open sea

Chapter 1444
William has been staying at the home of James, an actor and old theater owner, as a gardener.

Planting nettles, planting lettuce, planting hyssop, and pulling thyme, in addition to watering and turning the soil, he is also an all-rounder in life.

His father, old Shakespeare, was a farmer, a grocer in the wool, leather and corn business, and was mayor for three years. He had been a decent gentleman in his hometown.

However, the leather shop has also done some shady things behind the scenes. When William was a child, he was very rich, and he had to study for six years and learn Latin and Greek.

Later, the old Shakespeare was penalized and bankrupt for tax evasion and tax evasion. William dropped out of school before graduating. He taught in the village, worked as an apprentice in a butcher shop, and worked in the market. He was also handy as a gardener and secretary.

Therefore, during the period of living in the outskirts of London, he was very popular with James. This young man was quick in his hands and feet, and his mind was flexible. He only needed one morning to tidy up the garden. The flesh and fur come back.

The most important thing is that mathematics is a nuisance, and Little William can deal with some arithmetic matters with Zhao En, a timber merchant.

By the end of May, they learned from Zhao Enna, who was in a hurry to buy timber, that while they were enjoying their pastoral life under the chaos of war, great changes had taken place in London.

The Ming army was building a large-scale construction project in the west of the city that was destroyed by the war. It is said that because the nobles sent to London by the Eastern Army were dissatisfied with the streets of London, they set aside a large area of ​​land for reconstruction, and included a large number of noble manors outside the city under the rule of London.

Zhao En, a lumber merchant, made a lot of profits because of this, and the Ming army ordered him to undertake the timber and stone materials for the county government, official residences, government temples and many buildings, which was an unprecedented huge project.

There are two Yimen gates in the Shanxian Yamen and Zhifu Yamen, two halls, two halls, six rooms, two back halls, and dozens of official residences.

There are more than [-] buildings in the official government temples, such as City God, Land, Chinese Literature Hall, Changping Warehouse, Yin-Yang Studies, Medicine, Huimin Pharmacy, Yangjiyuan, Louze Garden, Mayi, Delivery Office, and Hebo Institute.

It is said that this is only the early stage of construction. Even the Hampton Palace in the western suburbs on the south bank of the Thames River is in the later stage of renovation plans, intending to use it as the palace of the Ming dynasty.

There is also an extremely discouraging news. By the end of May, Baron Charles and his remnants, who were sticking to the Tower of London, collapsed their last fighting spirit under the threat of famine and disease. After six failed breakouts, they finally brought more than two hundred The defeated soldiers surrendered in Kaesong.

This was after the defeat of the Scottish Army led by Earl Robert, the last resistance force south of Yorkshire was completely destroyed.

The stingy William took out eight furs that he had saved and processed, and exchanged three bottles of the best sherry wine in Europe in this era with Zhao En.

James felt even more deeply about this. If there is no Queen Elizabeth, who needs actors like them?

But after the two of them sobered up, all the sorrows of the spring and autumn were over. Zhao En, a timber merchant, sent someone to invite James to perform in London. It is said that the master from Ming Dynasty was very interested in the theater.

"He thinks it is necessary for the government to pay for the repair of the old theater that was burned, and I heard from Master Liu of the magistrate's yamen that if you behave well, the nobles from Ming Dynasty even plan to set aside a piece of theater in the city."

"The first theater in London, and a tour including England and Ireland."

This has nothing to do with William, it was Zhao En who told James, that is the actor, William Shakespeare is the little follower behind the popular actor.

Although there are only two individuals, it may also be referred to as James et al.

London at this time is no longer the London of the past, but for him, if he wants to stand out, he can only follow James, who is determined to be No.1 in the London City Theater, and prepare for the performance.

Now there is a lot of waste to be done, the repair work of the old theater has not been done well, there are insufficient manpower, and there is no new script, and James does not know what to perform after he arrives in London.

However, Zhao En was very concerned about what the government ordered, and even asked the Eastern Banner Army to name James Jinmi.

The little follower, William, plans to take it to the old theater to do some chores to make ends meet. He can handle horses, walk horses, and sweep the floor for the gentlemen who listen to the theater.

Kimmy even began to imagine the day when he was recognized by Tang Xianzu and opened a new theater in London and became famous.

It seemed that the uninterrupted acting career had greatly improved his mood, and on the way to London, he had expressed to William more than once that as long as his show went well and William's support was not forgotten, these lowest jobs would soon be gone Finish.

When the old theater puts on a few performances and earns some money, he'll hire two more people, and then put William in charge of calling the actors on stage at regular intervals.

"William, you have a bright mind and a sharp tongue. It won't be long before you get familiar with these things. Then you will go on stage and help the actors with prompts. Maybe you will be an actor or a qualified script doctor in two years."

Zhao En is not only looking for the actor Kimmy, but also an atheist from Cambridge, Christopher Marlowe, who claims to be a night school.

This young man was the same age as William, but his cultural level was higher than William's by a Westminster obelisk. According to Zhao En, he was not so much interested in the script as he was deeply interested in the godless attitude of the Ming people.

Zhao En found this person in order to let him try to write a script.

The real playwright is Robert Greene, an equally young man who is known as a poet and has experience writing plays.

Jinmi also found a few old actors in the suburbs of London through his personal connections to help him revive the reputation of the old theater.

When they arrived at the old theater, many workers hired by the government through businessmen were already busy repairing the looted old theater, and it would be able to put on performances in a month at most.

The difference between people is sometimes greater than that between people and dogs.

Kimmy, Christopher, Robert and the others were busy choosing a new script to please the magistrate. William had no right to get involved in their discussions. He could only sweep the floor, prepare costumes and props, or help people run around. some chores.

Other than that, I can only walk the horse. Fortunately, there is a boxing ring next to the old theater. It seems that the big men from Ming Dynasty are very interested in the entertainment activities in the slums of London.

He could often see the tall, fair-skinned, strong-jawed Ming soldiers beating up London hooligans and veteran boxers in the ring.

However, when the actors and screenwriters were intensively preparing for the work and excluded William, who did not have much culture, Little William still found a key point in his heart.

Those literary youths with noses reaching up to the sky and tails flicking on the ground, always ordering him to buy wine but not giving him a drink, thought that they could please the adults from Ming Dynasty very well by using Latin and Spanish.

But he, a Spanish veteran who likes boxing, learned while drinking that the prefect didn't understand Spanish at all.

For this reason, he would take Christopher's horse across the bridge and three streets every day to attend classes in the Chinese language classroom in the past Westminster Abbey.

This is very important to him.

(End of this chapter)