"Yesterday, the barracks sent out two horses. Two of the five horses were no longer suitable for riding. Is it because the horses are fast that only five horses can be produced?"
Pang Yu squinted and leaned on the back of the chair, listening to He Xianya's words across from him.
"Mr. Yang also said that there are too many horses in the yamen, the delivery to Anqing is intermittent, and the transmission of news is slow, so he also asked each office to think of something.
There were originally 130 horses in the yamen. During the civil turmoil, all the good horses were lost. Most of the 50-odd horses left were unusable. The most that could be ridden were 20. The others could pull carts, but they were very slow and might not be able to use them.
I can keep up with the speed of others, but I am afraid of falling behind and missing the official pick-up.
Therefore, in the past few days, although each house has been busy preparing for the handover, I have also borrowed horses from merchants in the city. I thought that when I took over the official, I would have to walk to the county boundary south of Liantan, which would be quite hard without a horse."
"Our horses are not allowed to be borrowed privately."
Pang Yu said while resting his mind, "The gentry in the county also want to go to the reception pavilion. How can there be so many horses to lend out."
"Master Zhang of the torture chamber has already spoken to you, and the clerk of the cabinet library has also come to borrow it. My subordinate said that he will wait for the squad leader to come back to make a decision."
"You have to borrow the torture chamber, and we have to be polite."
Pang Yu opened his eyes, "Zhang Changyu made some money from this interrogation, and is waiting hard for the new magistrate to come. The same is true for the Chengfa Fang. In general, those who have lost power in the past few days are looking forward to the new official taking office.
No one of us can be offended."
"Then there are two horses here. Mr. Yu's place has been agreed on three horses early in the morning. Second brother, you can ride one yourself, and at least one will be left for Tang Si Li. Guess how long it will take for him to
Maybe we can catch up, but if we come back without horses, it will be difficult for Tang officials."
Pang Yu looked up at the roof and said, "You have thought carefully. Why don't you agree to build a cabinet first? Just say that we don't have enough."
"I understand, if second brother wants to arrange for a few more people to go to Anqing Mansion, the others will have to walk."
He Xianya whispered, "Chao Chaofeng is leaving for Anqing soon."
"Is that thing ready?"
"It's ready. Wang Chaofeng borrowed the carriage from the Liubaizhang Inspection Department. I bribed the horseman. As soon as they arrive at Anqing Mansion, we will know where Chaofeng lives."
Pang Yu stood up and turned his head to look at the opposite side from the door. Several people from the soap class were squatting boredly under the dripping eaves. Recently, the soap class was squeezed by Pang Yu. Not only did he take away four units, he also took Dongshi and Dongshi.
The jurisdiction of Xiangyangmen was lost, and Wang Dazhuang felt a little disgraced.
Pang Yu looked back and asked, "Is Wang Dazhuang collecting money from everywhere?"
"It is indeed true. I heard that even Yuan Cangzi went there. Do you want me to go and warn Yuan Cangzi?"
After thinking about it, Pang Yu shook his head and said, "Let him borrow it. We are closely following the affairs of Xinzhi County. In the past two days, we will report some thefts to Chengfa House in the direction of Liantan and trailer river. Chengfa House will report it to Yang
Fangxiao, the ground is not peaceful, then we can use this name to go to Anqing to pick up the official."
"Understood, if the imperial court goes to Anqing, will my subordinates also..." "If he goes, you will go too, and get that thing done.
We can't compare with Liufang, the first thing we fight now is Zaoban, don't be careless."
He Xianya nodded repeatedly.
Pang Yu picked up an invitation on the table and said with a smile, "I still have to go to Ruan Dacheng's place, but he changed the place again. Originally he said he was going to Zhongjiang Society, but now he is going to his villa. Does he think I am not qualified?
Let’s go to the literary club, third brother, do you want me to go?”
He Xianya frowned and thought about it and said, "Ruan Dacheng is keen on official career and has a bad reputation among the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, but the Tongcheng gentry still have many friendships with him.
He changed the place not necessarily because he disliked his second brother. I heard that Fang Shengyu, Pan Yinglou, Wu Daoning and others from Zhongjiang Society will all move to Nanjing, and Zhongjiang Society will probably not open again."
