In Chang'an, catkins fly, konghou sounds, and passers-by get drunk; painted boats float on the lake, drinking one cup after another;
Water embroidery is beautiful, flat gold is used to paint landscapes; poets write with flying pens, and rouge is used to paint eyebrows... ...
—BY: ediq "Night Singing in the Great Tang Dynasty"
While poetry and wine were flying in Prince Yu's Mansion, Prince Jing's Mansion, a close neighbor of Prince Yu's Mansion on the same street, also turned its welcoming banquet for Xu Pu, the newly appointed lecturer of Prince Jing's Mansion, into a poetry gathering.
The inertia of intellectuals is no exception.
However, compared with the poetry gathering in the pergola of Prince Yu's Mansion, the poetry gathering in Prince Jing's Mansion was much more grand and elegant. The scene was just as ediq's "Night Singing in the Great Tang Dynasty" sang, a scene of luxury and prosperity.
King Jing held the poetry meeting at Zuibai Garden in the palace.
Zuibai Garden is a garden built after King Jing established his government. There are many dance pavilions and singing stages in the garden. In the center is a mirror-like green lake. There are lush flowers and trees around the lake. There is a rockery in the lake. The landscape is beautiful and the environment is beautiful. Zuibai Garden is named Zuibai Garden because the poet Li Bai is confident that if he were to come back to this garden, he would be intoxicated by the beautiful scenery. Hence the name Zuibai Garden.
To be precise, the poetry gathering of Prince Jing's Mansion was held at the Ailian Lake in Zuibai Garden, or more precisely, on a pleasure boat in the Ailian Lake.
This painting boat is naturally not an ordinary painting boat. It was carefully designed by the ten most famous top painting boat masters in Jiangnan and built by nearly a hundred skilled craftsmen. It is a large high-end luxury painting boat that integrates functions such as sailing, field trips, entertainment, leisure, and banquets. In a sense, it is somewhat like the expensive yachts of modern European and American tycoons.
It looks like a pleasure boat, but it is more like a pavilion floating on the water. The pavilion with flying eaves and carved buildings and exquisite corners stands at the bow. The two sides are connected by corridors, followed by a high pavilion with staggered brackets, double eaves and nine ridges, a stage, and finally a high-rise building imitating the Tang Dynasty. The decoration on the pleasure boat is extremely luxurious, with exquisite furnishings such as beauty backrests, lattice windows, dragon columns, and dragon-carved screens. The relief clouds on the dragon columns are scattered in an orderly manner. The carved dragons are like living creatures, and every scale on the dragon can be counted...
On the pleasure boat, large tables were laid out in order, filled with mouth-watering delicacies from land and sea, and the fine grape wine in the luminous cups was intoxicating. Each table was equipped with a secondary table, on which were placed writing brushes, inkstones, and paper. Behind the tables, officials either wrote with their brushes, or stroked their beards and commented, or chatted with laughter. On the stage, stunning dancers danced to add to the fun, and beautiful singers sang excellent poems with their light voices.
King Jing also set up six prizes, three times the number of prizes for Prince Yu’s Palace, and the value of the prizes was many times higher. The most eye-catching prize was the first prize—half of Wang Xizhi’s authentic “Ping An Tie”. Although it was only half, with more than 20 characters, its value was inestimable. Most of Wang Xizhi’s authentic works had been lost, and the number of authentic works that survived to the Ming Dynasty was no more than five fingers long.
... ...
In short, the Zuibai Poetry Gathering at Prince Jing's Mansion was far superior to the Liangpeng Poetry Gathering at Prince Yu's Mansion, and the same was true of the fine wine and delicacies at the banquet.
The truth can be seen from the number of beggars outside the two palaces.
Outside Prince Yu's Mansion, there was a beggar huddled in a corner, taking a deep breath with a look of happiness and intoxication on his face. He put the moldy steamed bread in his mouth into his mouth and chewed it, taking a deep breath and taking a bite. It was so sweet.
