Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

It's unclear how much time passed, but Zhao Kai finished the entire jar of rice wine, and even urinated drunkenly in the corner of the room.

The servant didn't dare to offer any advice and could only stand there dumbly waiting, without handing over the chamber pot.

"Bang!"

A stool was overturned on the ground; it was unclear whether Zhao Kai had knocked it over or kicked it on purpose.

There were several paintbrushes of different sizes, and Zhao Kai casually picked one up.

The servant said, "The ink is a bit dry, sir..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Kai pushed him away, then used his mouth to hold the paintbrush, freeing his hands to mix the ink himself.

The servant was pushed so hard he almost fell over. He silently stepped back and stood aside, intently observing every movement—he was secretly learning Zhao Kai's painting skills!

After preparing the ink, Zhao Kai stood motionless, inexplicably lost in thought again.

After a long while, Zhao Kai turned around and looked around.

The servant hurriedly asked, "What are you looking for, sir?"

Zhao Kai ignored him completely, as if the servant was nothing but air. He first looked around, then wandered around the room drunkenly, and finally found a rag somewhere.

Dip a rag in ink and press it onto the paper, smearing it around until several large ink stains are left behind.

Splashed ink painting existed as early as the Tang Dynasty.

However, it has never been mainstream, and even the techniques of the founder of ink splashing have been lost.

From the Five Dynasties period to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the realist school gradually unified the art world and reached its artistic peak during the reign of Emperor Huizong.

The composition must be rigorous and meticulous, striving for both resemblance in form and capture of spirit.

If you draw something that goes beyond the bounds, it's illegal and shows you have no lineage!

There are also freehand styles, but they are not considered high art.

For example, Wen Tong, Su Shi, Mi Fu and others liked to paint small freehand styles.

This style of painting is called "ink play" or "literati ink play," and it is a pastime enjoyed outside of work or during leisure time.

The major shift in the style of Song Dynasty painting occurred after the southward migration of officials and the devastation of the country.

However, this time and space lacks such an opportunity.

The Ming Dynasty's strength and prosperity in recent years have led to the continued distorted development of the realist school.

Grandeur, magnificence, splendor, color, refinement, adherence to rules, lineage... these are the ultimate pursuits of painters; everything else is considered a minor, unorthodox technique.

The court painters of the Hanlin Academy of Painting focused all their time on wealth and prosperity.

The servant silently stepped forward, and saw that in the upper right corner of the painting, the ink blot was filled in by Zhao Kai's brushstrokes, and soon it took the shape of a mountain.

The specific technique is called "large axe-cut texture strokes," which was invented by Li Tang, the court painter during the reign of Emperor Huizong.

During the Ming Dynasty, Li Tang served as the director of the Hanlin Painting Academy and also studied epigraphy with Li Qingzhao.

Chapter 3873 Realist Painters

He was neither captured by the Jin dynasty nor did he break through his impoverished circumstances; instead, he died in leisure and wealth.

Li Tang invented the "axe-cut texture stroke," yet he still belonged to the realist school, and was its leader.

When Zhao Kai was a prince, he studied painting under Li Tang.

His application of the "axe-cut texture stroke" at this moment is completely different from that of his teacher, Li Tang.

They became even more unrestrained and dissolute, completely disregarding laws and regulations and paying no attention to details.

All of these things go against the current state of the art world.

In addition to the specific painting techniques, Zhao Kai also left a large area of ​​blank space in the upper left part of the paper.

Only a tiny, falling black sun is drawn as an embellishment in the vast blank space.

As the rooster crowed, Zhao Kai wrote the two characters "Genyue" and then signed his name.

He took the seal from his waist, threw it on the drawing table, and said, "Stamp it."

After saying that, he ignored everything, swept the cups and bowls off the table, and lay down on the table to fall fast asleep.

The cups and bowls fell and shattered on the floor with a crash.

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Zhang Fang asked, "Finished drawing?"

The servant, who was applying the seal, replied, "The painting is finished."

Zhang Fang said, "Let's take another twenty candles and light them. More than half of these candles have already burned out."

The room became bright again, accompanied by Zhao Kai's not-so-loud snoring.

Zhang Fang and Xie Yunyun carefully examined the large-scale freehand painting, their eyes filled with astonishment.

The composition of the entire painting should center on Fanlou, but the focal point is Genyue in the upper right corner.

Genyue appears unusually tall and precipitous; this artificial hill within Kaifeng city somehow evokes the majestic Mount Hua.

Its shape and proportions are unlike those of Genyue, but you can recognize it at a glance.

The palaces and side buildings within Kaifeng city became nothing more than a backdrop to highlight Genyue.

The buildings lacked clear lines, appearing as clumps of ink here and there.

You can vaguely make out where the palace is, where Fanlou is, where the bell tower is, and where the bridge is...

It was desolate, cold, and even had a ghostly air about it!

This is not the prosperous and bustling city of Kaifeng, but more like another time and space, a ghost town after the Jingkang Incident.

Especially the black sunset amidst the vast expanse of blank space, seemingly radiating endless black light that enveloped the entire city of Kaifeng.

Zhang Fang muttered to himself, "Why do I feel a chill down my spine? Is this a painting of Kaifeng?"

Xie Yunyun pointed to the soundly sleeping Zhao Kai: "Perhaps this is how he sees Kaifeng."

Zhang Fang said, "This painting must be bought, but it cannot be kept privately, much less circulated among the people. It should be presented to the officials to decide whether to destroy it."

Zhang Fang sat until the ink was completely dry, then took out two hundred strings of cash and handed them to Xie Yunyun, saying, "This is payment for the painting. Give it to him when you're sober. I'm taking this painting with me to Luoyang to meet the Emperor."

Xie Yunyun bowed and said, "Fifth Brother, please take care."