"So many people are leaving?"
Pang Yu asked in surprise, "As far as you know, who else is leaving?"
"He Ru Chong, Wu Yingqi, Ye Can and other well-known people all want to leave, and Fang Kongzheng has also announced that he wants to leave. I heard that the Fang family is already packing. Once these few people leave, most of the others will go with them.
They were somewhat related, so many of them followed them. There were a lot of yard properties in the city's Yahang area, and they were all for sale.
Tongcheng’s scholarly community has declined, and Zeshe, Yunlong, and Zhongjiangshes can no longer be opened.”
"The gentry are all sad. Well, if every family is selling their land and houses... ask Liu Ruogu to sell the land and house deeds as well, so that there will be more backlog in the market, and continue to suppress the prices of those gentry, even harder, and wait until
When the time comes, let’s go buy the dip.”
Pang Yu picked up the invitation and said with a smile, "It sounds like Ruan Dacheng is probably going to leave too. He is a family friend of the Fang family, and he and Qian Bingji are cousins. With those people gone, he will be left alone."
He Xianya shook his head and said, "My subordinates have made inquiries in the past few days. According to the servants of each family, Qian Bingti and Ruan Dacheng have fallen out. The year before last, Fang Yizhi came back from his study tour in the south of the Yangtze River and said he wanted to argue with each other, so he gave Qian Bingti,
Fang Wen and others were all taken away from Zhongjiang Society, and then Ze Society and Yunlong Society were established. Ruan Dacheng and Fang Yizhi also had some distance from then on, but Ruan Dacheng and Fang Kongzhen kept in contact as usual."
Pang Yu pondered for a moment and remembered what Fang Yizhi said about his study trip to the south of the Yangtze River. "Did Fang Yizhi want to alienate Ruan Dacheng when he came back because he heard some remarks at Fushe?"
"It is said that he met Wei Dazhong's heir in Fushe. The Wei family has always said that Wei Dazhong's death was caused by Ruan Dacheng's frame-up.
Here in Tongcheng, whether it is scholars or ordinary people's homes, some people say that Zuo Guangdou was also killed by Ruan Dacheng.
We are all like-minded in the capital."
"I see."
Pang Yu sighed and remembered what Fang Yizhi said privately yesterday that Fang Wen's wife was Zuo Guangdou's daughter. No wonder Fang Wen also wanted to withdraw from Zhongjiang Society.
In recent days, we can see that the intermarriage among scholars in Tongcheng is also very complicated. Fang Yizhi’s wife is Pan Yinglou’s daughter, Sun Lin’s wife is Fang Yizhi’s sister, Sun Lin’s brother Sun Jin is the censor, and his wife is
Zuo Guangdou's niece and daughter married Fang Yizhi's cousin Fang Wen. Fang Yizhi's younger brother Fang Qiyi was engaged to Zhang Bingwen's daughter. Zhang Bingwen's wife was Fang Kongzhen's sister.
Although the lines look complicated, one thing is clear, that is, they must be matched, especially when it comes to marriage and vacation, they must be on the same level.
It is extremely difficult for ordinary people to break into this circle. Fortunately, Pang Yu successfully established a relationship with Shilin by virtue of the dramatic effect of calming the chaos. Although it was a very superficial relationship, it was considered the most difficult step.
"Then I'll go to Ruan Mansion to see if Ruan Dacheng can leave."
He Xianya licked his lips, "I don't want Ruan Dacheng to leave."
"Why?"
"His family has a theater troupe. Every time he comes to live in Tongcheng from Huaining, he brings the theater troupe over. Many people are waiting outside the wall of his house to listen."
..."The blue moonlight fell in the cold night sky, and the sound of flowers fell leisurely in the Dongting wind.
The clouds are blooming, the stars and the moon are rising in the floating mountain palace, and the Queen Mother has come to look for the five-color dragon."
In the front garden of the Ruan Family Villa in the south of the city, a woman stood on the stage and had just finished singing a southern song, and the lingering sound was still echoing in the courtyard.
"Okay! The seventh chapter ends with Tang Dynasty. Remember here, the Yiyang accent should sound good. If I haven't explained anything, I will use the Yiyang accent."
