Finally, the group came to the Shadow Garden, which is located in the southwest corner of Yangzhou City, the North Lake of Lotus Pond, and Zhongchang Island on the east bank of the Erdao River. Because it is built among willow shadows, water shadows, and mountain shadows, the Ming Dynasty calligrapher and painter Dong Qichang

The title "Shadow Garden" was given to Zheng Yuanxun, hence the name.

Historically, this shadow garden with "willow shadows, water shadows, and mountain shadows, trance-like, poetic and picturesque." was destroyed by war in the late Ming Dynasty. In fact, this was also the final fate of Yangzhou gardens.

However, Zhu Guoqiang did not have time to sentimentalize all this. In fact, there was nothing to sentimental about, it was just a garden for the rich. In the film garden, the local officials and gentry of Yangzhou went to great lengths to welcome him.

After some thought. Under the introduction of Cao Yuan Yang Ren, they met with local officials and gentry one by one. When the sky gradually darkened, a group of people went to the painting boat by the Yingyuan River. Although it was the middle of winter, they were lighting charcoal.

There is a stove and a curtain to block the cold wind, but it is still as gentle as spring in the boat.

Big red candles of the same color were lit in the boat, and lanterns of various shapes were hung high on the bow and stern, including rabbit-shaped lanterns, fish-shaped lanterns, deer-shaped lanterns, turtle-shaped lanterns, etc. Not only were there hanging lanterns on the boat in the river, but also

Various colored lanterns are also hung beside the shadow garden, reflecting the Changyu Island stretching for two or three miles brightly. Not only that, even the gardens on both sides of the river are lit up with colorful lanterns.

Lanterns were originally an indispensable item for salt merchants to strive for wealth. Salt merchants would often light up all kinds of strange lanterns at the painting boats and gardens. Now as the owners of the film garden, the four brothers of the Zheng family naturally wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

The Zheng family's lanterns were all on display, and although the other families had not received the errand to entertain the prince, they were not to be outdone by lighting up their lanterns, hoping to show their faces in front of the prince.

In fact, now is never the time to appreciate lanterns. After all, the river is frozen, but even so, they still took great pains to decorate the Yangzhou Xiao Qinhuai lanterns, which shows their meticulous thinking.

Normally, they would not take Prince De into their eyes, but now the prince in front of them is related to their wealth and life! Naturally, they tried every possible means to please the prince.

For a time, the lanterns on both sides of the frozen river were far more colorful, diverse, brighter, and more unexpected than before.

The lights on the shore and the bright moon in the sky reflected each other, and the sound of strings came from various buildings. For a time, this poetic and charming moonlit night seemed to have the illusion of being in a peaceful and prosperous age.

.

"Oh, I originally thought that I would never see this scene again in my life. Before I left office, I was able to see the Yangzhou lights scene again in this midwinter. This is really a peaceful and happy world again!"

Jia Duonan, the salt patrol envoy, couldn't help but sigh.

The Salt Patrol Officer is appointed once a year. He took up this post for the second time in August last year. According to the rules, he will leave office in another month, so he has such a sigh.

The sigh fell into Zhu Guoqiang's ears, making him sneer in his heart, in the world of peace... It's a shame he could say it, these people!

Looking at the officials and gentry in the boat, what they see are the slaves who have invaded, the refugees and the bandits who are causing trouble. In their eyes, I am afraid they only have white money...

"This is all the blessing of the Crown Prince! If the Crown Prince had gone south and defeated the slaves in succession, how would we have enjoyed this peaceful world?"

As the eldest son of Zheng, Zheng Yuansi looked at the prince and said flatteringly, and stood up to pour wine into the prince's cup.

"You're welcome, Changji!"

Zhu Guoqiang, who was sitting in the first seat, although he was quite dissatisfied with his words, he still looked around quietly and said with infinite intoxication.

"The lights in Yangzhou at night are really wonderful, and the beauty of Yangzhou's gardens is really breathtaking."

"Yes, what the prince said is true. The Four Gardens of the Zheng Family can be regarded as the most beautiful scenery in Yangzhou!"

Yang Ren, the imperial emissary on the side, immediately affirmed and pointed to the lights on the shore.

"Your Majesty, you see, this is Chaozong's (Zheng Yuanxun) Shadow Garden, Zanke's (Zheng Xiaru) Xiuyuan, Changji's (Zheng Yuansi) Jiashu Garden, and behind it is the Five-acre Garden, a famous garden in the south of the Yangtze River, Zheng

The family owns four of them!"

The Four Gardens of the Zheng Family were quite famous in Yangzhou in the late Ming Dynasty, but later on, only the Xiu Garden of Zheng Xiuru was the most famous among the gardens of the Zheng brothers. In fact, that was because by the early Qing Dynasty, only the Xiu Garden remained. In the late Ming Dynasty,

The most famous one is Yingyuan. In the early years of Chongzhen, after the political and literary group Fushe was established with Jiangnan scholar-bureaucrats as the core, the owner of Yingyuan, Zheng Yuanxun, was the leader of Fushe Jiangbei, and Yingyuan naturally became the leader of Fushe.

Jiangbei activity base, where he presided over the cultural affairs of the southeast, and he had frequent contacts with a number of literary celebrities in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, such as Qian Qianyi and Mao Xiang. Elegance gatherings were popular in Yangzhou in the late Ming Dynasty. Zheng Yuanxun and his fourth brother Zheng Xiaru once had extensive friendships.

