During the Southern Song Dynasty, after the posthumous title of "Duke Wen Zhong" was bestowed upon the great writer Su Dongpo by Emperor Xiao, Su Dongpo's status had never been higher, and he was even more sought after by people. His manuscripts, calligraphy and paintings became treasures that people competed to collect, reaching the level of a thousand gold and a thousand taels.

In a remote corner of the capital city of Hangzhou, there is a middle-aged painter named Tang Qiuting. He fled here to escape the war. His wife and children died one after another during the escape.

In the talented Hangzhou, his paintings and calligraphy were not appreciated, so he lived in poverty and poverty, and used alcohol to relieve his worries every day.

On this day, he met an artist friend who was as down-and-out as he was back then, but now this person was wearing a silk robe and jade belt, and his face was full of spring breeze. He was very surprised.

A friend said he found a calligraphy banner by Su Dongpo at a farmer's house last month, bought it for five taels of silver with all his money, and sold it for 2,000 taels of silver as soon as it changed hands.

The friend was amused enough to give him twenty taels of silver and persuade him to do some business.

Tang Qiuting himself liked Su Dongpo's paintings and calligraphy very much, and he often copied them. He also knew that Dongpo's original works were very valuable now, but this time he saw his friend's earth-shaking changes with his own eyes, and he was deeply moved.

He didn't want to do business, so he decided to work hard to imitate Dongpo's calligraphy and painting to the extent that it could be faked.

With twenty taels of silver sent by a friend, you can basically maintain your current life, and you don't have to worry about food and clothing during this time.

He did his best to look around Dongpo's paintings and calligraphy, and then hid in his residence to copy them. He not only pursued appearance, but also had high requirements for verve.

After more than three years of painstaking copying, he felt that his paintings were no different from Su Dongpo's original works.

He painstakingly produced an old plum picture of Dongpo, and inscribed Dongpo's famous sentence "Plum Blossom Village under Luofu Mountain, jade snow is the bone and ice is the soul."

I asked a famous painting and calligraphy connoisseur at that time to identify him. The connoisseur had once seen one of his paintings, but he was unceremoniously denigrated as worthless.

The connoisseur made a careful appraisal of many aspects, and finally came to the conclusion that Dongpo's original work was genuine, and he also praised the wonders of painting and calligraphy.

Seeing others praise his fake work, Tang Qiuting felt a sense of revenge.

Learning that he had this painting in his hands, the rich and powerful came to buy it one after another, and finally sold it for 3,000 taels of silver.

This money is timely for the impoverished Tang Qiuting.

Living conditions have been improved, and the painting environment has also been moved to the underground chamber.

In order to be seamless, whether it is paper selection and ink or imitation production, Tang Qiuting is very careful in every link, and no mistakes are allowed.

In this way, it often takes him a month or two to produce a painting of Dongpo.

In order not to make people suspicious, after each imitation was sold, he stopped writing for a period of time and took this opportunity to visit the mountains and rivers.

Gradually, some of Tang Qiuting's fake calligraphy and paintings were collected as the original works of Su Dongpo, and even sometimes these fakes were used as the standard for identifying the original works of Dongpo.

In a few years, he imitated more than 20 Su Dongpo styles and subject matter of calligraphy and painting, such as ink bamboo, frost chrysanthemum, old crane, strange stones and so on.

His imitations were not only collected at high prices by the people of Song Dynasty, but also by the nobles of the Jin Kingdom who liked Dongpo calligraphy and painting. For the sake of safety, his imitations were also sold to the Jin Kingdom outside the territory.

After a few years, he became a wealthy painting and calligraphy merchant, and his colleagues were very envious of his ability to obtain genuine Dongpo works.

As he became more and more adept at imitating Dongpo's calligraphy and painting, he became emboldened to create themes that were not in Dongpo's paintings.

After visiting the snow hall where he lived and cultivated in Dongpo when he was relegated to Huangzhou, he combined the landscape of Dongpo Snow Hall described in Dongpo's word "Jiangchengzi" and creatively made a picture of "Huangzhou Dongpo Snow Hall".