Ruan Dacheng stood up and said to the other people in the troupe, "Today's seventh performance is better than usual, but it's a pity that Shengjiao is not here. When I left, I told you clearly that you can go home as soon as the chaos is over. That dog is
I don’t know where I’ve gone. Let’s take a break and let’s continue rehearsing the eighth act. The eighth act is Tobacco. This one is the longest, so I cheered up.”
After he finished speaking, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to Pang Yu, who was standing behind him, and said, "I've kept Pang Xiaoyou here for a long time. I originally wanted to invite Pang Xiaoyou to participate in the cultural gathering, but today all the community members have no time to spare, so I invited Pang Xiaoyou to come and appreciate the show. I hope you can
Pang Xiaoyou doesn’t mind.”
Pang Yu quickly bowed and said, "I didn't wait in vain. I just opened my eyes and realized that Mr. Ruan is not only eager for public justice, but also literary and elegant. He even choreographs his plays so wonderfully."
Ruan Dacheng stroked his beard with a hint of contentment, "It's just a small skill, but I'm not afraid of showing my embarrassment in front of others. I still have some like-minded friends for many years. I don't know if Little Friend Pang has understood it just now?"
Pang Yu hesitated and said, "I only heard half of it just now. It seems that a maid named Chunying was taking her lady ashore from the big ship on the night of the Lantern Festival, but she didn't know what happened."
Ruan Dacheng raised his eyebrows, held Pang Yu's sleeves affectionately, and led him forward to the study. As he walked, he said, "This is originally called Spring Lantern Riddle, and it was my new work last year.
It tells the story of Yu Wenyan, a scholar in the Tang Dynasty. On his way to his post with his father, he took a boat and docked at Huangling Station. It happened to be the Lantern Festival Lantern Festival. When he went ashore for a tour, he met Wei Yingniang, the daughter of the Jiedushi of Xichuan, who was accompanied by her maid.
In Spring Cherry Blossom, the two women disguised themselves as men and guessed the lantern riddles together with Yu Wenyan. The temple asked them to have a drink together and leave a note to commemorate it. Unexpectedly, when they boarded the boat, the wind caused the boat to move and they boarded the wrong boat. Yu Wenyan
He was mistaken for a thief and thrown into prison. Yuwen's family thought he was dead, and finally left sadly, but they recognized Wei Yingniang, who had boarded the wrong ship, as their adopted daughter."
Pang Yu said in surprise, "Brother Ruan's plot design is quite clever, especially the use of lantern riddles as a matchmaker, which is the most fascinating.
I wonder what happened to Yu Wenyan in the end?"
The two of them had already reached the door of the study room. Ruan Dacheng shook his head mysteriously and said, "Then Xiaoyou Pang will have to watch it slowly for a while to understand what it feels like."
Pang Yu said in surprise, "Can it be completed today?"
"That won't work."
Ruan Dacheng sighed, "They are all members of our own troupe. They were already well-formed. Who would have thought that when the civil war came, Dan once ran away for a lifetime. Now that Dan has come back, she has never been seen. Pang Xiaoyou is going to watch it today.
So I can only read my script."
Pang Yu suddenly realized that he was quite frightened when he came to Ruan's house. However, Ruan Dacheng lived in Huaining a lot of time. Although he spent a lot of time in Tongcheng, he didn't interact much with the people, so he didn't attract the attention of the mob.
The study room is similar to that of the Fang family. It is simpler than Fang Yizhi's study room, probably because this is just a separate business and not the place where Ruan Dacheng lives permanently.
Pang Yu raised his eyes and looked around. The walls were covered with paintings and calligraphy. The one that best suited his aesthetics was a landscape painting on the left wall. The lines of the scroll were simple and freehand and ethereal. There was also a poem inscribed on the painting, "Qiu Shan Zhong Fan Ding, Zhu Fan Ding"
Not much emotion.
The cube of grade medicine is quiet, and the hum of grass and insects is also faint.
I can hear the sound of dew in the forest sky, and I can see the stars flying in the pond.
At this time, there is no need to distinguish between right and wrong."
The poems and paintings complemented each other, and there was a hint of Zen in the ethereal elegance. Pang Yu saw that the inscription was Baizishan Woodcutter, and couldn't help but look at Ruan Dacheng.
