Chapter 60: Night Banquet 2
Chapter 60: Night Banquet
The alcohol content of the wine was very low. Shao Xun drank several glasses but still sat there sober, watching the music and dance leisurely.
The slaves in the palaces of dukes and princes were usually trained by the mistress. The mistress from a large family was proficient in music and dance, and when she was in the mood, she would personally train the slaves to perfection.
A noble family needs pomp and circumstance.
The female musicians and dancers who entertain the guests are an important part of the ceremony.
If the guest is of high status, the host will sometimes send his concubine to accompany the guest as a sign of respect. This may be one of the reasons why a concubine's child is not very popular, because sometimes it is really uncertain whether the child is the master's child.
These dancers in front of us were probably purchased by Sima Yue in Luoyang - yes, he purchased dancers just like he purchased furniture.
The purchasing process is also very simple.
There was already a trend of large-scale slavery in the Wei and Jin dynasties. The court had official slaves and private individuals had private slaves. Their sources were mostly captives, criminals, or even slaves sold by themselves. The supply was very sufficient, and people could pick and choose and repeatedly bargain for the slaves.
Especially self-selling has become the mainstream at this stage.
Frequent wars and constant floods and droughts caused the number of self-cultivating farmers to go bankrupt to increase as early as more than a decade ago. In order to avoid taxes and military service, some sold their entire families into slavery, while others were better off and attached themselves to wealthy families, becoming retainers or farmhands, and in fact serfs.
Of course, private slave-hunting cannot be ignored. As an "organic supplement" to the slave market, this sector was very active, and officials even secretly hired people to capture slaves and sell them to make money. Shi Le was once shackled and sold to Shandong as a slave, becoming a slave who worked on the land in a large estate.
Under the farm economy, aren't there slaves and retainers everywhere?
The current Jin Dynasty has become a semi-slave society.
Shao Xun used to be a military household, strictly speaking, a serf who cultivated the land and had to fight part-time. In the eyes of scholars, wasn't he no different from an ant?
Therefore, he was able to be selected as a filial and honest official, and was transformed from a "slave" to a "slave owner", completing a qualitative change across classes. It was really like thick smoke rising from his ancestral graves, making the vast majority of military households cry and envy him.
The music gradually turned cheerful, attracting Shao Xun's attention.
The dancers' movements are unrestrained and smooth, as if they are flying.
Soon they dispersed like happy little birds, waving their clothes and hats in front of the guests, bending and stretching with graceful postures.
The guests drank too much and started pointing and laughing.
Judging from the looks of those old perverts, most of them are commenting on the dancers and want to try some of them - this is not impossible, as dancers are often used to entertain guests, it all depends on whether your status is high enough.
At this time, a dancer jumped in front of Shao Xun's desk.
Sometimes she was gentle and submissive, as lovely as a little bird, her clothes almost brushing his face, and her plump breasts slowly passed through his sight as if in slow motion.
The movements are carefully designed, with particular attention to angles, speeds, and expressions, which will definitely give you an excellent visual enjoyment.
After a while, it floated away, like an eagle unwilling to be bound soaring in the sky, with a noble posture, just like a saint.
If it is your first time attending such a banquet and you have no experience with such a thing and you have been drinking, you may scratch your ears and cheeks and subconsciously reach out to keep the guest, which would make you look stupid.
After Shao Xun sat firmly at the desk, his expression didn't even change much.
The real person is certainly different from the teacher in the hard drive and is much more tempting, but his threshold is a bit high.
Ordinary women can no longer seduce or stimulate him.
He still remembered the scene of squatting behind Yang Xianrong on the day when Sima Yi was captured.
That is truly an ultimate enjoyment, even if it is just a fantasy in your mind.
If one could really marry a queen who is the mother of the country, or even let this most noble woman in the world give birth to one's own children, that would be a joy that comes from the soul.
In short, he's a pervert.
Small battles have no effect on him.
"What kind of dance is this?" Shao Xun turned his head and asked Pei Kuo.
"The thrush dance." Pei Kuo said, "Both men and women can dance it. But today's dance is carefully choreographed. I don't know who created it. It's quite interesting."
It was adapted before? Shao Xun nodded. Could it be written by the princess? If so, she must be very lonely...
A scholar sitting below Shao Xun heard this, smiled, and looked at Shao Xun with a scrutinizing look.
Shao Xun glanced at him without changing his expression.
You sit below me, and the line is almost to the door. Your status is lower than mine, so why are you pretending?
After the dance, the dancers each picked someone to persuade them to drink.
They had just finished dancing, their chests were panting, and their soft voices made them look very attractive. It is indeed possible to use this to test cadres!
