In the afternoon, Li Changcai came to King Xin's mansion, looked at King Xin's eyes, revered King Xin more than last time, and reported the will of the imperial court to King Xin, Xu Biao Changxiang was selecting elite children in the house, and he would go to Shandong to quell the chaos in the near future;

At the same time, Li Changcai, in accordance with the instructions of King Xin, went to the household department to explain his intention to Ni Yuanlu, the secretary of the household department, Ni Yuanlu was very happy, and the two hit it off, and decided to set up a commercial department, open up trade routes, vigorously develop national trade circulation, increase taxes and taxes, so as to fill the treasury and enhance national strength.

Seeing that King Xin was more satisfied, Li Changcai got up and said, "Lord Wang, the Tianxiang Pavilion Poetry and Song Contest will be held this afternoon, it's not too early, should we set off now?" ”

"Oh! The king forgot about it, okay, let's go now! After that, accompanied by Li Changcai, King Xin went to Tianxiang Pavilion with great interest.

'Shichahai', in fact, is an artificial lake, there is a large-scale temple built on the shore, so it is named 'Shichahai', not far from the imperial palace Forbidden City; There are many buildings built along the coast, and most of the princes and nobles of the capital live here, so 'Shichahai' is quite prosperous;

At night, the 'Shichahai', the coast is brightly lit, people come and go, the river is endless, it is an ideal gathering place for some literati and elegant guests; many princes and nobles are beautiful, often appear in the gathering place of literati and ink writers, appreciate poetry and songs, in fact, it is to find the wishful Langjun of the heart.

For this reason, 'Shichahai' is even more famous in the capital, attracting countless elegant guests and young talents to come here to show their personal talents, in order to arouse the favor of everyone in the official eunuch family and seek a good marriage.

Tianxiangge Hotel is located in the center of the most prosperous street on the coast of Shichahai, is the largest and most well-known hotel in Shichahai, and at the same time, it is also the "gold cave" of the princes and nobles.

At this moment, the traffic in front of the Tianxiang Pavilion is busy, the crowd is surging, some princes and nobles and the children of dignitaries and nobles ride the carriage and horse, stop in front of the Tianxiang Pavilion, and enter the Tianxiang Pavilion in groups.

Xinwang's Mansion is only a few hundred meters away from 'Shichahai', and soon, Xinwang is dressed in brocade clothes, accompanied by Li Changcai, and comes to Tianxiang Pavilion; Li Changcai has already booked a luxury box with an excellent location in advance in the name of Xinwang 'Zhu Gongzi', and the two of them walked into the luxury box on the second floor of Tianxiang Pavilion, and the hotel serves to bring fragrant tea and fruit snacks.

King Xin sipped the fragrant tea while raising his eyes to see, their location angle is very good, that is, they can have a panoramic view of the interior of Tianxiang Pavilion, and they can also be well concealed from other directions; King Shin was very satisfied, so that he could hide the identity of the prince.

On the opposite side of their box, there is a row of specially set up special boxes, which are just across the air from the boxes in the three directions opposite; Each box is covered with white gauze, so you can't see the people inside, obviously deliberately prepared for some talented ladies and ladies.

Ancient people paid attention to etiquette, righteousness and shame, for the princes, nobles, eunuchs, rich and noble ladies, generally not allowed to go out of the house casually, the number of times to go out is very small, go out by sedan chair and carriage, and wear a veil to go out, before getting married, some even the other party's name is not known.

The noble and noble families used this to show their family etiquette, which is a symbol of nobility and wealth, and it can also be said to be a manifestation of vanity; If it is a woman from a poor family, there will be no phenomenon that the woman does not go out of the door, because the family is poor, they have to go out to the princes, nobles or rich people to be slaves and maids to subsidize the family;

In ancient times, it was a very humiliating thing for unmarried women to show their heads, but in order to earn money to support their families, they could only go out, just like spring, summer, autumn and winter, they were relatively lucky, if they were fortunate enough to be favored by King Xin, they would be able to ascend to the sky in one step and glorify their ancestors.

