Start: Datang Wanli a lonely city

Chapter 1025 Civilized Drama

(What's that! Don't worry, I have to finish writing the layout before the final battle, so I'll speed it up)

At the same time, only a few miles away from Huang Yizhi, there was an open space on the side of Zizhulin Pier leased by Jinmen Port.

As the scheduled performance time gradually approached, Erni found herself becoming more and more nervous; she could even hear her heart beating so hard.

Of course, when I was 11 years old, I traveled around the world with my dad, making a living by singing songs for people.

For her who has been in the arena for five years now, it would naturally not be because the assassins were outside the rather simple stage they temporarily built.

There were already thousands of coolies working in the dock waiting for the show to start, and they couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

The real reason that made her nervous was actually two things.

First, they are reluctant to part with the current job that guarantees a good harvest despite droughts and floods, a good job that they never dared to dream of before; they are worried that if the show fails, the owner, Miss Ali, will not be satisfied and give them a job.

A more specific situation is probably this:

Half a month ago, their parents were singing for people in a tavern in Jinmen.

Unexpectedly, after listening to the song, the guests at that table not only refused to reward her with money, but also insisted on dragging her along to have a few drinks with her.

Dad, who usually plays the pipa to accompany me, came forward with his head bowed and wanted to say a few good words to get rid of this trouble without even giving up the reward.

As a result, he was slapped by one of the men with a scarred face. He was slapped to the ground and couldn't get up.

I guess these people still have some tricks up their sleeves in Jinmen City. Anyway, upon seeing this, the shopkeepers and waiters in the store did not dare to come forward to persuade them.

When he saw that he was about to be unlucky, an extremely beautiful young man took action.

In just three punches and two kicks, the guests were beaten away.

The even better thing was yet to come. When his father and daughter stepped forward to thank him, the young master discovered that the other party was also a young girl after he opened his mouth.

Then, this girl called herself Ah Li (Ali’s pseudonym).

She asked them, father and daughter, if they would like to join her troupe; they only need to go around performing with peace of mind and don't have to get involved in any messy things.

Correspondingly, each of their father and daughter received a salary of three taels of silver per month, which also included food and accommodation, and clothing, shoes and socks all year round.

After hearing such good news, the father and daughter quickly agreed.

Because even though they traveled around many cities around the capital city all year round, after a year of swallowing their anger, apart from barely filling their stomachs, they had no money left at all.

But according to what this girl Ali said, apart from a little pocket money, father and daughter can save at least five taels of silver every month.

As long as he works in her troupe for a few years, he can save a lot of money to go back to his hometown, buy a few acres of land, and live a good life.

So when the father and daughter faced this invitation, they almost didn't hesitate at all and agreed to the invitation of this girl Ali.

Of course, the father and daughter agreed so simply.

Not only because Miss Ah Li saved them, but also because her eyes were extremely pure when talking to them. Based on their experience in the world, they definitely weren't bad people.

In short, in the last half month.

After joining this "civilized theater troupe", the father and daughter had good food, good housing, and enjoyed an unprecedented peaceful life. They never wanted to go back to the previous days.

Therefore, today's performance is particularly important.

Secondly, the work that Miss Ah Li asked her to do was really weird.

To be more precise, she was not asked to sing a song or a play for others, but a kind of play that she had never heard of before.

Although in the past half month, she and some new companions had rehearsed a play to be performed today many times.

But before the show started, Erni still didn't have any confidence in her heart.

And as the time gets closer, more and more people are watching the excitement outside; to use a word from the modern world, it’s called a panic...

A few minutes later, my father, who now serves as the troupe's musician and support staff, rang a gong with a 'dang~' sound.

The panic in Erni's heart has reached its peak.

Because the sound of gongs and drums means that Erni's first performance since joining the "Civilized Theater Troupe" has officially begun.

In a huge panic, Erni instinctively glanced at the position on the left. At the moment, she was wearing a long gown and still dressed up as a handsome young man, Ah Li, the boss.

After seeing the encouraging look from the other party, Erni felt inexplicably relieved.

She took a deep breath, and then dressed in a costume full of patches, completely dressed like a country girl, she appeared on the stage from a simple backstage with just a curtain.

The name of this play is "Trackers on the White River".

The overall plot is not that complicated. Even in the late Qing Dynasty, it is a story that everyone has long been accustomed to.

The content of the story is: Xiaocui's family of five was originally a farmer in Zhongyuan Province.

Although life was originally difficult, I could barely get by.

Unfortunately, there was a severe drought in Central Plains Province when Xiaocui was sixteen. It didn't rain for almost half the year, and all the crops in the fields were harvested.

In desperation, the family could only go out to seek a living, begging all the way and planning to live in Jinmen.

