Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 555: Hardworking and Frugal
In the past, the expenses of the Pear Garden and the Jiaofang were all paid by the Zuo Cangku. The fundamental purpose of Xue Bai letting Du Wulang preside over the reform was that the Zuo Cangku would no longer pay this money, and the musicians would be self-reliant instead. Du Wulang's job was to lead and guide them.

But when Da Xi Yingying asked Zuo Zangku how much money was spent on the Pear Garden and the Jiaofang every year, Du Wulang could not answer.

"I only know that the number is...very large."

"How big is it?" Da Xi Yingying leaned over and asked.

Du Wulang opened his palms and gestured, but in the end all he could say was, "Anyway, it's bigger than we thought."

Da Xi Yingying then crossed her arms over her chest, chuckled, and said, "Well, I may know more about this matter than you."

"Ah? How can you know that?"

"In the opera house, those who are skilled in art and favored by the emperor receive salaries as generous as those of high-ranking officials. They are given houses and rice for all seasons. Just these people alone are a considerable expense." Da Xi Yingying said, "If Your Highness wants to close the opera house, the first thing he will do is naturally to stop paying the salaries of these people. But if they are responsible for their own profits and losses, who among the people can support these masters?"

"What should I do?"

"So you must first understand that His Highness wants you to give a way out to those musicians and actors who are of low status and have nowhere to turn to. As for those famous artists, you cannot afford their profits and losses. On the contrary, you have to use their fame to open up the situation."

Du Wulang understood and asked, "Let the famous people just work without getting paid to support the whole stall?"

Da Xi Yingying couldn't help but purse her lips and smiled. She reached out and flicked Du Wulang's forehead, saying, "He looks stupid, but he's actually quite smart."

Du Wulang was not used to such teasing and quickly dodged back.

He covered his forehead with his hand and said, "I have also seen Li Guinian and his brothers. They are highly skilled and arrogant. How can I let them work for nothing?"

Da Xi Yingying said: "What do these people care about most? It's just reputation and status. Please ask Your Highness to keep one or two official titles every year, add some rewards, and give them to the most famous musicians of the year, let them fight and compete, and see who is the most obedient."

After hearing this, Du Wulang felt that she was indeed scheming and subconsciously moved away.

Da Xi Yingying was afraid that he didn't understand, so she reminded him: "Do you understand? Just one person's generous treatment can make dozens of people obedient."

"I understand." Du Wulang nodded repeatedly, and then asked, "But can we really balance the income and expenditure by relying on the performances of those musicians? The emperor spent a lot of money, and the musicians played elegant music. How many people in the folks would pay to listen to these?"

"Your Highness is still frugal, and your expenses cannot be compared with the past. As for your income, is it just the few small amounts of money you earn from performing arts?"

"Then what?"

"I'll find a few people for you and you just need to pay the money."

Du Wulang said, "Don't take it from Fenghui Bank. His Highness is now the regent, and the Zuo Cangku is also his private treasury. If you pay out, it will be like taking money from the left side instead of the right side."

"Don't worry." Da Xi Yingying said, "No one pays this money for nothing."

She waved her hand and asked him to come closer.

Du Wulang was reluctant, but he was not as powerful as her, so he had to lean over to listen. Gradually, his eyes lit up, and he finally understood.

~~
A few days later, in Xuanzheng Hall.

Xue Bai was buried in his papers when a eunuch came up and whispered, "Your Highness, Madam Guo is here."

"At this moment?"

Xue Bai's first reaction was that it was evening, but when he looked up, it was still afternoon. In addition to inviting him to play polo and hunt, Yang Yuyao usually came at night to avoid being seen.

He suddenly came to visit me in the daytime today. I was afraid that he was here to call me to task.

Xue Bai then looked at the eunuch in front of him seriously and said, "She must be here to ask the court to ban the trend of comparison in the capital. Tell her that I have made up my mind and will not tolerate it."

"Here."

After a while, the eunuch replied: "Madam Guoguo also brought Xie Aman with her, saying that she must see Your Highness, otherwise she will not return."

"The closure of the opera house is a foregone conclusion. There is no point in talking about it any more. Let them go back."

After this had happened several times, everyone knew that they were meeting for serious matters, and Xue Bai finally agreed to meet Yang Yuyao and Xie Aman. After a while, the two of them came slowly.

