The Little Officials of the Song Dynasty Chapter 255: Meet the Liao Emperor (Part 2)

Yunyan Hui saw that Xingzong believed it to be true, and even praised the melon essence against her heart, she was amused and speechless in her heart. Li Xingjian was really desolate, that is to say, the communication was not developed at this time.

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

Li Xun's father had been on a mission to Liao, so at this time, he gave Yun Yanhui and Zhao Yunchu popular science, "In Liao, wine and music are combined. Generally, there must be wine when playing music. It's fun."

This belongs to the national characteristics of Khitan, and the wine served is also a popular milk wine in Liao. The most common wines of Liao people are fruit wine and milk wine, especially milk wine. Because of the developed animal husbandry, there are many kinds of milk wine.

You Liaochen seized the opportunity to brag: "Your envoy brought mellow wine, but our milk wine is not too different, so we can stay drunk today."

The wine sent by the Song Dynasty to Liao is very popular. There is no such wine in Liao. .

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

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

It doesn't matter to Yun Yanhui, the milk wine is not as strong as wine, so he drank a whole bowl in a row before he could taste it. When Liao Chen saw it, he felt that people were not good-looking. Among the Song envoys, the deputy envoy who seemed the weakest and the most arrogant actually drank.

As the banquet began, everyone began to drink, and the musicians also performed in the hall. Dressed in the narrow sleeves characteristic of Liao, most of the men have beards, and the women also have a healthy complexion.

As a qualified embassy escort, Yelu Kuailu introduced them diligently. At this time, the performance was San music. The instruments included Dongxiao, Pipa, Clapper, Waist Drum, etc., and some singers sang in Khitan language. .

Compared to the Song Dynasty, the song is more extensive, with a heroic meaning, and it seems to have a strong religious color.

Yelü Guilu translated the lyrics into Chinese and told them: "This song is about the origin of our Khitan people. In the beginning, there was a goddess riding a white horse, from the horse Yushan down the Tu River, A goddess drove a green ox cart down the Henghe River from the flat pine forest. They met at the confluence of the two rivers and married here.

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

Many ethnic groups have the characteristics of integrating folk customs and legends into song and dance performances. From the artistic works of a country, you can see their history and their souls.

After two rounds of drinking, another dancer came up, both male and female, dancing the traditional Khitan dance.

Liao people especially like singing and dancing. The monarchs and ministers all smile and shake with the singing and dancing performances. They feel that if they can, they can stand up and dance together anytime, anywhere.

According to Yelu's introduction, the content of this dance also reflects the Khitan national culture, referring to their four-season system.

Liao has five capitals, Shangjing is the imperial capital, and there are four other capitals in the east, west, west and middle. As the seasons change, the rulers and ministers of the country will move. In winter and spring, they will be in Shangjing, and in other seasons, they will be in other capitals.

This unique system is probably inseparable from their nomadic character.

The envoys of Song watched with a smile regardless of whether they liked it or not.

Yun Yanhui thinks it's pretty good, the Khitan nation has "disappeared" in modern times and has merged with other nations. Now, I am very lucky to be able to see the original flavor of Khitan singing and dancing.

In addition to performances in the Khitan language, these songs and dances also have dance music in the style of the Song Dynasty and Bohai Kingdom. Understand.

Many Liao officials also sang along, and even Yelu Yalu simply tapped the table with their hands to beat the beat together.

When it came time to rise, Xingzong actually came down from the throne again, and all the ministers did not respond, only the Han envoys felt strange.

At this time, Xingzong walked into the hall, grabbed the musician's pipa, and then began to play it himself!

Yunyan replied: "..."

The other musicians didn't stop either, just a little bit softer to accentuate Xingzong. Xingzong played the pipa and sang at the same time, the Liao ministers showed intoxicated expressions...

Yun Yan was in a mess in the wind and felt very magical. She turned to look at Li Xun and Zhao Yunchu with a confused look, and Li Xingjian was also a little stunned, showing a vague expression of disapproval.

The monarch of a country actually went to perform in person, or in front of foreign envoys. This is too inconsistent with the etiquette system. Although the Liao Kingdom implemented Confucian culture, it still could not change its habits.

But this is the emperor of the family. What else can Li Xingjian say? He quickly adjusted his expression, smiled rightly, and gave the others a wink.

Yun Yanhui and the others took a wink, and sorted out their expressions, smiled, and tried to smile.

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

Liao courtiers are used to it. Whenever they meet Xingzong's eyes, they will be more intoxicated, as if immersed in his singing. Some sycophants also made various gestures along with the content of the lyrics, so they almost stood up and danced.

Xingzong sang and sang, as if he remembered that this was a banquet to welcome the Song envoys, and he walked in front of them, playing the pipa and dancing with his feet. When singing, his facial expressions were also very rich with the Song envoys. After communicating, he also took the time to stretch out a hand and invite Li Xingjian to join him.

