The next morning, the fleet arrived at Guangji Gate.

In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Zhao Hao let people in Chaozhou City know in advance not to regard himself as a pirate.

Then the group parked the boat far outside the city and waited for their people to come out to greet them.

During the meal time, a group of people were seen galloping out of the city. They were the disciples of Yufeng Academy led by Zhang Guofu.

Seeing the master standing at the dock, looking at them with a smile, Zhang Guofu and others hurriedly dismounted and paid their respects.

"Well, I've heard everything. You've behaved very well and didn't bring shame to me or the academy." Young Master Zhao smiled with satisfaction and said, "Stand up, all of you. You're all good disciples of mine."

"Thank you, Master." The disciples immediately felt that their hard work was worth it. They had been worried because they did not pass the imperial examination. Now that they received praise from their strict teacher, they finally felt relieved.

"Master, please mount your horse and return to the city."

"Where is my father?" Zhao Hao asked as he mounted his horse with the help of his disciples.

Zhao Hao was quite surprised that Master Zhao didn't come to greet him personally, and felt a little disappointed. Did his son become unimportant now that he was so powerful?

"There's a celebration going on in the city, and our master can't leave, so we have to come and welcome Master." Zhang Guofu explained hurriedly.

"Oh, what celebration? Celebrating victory?" Zhao Hao immediately became interested.

"right."

"Is there any Yingge dance?" Zhao Hao asked excitedly.

"Yes." Zhang Guofu said with admiration, "Master is really knowledgeable. When we watched the rehearsal yesterday, we were all shocked and thought there was going to be another war. Later we found out that it was a large-scale group dance."

"I've heard of your great name for a long time. I heard that when a new official takes office, the local people will mobilize all forces to perform a set of Yingge dance." Zhao Hao laughed and said, "It's said to celebrate the master's appointment, but in fact it's a demonstration to the local officials to make them more sensible. I didn't expect that my father, a Tongzhi, would get such treatment."

"It shouldn't be a show of power to our master, right? Master, you don't know that after the Chaozhou defense battle, our master's prestige in Chaozhou City is extremely high! If anyone dares to show off power to him, the common people will be the first to disagree." Zhang Guofu said hurriedly.

"Oh, my dad is so awesome?" Zhao Hao found it a little unbelievable. Parents always either overestimate or underestimate their children, and it is difficult to make an objective evaluation.

Apparently, in his son's mind, Mr. Zhao was the latter type...

"Let's go and take a look." He kicked his horse's belly and ran towards Chaozhou city impatiently.

"Master, wait for us." The disciples hurriedly mounted their horses and followed closely.

Zhang Guofu and others boarded the boat. They were to guide the task force's ships into the city and dock at the official ship pier inside the city.

The cannons were covered with gun covers, and the police officers were in plain clothes, but even a blind man could see that they were not good people. If there was no one to lead them, it would definitely cause unrest.

~~

Chaozhou City is known for being "protected by three mountains and one river, with a jade belt and black hat around the waist", which means that Chaozhou City is guarded by the Han River and the three mountains in the north: Jinshan, Hulushan and Bijiashan.

The Han River is like a belt, while the Jinshan Mountain, Hulushan Mountain and Bijiashan Mountain form the shape of a black gauze hat. It is said to be an excellent place for feng shui.

Zhao Hao entered the city from Anding Gate, the only west gate of Chaozhou City, and headed east along Ximen Street lined with memorial archways. Although the shape of the city is neither square nor round, the streets in the city are arranged in a traditional square pattern, forming a chessboard-like pattern. It is neat and orderly, with clear longitude and latitude, so that people who come here for the first time will not get lost.

In addition to the large number of memorial archways, what impressed Zhao Hao most was the exquisiteness and magnificence of Chaoshan architecture, which far surpassed the folk houses in the south of the Yangtze River and the courtyard houses in the north.

He saw that almost all the buildings along the street were decorated with carved beams and painted buildings, and were extremely gorgeous. The flowers, birds, insects, fish, animals, and historical figures painted on the eaves and painted buildings were all lifelike and magnificent.

The eaves of the wealthy houses in Jiangnan are decorated with various carvings, but they are all made of wood. Even if they are painted, they will fade quickly or even crack if not maintained regularly. Therefore, the carvings and paintings in the mansions Zhao Hao saw were basically kept in their original wood color, with at most a layer of varnish applied for protection.

The corridors and eaves in Chaoshan are much more gorgeous because their paintings and shapes are all made of tiles. Especially the large dragon and phoenix shapes inlaid with colorful tiles on the countless ancestral halls and temples are green and vivid in the sunlight, which is extremely eye-catching.

Such an exaggerated and gorgeous shape made it difficult for Zhao Hao not to think of the imperial palace, especially the Nine Dragon Wall...

The saying that Chaozhou houses are like imperial palaces is not an exaggeration at all.

But for the disciples who came from the north... yes, in Lingnan, people from the south of the Yangtze River are also called northerners, and they themselves are southerners... but it is a little hard for them to accept.

"According to the regulations, residential buildings are not allowed to adopt the 'hard roof' style like the imperial palace, and the roof is not allowed to be plastered with ridges, let alone openly have dragon and phoenix images on the ridge, and it is so exaggerated!" A disciple complained in a low voice: "This south of the Five Ridges is really lawless!"

"Who cares about this these days? According to regulations, merchants are not allowed to wear silk or satin, ride horses or sit in sedan chairs. Who cares now?" But some people disagreed. "It's nothing, just a little vulgar and gaudy."