He was a bachelor of letters and formed a society to recite poems. He sponsored and presided over the banquets and poems composed by famous Confucian scholars from all over the world in their gardens.

Such a reputation of "Shadow Garden" naturally spread to all over the world. This garden has received many talented people, and of course many beauties. However, after Zheng Yuanxun's death in the late Ming Dynasty, and the "Shadow Garden" was destroyed by war, naturally

And it disappeared into history.

When the wine was full, someone suddenly said over there.

"Look, what is that?"

Someone stood up, pointed to the side and shouted in surprise.

Following his gesture, I saw that the lights of another painted boat next to it were turned on at some point, and soft sounds of silk and bamboo were heard. A woman could be vaguely seen dancing on the boat. Suddenly, everyone's eyes were on it.

I was attracted by this painting boat.

As soon as he saw the outfit on the boat, Zhu Guoqiang knew it was a "big song"!

The so-called "big singing" is relative to "small singing". Big singing requires not only silk and bamboo accompaniment, but also outfits and background props. According to the book, it is called "drama", but it is different from later generations of Peking Opera, Yue Opera, Huangmei Opera, etc.

Drama is different in that it does not have character masks, the costumes of the actors are more everyday, there are dialogues, lyrics, performances, and of course dances. The overall performance style is more like a Western opera.

In fact, it should be said that Western opera is more like big singing. After all, "big singing" has been popular as early as the Hongwu period. At that time, it was mainly performed by official prostitutes. They could not sing and were not qualified to be called famous prostitutes. Later, the imperial court banned official prostitutes

Unemployed official prostitutes turned into private prostitutes, and folk brothels began to rise. Due to manpower, stage and other reasons, famous prostitutes switched to small singing. Small singing does not require dancing or props to dress up, it is basically just singing excerpts.

However, for vassal kings, officials, and wealthy people, it is normal for them to have more than a hundred performers at home to set up a "family class."

, I would be embarrassed to say hello if I didn’t come to an opera performance. And Yangzhou salt merchants are the leader among them, and the "Salt Industry Family" is even famous throughout the country.

It should be said that it is a "big singing". After all, opera has just appeared a few decades ago. Maybe the Europeans were influenced by the "big singing" of the Ming Dynasty and came up with the so-called opera. In fact, later generations only saw the Ming Dynasty.

The late "Western learning spread to the East", but the "Eastern learning to the West" with a more profound impact has been selectively ignored by many people.

This kind of "spreading learning from the East to the West" is not limited to philosophy, but also exists in science, art and other aspects. For example, Ming Dynasty scientific books such as "Tiangong Kaiwu" are in libraries in many European countries.

It has been discovered that the rise of modern science in the West did not draw lessons from Chinese civilization, and the same must be true in art.

Why did opera appear in Florence, Italy, around 1600?

What originated the theater music of ancient Greek drama?

Why didn't it originate in the previous hundreds of years? It happened that opera appeared after many missionaries entered the Ming Dynasty and returned to Italy?

To put it bluntly, it was not because the missionaries entered the homes of the gentry and dignitaries and watched the Ming Dynasty's "big singing" all day long, and they still remembered it vividly. After returning to Italy, they kept telling people about the Ming Dynasty's "big singing".

Then there were Italian actors who absorbed the "big singing" performance form based on theater music and then "invented" opera.

It seems that "big singing" must be the ancestor of opera!

When Zhu Guoqiang lamented about the tricks of fate, the protagonist appeared!

Even though they were two feet apart and the lights on the boat were dim, when the protagonist first appeared, Zhu Guoqiang finally understood the saying that there would be "alluring color".

“It’s really bright and outstanding!”

Staring at the woman on the boat, Zhu Guoqiang clapped his hands and praised her, feeling his heart flutter in an instant. As a straight man, the most intuitive expression is to look at the face, and then the figure. Moreover, this woman's figure is indeed graceful and graceful.

Zhu Guoqiang, who was slightly drunk and half-eyed, was intoxicated with the gentle music and dance on the painting boat along with everyone else amid the soft sound of silk and bamboo.

The shadows of mountains, lights, and beauties reflected on the ice, reflecting the stars and moon, were even charming. Even though he was used to seeing people's light shows from another world and had seen too many big scenes, Zhu Guoqiang still couldn't help but marvel in his heart.

People in this era will indeed enjoy it. It is no wonder that even a hundred years later, the literati and poets under the Qing Dynasty are still fascinated by the lanterns and paintings of Qin and Qinhuai. This is why they have become famous as the "Eight Beauties of Qinhuai". It is no wonder that only the remaining

Under the influence of textual criticism, China has long become a cultural desert. Under the confinement of the "literary prison", the freedom and ease of the Ming Dynasty have naturally disappeared. As for women, how can women with bound feet be like a dream?

Dance like a fairy on the boat.

Yes!

This may be the last swan song! In the end, the dance music of the Han family disappeared from this land together with the singing. It was not until a few centuries later that when it came back to this land in a different form, it became Gao Da Shang.

It is a "foreign thing", but it seems that "big singing" itself is also an entertainment for a small number of wealthy people.
Chapter completed!