Ruan Dacheng narrowed his eyes and smiled and said, "The Baizishan woodcutter is me, because he lives at the foot of Baizishan. The poems are written by me, but the paintings are other people's. Ruan does not have such writing power, and he has never pretended to be a master of both poetry and painting."
.
Unlike some scholars who have no poetry in mind and no books in poetry, and only have the ability to ask for help, they form gangs to show off to each other.
I was a Jinshi in the Wanli year, but the scholars back then were not like this. In the past twenty years, the world has deteriorated to this point, which is ridiculous."
Pang Yu didn't expect that he would make such a statement, which sounded like he was scolding Zeshe, but according to his last contact, the scholars in Zeshe were all talented, and although they were not close to Ruan Dacheng, they were not close to him.
As for the betrayal, it must not be Zeshe, but I don’t know who Ruan Dacheng is scolding.
In Pang Yu's opinion, the landscape poems on the wall are already of a very high artistic level. If you only look at the poems, you will definitely feel that the poet is transcendent and lofty. But if you lower your head for a moment, you will see Ruan frowning and cursing under the scroll.
With his big beard, the ethereal artistic conception suddenly disappeared.
There were many thread-bound poetry manuscripts on the table. Pang Yu didn't know how to cooperate with Ruan Dacheng's curse, so he had to take a poetry manuscript and look through it at will.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I opened it, I saw a limerick, "When the barley is ripe in Shatin, people in Shatin cry."
Yesterday, the government official came on a big boat and scared me to death with documents in his hand..." Ruan Dacheng glanced at this page and suddenly looked a little embarrassed.
He was a man of poetry and writing, and his associates were all scholars and gentry. In their eyes, government officials and officials were all shameless characters. It was normal for him to scold the government officials in his poems, which showed that he paid attention to the suffering of the people and occupied the moral high ground. He never
I thought it would be inconvenient for others to see it, but I didn't know that a leader of Zaoli would come and sit in the study today.
I just happened to read this limerick and thought Ruan Dacheng was pointing at the monk and scolding the bald man.
Pang Yu was not embarrassed at all, but this poem was too far removed from the one on the wall. He never expected it to be written by one person. He smiled at Ruan Dacheng and said, "Mr. Ruan cares about the people, which makes me even more impressed."
.”
"I'm just writing a pen and ink. Pang Xiaoyou is really caring about the people by risking his own life and causing chaos for the people."
Ruan Dacheng quickly made a perfunctory remark, handed over another one and said, "This is a playbook of Spring Lantern Riddles. I heard that Pang Xiaoyou can read and hyphenate, so reading the playbook is no problem."
Pang Yu took advantage of the situation and changed a playbook. He flipped through the playbook quickly. There were many poems in it. There were "Collections of Tang Dynasties" before and after each play. They were all in the format of Tang poetry. In Pang Yu's opinion, they were all very literary.
, what each other character says, what actions he does, and what expression he uses are all marked.
Moreover, the plot of "Spring Lantern Riddles" is indeed designed with clever twists and turns. After reading it, Pang Yu couldn't help but admire Ruan Dacheng with admiration. This man started from scratch and played various roles such as poet, screenwriter, director, producer, and stage manager.
He also paid for the support of the opera troupe, and sometimes he would go on stage to act as a supporting actor. Sometimes he sang the Tang Dynasty in the opening scene. His Haiyan and Yiyang accents were both accurate and smooth. He was truly the leading talent in the entertainment industry in the late Ming Dynasty.
Pang Yu touched his nose and felt that Ruan Dacheng was born in the wrong era. If he could have been born in Pang Yu's era, with Ruan Dacheng's talent, it would be easy to win the best screenwriter and best director.
At this time, a person came in at the door. Ruan Dacheng stood up and introduced to Pang Yu, "This is my good friend Pan Cilu, who is also Mi Zhi's father-in-law. He is here today to help me rehearse the show."
Pang Yu hurriedly greeted him. The man looked young and very capable. It was hard to tell that he was Fang Yizhi's father-in-law.
Although Pang Yu had never met Pan Cilu, he had heard his name several times, because Pan Cilu's real name was Pan Yinglou, and his family's house was burned down by Wang Guohua during the civil unrest.
