New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

Ye Zhao's statement made Tang Qian reach out and touch his forehead.

It is said that the land of gentle pleasures is the graveyard of heroes, and it seems that this is true. Ever since he started living happily ever after with the third young lady of the Jiang family, his brother-in-law has become somewhat out of touch with reality.

What Tang Qian wanted was the silver left in the mansion by the Jiang and Bai families. This was crucial start-up capital for him to build various workshops in the future, and Tang Qian was determined to get it.

He made it very clear yesterday on the city wall that as long as one member of the Jiang family is stationed there, the city lord's mansion cannot seal off the residence.

What Ye Zhao needs to do now is to completely conquer Jiang Siyu with his masculine charm, so that she will voluntarily hand over the Jiang family and Bai family's residences.

Only then did the city lord's mansion have a valid reason to dig deep and uncover those two huge sums of money.

"However, this matter cannot be rushed; let's proceed step by step. If we are too eager for quick success and incur Miss Jiang's dissatisfaction, things will become more difficult."

After assigning all the preparations for this period of time, Tang Qian stood up, stretched, and planned to return to his residence in the backyard to rest.

Although Rong'er was a bit sharp-tongued, her kneading and massage skills were excellent. After trying it twice, Tang Qian was still quite addicted.

"Young master, someone outside the manor wishes to see you."

Upon hearing the servant's message, Tang Qian stopped in his tracks: "Who is it?"

"This..." The servant hesitated, his face full of hesitation, "They all come to the city lord's mansion seeking jobs. They can earn a hundred coins a day, and the people in the city are all thinking of trying their luck."

"Since they're looking for work, let them go their own way. Why do they insist on seeing me?"

"I really don't know how to assign these people tasks, so I can only ask you, Lord City, to decide." The servant bowed to Tang Qian and finished speaking, which had been somewhat hesitant. "It's because they are all courtesans from the Little Qinhuai area. The leader is the top courtesan of Yuyu Qionglou, the Guangling Flower Queen chosen this year for the Lantern Festival, the Butterfly Dance Girl."

"The courtesan? The butterfly dance?" Upon hearing the servant's explanation, Tang Qian seemed to become interested.

Tang Qian had heard a little about the brothel culture of Guangling City. Putting aside the poem by Du Mu, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, which perfectly describes the charm of the courtesans of Guangling, "On the night of the bright moon over the Twenty-Four Bridges, where does the jade maiden teach the flute?", even just a folk tale was enough to make Tang Qian want to find out more.

Legend has it that when the Tang emperors selected concubines, the rejected beauties were not sent back to their hometowns, but were all sent to Yangzhou to serve as courtesans. When they grew old and lost their beauty, they could then marry and become respectable women, which greatly improved the appearance of Yangzhou women. This is the origin of the saying "Yangzhou has produced beauties since ancient times".

Since the courtesan waiting outside was the most beautiful geisha in the entire Guangling City, how could Tang Qian possibly avoid seeing her in order to satisfy his curiosity?

Thinking of this, Tang Qian, who was originally preparing to return to the backyard to rest, sat down in his seat again and waved to the servants.

Before he could speak, the servants understood immediately, left the council hall, and ran towards the gate of the mansion.

The craftsmen who came to register outside the courtyard gate continued to arrive in an endless stream, but after this group of brightly dressed girls appeared, everyone unconsciously made way for them.

The wealthy young men in Guangling City had long since left, and those present were all poor people who had never been to a brothel before and had never seen such a scene.

As a legitimate Han dynasty, the Song dynasty did not inherit the open traditions of the Tang dynasty. Beautiful girls from wealthy families were not allowed to go out on ordinary days. Everyone here was a man; even if they hadn't eaten pork, they had at least seen pigs run. Some people in the crowd still guessed the identities of these girls.

For a moment, the once bustling gate of the city lord's mansion fell silent. Everyone's eyes followed the girls as they moved about until they were led into the courtyard by servants, at which point a series of sighs were heard.

Without a doubt, these must be courtesans that the city lord invited to serve him at home.

Visiting brothels might be considered a romantic affair for literati, but inviting someone home in broad daylight is simply outrageous.

Sure enough, the wealthy young men with power and influence are all quite adept at having fun, and this Lord of Guangling City is the best of them all.

What made Tang Qian sneeze uncontrollably at home was that a reputation for being a womanizer had unknowingly spread throughout the entire city of Yangzhou.

Guided by her servants, Butterfly Dance led more than a dozen plump and slender girls into the council hall.

Their allure carried an untouchable charm, their movements captivating yet impeccably polite, making Tang Qian, sitting upright, dare not entertain too many fantasies. He gestured for everyone to take their seats.

"I heard that you ladies are looking for jobs, but all I can offer are physically demanding and technical tasks, so..."

Butterfly Dance smiled and said, "The city lord said that whoever chooses to stay will be the master of Guangling City. Although we sisters are not from respectable families, we still want to do our part to defend the city. Please grant our request."

Tang Qian glanced around the room and found that everyone present had a firm and unwavering gaze. However, none of the tasks he assigned were suitable for these girls. Could he ask them to continue doing their old job of relieving the pressure on the soldiers and maintaining their mental health?

Wouldn't that turn brothels into comfort stations? No, absolutely not. If I did that, how would I be any different from those Japanese bastards in later generations?

After a brief moment of contemplation, Tang Qian turned to Diewu and asked, "What skills do you ladies possess?"

Butterfly Dance blushed slightly, but did not avoid Tang Qian's question: "I can sing and dance, and I can sing and dance..." When she said this, even she herself seemed to lose confidence, after all, what she knew had nothing to do with fighting.

“We have the silver we’ve saved up over the years, and we can donate it all to the city lord’s mansion.”

Tang Qian smiled and stopped him, saying, "These are your means of survival. Besides, the City Lord's Mansion is not short of money at all. You should keep them for yourselves."

Thinking of the mountain of silver piled up outside the prefectural government office, Diewu's face darkened: "It seems that we people are really useless."

“That’s not entirely true,” Tang Qian immediately objected. “The young lady just said that you all can sing and dance well. I wonder what songs you usually sing?”

"We can sing any of the ci poems recorded in the Yuefu."

Tang Qian stroked his chin: "Are there any ci poems with similar melodies? Or any that sound nice?"

"Yes, there are. 'Like a Dream,' 'Meeting Again,' and 'Prelude to Water Melody,' which became popular throughout the country because of Su Shi. I wonder what the city lord intends to do by asking about these?"

"Then could you please sing a few songs for us?"