The whole picture is open, quiet and light, and there is also a full word of "Jiangchengzi" on it. The calligraphy is flowing, unrestrained and elegant.

Wonderful words, good characters and beautiful pictures can be said to be the three wonders of poetry, calligraphy and painting.

As soon as this "Huangzhou Dongpo Snow Hall" came out, it was praised as a rare artifact in Dongpo paintings, which immediately aroused the competition of various characters.

The bidding price soared, and finally it was bought by a buyer in Jinguo at an eye-popping price.

After the painting was released, Tang Qiuting was so excited that he decided to travel along the footprints of Dongpo. On this day, he went to Changzhou, where Dongpo fell, to pay his respects.

Just as he closed his eyes and recited Dongpo's poem, a few soldiers suddenly rushed up and grabbed him, and he shouted, "Why did you arrest me?"

The officer replied sharply, "Don't you know the crime you committed?"

He expected that the fake Dongpo calligraphy and painting had been discovered, but he didn't believe it, so he still shouted: "How do you know if you don't say it? You have arrested the wrong person, right?"

"Aren't you Tang Qiuting? We were just ordered to arrest people. If there is any injustice, you can go to the lobby of the Criminal Department and say it!" The officer said and pulled him up and left.

"Is the Criminal Department arresting me?" He was even more puzzled. Could it be that the fraud was not only exposed, but also alerted the current emperor?

Tang Qiuting was taken back to Hangzhou with great doubts and imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. The next day, he was taken to the lobby of the Ministry of Criminal Justice for trial.

Looking at the two high-ranking officials of the Criminal Department and the Ritual Department sitting on the presiding stage, who served as the head and deputy presiding judges respectively, he began to panic in his heart. It seemed that the battle was doomed.

At that moment, the yamen made him kneel down.

The presiding judge of the Ministry of Punishment was shocked and asked, "Who is kneeling down in the hall?"

"Xiaomin Tang Qiuting."

The presiding judge asked sharply, "Do you know the crime?"

He replied, "Xiaomin doesn't know, please make it clear."

He still didn't believe that his fraud would be detected, so he tried his best to deny it and never said it.

The presiding judge sneered: "What a trickster, you sold the calligraphy and painting of my Song Dynasty Duke Wen Zhong Su Shi to Jin Guo, do you know what crime you committed?"

When Tang Qiuting heard that it was not a fraud that was exposed, but the investigation of selling calligraphy and painting to Jin Ren, he felt a little relieved and said, "Xiaomin is stupid, please make it clear."

The presiding judge said sternly, "Su Gongwen Zhong is my first-rate talent in the Great Song Dynasty. His personality and morals are praised all over the world. His calligraphy and painting have become the national treasure of the Great Song Dynasty, but you sold a treasure map of the rare treasure" Snow Hall on the East Slope of Huangzhou "to the enemy gold man.

When Tang Qiuting heard that he was given the "crime of betraying the country", he trembled in fright and broke into a cold sweat. The crime of betraying the country requires killing the head. He couldn't help but blurt out and shout, "Xiaomin is wronged!"

He felt that he was really wronged, but he couldn't tell.

The presiding judge ordered that a few people were immediately brought to the hall by the yamen, and Tang Qiuting's eyes were swept — they all knew that they were the people who wanted to buy calligraphy and painting from him, but couldnot.

One of them said, "I saw with my own eyes that he sold the painting of Su Gong's Snow Hall on the East Slope of Huangzhou to a buyer from Jinguo."

Someone immediately echoed: "Yeah, I also saw him sell many of Duke Su's other fine paintings and calligraphy to Jin Ren, causing the national treasures to go to other countries."

Everyone testified that he was obsessed with money and that death was not worth it.

Tang Qiuting understood that these people must have been unable to obtain the "Snow Hall on the East Slope of Huangzhou" and other pictures. When he saw that it was bought by the Jin people, he was jealous, so he reported the matter to the imperial court, which alerted the emperor and asked the Ministry of Punishment to send someone to arrest him.