Pan Yinglou's mood seemed not to be affected by the civil unrest. He said a few polite words to Pang Yu and urged Ruan Dacheng to continue rehearsing.
Ruan Dacheng said to Pan Cilu, "In the eighth episode, you first act as the deputy."
"The deputy director will be the deputy director, or else I'll play the raw character as well."
"How can we old people act in a raw role? It won't make people laugh."
Pan Cilu was dissatisfied and said, "The raw horn is not coming. Every time we encounter the lyrics of the raw horn, we just miss it. What kind of drama is there?"
Ruan Dacheng sighed helplessly, and suddenly heard Pang Yu say next to him, "Then come down and help play the raw role."
..."The male lead sings the last verse of the seventh verse first, so that the next part can be taken over!"
Ruan Dacheng held a playbook and directed from the audience.
At first, the woman took two steps slowly on the stage and chanted, "Chun Ying, the scenery on the shore is really beautiful, look at it."
Ruan Dacheng then read the epilogue and Ji Tang from the end of the seventh play, and then moved on to the eighth play.
"The eighth spring lantern riddle comes out, and the deputy temple congratulates it."
Pan Yinglou acted as the second-in-command. He took a step forward and sang, "The moonlight of the Lantern Festival is as bright as frost, and the incense is brilliant."
The sound of thunder echoes on the spring river, people in the village make wishes, flags and bells are hung, and paper money is fragrant."
Wei Yingniang's words continued here, and the audience seemed to follow Wei Yingniang and look at the scenery on the shore.
Ruan Dacheng came out again and read a collection of Tang poems, "The spring is embroidered on the firewood smoke clothes, and the small seal script is written in Qingyin Mountain."
The bright moon comes and goes, I don’t know where to pay homage to Mr. Xiang.”
He recited it very seriously, and immediately waved his hand, and a group of extras came onto the stage, pretending to be walking around. Because there were many people, many of them were not from the theater troupe, but were slaves of the Ruan family.
When the extras came on stage, Ruan Dacheng turned to Pang Yu and raised his hand, "On the raw corner, Pang Xiaoyou!"
Pang Yu plays the male pig-foot Yu Wenyan. He has joined a drama club in college before, but this is his first time playing a male lead. The role is so important, so naturally he feels a little excited.
He took the playbook and went on stage and read loudly, "It's so crowded that it's inevitable to stand in a sparsely populated area in the corridor. It's better to do so."
Then he stepped on the stool and pretended to be standing under the corridor.
The extras shouted together, "Look, the dancer is coming."
Another group of people came on stage, dressed as dragon lanterns, little ghosts, Zhang Sheng, Fa Cong, matchmaker, and as usual, the Ruan family's servants, maids, women, and other extras.
Pang Yu saw Ruan Dacheng gesturing again, and quickly found his own words and said loudly, "Look, another group of people watching the lanterns are here."
The woman in the male role played the heroine Wei Yingniang, dressed in men's clothing, and came on stage with her maid. This woman didn't look much, but her accent was good.
The extras just now took lanterns and came to the center of the stage from the right.
One of them shouted loudly, "We are playing lantern riddles. These lantern riddles are listening, my lantern riddles are different from usual ones. They are a few common sayings, playing the names of people from ancient and modern times. Those who can play them, take them."
This bunch of money goes to the lottery.
Those who can't hit it will lose to us according to the number of my bunch of money.
Please give me a dozen."
While they were talking, Pang Yu had already read the script. As soon as the man finished speaking, he stepped forward to the lantern and pretended to read the lantern riddles carefully.
Ruan Dacheng's eyebrows were dancing with joy, and Pang Yu joined in the rehearsal, making the spring lantern riddles proceed smoothly.
Not only did Pang Yu grasp the rhythm appropriately, but his expressions and movements were also very consistent, and Pang Yu's image was also quite consistent with Ruan Dacheng's character design. Seeing the work taking shape again and getting closer to his vision, Ruan Dacheng was naturally excited.
The performers held lanterns and said loudly to Pang Yu, "Please, sir, guess whose name these four sentences are."
It’s not that the bamboo tube doesn’t have the right side, or that the donkey doesn’t have the right side. Your right eye has a pine tree, and your lady’s lips are not necessarily round.”