Republic of China: Ace Pilot

There were telephones in the lobby of Taishan Airlines' Paris branch, and several family representatives were queuing up there to call back and explain the new situation.

At this moment, every additional Chinese cultural relic meant an extra freight quota, which, in the chaos of the German army besieging the city, was the foundation for protecting the family's wealth.

Mrs. Simone de Coster untied her shawl and tossed it to her servant before walking toward Fang Wen.

Her gaze toward Fang Wen held a newfound inquisitiveness: "Mr. Fang, you certainly know how to do business. These things may not be of much value to us now, but they hold special significance for you. I admire your ability to seize opportunities; no wonder you were able to build such a large industrial group at such a young age."

Her words were half-joking and half-confirming, but without any malice. In the face of survival, such calculations are insignificant.

Fang Wen smiled faintly, "This world is always changing. Successful people know how to adapt to trends and seize opportunities."

As he spoke, he turned to René Greu and George Morand: "Gentlemen, please wait a moment while we continue the appraisal once the new items are brought in."

“Of course.” René Greu nodded slightly, his gaze falling on Armand’s Qianlong jade thumb ring, his eyes revealing a scholar’s ​​appreciation for a treasure. “These cultural relics have fallen into Europe and record a shameful history. As a cultural researcher, I oppose the destruction of culture by violence and plunder. It would be best if they could return to their homeland.”

Fang Wen's heart stirred. "You should know about that war. Can you tell me how much the Eight-Nation Alliance looted from China back then?"

"I only know about the situation of the French army."

René Gru recounted what he learned during his research.

During the Eight-Nation Alliance invasion of China in 1900, the French army focused on looting royal forbidden areas and official residences such as the Forbidden City, the Shouhuang Hall in Jingshan Park, the Yuanmingyuan Garden, the Prince Li's Mansion, and the Western Qing Tombs. They transported a large amount of gold, silver, calligraphy and paintings, seals, jade, textiles, astronomical instruments, etc. back to Europe, which became important collections for French museums and private collectors.

Hearing this, Fang Wen couldn't help but ask further questions.

Could you be more specific?

René Grué hesitated.

Fang Wen continued, "If you can tell me, I will remember your friendship."

George Morand, standing nearby, was intrigued. "Can I say yes?"

Fang Wen nodded: "Okay."

George Morand quickly spoke up: "As far as I know, French Army Commander Major General Frey led his troops to occupy the Shouhuang Hall, where the Qing emperors' remains were laid to rest after ancestral worship. He organized his soldiers to pack a large number of portraits of emperors and empresses and hundreds of seals and transport them back to France. Treasures such as the portrait of Consort Chunhui and the Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour were all from this looting and later entered the Guimet Museum."

The Guimet Museum was where René Greu worked, but Georges Morand, who worked at the Louvre, mentioned it first.

René Gru quickly added.

"The Louvre also has many artifacts acquired at that time, including items from the Old Summer Palace. In addition, I know that the French and German armies fought over ancient observatory instruments, and ultimately the French obtained four pieces, including a horizontal theodolite and an ecliptic theodolite, which are now housed in the National Astronomical Observatory and the Museum of Arts and Crafts. There are also 200 million taels of silver from the Prince Li's Palace treasury, antiques worth 300 million taels at the time, and 365 strings of court beads."

Fang Wen looked at George Morand: "Is there anything else you'd like to add?"

“Yes, the bishop of Xishiku Church wrote checks in the name of the Paris Church to buy up the looted goods of the soldiers. I also know that a naval doctor took the Qianlong Nine Dragon Jade Seal back to France as a ‘red stone’ and it was later bought and collected by someone.” Georges Morand replied.

Seeing this, René Grué spoke up again: "I know some other things as well,"

Fang Wen was furious as he listened to this. This was something that had been stolen by a French family, yet it was worth millions of taels of silver.

Including what was looted by other countries' armies, the value is probably tens of millions of taels of silver.

But that decadent era had more to offer than just that.

Numerous indemnity treaties, concessions in various regions, treaty ports, taxes, and the looting of the Old Summer Palace by the Anglo-French allied forces during the Opium War.

The Qing Dynasty squandered all of China's wealth.

He was excited inside, but remained calm on the surface.

Fang Wen continued to ask, "Are all these things still in Paris?"

The two experts were stunned, looked at each other, and remained silent.

"Don't worry, I'm a businessman, I know how to conduct myself," Fang Wen explained with a smile.

René Greu replied, "Last year, several museums had already begun moving their collections, and now the museums in Paris are empty."

Upon hearing this, Fang Wen felt disappointed by the Parisian art world's wariness, realizing that he had no chance of acquiring the item.

He dismissed his thoughts and waited for the family collection to arrive.

Forty minutes later, the collections began to arrive one after another.