As soon as they met, Yang Yuyao glared at Xue Bai with her beautiful eyes, snorted, and said, "You are such a treacherous man. The first thing you did after taking power was to use me as a target."

Xue Bai first dismissed the waiters in the palace, and then said: "It is precisely because I am not distant with Yao Niang that I let you set an example for the world. Make the house smaller and more simple."

"I have money, I can buy as big a house as I want." Yang Yuyao was still dissatisfied, and pushed Xue Bai, saying, "Are you disgusted with me? How can you bully me like this?"

"I treat you as my own."

Xue Bai did not try to coax her blindly. He changed the subject and asked, "Could it be that the friendship between Yao Niang and me is only based on profit, and it will be useless without the luxurious mansion?"

"No." Yang Yuyao became more and more annoyed with him and said, "I'm afraid you'll destroy the bridge after crossing it."

She sat down directly at Xue Bai's seat, leaned back, turned her gaze towards Xie Aman, and smiled slightly, saying, "What about you? You have so much grievances in your heart, why don't you speak up?"

Today, when Yang Yuyao was going out, she happened to meet Xie A'man who came to visit. She also heard that Xue Bai had abolished the Pear Garden and the court would no longer pay salaries to musicians, so she brought Xie A'man with her to question him.

But this "raising an army to punish the culprit" was actually just an excuse. Xue Bai's edict had been issued a long time ago, and he had told her not to be as extravagant as before, so why would he wait until today to do so?

In fact, Yang Yuyao was worried that the passion between her and Xue Bai would fade away. Then, when she saw Xie Aman was beautiful and graceful with a charming temperament, she remembered that she had thought of marrying Xie Aman to Xue Bai before, so she took her with her as a help in her fight for favor.

At this moment, Xie Aman saw Yang Yuyao's gaze and hurriedly bowed to Xue Bai and said, "Your Highness, I have no grievances."

She is good at singing and dancing, her voice is soft and pleasant, her gestures are graceful, and her words are considerate and gentle.

"Your Highness closed down the Pear Garden because of the continuous wars and the empty treasury. I have received a lot of rewards in the past few years. I came here today to present all the rewards I received to Your Highness."

Xue Bai was surprised and praised: "I thought you were obsessed with dance and music and didn't know anything about state affairs, but I didn't expect you to be so wise and loyal to the country."

As he spoke, he was also thinking about how to praise Xie A'man.

Of course, praise must be given to motivate others, but it should not be excessive. For example, Du Wulang's method was very appropriate, setting up several awards for music.

"What do you wish for?" he asked.

Xie Aman did not do this out of a sense of justice. She did not give away all her treasures even after so many major events. What she did today was not so much to show her loyalty to the country as to please Xue Bai.

When Xue Bai approached, she couldn't help feeling a little shy and lowered her head, but she couldn't hide the deep affection in her eyes.

"me……"

Yang Yuyao, who was standing next to him, saw this scene and felt a little jealous, but also very interested. She thought that Xie Aman could now offer herself to Xue Bai, and then they would work together and they would not have to worry about not being able to charm Xue Bai.

Xie Aman's eyes were filled with admiration, but after a while of hesitating, he said, "I heard rumors that the lady is still alive, and... and Your Highness knows where she is. Can I stay with her and serve her?"

The "wife" she was referring to was naturally Yang Yuhuan.

Yang Yuyao was stunned.

As for Yang Yuhuan, Yang Yuyao was actually unsure. At that time, Xue Bai asked Du Wulang to be the messenger to protect Gao Lishi and Yang Yuhuan as they went south to Shu County. She had said that Du Wulang was stupid and could not protect Yang Yuhuan, but Xue Bai told her that this was the reason why Yang Yuhuan could fake her death and escape.

Later, Xue Bai told her that Yang Yuhuan had gone far away. From then on, they never saw each other again.

There were always rumors in the capital about how Xue Bai and Yang Yuhuan were having an affair, but Yang Yuyao didn't believe it. She thought, if Yang Yuhuan was in Chang'an, how could she not see her sister?
"Rumors are not credible." Xue Bai said, "Your wish will never come true."

Xie Aman was very disappointed.

She said that she wanted to serve Yang Yuhuan, but in fact she wanted to serve Xue Bai together. He refused such a good thing without hesitation, which shows that the rumor was indeed false.