Li Xingjian: "..."

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

Xingzong then twisted to the table of the deputy envoys, and the three deputy envoys were busy serving wine...

Like Li Xingjian, Yun Yanhui did not feel that it was inappropriate for the emperor to play and dance at a banquet. After all, this is a national characteristic of other people.

Fortunately, Xingzong did not force them to be embarrassed. Seeing them drinking, he turned back.

Everyone looked at each other and saw happiness in each other's eyes. If it wasn't for Li Xingjian's good demonstration here, they really didn't know how to gracefully refuse an emperor's invitation to dance.

Xingzong played the pipa for a while, and then he was happy and returned to the throne as if nothing had happened.

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

Li Xun said, "My father once said that the rituals and music of the Liao Kingdom are somewhat casual, and the monarch, ministers, and common people love dancing and music, but it seems that such a matter of the king of a country playing music and dancing at banquets is only in their private banquets. It happened in the past, but not at the banquet with envoys."

Yunyan replied speechlessly: "Then what happened to their monarch, did they drink fake wine?"

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

He couldn't go on, and he was extremely disapproving of it.

Yun Yanhui didn't agree with them for the same reasons, so he didn't take it to heart. He ate a snack and went to bed easily.

Zhao Yunchu secretly went to Yun Yanhui's room to sleep at night, still wanting to discuss with Yun Yanhui, "Brother Yan, what do you mean by saying that the monarch of the Liao Kingdom drank fake wine? Was it in that wine? What medicine?"

Yun Yanhui almost laughed, "Why do you still think about this?"

Of course, this kind of thing has a bigger impact on an authentic ancient person. Zhao Yunchu pouted and said, "Can you imagine that the official family plays the pipa at a banquet?"

Yunyan made up for it after returning to her head, and suddenly felt a chill, "This is not the same meaning. When the Liao Emperor played the pipa at a banquet, it was similar to our official family composing a poem at a banquet."

It's just that the awkward dance was a little over...otherwise, Yun Yanhui would still appreciate it.

After Yunyan said this, Zhao Yunchu could accept it a little bit, thinking about it too. After all, they can't use their Song people's ideas to demand the Liao people. The Liao people are still old and rambunctious.

——The marriage system in the Liao Kingdom is quite special. Only the Yelu family and the Xiao family are allowed to intermarry, regardless of their seniority, so there will be cases where uncles marry nieces and grandfathers marry granddaughters. For so many years, almost all the queens of the Yelu clan of the Khitan royal family have been the Xiao clan.

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

……

A few days later, it will be the first day of the first lunar month. Today, the Liao Emperor will entertain the Song envoy again, and the music booth has been set up. The Confucius family class will perform the classic Bian opera "Wang Qing" which is popular in Bianjing for the first time in the Liao Kingdom. fish".

I don't know how many Liao nobles are looking forward to this moment. They have all admired Bian opera for a long time, including Xingzong's harem concubines. Everyone knows that after the Bian opera is staged today, they are all counting the days to wait.

Yun Yanhui accompanied Kong to the palace in advance, and went to check the stage. Most of the props were brought from Bianjing. The stage was not as good as Pu Guanze's big stage, and the surrounding environment was average, but it was enough.

The people from the Kong family class took the time to rehearse and made sure that there was no problem, and then began to apply makeup.

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

Liao's courtiers and concubines could not wait for a long time. Xingzong gave the order, and everyone stood up and moved out.

The curtain was slowly opened, the light gauze was embroidered with flying flowers, and the scholar in blue shirt stood motionless on the side of the stage, like a painting. This scene alone made the Liao nobles applaud.

This is to be expected, let alone them, the people of the Song Dynasty have never seen such a stage arrangement before, let alone the more heroic people of the Liao Kingdom.

The sound of the pipa flows like water, and the scholar on the stage moves along with the music, takes a few steps in a very rhythmic manner, stands in the center of the stage, flicks his sleeves, and the painting comes to life.

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

Previously, Bian opera only came to Liao with lyrics and unorthodox singing methods passed down by word of mouth. Now it is performed by professional artists, coupled with the extremely innovative stage design, which really amazes everyone.

Because of limited time, I did not perform the whole show, only 20% off. It stands to reason that there will be other dance performances in the future, but the Liao nobles strongly demanded to continue the performance. Although they all know the plot, but through the first two folds, everyone agrees that the complete performance is the most amazing.

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

At the strong request of everyone, Xingzong also broke the process and asked Kong Jiaban to continue the performance.

The whole show ended at night, and the applause could not stop for a long time. The Liao people were still immersed in the performance just now, and the reverberation was unforgettable.

Zhao Yunchu whispered back to Yun Yan: "Brother Yan, are you going to 'start'?"

Yunyan looked back at the fascinated Liao people and replied in a low voice, "What's the hurry, it's not the time to start the slaughter."