Count Claude de Rochefort, who was the first to make the call, was now directing his entourage to bring in a pair of gilded bronze elephants. The heavy ornaments landed on the table with a soft thud.

“Mr. Fang, these are artifacts my grandfather purchased years ago. They are said to be a pair of auspicious elephants brought back from the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. They are in excellent condition.” Kroeder’s tone was somewhat urgent. “I need to transport a batch of goods to Morocco, but I need to have a few escorts with me.”

René Greu immediately stepped forward, squatted down, and carefully examined the inscription on the bottom of the bronze statue. When his fingertips touched the tiny "R" mark, his eyes paused slightly. It was engraved by the French army during the Eight-Nation Alliance.

He then said, "Made during the Guangxu era, with thick gilding and complete inlay of gems, it is a typical palace furnishing, estimated to be at least 4 ounces of gold."

Fang Wen then spoke with Claude.

“The escort personnel can board the plane together, but that will take up the plane’s capacity and will be charged the equivalent weight freight rate. But the value of your goods seems a bit low, not enough to take up the capacity of an entire plane. Why don’t you talk to other families and see if any of them are going to Morocco, and charter the plane together?”

Claude nodded and then went to discuss it with the other families.

Following that, Mrs. Isabella Dupont brought new items from her collection—a gilded Guanyin statue and a string of jadeite prayer beads.

After examining the statue with a magnifying glass, George Morand said in a deep voice, "The Guanyin statue is in the Tang Dynasty style, and the base has the Yonghe Temple casting mark; the jade court beads are of the standard for a first-rank official, with uniform bead diameter and no impurities. The two pieces are estimated to be worth 2.8 ounces of gold."

Mrs. Isabella walked over to Fang Wen: “I will personally stay in Paris. The money I’m giving is to send my son and daughter and their godmother to New York, along with two boxes of stock certificates and jewelry, and $20 in cash. You said you could deliver it to wherever we want, but that requires some assurance. I have a suggestion: let God, the law, and everyone present witness this transaction. Once you sign the notarized agreement, our deal will be complete.”

She spoke loudly on purpose, not only to Fang Wen, but also to everyone else present.

The fact that notarization requires both God and the law indicates that she is very pessimistic about whether the French government can persevere.

Fang Wen nodded in agreement: "Okay."

The people in the hall breathed a sigh of relief. Then, a local Parisian bishop was brought in, along with the head of the Paris notary office.

With the two witnesses present, Fang Wen drafted an agreement on the spot.

The agreement simply states that he, on behalf of Taishan Airlines, will do his utmost to ensure the safe delivery of personnel and goods, and includes a list of passengers and goods to be transported, as well as a general description of the costs and transportation routes.

After everyone had reviewed the agreement and there were no objections, Fang Wen had his staff make multiple copies of the agreement by hand, and sign their names on each copy in front of everyone.

The identification process has now resumed.

The appraisal event resumed, and only the experts' voices filled the hall, occasionally punctuated by suppressed sighs from family representatives when a collectible was deemed a fake.

Fang Wen leaned against a pillar, his gaze sweeping over the jade and enamelware on the table, his expression calm.

He was prepared for the inevitable mix of fakes, and even expert appraisals might not guarantee that all of them were genuine. But as long as some of them were genuine, he wouldn't lose out.

Just then, a slight commotion came from the back of the crowd. A middle-aged man in a dark gray suit, accompanied by two attendants, walked slowly over carrying two locked ebony chests.

Compared to other nobles who were eager to cash in, the man was more composed.

“This is Count Émile de Exupéry,” Pierre said, walking quickly to Fang Wen’s side and introducing him in a low voice. “His family is an old French noble family. His grandfather once went to China and brought back many things from the East.”

Emil walked to the table and gestured for his attendant to open the wooden boxes. The first box was opened, revealing a dozen or so rolls of yellowed silk paper neatly folded inside, lined with off-white silk. The edges were torn, but the smooth lines and ancient characters were still clearly visible. The second box contained two ancient thread-bound books with worn covers and slightly curled corners, but the handwriting on the pages was neat and beautiful.

René Greu and George Morand's eyes lit up at the same time, and they moved closer without even breathing.

René Greu picked up a roll of silk paper and slowly unfurled it in front of the lamp.

The flying apsaras on the silk are graceful and elegant, their robes fluttering. The lines are lively and flowing. Although it is only a fragment, it cannot hide the grand and majestic style of Tang Dynasty painting.

“It’s a Dunhuang silk painting!” René Gru’s voice trembled slightly, his fingers hesitant to touch the silk. “The pigments are mineral pigments unique to the Tang Dynasty. Although it has been a thousand years, the colors are still bright. The brushwork is exactly the same as the Dunhuang flying apsaras silk painting in the Guimet Museum’s collection. It is a genuine piece that came from Dunhuang!”