"Hey, Ergou, what are you still doing here, you idiot? Shunzi, Tiedan and the others have already gone there, didn't you see? The smell over at Prince Jing's Mansion is even better, it's so fragrant that it almost makes you swallow your tongue into your stomach. Come on, follow me quickly, I've got a good position for you, if you go too late it will be gone." Another little beggar came running over from a distance, and without saying a word, he grabbed the beggar in the corner and walked away. When the beggar in the corner heard this, he quickly followed him, jogging all the way.
The two little beggars trotted all the way to the side wall of Prince Jing's mansion. Not far away, in a corner, there were more than a dozen little beggars huddled together, fighting for a downwind position while taking deep breaths of the aroma of wine and meat in the air...
The rich are enjoying wine and meat, while the beggars are drunk outside their door. Haha, this can also be considered as sharing the joy with the people.
At this time, the Zuibai Poetry Gathering at Prince Jing's Mansion had passed its climax and was nearing its end. Poems were written on white paper, dancers danced gracefully, and singers recited poems.
King Jing sat in the main seat and chatted and laughed with the lecturers and readers on both sides. On their tables were two piles of poems and songs.
The pile of poems on the left are the poems written by everyone in Prince Jing's Mansion. As for the pile on the right, if Prince Yu and others were here, they would find that the pile of poems on the right are the poems they just wrote at the poetry meeting in the pergola.
"Your Highness, someone over there has made another one."
A eunuch came trotting over and handed a poem with wet ink to Prince Yu's desk with both hands.
"Well, go down."
Prince Yu nodded, picked up the poem, and waved to the eunuch, indicating that he could leave.
This scene also shows from the side how big the advantage of Prince Jing is over Prince Yu. As soon as the new work of the poetry meeting in Prince Yu's mansion was completed, Prince Jing got a copy; then how many secrets does Prince Yu's mansion have for Prince Jing? ! ... ... According to "The Art of War" "Know thy enemy and know thyself, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger", Prince Jing is currently in a great advantage in the battle for the throne.
After reading the poem, Prince Yu slightly curled the corners of his mouth downwards, and then passed the poem to Qian Dongyang, a scholar standing beside him.
"Haha, the poetry meeting in Prince Yu's mansion is actually themed on chopsticks. It's really boring and ridiculous. There are no good poems sent in. Only Yin Shidan's "Ode to Chopsticks" is readable, but it lacks fresh spirit. Oh, by the way, Zhang Juzheng's "Ode to Bamboo Chopsticks" is also a readable work, but Zhang Juzheng is not from Prince Yu's mansion, and other than these two works, the rest are mediocre. As for this "Ode to Chopsticks", it's just a moan without illness..." After reading the poems sent in, Qian Dongyang couldn't help but shook his head with a sneer and sneered. Then he passed the newly sent "Ode to Bamboo" poem to Xu Pu, the new lecturer in the mansion.
After reading it, Xu Pu smiled and shook his head, without any comment, and then passed the poem on.
After the poem was circulated among everyone, it returned to the pile on the right side of the table between King Jing and the academicians and lecturers on both sides.
“Haha, to be honest, our poetry meeting is more meaningful. We chant about the past and discuss the present, and offer suggestions for our Ming Dynasty to dominate the world... We are scholars, not cooks. What is the significance of reciting poems and writing with bamboo chopsticks to our Ming Dynasty?!” Li Dongtang, an official of Prince Jing’s Mansion, chuckled and compared the themes of the poetry meetings of the two palaces. He highly praised his own palace’s poetry meeting, and at the same time severely dissed Prince Yu’s poetry meeting.
"Yes, Lord Li is right."
"I second the motion."
Everyone at the poetry gathering agreed. They had also read all the poems from Prince Yu's Mansion. Just as Qian Dongyang said, only the two poems by Yin Shidan and Zhang Juzheng were worth reading, and the rest were just mediocre.