At this time, the presiding judge shouted and asked, "Tang Qiuting, who are you? Honestly confess the crime and avoid the pain of flesh and blood!"

He had to recount the process of selling paintings.

The presiding judge asked again, "Can you plead guilty now?"

At this time, Tang Qiuting's mood was extremely contradictory. If he confessed, he would be cut to death, and torture would make people shudder. If he did not confess, he would have to clarify the facts of the fraud, which would not only ruin his future, but also carry the name of a liar and be spurned by others.

After weighing it again and again, he decided to sacrifice his life for the sake of art, and said frankly, "I admit that I have committed treason by selling Duke Su's" Snow Hall on the East Slope of Huangzhou "and other calligraphy and paintings to Jin Guo, but I am only mercenary and have no intention of collaborating with the enemy, so I firmly deny the crime of collaborating with the enemy!"

The presiding judge shouted, "Alright, those who are about to die will not be investigated. Just talking about the crime of betraying the country, they should be punished for a long time, and the day of execution will be determined when they report to the Sage."

Tang Qiuting was taken into the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, and every day he was infected with a tragic emotion. He was not only proud that his imitation could be passed down as the original work of Su Dongpo, but also worried that he did not know how to face Duke Su under Jiuquan.

On the day of execution, the autumn wind chilled and the fallen leaves flew.

Tang Qiuting was taken to the execution ground, where he felt afraid. He was surprised to see that many of his relatives were kneeling on the ground, each of them standing next to an executioner with a ghost knife, and the relatives looked at him with resentment.

At this time, the execution officer unfolded Huang Ling and read the imperial decree: "Flattering to the sky, the emperor decreed: The traitor Tang Qiuting was greedy for profit and sold national treasures privately. His crime was extremely evil, and he was put to death. In order to protect the country's foundation, I consoled Duke Wen Zhonggong and punished his three clans, making an example for others! Thank you!"

Tang Qiuting was willing to sacrifice himself for art, but he couldn't bear it and had a bad conscience if he wanted his many relatives to accompany him to death. Seeing that noon was about to arrive, he shouted, "I did nott betray the country. Calligraphy and paintings such as" Snow Hall on the East Slope of Huangzhou "are fakes, and they are all forged by me!"

As soon as these words came out, the execution ground was shocked.

The beheading officer sneered, "Death is imminent, and you are still talking nonsense, what's the benefit, prepare for execution!"

Tang Qiuting shouted, "If you don't believe me, I can make a picture of Dongpo Mozhu on the spot. It's half a point, but there's nothing wrong with killing it!"

After discussion with other officials, the execution officer agreed to his request.

On the brush, ink, paper and inkstone, Tang Qiuting took the pen and waved it. After a while, a ink bamboo with strong ink and wash and the charm of Dongpo appeared in front of everyone. All those who knew Su painting on the execution ground were stunned.

Tang Qiuting was taken back to the lobby of the Ministry of Justice for a retrial. In order to protect his relatives, he fully revealed the false facts.

Officials in the ceremony department ordered him to write the "Red Cliff Fu", and he wrote it in the hall, which was exactly the same as the inscription. Then he made a picture of the "Snow Hall on the East Slope of Huangzhou" and invited experts to identify it.

Only then did he determine that the calligraphy and paintings sold to Jin Guo were forged by him.

Tang Qiuting handed over the huge amount of gold and silver from selling calligraphy and painting to enrich the national treasury.

There was no doubt that he had committed the crime of forging calligraphy and painting, but the punishment for him was cancelled because he sold most of the imitations to the Jin people, fooled the nobles of the Jin Kingdom, and earned a lot of gold and silver. It was also considered a great merit for the Great Song Dynasty. For a time, he was called the hero of the Great Song Dynasty and was graciously entertained by the civil and military officials.

Unexpectedly, the result was like this, and Tang Qiuting was very happy.

The imperial court hired him as a imperial painter, but he did not accept it and quietly left Hangzhou, where he has since disappeared.