……

A few days later.

When Zhao Yuan saw this painting, "Genyue," he exclaimed, "This man's heart has turned to ashes."

Zhang Fang said, "Your Majesty, Zhao Kai often says disrespectful and crazy things when he is drunk, and he has been arrested and imprisoned by Kaifeng Prefecture several times."

"Now that the prosperous and peaceful Kaifeng has been depicted as so eerie, it must be because someone is harboring resentment and cursing the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhao Yuan said, "There's no need to make a fuss. Can't our glorious Ming Dynasty tolerate a person who has lost their mind?"

Chapter 3874 A fine painting!

"As long as he doesn't commit any crimes, there's no need to punish him. How much did you pay for the painting?"

"Two hundred strings of cash," Zhang Fang replied.

Zhao Yuan said, "Go and collect three hundred strings of cash. Consider this painting as my purchase. Send it to the Hanlin Academy of Painting so that the painters can have a look."

Zhang Fang wasn't there to file a complaint or to make money; he just wanted to see the emperor and make sure the emperor remembered him.

Since the emperor said it didn't matter, Zhang Fang stopped speaking ill of the emperor and happily took the money and left the palace.

The next day, at the Hanlin Painting Academy.

A large group of court painters gathered around "Genyue" and marveled at it.

They didn't care about any eerie atmosphere; they only studied the techniques Zhao Kai used.

Ma Ben (Ma Yuan's great-grandfather) pointed to the buildings in Kaifeng and said, "This person's painting style is becoming increasingly unconventional, but the combination of splashed ink and dry brush is exquisite."

"To use the Emperor Emeritus's exact words, it's about spatial awareness and a sense of depth. I certainly can't do that; I'd probably need another ten years of practice."

Zhang Zeduan shook his head repeatedly: "I could never learn it in my entire life; they are completely different approaches."

Zhang Zeduan belonged to the orthodox realist school, excelling in meticulous brushwork while also incorporating some freehand techniques.

Zhao Kai's style was a freehand style that matured and became popular only in the Ming Dynasty.

This style also existed in the Tang, Song and Five Dynasties periods, but it did not form a school or produce any great painters.

In fact, Zhao Kai's painting was not mature and was in the exploratory stage of carrying on the past and opening up the future, but it was enough to bring a huge impact to the Hanlin painters.

In an era where realism is the absolute mainstream, the sudden emergence of a bold, impressionistic style...

Moreover, you really need to be mentally ill to depict Kaifeng as a ghost town!

Realism emphasizes rules and lineage; if a normal person were to create this painting, they would probably face collective suppression from them.

But who would want to argue with a mentally ill person?

They found it interesting and studied the "Genyue" repeatedly. Gradually, some people brought paper and pen and began to imitate it.

Even Zhang Zeduan studied and imitated Zhao Kai, trying to figure out how he painted.

The freehand style of painting probably emerged several hundred years earlier than expected.

Meanwhile, Zhao Kai, a mental patient, was still sleeping soundly on the streets of Kaifeng, planning to paint another picture when he ran out of money.

……

Liu Jian was getting old, especially with the years of disasters and the campaigns against the Western Xia, his body was starting to give out.

After the summer campaign ended, he began to resign, and kept delaying until autumn.

Now that the national disaster situation has eased, Liu Jian and Zhao Quan have both retired, leaving two cabinet ministers gone all at once.

The new cabinet members are as follows: Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen, Zhang Tang, Fang Mengqing, Meng Zhao, Chen Dong, and Liang Yi.

Fang Mengqing was the only one who was not a "veteran" who had served the emperor, so his presence in the cabinet seemed somewhat out of place.

At that time, Zhao Yuan personally led troops to garrison Xiangyang, and Fang Mengqing was the only Song official who actively trained troops to "suppress the Zhu bandits".

Who would have thought that when Li Bao led his army to Huainan, Emperor Huizong of Song, who was on the run, gave incompetent orders?

They lost most of the army that Fang Mengqing had painstakingly trained, and continued to flee south despite the soldiers at the front.

In a fit of anger, Fang Mengqing betrayed the Song Dynasty and joined the rebels.

As a result, Li Bao was in a hurry to rush to the capital and dumped all the captured officials and soldiers on him.

Fang Mengqing, leading these ragtag troops, actually conquered half of the Huainan region, and thus rose rapidly in the new Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 3875 Qin Hui, Unrepentant

That's fucking outrageous!

With the cabinet reshuffle, Qin Hui was also promoted.

His rank remained unchanged, but he was transferred from Minister of Works to Minister of Revenue, and was also given the titles of "Special Envoy" and "Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent".

The main reason is that Qin Hui, as the Minister of Works, accumulated too many political achievements, both large and small, during the years of large-scale infrastructure construction.

Even though Qin Hui didn't get involved much in the Yellow River management project, he still deserves some credit.

“Master, this is Zhao Kai’s masterpiece, ‘Crows’,” a middle-aged official presented the scroll.

Qin Hui examined the painting for a long time, then nodded approvingly and said, "Zhao the Madman's painting skills are becoming more and more exquisite and unpredictable."

The middle-aged official was named Yang Yuan, a native of Suzhou.

When Qin Hui served as the Imperial Academy Director in the Former Song Dynasty, Yang Yuan happened to be a student at the Imperial Academy.

At the time, the two had little to do with each other, but as Qin Hui rose through the ranks of the new Ming Dynasty,

Yang Yuan then approached him under the guise of being a student to curry favor.

To be honest, Qin Hui looked down on this guy because Yang Yuan had no ability whatsoever, and even his official documents were written in a convoluted and incomprehensible way.

But Yang Yuan was too good at currying favor; his flattery skills were so superb that even someone as powerful as Qin Hui was flattered to the point of ecstasy!