"This is just a way to attract customers." Some people know this very well: "For folk opera troupes like them, although they make more money by singing for wealthy families, their reputation is getting smaller and smaller. In the end,
How different can the singing performances of the famous troupes be? How many of those uncles can hear this difference? It still depends on the reputation of the troupe! So these troupes have to sing for the common people in order to be famous."
"What's more, this team is from Fengyang. Although there are many people in Fengyang in the capital, they are from out of town, so they need to be more down-to-earth."
"Zhang Yuan, I hear you are very familiar with the opera troupe. Do you like to listen to operas on weekdays?" Yunxi said with a smile.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I like to listen to plays, and I listen to them when I have time. My family can't afford to hire a troupe, so I look for theaters everywhere. Fortunately, I get a lot of salary as a bodyguard for Your Majesty, and Your Majesty also rewards you from time to time, so it's still enough." This name is
Zhang Yuan's bodyguard said.
"Is this play so good?" Yunxi wondered. Although he occasionally listened to the play, it was mainly to hear about the script compiled by the Cultural Propaganda Department. In fact, he didn't like it very much. He might as well play test with his wife and concubines occasionally, or dress up.
It’s fun for children. People who have watched modern entertainment may be less likely to like opera, not to mention that opera in this era is still relatively primitive.
"Your Majesty, things like this vary from person to person, just like tofu noodle. Some people like to eat salty food, and some people like to eat sweet food. There is no right or wrong. I just like this one." Zhang Yuan could only say this.
Yunxi realized that what he had just said was quite disrespectful to a theater fan, but Zhang Yuan did not dare to offend him, so he laughed and said: "It's true, it's just a different preference. It sounds good to theater fans, but I don't like to listen to the theater."
It's not nice to hear people like that. Feng Xishan didn't even point out the location of the theater to Zhang Yuan and asked him to go and listen to it after he got off duty. If he can be invited by a distinguished family in the capital to sing at his home, he must be a good singer."
Feng Xishan hurriedly pointed to the place and said with some excitement: "Old Zhang, I didn't know that you also like to listen to operas. We will come here to listen together after getting off duty. I listened to the opera that this group just sang twice.
Duan thinks he’s never heard of it, it’s probably a newly rehearsed play.”
"You are also a theater fan. It just so happens that we are ready to come together. What's the new play that's being rehearsed?"
"It seems to be related to the anti-Yuan Dynasty. Such dramas have been popping up in endlessly in recent years. Let's hear if he has any new tricks."
After listening to Feng Xishan's words, Zhang Yuangang was about to agree, but then Yunxi suddenly asked: "The opera troupe just sang a play related to the anti-Yuan Dynasty?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." The two of them were slightly surprised when they suddenly heard the emperor speak. They were stunned for a moment and then hurriedly said: "It is an unprecedented play about Emperor Taizu's revolt." At this point, the two of them said a little.
Some people understand: "The emperor is probably interested in folk anti-Yuan operas." In the past three years, the Cultural Propaganda Department has been writing various opera storybooks about the Yuan Dynasty destroying the Jin Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, resisting the Yuan Dynasty, and smearing monotheistic religions.
Everyone knows that there are everything from good books to shoddy ones that will never be sung by a group again after being sung once.
Yunxi raised his head and looked at the sky, feeling that it was still early, so he said to Feng Xishan: "Take me to see this opera."
All the guards immediately glanced at Song Qingshu with their peripheral vision. Song Qingshu himself also subconsciously glanced at others with his peripheral vision, but he immediately realized: he is now the leader of the guards.
He had to think about it himself. After thinking about it, Song Qingshu felt that the emperor had decided to go to the theater to listen to a play. He also thought that it would be safe to rent a room upstairs in a place like the theater. Moreover, even if he wanted to stop it, he would probably stop it.
That didn't work, so he ordered seven or eight guards to follow Yunxi closely, while a few others stayed far away.
After a while, I arrived at the entrance of the theater. When the gatekeeper saw so many people coming, all dressed in fine leather clothes, he did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly bowed and saluted: "I have seen a few officials."
"No need." Song Qingshu said, "Is there still a compartment upstairs?"
"Yes, yes." The doorman said repeatedly, and immediately stepped aside, opened the door and said: "Please invite some officials to come upstairs." He also called to the waiter: "Come quickly and greet the guests."
The waiter hurried over to serve them. Song Qingshu said again: "Take us brothers to the cubicle quickly. Our legs are sore after walking for so long, so we should take a rest."
The waiter agreed and then said: "I wonder if the officials want the partition in the middle or the partitions on both sides?" This kind of theater is a courtyard, with a stage on one side and two or three-story buildings on the other three sides.
It is a cubicle where rich people watch a play; the courtyard is where middle-class families sit and watch a play, or people with no money stand to watch a play.
"Of course we want the middle compartment, why are you asking?" Song Qingshu said this and suddenly realized: "The price is different, right? How much does the middle compartment cost?"
