers is another concept entirely.

But this mistake wasn't just his alone; it was the entire Qing court at the time.

If only during those seven years, an official had sent troops to guard Mogao Grottoes, such a thing wouldn't have happened..."

After listening, North Dust was also speechless.

So, there was such a story behind this.

So, Wang Yuanlu actually ran around for seven years for the Library Cave.

Right and wrong, it's really hard to say clearly.

Forget it, I won't think about it anymore, let everything be judged by future generations...

...

By the time they returned to the hotel, it was almost 12 o'clock, but no one was asleep; everyone was waiting for the two of them to come back.

Especially Dai Tianxiong, he gave the two of them a good scolding as soon as he saw them:

"You still know how to come back?

You're truly newborn calves unafraid of tigers!

You encountered such a big matter and didn't even tell us; if you had lost today, have you considered what the consequences would have been..."

The two of them lowered their heads, not daring to retort at all.

Strictly speaking, they were indeed a bit reckless in this matter.

Thinking about it now, they feel a bit of lingering fear.

After scolding them, Dai Tianxiong changed the subject: ...