But Xue Bai still encouraged her, commended her for her righteous act of donating her family wealth, and let her leave first.

He and Yang Yuyao were the only ones left in the hall.

"Why don't you agree to her?" Yang Yuyao asked.

"The person is gone, why bother creating trouble again?"

"Where did Yuhuan go?"

Xue Bai thought for a moment and said, "Yingzhou."

The truth is hard to come by in the misty waves of Yingzhou. This answer clearly meant that Yang Yuyao should stop asking questions.

The hall fell silent, and the two did not speak for a long time.

It's like there's nothing to say.

Yang Yuyao felt that there was a big problem in her relationship with Xue Bai.

Everything was different from before. She used to live a life of luxury and extravagance, and Xue Bai would never say anything. Because she was strong at that time, she was the elder sister, and she was used to lying there lazily, hooking her fingers, smiling seductively, and letting Xue Bai come forward to work hard until she could not resist.

Now Xue Bai holds great power and is surrounded by beauties. However, she cannot learn to act like a spoiled child to please him like other women. As a sister, it is difficult for her to change into a docile and obedient character.

But did she do something wrong? The heyday of the Tang Dynasty was indeed gone, and she should wear a thorny hairpin and cloth skirt and advocate frugality and diligence with him. But this was a wife's duty, and she was not one of them, and she did not like simplicity.

She couldn't find herself. The Yang Yuyao of the past gradually faded, and finally seemed to disappear along with the prosperous atmosphere.

"I should have gone to Yingzhou with Yuhuan to avoid corrupting the morals of Chang'an."

Finally, she sighed, glanced at Xue Bai with resentment, and said, "I will also offer all my treasures so that your decree can be carried out smoothly."

"Are you willing to do so?"

"I can't bear to leave you." Yang Yuyao said, "But I also have a wish."

"What."

Yang Yuyao pointed at Xue Bai's large desk filled with memorials and official documents, pulled Xue Bai's collar to get her close to her ear, and whispered, "I want to subdue you from there."

She wanted to conquer the most powerful man in the center of power in the world. "Then let's see who will conquer whom."

Xue Bai picked up Yang Yuyao and placed her on the table. As she screamed, her long legs pushed the memorial down, scattering it all over the floor...

~~
Forbidden Garden.

Horses can be seen grazing everywhere on the pasture, and what is rare is that each one has the same beautiful body shape and coat color.

Suddenly someone asked in surprise: "How can this be possible?!"

"It's not a prosperous time now, so we should save money if we can." Du Wulang said with emotion, "Your Highness said that the border troops defending against the autumn are in need of war horses. It would be a waste to raise so many fine horses in the imperial garden but keep them idle. Let the border troops take them away."

Today, Du Wulang came because there were still thousands of "dancers" on the Liyuan roster who needed to be laid off. After coming to verify, he found out that they were actually 500 dancing horses and the actors who performed with them.

What is rare is that each dancing horse has a name, and many of them were named by Li Longji himself. Often, "nu" or "chong" is one of the characters in the name, which shows Li Longji's love for them.

This expense is not small. It costs countless fodder, manpower and material resources every year to feed so many horses, but only use them for occasional performances. It is certainly not worth it. Anyway, he did not have the confidence to afford it, so he asked Xue Bai for permission and sent officials from the horse supervisor to take these dancing horses away as war horses.

But the eunuchs who were responsible for taking care of them refused to agree.

This man was named Guan Mingsi. He was a favorite eunuch of Li Longji during his reign. He was in charge of training these dancing horses to perform. At this moment, he was weeping bitterly.

"It would be a waste of natural resources if they were taken away!" Guan Mingsi said, "These dancing horses have not run wildly for more than ten years. Although they look majestic, they can no longer be used as war horses. If they are really taken to the border, not only will they be harmed, but also the soldiers riding them."

"Nonsense! How can I believe you?" The official of the horse guard immediately scolded, "You must have taken a lot of bribes from raising dancing horses, and you don't want to lose this source of income, so you are making alarmist statements!"

Guan Mingsi shook his head repeatedly and said, "What's the point of me embezzling money? I don't interact with people at all. I just want to get along with horses."

His words seemed quite sincere. At least when facing the people around him, he did look like he was not good at dealing with people.