Halfway through the journey, her mother starved to death because she basically saved the little food she had every day to feed a few of them.

Fortunately, despite the hardships along the way, Xiaocui, her father and two brothers survived.

The remaining four people in the family came to Jinmen alive, and the three brothers, the elder brother and the father, soon found a new job: trackers.

The main reason is that over time, there is a certain distance on the Baihe River that has too much silt. After the cargo ship is loaded, it is impossible to pass by on its own strength.

So the profession of trackers who pulled their fibers was born.

After that, the family of four built two shacks on the wasteland by the river and lived there.

On weekdays, the men in the family are stretching by the river, while Xiao Cui stays at home, sewing and cooking.

In the first six months, except for the fact that my father and brother didn't want to say a word when they came back from work every day, everything else went relatively smoothly.

The family of four had enough to eat and saved more than two taels of silver.

For this reason, every time they chatted in their rare free time, they imagined that after working here in Jinmen for three years and saving a sum of money, they would return to their hometown in Central Plains Province to live.

With that sum of money, not only could he pay off his debt to Mr. Huang Murakami, but he could also find a wife for each of his two brothers who were over twenty years old.

As for Xiao Cui himself, she fell in love with Daniel who lived next door.

Daniu is also a tracker and lives with a blind old woman. The shack he lives in is not far from Xiaocui's house.

Because he pitied his blind mother, it was difficult to do sewing, starching and other tasks on weekdays. Xiaocui would do the work whenever she had free time.

After going back and forth, Xiao Cui fell in love with Daniu, that honest and hard-working guy.

After secretly testing what my father and brothers meant, they didn't seem to object.

So for Xiaocui, she is very satisfied with this kind of life.

Only half a year later, there were suddenly fewer cargo ships on the Baihe River. It was said that foreign steam ships were used for sea transportation, which was faster and cheaper.

Nowadays, not many cargo owners are willing to use this canal to transport goods.

Unable to make ends meet, the more than two taels of silver they saved were used up in a month or two. In order to find a way to survive, the two brothers first went to Liaodong.

But just a few days after the two brothers left, my father became seriously ill.

In order to save her father, Xiao Cui gritted her teeth and sold herself to a brothel; on the day she was picked up by the big teapots, Xiao Cui and Daniu held each other's hands and cried...

The above simple plot was performed smoothly by Erni and the rest of the group, and no one forgot the lyrics or anything.

But as the performance continued, Erni felt that something was wrong; what should I say? The surroundings were eerily quiet, with no applause or boos at all. Taking advantage of a certain gap, she took the time to take a quick look at the audience.

It turned out that the audience was now completely dark, and there were almost thousands of people in the audience. But with so many people gathered together, they all seemed to be watching the show with dark faces and silent words.

For a moment, Erni, who thought she had completely failed in her first performance, was so flustered that she almost cried.

I just gritted my teeth, gritted my teeth, and continued to act with all my strength.

In fact, poor Erni doesn't have to worry at all.

There are thousands of people in the audience, mainly dock workers. It’s not like these people don’t like to watch such a brand-new performance method.

But when so many people gather together, it is called a 'group emotion amplification' effect in psychology.

Or, it's due to something called the 'theatre effect'.

Their hearts, which were already somewhat numb to these situations, were torn open again, exposing their wounds again.

Because everything that was performed above is too familiar to them.

It's so familiar that it feels like it's happening around you, or even like it's telling its own story.

For example, a man named Sun Xiaohu in the audience had tears filling his eyes before he knew it, his hands clenched into fists, and the veins on his neck bulged, showing that he was so angry.

He is from Anhui Province, just like the one on the stage.

A few years ago, we were unable to survive in our hometown due to a natural disaster, and the family fled.

The difference is that the whole family, including children, wife, parents, all died of starvation or illness on the road, leaving him alone in this world like a lonely ghost.

Nowadays, he makes a living on the dock and never dares to get sick, because he doesn't know if he will starve to death if he loses his income if he gets sick.

The actors on the stage do not have gorgeous singing voices, beautiful figures, and even their costumes are patched.

But this way, he felt that it was so real, that he was actually playing out his tragic story over the past thirty years.

And among the thousands of people in the audience, Sun Xiaohu is not the only one who has a similar situation? In such a difficult era, among these people at the bottom of society, who doesn’t have some similar sad people in them.

Therefore, this one is completely different from their impression that they will only play weird dramas about queens, generals, ministers, or talented people and beautiful ladies.

But it successfully moved them with unprecedented strength...

After seeing the above scene, he always had a calm and steady expression on his face, like an old dog.

In fact, because it was the first time to organize such a thing, the white-haired girl Ali, who was still a little unsure, breathed a sigh of relief.

I know that it is completely feasible to mobilize the people's ideas through the means of troupe.