"A room worth thirty guan. The one on the side is a room worth 20 guan or 15 guan." said the waiter.
"Are you still worried that we can't afford the thirty dollars? Take us there quickly!" Song Qingshu scolded.
The waiter then took them to the middle compartment and served them a pot of hot tea, a stack of fruits, and a stack of peanuts. He also asked them if they needed anything else. Song Qingshu waved his hand and he left.
After sitting down, Yunxi asked Zhang Yuan in a low voice: "Is it so expensive to watch a play in this theater?"
"Sir, this is the most prosperous street in the capital. Naturally, everything is expensive. If it is a theater on the street in the north or south of the city, the private rooms above will cost about ten to twenty guan." Zhang Yuan explained.
"That's not cheap either." Yunxi said.
Although Song Qingshu promised very boldly just now, thirty guan is actually a lot. It is roughly equivalent to the monthly salary of a sixth-rank official in the Ming Dynasty after Yunxi's improvement. It is higher than the monthly salary of a seventh-rank magistrate, and more than the monthly salary of a family of five in the countryside.
The family's expenses for a year. Song Qingshu is currently at the fifth level. If he is asked to spend thirty thousand dollars, even if it is his favorite thing, he will have to think twice; Zhang Yuan is now at the sixth level. Unless he is accompanying guests, he will never
Don't come to the upper compartment.
So Zhang Yuan immediately answered: "It's really not cheap. I never dare to go to the stalls when I come to the theater to listen to plays. When I have money, I can find a seat downstairs for two hundred coins per person. If I don't have money, I can find a seat downstairs.
, I just stood and listened to the opera, and there was someone with ten or twenty cents who was almost there."
"Is it so cheap to stand and listen to a play?"
"Yes, sir. In order to attract customers and gain popularity, theater operators make it very cheap to stand and listen to the opera. Some even charge one or two cents to let people come and listen."
"This is very good." Yunxi praised. Nowadays, in major cities across the country, operas in various dialects are mostly based on the Yuan Dynasty to destroy the Jin and Song Dynasties, resist the Yuan Dynasty, and smear the monotheistic religion compiled by the Propaganda Department. There are also many opera troupes singing it. The theater is like this
It's good for him to attract customers.
Yunxi wanted to ask again, but suddenly a martial arts show came on the stage. Zhang Yuan couldn't help but look towards the stage. Seeing this, Yunxi stopped asking and turned his head to watch the show.
But the more he watched, the more familiar he felt. As soon as the performance was over and the actors went down to change their costumes and rest, he called the waiter over and asked, "Do you have a copy of this play in your hand?"
"Yes." The waiter agreed, ran down quickly, and soon ran up again and handed Yunxi a thick opera book.
Yunxi opened it and took a rough look at it, and finally concluded: This is not "The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Sword"! It's just that the protagonist is not Zhang Wuji but the King of Qin, Zhu Xi, and he has no background in Mingjiao.
It turns out that this play is about after Zhu Yuanzhang unified the south of the Yangtze River, he launched the Northern Expedition to recover the provinces of Lu, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. He conferred the title of his second son, Zhu Ping, as King of Qin and guarded Xi'an. The sister of the famous Yuan general Wang Baobao wanted to help her brother regain the Central Plains, so she went deep into Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Shanxi.
In Gansu and other places, she pretended to be the daughter of a powerful Han to spy on intelligence. The King of Qin, Zhu Ping, was a good prince who cared about the people. He often visited private people in private to observe the people's sentiments, and that's when he met her. After learning his identity, she kidnapped him back to the Mongolian grassland.
But in the process, he secretly developed feelings, and finally betrayed Meng Yuan and joined the Ming Dynasty.
After reading this story, Yunxi couldn't help but glance at his bodyguard Zhang Wuji: "You can't marry Zhao Min in reality, and you can't marry Zhao Min in the story. And there are no three beauties like Zhou Zhiruo, Xiao Zhao, and Yin Li here."
Women serve as substitutes.'
Zhang Wuji was confused by this look. He was just listening to the play honestly. Well, he didn't listen to the play much. He just chatted quietly with the people next to him, but why did the emperor look at me like this?
And although it is impossible for Zhang Wuji to marry a Mongolian princess or the head of the Emei sect, the market is very good now. His parents have written letters saying that their fellow disciples are willing to marry their daughters to him, and the wealthy families under the Wudang Mountains are also very enthusiastic.
Yunxi read the book and put it on the table. Zhang Yuan was very fond of drama, so he picked up the book and started reading.
But before he had read half of it, he said to Yunxi in a panic: "Sir, this book is a bit disrespectful to His Royal Highness King Qin Han. Do you want them to change it?" Zhang Yuan himself liked such stories very much.
This troupe also sang well, but I was worried that Yunxi would not be satisfied, so I said this.
"That's unnecessary." Yunxi smiled and said, "It's not a bad thing for people to write such a book. It doesn't discredit King Qin Han, so there is no need to revise it."