Zhao Hao actually quite likes this style. After living in Jiangnan for a long time, he was very tired of the elegant and simple aesthetic brought about by the literati at that time, and he was particularly eager for vulgar and gaudy bright colors.

He was just about to make a few comments when he suddenly heard the loud sound of gongs and drums coming from the front. He saw that the north-south street was already crowded with people and the cheers were like thunder.

No wonder there are so few people on West Street here. It turns out that the streets are deserted and everyone has gone to the streets to watch the excitement.

"Let's go and take a look." He dismounted and walked forward with great interest, and squeezed into the crowd surrounded by his disciples and guards.

On the wide street, one hundred and eight dancers were seen, each wearing different costumes, but each holding a wooden stick in their hands. They struck and flipped the two sticks in unison as they walked and danced, with a strong sense of rhythm, which was naturally very contagious.

The Yingge dance was magnificent and heroic, much more exciting than the Maori war dance! The audience was naturally intoxicated, shouting and dancing along with the leading dance team. The scene was extremely shocking!

Zhao Hao was also deeply attracted by the vigorous, rough and unrestrained dance moves, and soon started dancing and shouting along.

"You guys come join in too!" Zhao Hao danced and shouted while encouraging his disciples to join in.

At first, these guys were a little bit hesitant to let go. After all, anyone who could call Master Zhao "Master" must be a Juren at the very least. Even if a Juren was very humble, he couldn't be so crazy, right?

But the master was so crazy, and if the disciples didn't follow him, wouldn't it embarrass him? So they had to dance with him reluctantly, but their movements were as stiff as bone hyperplasia, and the sound was stuck in their throats and couldn't come out.

"If you can't dance the Yingge dance well, don't call me master from now on." Unexpectedly, Zhao Hao said something harsh.

The disciples were horrified when they heard this. They had gone through so much trouble and studied hard for three years to be admitted into the sect. How could they be expelled because of such a small matter?

This must be the master’s task... Oh no, it’s the master’s test!

I can only risk it! Anyway, this is Lingnan, not Jiangnan, who the hell knows who?

So the gentlemen finally put down their airs, jumped up with their arms thrown wide, and shouted as if competing with each other!

They danced and shouted with ecstasy, and before they knew it, all the negative emotions such as depression and melancholy that had accumulated in their hearts for many years seemed to be driven out of their bodies along with this Yingge dance.

What a novel experience!

Zhao Hao danced until his whole body was covered with sweat and his throat was hoarse, and he finally stopped under an archway.

The disciples also stopped panting and quickly served the prepared cold tea. This cold tea was not cold tea, but Cantonese cold tea like Wang Laoji. Although it was called cold tea, it did not contain tea leaves, but a summer-cooling drink made from Chinese herbs.

"What a delight!" He drank the cold tea offered by his disciples and laughed, "I have searched high and low for something, but now I have found it without any effort!"

The disciples looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering why their master liked Yingge dance so much. Wasn’t he an ignorant person when it came to music?

"Go back and think about what I'm looking for?" Zhao Hao was not in a hurry to answer the questions, but instead said in a gentle and persuasive way: "You can think about it the other way around, what is the most lacking thing in Jiangnan?"

"Yes, Master." The disciples hurriedly and solemnly accepted the order. It turned out that the master had profound principles to impart.

The master is going to teach in person! Realizing this, the disciples were so excited that they almost fainted.

It's no wonder they are so excited. After all, they have been apprenticing for so long, but they have never had the chance to listen to a class taught by the master himself. They are so envious of their fellow students who have passed the imperial examinations. They are not envious of them for passing the imperial examinations, but they are envious of them for being taught by the master himself!

This trip to Chaozhou was a good choice! I love Chaozhou and I love Yingge dance!

~~

Ignoring the disciples who were reaching their peak in their brains through imagination, Zhao Hao smiled at Wang Rulong beside him and said, "Did you see anything?"

"This isn't dancing, this is fighting, right?" Wang Rulong grinned. He had just danced along. As an excellent general, he naturally tasted something different from it.

"This dance is a manifestation of organizational and mobilizing power. Coupled with their bravery and aggressiveness, if I were a government official, I would definitely not be able to sleep well at night after watching the Yingge Dance."

“Hahaha, Brother Wang, that’s insightful!” Zhao Hao said with approval, “The clans in Chaoshan demonstrate their organizational and mobilization capabilities to the government through large-scale parades and thanksgiving activities.”

Then he asked with a smile: "Do you know what this Yingge dance is based on?"

"It looks like Liangshan Marsh." Wang Rulong liked "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" when he was in the army, but now he likes "Water Margin". He carefully identified: "The one leading the hammer dance looks like Li Kui. The three hammers look like Lu Zhishen and Wu Song, and the number is exactly one hundred and eight."

"Yes, this is a performance about the heroes of Liangshan. It tells the story of how they attacked Daming Mansion to save Lu Junyi, and disguised themselves as a troupe of street performers to make a scene during the Lantern Festival." Zhao Hao nodded with a smile.

"Then there shouldn't be 108 generals yet. Uh, that's not the point..." Wang Rulong quickly shut up and asked with a smile, "Sir, have you seen this kind of dance before?"

"No, it's my first time here, I've heard of it." Zhao Hao sighed in his heart, he had seen it before in his previous life. He changed the subject and said, "I heard that the last part of Yingge Dance is beating the cloth horse. It's about finding someone to pretend to be an official, hanging a cloth horse around his waist, and then beating the court official so hard that he flees in disgrace."

As he spoke, he stroked his chin and said unhappily, "But my father is not the prefect, so there is no need for them to provoke him like this, right?"

ps. It’s gone tonight.