I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 32 Selecting Actors
Although the previous article mentioned that the princes had no power to control the officials in the palace, the officials in the palace were too far away from the emperor and too close to the princes.

Although they were nominally responsible only to the emperor, the emperor basically would not remember them, and everyone knew the salary level of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, many officials in the royal palace colluded with the princes and were used by them under the inducement of generous rewards from the princes.

The most serious department was the Guard Command Office. Since the Guard Command was hereditary, the guard commanders of almost every royal palace were bribed by the princes, and the emperor had no good solution for this.

The next morning, Sun Gong brought a young man to Cunxin Hall. The most surprising thing was that the young man was wearing a Confucian robe, which made him very eye-catching in the palace.

"Your Highness, this is Qin Yuelan's brother Qin Ming." Sun said respectfully.

"Qin Ming, the musician of the Dian Music Institute, pays his respects to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jing." Qin Ming saluted very formally.

Zhu Houxuan looked at the young man in front of him with great interest. Qin Ming had a handsome appearance, but his temperament was decadent and his expression was slightly depressed.

"I have only seen a few gentlemen wearing Confucian robes in the palace, but I didn't expect to see another one today."

"I have been studying Confucian classics and receiving teachings from sages since I was young, but my family has fallen into poverty and I have fallen to this point. Only this Confucian shirt can ease the pain in my heart a little." Qin Ming said woodenly.

"You are still young, and you have a long way to go. The late king wanted to help you get out of the music industry before he died. Did you know that?"

"I heard something. Your Highness, are you going to help us on behalf of the late king?" Qin Ming's eyes gleamed with hope.

"That's my intention, but I'm not helping you for nothing."

"Please give instructions, Your Majesty!"

"You just stay by my side and do your job well. I will help you escape from the state."

"Thank you, Your Highness! Qin Ming will not refuse even if it means death."

Zhu Houxun is still very sure of the people around him now. This kind of people, who are educated, once wealthy and now have fallen to the bottom, are naturally suitable for winning over.

He asked Qin Ming to follow Hou Sen to familiarize himself with the affairs first.

Although he decided to build his own propaganda force, he couldn't spare much energy at once. He just took out an hour every day to go to the Music Hall to appreciate and discuss music. He completely regarded this as a way to relax after daily work.

After the music problem was solved, Zhu Houxuan began to solve the actor problem.

He asked the Zheng family to stay in the palace for two more months because he felt that several of the actors were quite suitable.

He directly decided on Qin Yuelan as the candidate for the King of the Kingdom of Women. No one was more suitable than her and her temperament was just right.

Qin Yuelan actually didn't want to perform on stage and play the role of the Queen of the Kingdom of Women, but her brother had become Zhu Houxuan's palace guard, which made it impossible for her to refuse Zhu Houxuan.

In the end, all the actors were selected, but there was one role, Zhu Houxuan, for which no suitable candidate could be found.

That is Tang Monk.

The actor who played Tang Seng could make do with other tribulations, but he couldn’t make do with the tribulation in the Kingdom of Women.

Because the key figure of this catastrophe is Tang Monk. If he cannot stand up, the whole play will collapse.

Neither Dianle Institute nor Zheng’s class could find a suitable candidate.

Finally, after Commander Zhao learned about this, he joked that he had a lot of handsome guards under his command and it would be a good idea to pick one of them to play the role of Tang Monk.

This suggestion reminded Zhu Houxuan that he could hold an open audition within the mansion.

Finally, a guard named Liu Hao stood out. Of course, Zhu Houxuan didn’t know that this guard named Liu Hao had almost been cleaned up and sent to his room before.

"Your Highness, I dare not wear this small dress!" Liu Hao said with a bitter face as he looked at the expensive clothes in his hand.

"Just wear it if I tell you to!" Zhu Houxuan said impatiently.

Qin Yuelan was waiting beside her in her best clothes, but Liu Hao refused to change his clothes. This was the last step in deciding the actors. Zhu Houxuan decided to let them act out the scene where the Queen of Women and Monk Tang got married in a dream and flew away together.

Zhu Houxuan believed that this scene was the most important in the entire play, because it was the most beautiful scene in the entire plot. After that, this most beautiful scene would be torn into pieces bit by bit for the audience to see.

So he wanted to see if these two people had a good CP feeling together. For this purpose, he specially found a set of his own clothes and asked Liu Hao to wear them. However, Liu Hao refused to change them.

However, Liu Hao finally changed his clothes under Zhu Houxuan's constant request.

As a result, the two of them standing together really have a bit of a CP feeling, although it’s not much, but it’s enough.

"Okay! It's you. From now on, you will come to the Dianyue Institute for rehearsal every day! You will receive a subsidy of one or two taels of silver every month." Zhu Houxuan stood up.

"Yes, sir! Thank you, Your Highness!" Liu Hao took off his luxurious clothes with some reluctance.

"By the way, why don't you shave your hair today!" Sun Gong came over.

"Ah, I have to shave my hair again?" Liu Hao covered his hair in disbelief.

"You are playing the role of Tang Sanzang, an enlightened monk from the Tang Dynasty. How can you play the role of an enlightened monk if you don't shave your hair?" Sun Gong said with a pout.

"But you never told me this before!" Liu Hao looked aggrieved.

"The prince has said that if the play is performed well, the leading actors will be rewarded 10 taels each, and everyone participating will be rewarded 5 taels each. This opportunity is very rare!" Sun Gong continued to persuade.

"Sun Dianle, you misunderstood. This body and hair is given by your parents, and it cannot be abandoned lightly!" Liu Hao said with a look of grief and indignation, and then changed the subject and became hesitant, "So. So. OK. OK."

"It takes extra money, right?" Zhu Houxuan's heart moved, and he added this sentence very naturally.

"Yes, you have to pay more!" Liu Hao said blankly.

"He performed well, give him another 10 taels." Zhu Houxuan said with a wave of his hand.

"Thank you, Your Highness. I'll shave my head right away." Liu Hao said ecstatically.

After selecting the actors, Dianleso can finally start rehearsing the new play.

Zhu Houxun quietly left and returned to Cunxin Hall.

"Is there anything new in Qizhou City today?" Zhu Houxuan looked at Hou Sen who had just returned.

"Reporting to the prince, there is nothing important happening in Qizhou City today, but there is one thing that I find quite interesting."

"Oh?"

"The wide cloth produced in Qizhou is in short supply, which has caused the price of cotton yarn in Qizhou to rise by 30%."

"Tell me carefully!"

"The flying shuttle loom improved by the prince has been circulated in the vicinity of Qizhou for more than a month. The weaving speed is four times faster than before. The local cotton yarn is out of supply, so the price has increased, right?" Hou Sen explained.

The cloth woven with a flying shuttle loom is twice as wide as ordinary cloth. When making clothes, it can be cut directly into one piece. There is no need to cut it into shape twice and then sew it together with thread. This saves labor in making clothes, and there is one less long seam on the clothes, making them more decent to wear.

This made the wide cloth woven by the flying shuttle loom in short supply and its price higher than that of ordinary cloth.

Because Zhu Houxuan had shown off in front of Concubine Liu before, he temporarily did not get involved in the textile industry.

However, the skyrocketing price of cotton yarn in Qizhou City made him feel that the time was ripe.

This Liu Hao is actually a character customized for my friend. I wrote him to be more handsome because he should be more handsome. This is just a minor role and will not have anything to do with Qin Yuelan in the later part of the story.

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(End of this chapter)