"These dancing horses can understand all kinds of music, they can stand, jump, and dance, but they can't run fast. They have never left Chang'an. Apart from the Forbidden Garden, the farthest place they have been is Xingqing Palace to perform for the emperor. Horses are timid by nature. These foals have never seen the world in more than ten years since they were young. Once they go to the battlefield, how can they not be frightened?"

Behind him, the actors who were performing with the five hundred dancing horses also burst into tears.

Their fate is the same as that of the dancing horses. Their only training in their entire lives was to perform one performance, that of dancing horses holding cups to celebrate the birthday of the saints. Now that they have been laid off, they have no way out at all.

After hearing this, Du Wulang could tell that what Guan Mingsi said was true, and he couldn't help but hesitate.

Seeing that he was hesitating, Guan Mingsi quickly took out the flute from his sleeve and started to play it. As the music played, a dancing horse actually trotted over, picked up a branch from a short tree, and placed the branch in front of Du Wulang. A small green pear was hanging on the branch.

"Huh." Du Wulang was very surprised and asked, "Does it listen to you so much?"

In the past, when he saw dancing horses holding cups, he thought that the saints were blessed by heaven, so the dancing horses only held the cups to present to the saints.

Today I realized that there is no such thing as divine favor, only skills.

"Horses are intelligent," Guan Mingsi said with tears in his eyes. "Horses are as smart as three-year-old children, but they don't know how to protect themselves. They would rather get hurt than listen to their masters. That's why we have been able to perform the dance horse holding the cup so well over the years."

Du Wulang picked up the green pear on the ground but didn't eat it. However, looking at the dancing horse's big eyes, he could feel its innocence and cleverness and he couldn't help feeling sorry for it.

"But the court would have been overwhelmed by the burden of supporting so many people and horses just for a performance at the Qianqiu Wansui Festival." Du Wulang sighed, "This is not a prosperous era..."

Having said that, he still agreed to think of a solution for Guan Mingsi.

So he went to find Da Xi Yingying again.

"What if I let the dancing horses perform among the people?"

"Who's watching?" Da Xi Yingying asked, "Dancing horses holding cups is the highlight of the Qianqiu Wansui Festival. There are five hundred horses. Apart from the Xingqing Palace Square, who else can have such a large place for dancing horses to perform?"

"It can be outside the city."

Before Du Wulang finished speaking, Da Xi Yingying asked again, "Who will the dancing horse hold the cup for? In the past, it was a privilege only for saints. Whether it's a noble or a commoner, who dares to accept it?"

"Instead of holding the cup, what else can you hold?"

"It costs a lot to raise and train dancing horses. Even if you perform, how much will you spend and how much will you earn? Why do you want to take on this mess? Just do as Cui Youfu said at the beginning and get rid of it."

At the end, Da Xi Yingying added another sentence.

"If it can't be used as a war horse, it can't even carry goods or people. Killing it and eating it will at least give us a few more meals of meat."

Du Wulang always knew that this woman was cruel, but he still felt a little bothered after hearing this.

That night, he slept very uneasily, sometimes hearing celebration music and sometimes hearing the neighing of horses.

The next day he got up before dawn and stood in the yard in a daze. Today was an odd day, and Du Youlin had already put on his official robe and was in a hurry to go out for the morning court. When he saw Du Wulang in the yard, he couldn't help but scold him.

"My rebellious son, you actually get up so early? You scared me."

Du Youlin was a little surprised to see Du Wulang getting up early. He walked a few steps and saw that Du Wulang was still doing nothing. He couldn't help but scold him: "At this time of reform, the whole court is united, and look at you..."

The cursing gradually faded away, and Quan Rui's voice was heard from the front yard.

"Ah Lang, I'm afraid it's too late for the morning court."

"Bring the horse over here." Du Youlin said, "They say this house is too far away, but your highness advocates frugality, so now is not the time to change it."

Soon, the hurried sound faded away.

Du Wulang stood there in a daze for a while. Finally, he made up his mind and ran straight to find Da Xi Yingying.

It was just dawn when we arrived at Xi Yingying's residence.

Knowing that Du Wulang was familiar with the master of the house, the maid led him to the back hall to meet him. Da Xi Yingying was dressing up, with her hair uncombed, eyebrows unpainted, and rouge unapplied. When she saw him coming, she was very angry and turned away.

"Wu Lang, you are too much of an outsider here!"

