August 15, Mid-Autumn Festival! The moon is particularly round! However, how round is the moon in Yuhang, I am afraid that few people in Yuhang have seen it, because they still have a more important moon to see, which is the moon of Yangzhou!

To be precise, not to see the moon in Yangzhou, but to see the annual Oiran Contest in Yangzhou!

The Oiran Contest is an annual talent contest composed of the names and singers of the entire Yangzhou. If you win the Oiran Contest, you will be an Oiran.

And once he won the title of Oiran, his worth skyrocketed, and overnight, he became famous in Jiangnan, which is also a normal thing. The most important thing in the competition is the piano art, which is more about the talent of the school, but the people who can come out to participate in the competition are all masters who are proficient in the piano art, and some even start practicing at the age of seven or eight. This bowl of rice is not so delicious.

And the most important thing is the lyrics, a good lyric can naturally add a lot of points, therefore, many contestants collect good works everywhere. This is also an opportunity for literati to become famous overnight, and it is normal to have those who sing well, have good lyrics, and are famous for their words.

Twenty-four bridges, in later generations can be a lot of controversy, basically there are two theories, one says that the twenty-four bridge is a bridge, this statement of the people are not unified, some say that it is the bridge numbered twenty-four, but also from Du Fu, Zhang Qiao, Jiang Kui and other poems to find a lot of evidence, to prove that it is the number twenty-four bridge.

People who say that it is a bridge, but some people think that the 24th Bridge is the name of a bridge, which is also the Wujia Brick Bridge. About this name, there is also a legend, which says that when Emperor Yang of Sui visited Yangzhou, he once ordered twenty-four singers to blow the flute on the bridge, so there is the name of the twenty-four bridges, so everyone thinks that the poem "Twenty-four bridges on a bright moonlit night, where does the jade teach the" is based on this.

Another theory is that there are twenty-four bridges, and they are all the most prosperous streets in Yangzhou, among them, the most famous is Shen Kuo, Shen Kuo in "Mengxi Writings", but also made a study of the twenty-four bridges, and the names of twenty-three of them are listed one by one.

Feng Manlou had also visited the Twenty-Four Bridges in his previous life, and of course he knew about these arguments. It's just that there was only one bridge at that time, and it was built later, and the real monument has long been destroyed.

On this day, on the way to Yangzhou, pedestrians were crowded, and one of them, a young man who looked like a couple, was on the way. This is an open-top carriage, there is a man and two women in the carriage, the male is Yuhang Zhixian Fengmanlou, and the female is needless to say, it is the little lady of the Yang family, with her maid Xiao Tao.

The one who drove the car in front was the scholar Feng Xiaoyun. Followed by four big men, all riding horses, although they were dressed in civilian clothes, they were all wearing knives, and people with discerning eyes saw that they knew that it was the official knife, and they could guess the identities of these people.

Along the way, there are many people who know Fengmanlou and say goodbye. In the afternoon, when they arrived at Yangzhou Mansion, everyone found a secluded place to finish dinner, and the sky was already dark.

When I arrived at the 24th Bridge, I saw that it was already crowded. Feng Manlou found that the original 24 bridges really have 24 bridges, spanning the most prosperous section of Yangzhou Mansion, and the restaurants on both sides are prosperous, bustling and lively.

Those who came to watch the Oiran Contest were already crowded on both sides of the bank and on the bridge. Twenty-four bridges, all arched bridges, so they also look much taller.

A group of people squeezed in, and saw two people dressed as scholars, praising the scene of the bustling human brain. Feng Manlou asked, "This brother, may I ask which bridge is this twenty-four bridge?" ”

One of the younger people said, "Childe is from out of town to watch this Oiran contest!" These twenty-four bridges are the twenty-four bridges across both banks, the river is seven or eight miles long, but in the last bridge, it is the twenty-four bridges, legend, it is the Song of Emperor Yang of Sui where to blow the flute, hence the name! ”

Feng Manlou was stunned for a moment and asked, "So, these twenty-four bridges are one bridge and twenty-four bridges?" ”

The man said, "Of course! And we locals are used to saying according to the number of the bridge, such as the fifteenth bridge, which is called Dongfeng, but we are used to calling it the fifteenth bridge. There are also 14 bridges, called Chuihong Bridge, but we are all called 14 bridges, 15 bridges like this! ”

Feng Manlou said "oh", thinking in his heart that he was really a cheat, just for this bridge, I don't know how much controversy there will be in later generations, however, Feng Manlou obviously doesn't care about these, at this moment, everyone cares more about nothing more than two points, one is the beauty, and the other is the lyrics that the beauty is about to sing. It has the feeling of the Avenue of Stars in later generations.

"Isn't the Oiran Contest at the Twenty-Four Bridge, and the shore is crowded with people?" Feng Manlou asked.

The man smiled and said, "Childe should be the first time to watch, according to the rules of the competition, those participating oirans set off from the first bridge, take their own painting boats, and follow the river under the bridge to the No. 24 bridge." And along the way, they also have to sail and sing their own lyrics. It is normal for those sons who like that Oiran to follow the painting boat to chase out seven or eight miles! And then there was a lot of long-winded about the scene at that time.

In the end, Feng Manlou heard what he wanted to hear, but he continued: "The judges who presided over the contest are now waiting at the Twenty-Four Bridge, and when the painting boat arrives at the Twenty-Four Bridge, they will generally stop and sing a song, and this song is the most important, because those judges are judging who is the last Oiran of this year according to this song!" ”

Feng Manlou smiled and said, "Isn't that the most exciting place on the Twenty-four Bridge!" ”

The man said, "Of course, but I'm afraid I can't squeeze in at the Twenty-Four Bridge!" ”

Feng Manlou doesn't believe it, although there are many people now, but the entire Great Song Dynasty is less than 100 million, of course, this is the number of registered people, plus the hidden households, that is, those black accounts, it is estimated that there are almost 100 million. But the population of later generations was 1.3 billion, close to 1.4 billion. The most developed Shenzhen, Luohu Pedestrian Street, which has the largest population density, is much more crowded than here. Not to mention buying a train station during the Spring Festival.