For married women, if the etiquette at home is not too strict, it is also a kind of etiquette and respect for the wives of wealthy and noble families to show up for banquet guests, so only women who are married can show their heads, most of them go out with their husbands, for the face of the eldest husband's family, and generally it is not allowed to show up.

The Tianxiang Pavilion was full, and people were eagerly awaiting, waiting for the start of the 'Poetry and Song Fu' contest; some princes and nobles shook their heads, commented, and talked loudly.

King Xin disagreed, there are two sides in the world, yin and yang complement each other, if they are all the same kind of people, then there will never be too high progress and civilization in this world, there is no sense of urgency brought by competition, people will be intoxicated by this, human civilization will stop moving forward.

Glancing at the crowd, King Xin found that all the princes and nobles who participated in King Xin's mansion the day before yesterday were all on the scene, and they were basically drinking tea and chatting in the box.

At this moment, a sharp voice sounded from a box on the second floor of the west side!

"Hey! I said, where's the person presiding over the scene? Everyone is here, let's get started! I can't wait! "The person who shouted was the Prime Minister's Mansion Yan Kuan.

As soon as Yan Kuan's words fell, some officials and wealthy families chimed in: "Yan Gongzi must be prepared today, if he gets a good head, I will celebrate Yan Gongzi here for three days!" ”

"Hah..." Yan Kuan was full of spirits, shook his head and said: "That's natural, if my son doesn't make a noise today, it's a blockbuster!" ”

"Good!" The crowd applauded! "We'll see!"

"I heard that the prince of Pingxi Wangfu is a rare young talent today, not only both civil and military, but also proficient in poetry and songs, and he will definitely come out on top today!" In the hall, an official eunuch said loudly.

The gentlemen who supported Yan Kuan were suddenly unhappy, and retorted: "The prince of Pingxi Wangfu is just the nephew of King Pingxi, how can he be compared with Yan Gongzi of the Prime Minister's Mansion?" ”

"Anyway, people are also the sons of Pingxi Wangfu, Pingxi is a high-powered prince, and there are no children under his knees, it is said that the king of Pingxi intends to marry his only beloved daughter to the son, and the Pingxi Wangfu will definitely be the heir of the prince in the future!"

In the luxurious box on the second floor on the east side, Ning Liang of Ning Wangfu glanced at Wu Sangui opposite, and said with a smile: "Congratulations to Brother Wu, congratulations to Brother Wu!" ”

Wu Sangui's face was purple, he glanced back at Ning Liang and said, "Rumors, hearsay!" ’

Ning Liang smiled and thought to himself: What hearsay? You Wu Sangui know better than anyone else in your heart!

Just when everyone was arguing, the curtain of the talented girl's box on the opposite side flickered, and a young maid walked out of it, with red lips and white teeth, and a face like a peach blossom.

The Tianxiang Pavilion suddenly fell silent, and the young maid came to the top of the corridor, said ten thousand blessings slightly, got up and looked around generously, and then said in a clear voice:

"Welcome to the first 'Poetry and Song' competition, this contest invited the famous literary master, Mr. Xu Xiake to come as a guest, Mr. Xu!"

'Wow! 'There was an uproar in the Tianxiang Pavilion! I didn't expect the literary master Xu Xiake to come in person, for these young talents, if they can be recognized by Xu Xiake at the 'Poetry and Song Fu' Literary Exchange Conference, they will surely become famous in the field of literature and be well-known by the world, and the future achievements can be expected and the future is immeasurable!

Even if his work only gets a comment from Xu Xiake, it is enough to brag for a lifetime, and his eyes show excitement and fanaticism.

Xu Xiake, formerly known as Xu Hongzu, called 'Xiake', was born in Jiangyin, Zhili, Jiangnan; when he was a teenager, he began to travel to the north and south of the river, inspected the famous mountains and rivers, and traveled all over the country.