"what?"

Du Wulang thought, compared to when she asked him to pick her up in the beginning, today he was being rude just because he saw her without putting on makeup.

Fortunately, he could speak, and he quickly said, "Hey, you look better like this than before."

"Heh." Da Xi Yingying looked at the bronze mirror without turning her head and said, "Why are you rushing here in such a hurry?"

"I've made up my mind," Du Wulang said, "I'm going to hold a big show outside the city, and the last one will be a horse dance show, so that everyone in Chang'an can watch it."

"It's not the right time. Your Highness has just issued an edict to be diligent and frugal. Now is not the time to be indulging in singing and dancing, or indulge in sensual pleasures."

"I know."

Du Wulang didn't know what to say, so he thought for a while and then told a small story first.

"A few days ago, His Highness released the elephants that were kept in the Imperial Garden to the south of the mountain. First, it was to put an end to the custom of offering rare birds, such as cranes, hunting dogs, and sea hollies. Every time they were offered as tribute, hunters' families would be ruined. Second, it was to reduce the expenses of the palace. Third, keeping animals in captivity goes against their nature and harms the harmony of nature. In short, he did this to set an example for others and to reverse the trend of extravagance. This is a big deal."

"It's good that you know." Da Xi Yingying said, "Sending the dancing horses into the army, regardless of whether they are frightened or unusable, is also done for the world to see. When people know that the court is changing, they will naturally be excited."

"But I don't want to do it for the world to see." Du Wulang said, "I want to perform it for the world to see, for the common people to see. The musicians and actors, the dancing horses, have practiced for so long, it would be a pity to just dismiss them all. This is like burning the piano and cooking the crane, it's a waste, doesn't it go against your highness' original intention of being diligent and frugal?"

Da Xi Yingying ignored him and was drawing her eyebrows seriously.

Du Wulang added, "Cui Youfu is right to close down the opera house. Even my grandfather has been busy lately. They are all doing big things and have not considered what to do with those actors and dancing horses after they are closed down. Anyway, it will not affect the overall situation. But I have been given the job, so I have to find a way for them to live. Even if they are horses, they are dancers recorded in my roster."

"Wulang, your biggest problem is that you are too kind-hearted." Da Xi Yingying said.

Du Wulang said, "Let's follow your suggestion and put on the show, okay?"

"It's fine to find a way for the actors to make a living, but if someone impeaches you for resuming your extravagant lifestyle and it implicates Lord Du, it will be a big deal."

Da Xi Ying Ying immediately continued, "Also, the dance of the horse holding the cup is only performed on the birthday of the emperor. If you perform it among the people, it is very likely to be considered disrespectful, and it might implicate His Highness."

Hearing this, Du Wulang hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Highness said that the Tang Dynasty will definitely return to its heyday and become even more prosperous. The extravagant lifestyle must be abandoned, but how can we not dare to do anything just to avoid extravagance?"

As he spoke, his eyes lit up, and he took a step forward and said, "I've thought about it. For this performance, we can be simple, but it also has to have the grandeur of the Tang Dynasty!"

Da Xi Yingying finally put down her eyebrow pencil and looked back at Du Wulang.

She never disliked his kindness. On the contrary, his greatest quality that attracted her attention was his kindness.

"Okay, let's do it."

~~
A few days later, Yang Yuyao was playing polo in the Forbidden Garden.

She used to like to go out with a plain face and wear fancy clothes to show off her elegance, but now she dresses much more simply, but she is not as high-spirited as before.

After playing for a while, Yang Yuyao felt a little bored. Suddenly, she saw Mingzhu in the stands waving at her, so she rode over.

"What's the matter?"

"Yao Niang, it's His Highness." Mingzhu was unusually happy today, with a smile in her eyes, and whispered, "His Highness has asked Yao Niang to go to the city to watch a performance tomorrow, and it's a private visit in disguise."

Yang Yuyao was very surprised, but no matter what, she immediately felt happy.

"He still has a conscience."

Seeing her happy, Mingzhu added, "Didn't Yaoniang ask what the performance was? His Highness even commented on the performance."

"What is it?"

"Wuma, His Highness said that the Tang Dynasty was far more than extravagant and luxurious. Although he advocated frugality, he also wanted people to see that the Tang Dynasty still had its spirit."

(End of this chapter)