The Little Officials of the Song Dynasty

Yun Yan saw Xingzong believe it was true and praised the melon essence against his will. He was funny and speechless. Li Xingjian is really sluggish, that is, communication is underdeveloped at this time.

After tasting the ginseng fruit, Xingzong ordered people to drink and play music.

Li Xun's father had been to Liao, so he returned to Yun Yanhui and Zhao Yunchu to popularize science at this time. "In Liao, wine and music are combined. Generally, there must be wine when playing music. When drinking, he loves to use music to help. "

This belongs to the national characteristics of Khitan. The wine on the table is also the popular milk wine in Liao. The most common wines drunk by Liao people are fruit wine and milk wine, especially milk wine. Because of the advanced animal husbandry industry, there are also many kinds of milk wine.

Liaochen seized the opportunity to boast: "Your envoy has brought mellow wine, but our milk wine is not different. Today we can stay drunk."

The wine that the Song Dynasty gave to Liao was very popular. There was no such wine in Liao. The Liao people were good wine, so every time the Song Dynasty envoy sent the wine to the courtiers as a reward.

Of course, in the face of the Soong Envoy, of course you can't show weakness.

But with Hanchen's mind, naturally he would not get drunk at such a banquet, so Li Xingjian only took a few sips.

It didn't matter if Yun Yan went back, the degree of this milk wine was not as high as that of wine, and he drank a whole bowl to taste it. When Liaochen saw it, he felt that people were not good at appearances. Among the Song ambassadors, the weakest and involuntary ambassador was actually the most proud of drinking.

And as the banquet began, everyone began to drink, and the musicians also went to the hall to perform. Dressed in narrow sleeves characteristic of Liao, most men wear beards, and women also have healthy complexions.

As a qualified envoy of the museum, Yeluxu introduced them conscientiously. At this time, the performance was San music. The instruments included Dongxiao, Pipa, clappers, waist drums, etc., and some singers used Khitan to make songs.

Compared with Da Song's song, the song is more extensive, with heroic meaning, and seems to have a stronger religious color.

Yelvyulu translated the lyrics into Chinese and told them: "This song is about the origin of our Khitan people. At the beginning, there was a **** man riding a white horse and descending the Tuhe from Mayu Mountain, a goddess. Driving the green ox cart down the horizontal river from the flat pine forest, they met at the intersection of the two rivers and married here.

"The gods and goddesses thrived in Muye Mountain. Later, there were eight tribes including Yuling, Mulian, and Xiwandan, and gradually formed the Khitan."

Many ethnic groups have the characteristics of incorporating folk customs and legends into their singing and dancing performances. From the art works of a country, you can see their history and their souls.

After two rounds of drinking, dancers came up again, both men and women, to perform traditional Khitan dances.

The Liao people especially like singing and dancing. The monarchs and ministers all smiled with the singing and dance performances, and their bodies were shaking. If they could, they could stand up and dance together anytime and anywhere.

According to the introduction by Yelv Kulu, the content of this dance also reflects the Khitan national culture, referring to their four-time travel system.

There are five capitals in the Liaoning state, the upper capital is the imperial capital, and there are four capitals in the southeast, west and central. With the change of seasons, the country's monarchs and ministers will move. In winter and spring, they will be in Beijing, and in other seasons, they will be in other capitals.

This unique system is probably inseparable from their nomadic characteristics.

Regardless of whether they appreciated Xin or not, the envoys of Song were watching with a smile anyway.

Yunyan thinks that it is pretty good. The Khitan nation has "disappeared" in modern times and has merged with other nations. Now, I am lucky to see the original flavor of Khitan singing and dancing.

In addition to performances in Khitan, these songs and dances also have dance music in the styles of Da Song and Bohai. The whole structure is more casual. If this is left in the Da Song, what kind of performance in each link is fixed.

Many Liao officials sang along with them, and even Yelu's curly shoes simply slapped the table with their hands and beat together.

When the time came to rise, Xingzong unexpectedly stepped down from the throne again, and the officials did not respond, but the Han envoys found it strange.

At this time, I saw Xingzong walked to the hall, grabbed the musician's pipa, and then began to pluck it!

Yun Yan replied: "..."

Other musicians kept on, just a little bit quieter, so as to highlight Xingzong. Xingzong played the pipa while singing, and the Liao officials showed intoxicated expressions...

Yun Yan returned to the capital to be messed up in the wind, and felt very magical. Turning his head to see Li Xun and Zhao Yunchu, he also looked dazed. Li Xingjian also froze for a moment, and vaguely showed disapproval.

The king of a country actually went up to perform in person, or in front of foreign envoys, which is too inconsistent with the etiquette system. Although this Liao country promotes Confucian culture, it still cannot change its habits.

But this is the emperor of other people, what else can Li Xingjian say, and quickly adjusted his expression, smiled right, and cast a wink at the others.

Yun Yanhui and the others took a look, and they all sorted out their expressions, smiled, and smiled hard.

Xingzong was completely excited, stepping on the drum, dangling his body, playing the pipa and singing, his eyes still patrolling around, looking for everyone's approval...

The Liao officials were all used to the ordinary, and every time they met Xingzong's eyes, they became more intoxicated, as if immersed in his singing. Some flatterers made all kinds of gestures along with the content of the lyrics, and barely stood up to accompany the dancer.

Xingzong sang and sang, as if remembering that this was a banquet to welcome the Song ambassadors, and walked in front of them, playing the pipa, stepping on dance steps under his feet, and communicating with the Song ambassadors with rich facial expressions while singing. He also took time to stretch out a hand and invite Li Xingjian to join him.

Li Xingjian: "..."