At the same time, he has also made remarkable achievements in poetry and songs, and Yu Anqi, a master of Jiangnan literature, and called the 'two sages' of Jiangnan literature, and his representative work "Xu Xiake's Travels" records in detail his travels and experiences for nearly half of his life.

The curtain of the box was lifted, and a middle-aged man in his forties with a long beard slowly walked out, with a fairy wind and bones, exuding a bookish rhyme between his gestures, smiling, slowly walking to a coffee table in front of the box, clasping his hands into fists, and said loudly:

"Ladies and gentlemen, Xu Xiake is polite!" Xu Xiake bowed his hands around, and everyone in the Tianxiang Pavilion got up in unison, bowed down to Xu Xiake, and shouted:

"Meet Mr. in the evening!"

Xu Xiake sat down in a flirtatious manner, and then smiled kindly: "Everyone! The purpose of this contest is to promote poetry and songs, exchange and appreciation, and hope that all talents will give advice and express their feelings! ”

"Follow the teachings of Mr.!" Everyone said in unison.

"Good! I announce the first edition of the 'Poetry and Song' Contest, which starts now! ”

The young maid took a step forward, and her crisp voice sounded again, saying, "The winner of this competition can share a dinner with Mr. and Mr.'s first talented girl!" ”

"Boom!" When this explosive news was announced, the Tianxiang Pavilion suddenly became lively!

Seeing this, the young maid twitched the corners of her mouth slightly, and shouted loudly:

"The first time, poetry and song contest, please ask talented women to write questions!"

The Tianxiang Pavilion was immediately silent, looking forward to it, waiting and seeing!

Leaning slightly, a maid sent a note and handed it to the young maid, who unfolded the note and said:

"The first round, poetry recitation: poetic and picturesque!"

Wow! There was a lot of discussion in the Tianxiang Pavilion, and they exchanged heads!

At this time, two more maids and scholars took out pen, ink, paper and inkstones, and laid them flat on the bookcase, ready to record them.

Leaning slightly, a young talent got up and saluted Xu Xiake, and said, "Jiangnan Gongsheng Li Jun, meet Mr!" ”

Xu Xiake nodded with a smile!

Li Jun got up, faced everyone, cleared his throat, and said loudly:

Jasper made a tree high,

10,000 hanging down green silk.

I don't know who cut out the leaves,

The spring breeze in February is like scissors.

"Good!" After Li Jun's ode was finished, everyone applauded and cheered!

Xu Xiake nodded slightly, his eyes were full of approval, and he praised: "A good song "Yongliu", this is the famous sentence of the Tang Dynasty poet He Zhizhang, it should be 'poetic and picturesque', wonderful!" ”

When Li Jun heard Xu Xiake's praise, his pride was overflowing, and after looking around at everyone, he slowly returned to his seat.

"Look at Ben Gongzi's! Isn't it just some kind of poetry? At this time, Yan Kuan shouted with his hands behind his back.

"Good!" The consuls who had previously echoed Yan Kuan applauded and cheered in unison.

Yan Kuan pursed his lips, thought for a long time, and said in a loud voice:

Goose Goose Goose,

The song sings to the sky.

white-haired floating green water,

Anthurium plucks clear waves.

"Hahaha•••" After Yan Kuan's chanting, the entire Tianxiang Pavilion erupted in laughter!

King Xin had just taken a sip of tea, and after listening to the poem recited by Yan Kuan, he laughed for a while and coughed continuously, and his face was flushed.

"Xiao Yan Gongzi, a poem that even a three-year-old child can recite, is it also 'poetic'? Haha•••I really laughed to death! A person next to Yan Kuan's box burst out with a weird laugh!

"Zhou Papi, what do you mean? Isn't that a description of 'poetic'? If you have the ability, do you have one around the skin? Yan Kuan retorted angrily.

Seeing this, Xu Xiake smiled and said: "Although this was made by Luo Bin Wang when he was a child, it does have the meaning of expressing 'poetic and picturesque', and there is a sequence of hearing the Tao, hehe!" ”