At this time, the maximum limit is only one-third of that time. Therefore, Feng Manlou was quite unconvinced, and decided to take everyone to the Twenty-Four Bridge to wait.

When he arrived at the twenty-fourth bridge, Feng Manlou was dumbfounded. Yang Hongcai said: "I finally know what a crowd is!" ”

Feng Manlou knew that this and the Spring Festival Railway Station in later generations really had to fight. However, perhaps because of years of experience in holding competitions, the organizers of the competition still isolated a very narrow passage for everyone to walk. Every two steps, there are officials of the yamen standing guard.

Feng Manlou looked at it, and the good positions were all occupied. Yang Hongcai said: "Childe, do you see the other side?" ”

I saw a high platform opposite, on which some seats were placed, and in an open space under the high platform, the number of people was relatively small.

"There are relatively few people there, let's go somewhere!" Feng Manlou said.

When I walked in, I found that no one was allowed to enter here, and they had been guarded by the officials. Everyone regretted it, so they found a place with a slightly smaller number of people nearby.

At this moment, I heard a voice shouting: "Is it Lord Yuhang Zhixian Feng in front?" ”

Feng Manlou turned his head, but he just saw a person who looked like a head, waving to him. Feng Manlou walked in and said, "It's down, observe it?" ”

The man replied, "In the capital of the Yamen of the Lower Prefect's Mansion, the surname is Ximen, and the single name is filled with a single character. The adults can call their subordinates Ximen, and the small ones call their subordinates the head of the capital! ”

Feng Manlou said with a smile: "Chongdutou, I don't know what to look for?" ”

Although the other party is just a capital head, after all, it is not a place under the jurisdiction of his own county yamen, and Feng Manlou is more modest and polite.

Ximen Chong said: "My lord, the prefect already knew that Lord Feng was coming, and specially told his subordinates to wait here, please follow his subordinates!" ”

This is good, but I saw Ximen Chong take Feng Manlou to the high platform, sat down in a corner, Feng Manlou saw, although it is a corner, but the angle is just right, just to see the past painting boat, but also to see the crowd on both sides of the strait. It's really a feeling of being on top.

The rest of the people followed the wind all over the building, but they didn't have such a good treatment, so they had to stand next to it, but this is also a very lucky thing, at least there is no need to crowd anywhere!

Feng Manlou asked Ximen Chong to move a chair over, so that Yang Hongcai had a place to sit down. glanced at Feng Manlou, and the corners of his mouth were full of smiles. Not long after Feng Manlou sat down, I saw a group of people walking towards the high platform, the front was Xiao Zonghua Xiao Governor's Mansion, followed by Wei Zhongshu. Some of the people in the back don't know Feng Manlou.

Feng Manlou hurriedly got up and greeted Xiao Zonghua, but after seeing the salute, he heard Xiao Zonghua say: "Lord Feng, has Ximen Chongdu ever neglected you?" ”

Feng Manlou hurriedly said: "Lord Xie Zhifu takes care of it, the head of the capital is very good, and the arrangements are also in place!" ”

Xiao Zonghua said: "That's good! Lord Wind, please take a seat, the contest will start soon! ”

Wei Zhongshu nodded and smiled at the wind all over the building, and said hello, so he invited the guests behind him to take a seat.

When everyone arrived, Wei Zhongshu stood up and said, "Everyone, thank you for enjoying this year's Oiran Contest!" Today, as in previous years, we invited our Yangzhou prefect Xiao to come, and in addition, the candidates to participate in the judging today are Mr. Xu of Xu Qi Province! ”

Xu Qi Province, named Xu Xuan, the word Dingchen, Yangzhou people. Originally in the Southern Tang Dynasty as an official, the official to the Ministry of Shangshu, and then the lord Li Yu returned to the Song Dynasty, the official to the scattered cavalry permanent servant, known as Xu Qi Province. Xu Xuan is one of the most famous white poets today, and of course, he is relatively old, in his sixties.

The white style poets are the poets who imitate the poetry style of Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty, and their poems are mainly imitation of the near-body poems sung by Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen, Liu Yuxi and others, and the content is mostly written about the leisurely life of lingering scenes, and the style is shallow and elegant. Obviously, this style of poetry is only one aspect of imitating Bai Juyi's poetic style, and it is in the same vein as the poetic style of the Five Dynasties.

The second person introduced by Wei Zhongshu is a young man in his thirties, Wang Yuanzhi. Yuan Zhi is his character, but the name is called Wang Yuyan, Wang Yuyan studied under Seo Hyun, that is, Xu Xuan's student, Jeju Juyeon.

Although he hasn't been admitted to the exam yet, and he is not very old, he is still on it, and he is indeed very famous. Xu Xuan is a representative figure of white body poets, so Wang Yuyan is the second generation representative of white body poets. Of course, it's just a legend for everyone. And in real history, it is.

After the two of them sat down one after another, Wei Zhongshu began to introduce the next three. Feng Manlou looked dazed, of course he didn't know anything about these people, who they were, and what their identities were.

But I heard Yang Hongcai say: "Why are they all white poets?!" ”

Feng Manlou didn't dare to speak at all, so he had to say: "Don't worry, on such an occasion, there must be more than a white poet!" "Ask for collections, ask for recommendations!!!!!

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