The old man's expression was a little green, but as an old driver, he was still very calm, pretending not to understand, he took a drink and toasted Xingzong.

Xingzong then turned to the deputy envoys' table again, and the three deputy envoys were busy serving drinks...

Yun Yanhui did not feel like Li Xingjian did not think that the emperor’s dancing at the banquet was impolite. After all, this is the national characteristic of the people, but if you don’t agree with each other, you can just pass the dance...!

Fortunately, Xingzong didn't force them to be embarrassed, and when he saw them drinking, he turned back.

Everyone looked at each other, and they all saw the meaning of rejoicing in each other's eyes. If it weren't for Li Xingjian's good demonstration here, they really didn't know how to gracefully reject an emperor's invitation to dance.

Xingzong played the pipa for a while, and then he was full of joy and returned to the throne without incident.

After the banquet, the envoys of Song Dynasty returned to the embassy and gathered again to discuss their previous encounters.

Li Xun could hardly say: "My father once said that the ritual and music of the Liao Kingdom are somewhat casual, and that the monarchs and the people love dance and music. However, it seems that the princes of a country play music and dance at banquets, and it only seems to have happened at their private banquets. , Did not appear at a banquet with envoys."

Yun Yan replied speechlessly: "Then what about their monarch, have they drank fake wine?"

Li Xingjian said with a pale face: "It's really..."

He couldn't continue, he was extremely disapproved in his heart.

Yun Yanhui didn't agree with them for the same reason, so he didn't take it to heart. After eating a little, he went to bed with ease.

Zhao Yunchu secretly ran to Yun Yan's room to sleep at night. He still wanted to discuss with Yun Yan, "Brother Yan, what do you mean when the monarch of Liao Kingdom drank fake wine? Is there any medicine in that wine? ?"

Yun Yan almost laughed out, "Why are you still thinking about this."

Of course, this kind of thing has a greater impact on an authentic ancient person. Zhao Yunchu narrowed his mouth. "Can you imagine that officials play the pipa at the banquet?"

Yun Yan recalled his brain to make up for it, and suddenly felt cold, "This is not the same thing. People playing the pipa at the banquet by the Liao Emperor is similar to our official composing a poem at the banquet."

It was just a little bit after the awkward dance...otherwise Yun Yan would appreciate it in return.

Yun Yan replied that Zhao Yunchu would be able to accept it a bit, thinking about it, after all, they couldn't use their Song people's ideas to demand the Liao people, who are still incestuous.

——The marriage system of Liao is quite special. Only Yelv family and Xiao family are allowed to marry, regardless of seniority, so there will be cases of uncle marrying niece and grandfather marrying granddaughter. Over the years, almost all the queens of the Yelü clan of the Khitan clan were the Xiao clan.

The two slept quietly together for one night, and early the next morning, Zhao Yunchu slipped back to his room.

...

A few days later, it was the first day of the first lunar month. Today, the Emperor of Liao is going to entertain the Song Envoy again, and the music tent has been set up. The Confucian Class is going to stage the classic Bian opera "Wang Qingyu" which is popular in Bianjing for the first time in Liao.

I don’t know how many aristocrats in the Liao Kingdom are looking forward to this moment. They have all admired the Bian Opera for a long time, including the concubines of Xingzong's harem. Everyone knows that after the Bian Opera is performed today, they all count the days to wait.

Yun Yanhui accompanied Kong Ji into the palace in advance, went to check the stage, most of the props were brought from Bianjing, the stage is not as good as Pu Guanze's big stage, the surrounding environment is also average, but it is enough.

The Confucian class hurriedly rehearsed for a while, confirmed that there was no problem, and then began to apply makeup.

This time the banquet was in the Cultural Hall, and the Yicheng was similar to the previous one. Only halfway through the banquet, Xingzong ordered everyone to move outside the hall to watch the special gift of the Song Dynasty—Bian Opera performance.

The ministers and concubines of the Liao State had long been in desperate need, and Xingzong gave an order, and everyone stood up and moved out.

The curtain was slowly opened, the light gauze embroidered with flying flowers, and the scholar in Qingshan stood motionless on the side of the stage, like a painting. This scene alone made the Liao nobles clapped their hands and praised them.

This is expected, let alone them, even the people of Song Dynasty have never seen such a stage arrangement before, let alone the people of Liao who are more heroic in their respect.

The sound of the pipa flowed like water, and the scholar on the stage moved a few steps rhythmically with the sound of the music, stood in the center of the stage, flicked his sleeves, and the painting came to life.

This kind of aesthetics is very classical in the Han family, but the nobles in Liao are deeply influenced, so they can appreciate it very well.

Previously, what Bian Opera was introduced to Liao was only lyrics and an unorthodox singing method that was passed down through word of mouth. Now it is performed by professional artists, coupled with the extremely innovative stage design, which really amazes everyone.

Due to the limited time, the whole performance was not performed, only a 20% discount. It stands to reason that there will be other dance and music performances in the future, but the nobles of the Liao Kingdom strongly demanded to continue. Although they all know the plot, everyone agreed that the complete performance is the most amazing.

Xingzong was even more admired. No wonder Kong Ji insisted on performing on stage. This Bian opera is not only the art of singing, but also includes stage beauty, makeup and so on.

Under the strong request of everyone, Xingzong also broke the process and asked Kong's class to continue the performance.

Until the night, the whole play was over. The applause could not stop for a long time. The Liao people were still immersed in the performance of the talented person, and felt the reverberations around the beam, unforgettable.

Zhao Yunchu whispered back to Yun Yan, "Brother Yan, is it going to start?"

Yun Yan looked back at the intoxicated Liao people, and replied in a low voice: "What is the hurry? It's not time to start slaughter."