After the masses become angry, they can guide them to think about why such a situation occurs and how to change it.

Then, the rotten Daqing became a thorn in their side and a thorn in their flesh.

In the following time, he only needs to continue to copy and expand the scale of this kind of troupe, and it will be able to inspire the numb masses.

In short, the first performance of the 'Civilized Theater Troupe' was an astonishing success.

I believe that as long as they play a few more games, their follow-up plan to form a 'workers' mutual aid association' can be officially launched.

So with great relief, the white-haired girl Ali also muttered:

“I didn’t expect that the scripts written by Fatty Fatty, which at first glance looked so rustic and bloody, were so effective. So after I returned, I asked him to write a few more.

correct! Since we are all in Jinmen, why can't we not have cross talk?

Not popular yet? It doesn’t matter. After we go back, let the damn fat guy write a few good jokes and then arrange for people to rehearse them..."

******

When Huang Yizhi and Ali used newspapers, dramas and other means to make publicity flourish in areas such as Jinmen and Jingshi City.

In addition, Balong, Miyanmao, Banerzhuan, Laoshe and others who are also responsible for the publicity plan are not idle in related work in other areas.

Thanks to their hard work, they have achieved quite good results so far.

Still at the same time, but the place was changed to the Jiashan area in the south.

Under an oil lamp, Mao Xiaodou, also known as Mi Yanmao, who has just joined the mission this time and is a rookie reporter in the modern dimension, is writing a manuscript quickly with a pen.

He and Lao She had opened a "Revolution Daily" in the public concession after arriving in Shanghai more than two months ago.

The "Northern Times" with Fatty Huang and his colleagues focused on starting from the current situation and putting forward some high-level ideas, which attracted the attention of the majority of scholars and intellectuals.

The difference is that in the southern region, where commerce is more developed, their focus is on real business and people's livelihood.

After all, a large number of scholars in the South have businesses at home.

The headline of the first issue of the newspaper was a "Business Survey Report on the Magic City Area" written by Mi Yanmao himself.

In such a report, Mi Yanmao and Lao She listed a large amount of data on the government and foreigners obtained through personal visits and bribes.

The follow-up was to rely on the harmless external seconds to continuously visit each area in person and continuously issue relevant investigation reports.

This is a basic introduction to the completely unfair business environment between foreigners and young businessmen in the entire Yangtze River Delta region.

For example: How many cents are levied on goods shipped from Zhejiang Province to Shanghai, and how high the overall cost is.

As for foreigners' similar goods, even if they pay cheap tariffs and take into account cheaper production costs and shipping costs, they have a huge cost advantage.

As a result, "Reform Daily", a newspaper that can be said to express the inner thoughts of Daqing businessmen, had a mediocre response in the first three issues, but it became popular after the fourth issue.

In short, Huang Yizhi's "Northern Daily" focuses on a scholar who strives for the world.

This "Revolution Daily" allowed the emerging business class in the late Qing Dynasty to see the existence of Daqing, a decadent court, and the disadvantages of doing business for them.

It can be regarded as using this method to stir up the resentment in their hearts.

This kind of resentment may not have any effect at ordinary times, but once it comes to a critical moment, the support of these businessmen is still a huge force.

At the same time, Xinmin Weekly was opened in Barong, Wuchang, and Banerzhuan opened Yangcheng New News in Yangcheng.

After using industry, education and other perspectives as entry points, it also became popular in several surrounding provinces and expanded its influence to further regions.

For a time, the entire Daqing literati were mentally shocked by the sudden increase in newspapers.

Of course, Xuange Camp also did not relax in terms of changing the ideological trend of the grassroots people.

In addition to the grass-stage troupe, which is similar to the "Civilized Theater Troupe", Ali, Lao She, Balong, Ban'erzhuan and others are frantically expanding their numbers and performing for free everywhere.

Let ordinary people with low literacy rates be affected by such a big era.

Not only that, many ordinary people in Daqing were suddenly surprised to find artists such as storytellers, rap drummers, shadow puppets, singing and playing critics, and sanxian artists.

The content of their performances has also undergone some huge changes in recent times.

There are fewer stories about princes, generals, talents and beauties, but there are more stories about the daily necessities and food around us. These more down-to-earth stories often make their eyes turn red as they listen to them.

Regarding today's world, I couldn't help but let out a long sigh; as time passed, I started to have more ideas in my mind, some of which were more or less.

The reason why a group of folk artists changed the content of their programs is actually very simple.

For the last show they performed, they would receive a subsidy of money based on the number of listeners; now there are at least hundreds of people under Ah Li and others, distributed all over the place, spreading money crazily everywhere.

During such a process, the Daqing imperial court reacted like an old man, which was shockingly slow...

(End of this chapter)