George Morand opened the two thread-bound ancient books. The fire marks on the edges of the pages were clearly visible. He leaned closer to examine the text and checked the format and taboo characters. His expression became more and more serious: "This is a fragment of the classics section of the Yongle Encyclopedia! It has the seal of the Hanlin Academy on it. I'm not very sure about it."

Yongle Encyclopedia!

Fang Wen suddenly stood up straight.

It is a collection of books that records a great deal of ancient culture, technology and history. It is said to contain a great deal of content, more than 20,000 volumes and more than 300 million words.

Unfortunately, during the Anglo-French invasion of Beijing in 1860 and the Eight-Nation Alliance invasion in 1900, the city was brutally destroyed by the invaders, and the remaining structures were looted abroad or abandoned by the people.

Even if it survives to the present day, only 810 volumes will remain, most of which are still in bookshelves or warehouses in countries such as Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

If that box full of Yongle Encyclopedia entries is genuine, then this authentication is sufficient.

Fang Wen strode over.

Looking into the box.

There were stacks of thread-bound ancient books inside.

"Are they all from the Yongle Encyclopedia?"

“Yes,” Emil replied.

Fang Wen looked at George Morand and René Gruyère: "You two, give your opinions."

Two experts, wearing gloves, took out the ancient scroll and carefully examined it.

After a while, René Gru replied, "There are a total of one hundred and thirty volumes, stamped with the seals of the Qing Hanlin Academy and the Grand Secretariat. They should be copies from the Jiajing period, but we cannot be sure."

Fang Wen was a little disappointed, as he remembered that the more than 800 volumes in the future were also Jiajing editions.

The original Yongle edition was kept as a single original copy in the royal palace and was not copied. It is said that it was almost burned down when the palace caught fire during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, so the Jiajing Emperor ordered a copy to be made.

Although it is a copy from the Jiajing era, it is still a unique copy in the world.

He nodded, signaling to the two experts to conduct an assessment.

After discussing in hushed tones, the two said, “There are 12 scrolls of Dunhuang silk paintings. Although they are damaged, they are precious artifacts from the Tang Dynasty. Each scroll is of great academic value. There are also 130 volumes of Yongle Encyclopedia fragments. They are suspected to be copies from the Qing Dynasty Hanlin Academy. The total estimated value is at least 8 ounces of gold.”

This valuation is very high, based on the academic value assessment of the two experts, and Fang Wen also agrees with it.

Emil nodded slightly. "My condition is that my family's collection, along with six members of my family, be safely delivered to Geneva, Switzerland."

This condition is a bit high; it requires a special trip to his home.

As Fang Wen looked at the silk paintings and ancient books in the wooden box, his heart couldn't help but flutter slightly. The Dunhuang artifacts and the Yongle Encyclopedia were both treasures of Chinese civilization and national treasures that had to be recovered.

He then replied, “Mr. Emil, rest assured, I recognize the value of these artifacts. I will prioritize flights for your family and collection to ensure everything goes smoothly. Your charter flight fee will be reduced by the estimated value of the 8 ounces of gold, and you will only need to pay the full amount for the shipping.”

Emil looked delighted, not expecting to be the first to reach an agreement.

He immediately signed a charter agreement with Fang Wen, which was then notarized by the bishop and a notary office.

Subsequently, other families also negotiated with Fang Wen and signed other notarized agreements.

The appraisal event continued until dusk, when the sky outside the window had completely darkened, and all the necessary agreements had been signed and notarized.

Looking at the list of collections in the register, Fang Wen roughly estimated in his mind: Qianlong jade thumb ring, Lang Shining painting, gilded elephant of peace, fragments of Dunhuang silk painting, fragments of the Yongle Encyclopedia, gilded Guanyin statue... a total of more than thirty genuine items, all of which were Chinese treasures looted by foreigners in the past. This trip to Paris was a pleasant surprise.

He announced loudly, his voice cutting through the whispers in the hall, "The appraisal is now concluded, and all collections and shipping requests have been registered. Now, I announce the specific arrangements: Tonight at 10 PM, 1 AM, and 3 AM, there will be flights departing from here, prioritizing the transport of accompanying personnel and valuable small items; cargo flights will begin tomorrow, also scheduled at 10 PM, 1 AM, and 3 AM. For safety reasons, I hope everyone will keep their itineraries confidential to avoid any unnecessary trouble."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, and said in a serious tone, "Those boarding tonight, please start preparing now. Each person's luggage must not exceed the weight limit; any excess will not be allowed on board. Passengers with long-distance journeys are not allowed to leave the group without permission during their trip; otherwise, they will bear the consequences themselves."

Everyone nodded, their faces showing relief, and quickly turned to instruct their attendants to make preparations. (End of Chapter)