"Gentlemen." Sima Yue stood up, raised the wine bottle, and said with a smile: "Sima Yi has been captured, and the foreign troops are about to enter the city. We must unite sincerely and don't let the outsiders take advantage."
Since Sikong "offered" wine, everyone naturally had to give him face.
So Gou Xi stood up first and said loudly: "I will obey Sikong's order."
After saying this, he drank it all in one gulp. This is called "酢", also known as "returning the wine".
After Gou Xi took the lead, the others also stood up one after another, drank the wine in their cups, and said in unison: "We will follow the orders of the Minister of Works."
Sima Yue laughed loudly, looking happy.
He asked someone to fill the glass with wine again, and drank it all by himself. This was a "reward drink", and he drank it all, and the guests could do as they pleased.
After the offering, toasting and rewarding were finished, Sima Yue left the table temporarily and the time for free activities followed.
Everyone sat down and flirted with the dancers beside them.
"Why is the general only concerned with eating meat?" the dancer asked quietly after pouring the wine.
"It's so rare to eat meat that I can't think of anything else." Shao Xun smiled and said, "What is this? It tastes pretty good."
The dancer covered her mouth and laughed, saying, "This is the deer tail from Yezhong. There shouldn't be many left in the city."
"what about this?"
"Hush sheep."
Shao Xun looked at the sheep in front of him and felt a little emotional.
Placing the goose inside the lamb, filling it with glutinous rice and five kinds of flavors, and cooking it fully has always been the "private dish" of princes and nobles.
Xuan then thought of the food shortage in the city and became even more speechless.
The common people were short of food, the soldiers were getting reduced rations, but the nobles were still enjoying a life of luxury. It was not without reason that Sima Yi had ordered the forced collection of the nobles' stored food, because they even had surplus food to feed their livestock and provide themselves with meat.
There is such a huge difference between people!
Going up a level is a completely different world.
Deer tails, sheep, fine wine, dancers, female musicians, etc., these are things that only the upper class can enjoy. If an ordinary person is lucky enough to enter this class, it will probably not take long for him to be corrupted, right?
Shao Xun also likes fine wine, delicious food and beautiful women, but he feels that the current social situation is not enough to support him and his descendants to live such a comfortable life for a long time.
The Western Jin Dynasty society with its economy of large landlords and large manors has been proven to be a failure by history and was eventually replaced by the new forces of small landlords and small manors.
Compared with the relatively stable Southern Dynasty, the Northern Dynasty was undergoing drastic changes.
In the end, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which carried out relatively thorough slavery reforms and implemented a military merit system for small landlords, defeated the Northern Qi Dynasty, which had incomplete reforms, and unified the north.
Reform is necessary!
Shao Xun once again reaffirmed his thoughts.
He will do what he can until the day he dies, and if there is any unfinished task, he will pass it on to the next generation.
This is the direction of historical development, and it cannot be changed by anyone's will. Even if the new monarch still likes the Wei and Jin styles, he cannot turn back.
People cannot stand against the tide of history, otherwise they will be crushed to pieces.
"Where are you from?" Shao Xun asked.
The dancer laughed again.
The other sisters were already out of breath from being touched, but this gentleman was quite serious and actually had the leisure to chat with her about other things.
Shao Xun guessed what she meant and smiled without saying anything.
There are similar occasions in later generations where people touch each other and drink at the same time. Isn’t it business KTV?
The "private room manager" Pei Shiliu just passed by outside, and Shao Xun didn't want to act unrestrained and leave a bad impression on others.
"I am from Bingzhou." the dancer replied.
"What's the situation of the Huns in Bingzhou?" Shao Xun asked.
The dancer was stunned.
Pei Kuo laughed at the side and said, "If you ask her about music and dance, she can still answer you a few words. Asking the Xiongnu is like looking for fish in a tree."
Shao Xun smiled and said nothing.
After a while, Pei Shiliu passed by from the outside again and gave Shao Xun a look.
Shao Xunan sat for a while, then stood up and left the main hall on the pretext of going to the toilet.
"The King of Chengdu is coming to Luoyang." Pei Shiliu said quickly.
"Why is he here?" Shao Xun was stunned.
"I'm just coming here for a while, and I'll be back to Yecheng soon." Pei Shiliu said, "The news is reliable."
"Thank you, Princess, for your advice." Shao Xun bowed and said.
Pei Shiliu nodded and soon disappeared into the night.
"It's really haunting." Shao Xun cursed in a low voice and shook his head helplessly.
If Sima Ying came in person, the eunuch Meng Jiu would certainly accompany him and serve him. Some things would become complicated again.
But - who cares! Can a living person be killed by holding his urine?
Considering Sima Yue's attitude towards him at this moment, it's not a big problem, he just needs to be careful, which can be seen from the princess's attitude.
(End of this chapter)