Chapter 27 Acting

That happened in the winter of the fifteenth year of Yuanshen in the Great Zhou Dynasty. At that time, everyone in Xiangdu was preparing for the New Year, but suddenly they received an urgent message of an invasion by the Northern Di people, which was eight hundred miles away.

At that time, the court was divided into two factions, the Crown Prince and Prince Ning, and there was endless infighting. It happened that this urgent letter broke the stalemate between the two parties. The military pay of the 300,000 Black Armored Army stationed in the northern border became a chess move in the secret struggle between the two parties. Due to the infighting between the two sides, the military pay could not be sent to the northern border for a long time.

After the military pay was finally allocated, half a month had passed when urgent news came from the border, saying that the commander of the Black Armor Army had died due to a recurrence of an old injury, and that the Northern Di army had captured three cities in the northern border, burning and looting. When the military report was sent to the capital, the civil and military officials of the Manchu court panicked, and the man on the dragon throne finally realized that the country was in danger.

At that time, Yan Chong had just left the palace and established his own government two years ago. Because he was not favored, he was given the title of a prince and a leisurely job as the Minister of Music. It was a time for him to keep a low profile, and he often took sick leave and did not attend court, but the emperor did not care about him.

It happened that he went to court that day and learned about this matter. He turned around and told Jiang Wu about it as a casual conversation.

At that time, the two were sitting at the highest point of the Mingyuebugui Tower in Xiangdu, drinking tea and listening to books. When they looked up, they saw the direction of the northern border, and behind them was Xiangdu under the setting sun.

After listening to what he said, Jiang Wu raised his eyes to glance at the faintly visible stars above his head and said lazily, "The end of the Great Zhou Dynasty is near."

He remembered that Yan Zhong chuckled when he heard this, but did not respond. Instead, he asked him how it was to stand here and look at the 800-mile scenery of Xiangdu.

Jiang Wu replied, "It's high, far and broad, not bad."

Then Yan Zhong asked him again if he wanted to see the smoke from the desert and the moon in the northern border.

Jiang didn't realize anything, but just glanced at him and asked him lazily, "Does it look good?"

Yan Zhong smiled and said it was not bad, but the wind was a bit harsh.

Jiang Wu took a bite of a Yipin pastry and replied in a vague voice, "Then let me see for myself."

Then Yan Zhong laughed softly again.

Later that night Yan Zhong did not go back with him, and did not return all night until the next morning when he returned with a brand new and complete white tiger skin cloak and placed it in front of his bed. Jiang Wu then knew that he had gone into the East Mountain alone with a bow and arrow, hunted a white tiger, and then carefully stripped the tiger skin, and had someone sew a tiger fur cloak overnight and sent it to him.

The northern border is cold and lonely, but we cannot let the freezing temperatures ruin your god-like body, Yan Chong said.

Jiang Wu took a look at the tiger fur coat and asked why the fur was not taken off the tiger's head so that it could be made into a hat.

Yan Chong had not slept all night, and heard this helplessly. He said that in his hurry to return, he accidentally shot the tiger's head in two with an arrow, and asked him if he liked it.

Jiang Wu yawned and said it was okay.

That night Yan Chong went to the palace to ask for permission to lead troops to the northern border to repel the Northern Di. Jiang Wu took the tiger fur coat and went to the northern border with him, escorting military supplies.

Just as Yan Zhong said, the Northern Frontier is beautiful, majestic and vast, but also desolate and chilly, a truly bitterly cold place. When Jiang Wuchu went there, he was too cold to sleep at night and had to crawl into Yan Zhong's quilt. Fortunately, Yan Zhong was as warm as a stove, otherwise he really wouldn't be able to adapt.

Later, he accidentally heard the deputy general of the Black Armor Army asking Yan Zhong why a prince came to the frontier to suffer. Jiang Wuben thought that Yan Zhong would say like the heroes in the novels that it was to protect his country and people.

Who knew Yan Zhong confessed that half of it was for the country and the people, and half was for personal gain. The deputy general was a veteran of the Black Armor Army, and of course he knew that Yan Zhong was a prince of the cold palace with a poor family background, so how could he not understand what his personal gain was, and he immediately understood.

At that time, Jiang Wu also felt that Yan Zhong wanted to seize this opportunity to take over the Black Armor Army. As long as he held military power and had outstanding military achievements, he would have the capital to compete for the throne. As for the previous sentence "for the country and the people", it was probably to appease people's hearts.

But now it seems that the Black Armor Army had lost its commander, and both the Crown Prince and Prince Ning's faction wanted to let their own people fill the vacancy, so as to control the Black Armor Army for their own use. Yan Zhong could have waited until the two parties had settled their dispute, and then stepped forward to take on this hot potato. This would undoubtedly have relieved the emperor's worries, instead of being the first to take the lead and causing the two parties and the emperor's jealousy, which led to all kinds of troubles later.

Yan Zhong was already smart enough to use a trick to get the emperor to agree to let him leave the palace and build a mansion at the age of sixteen. How could he not think of that level? So in fact, what Yan Zhong said was true. He was willing to take this risk for the sake of the people in the twelve border cities.

Later, they stayed in the border for three full years, recaptured the three lost cities in the northern border, drove the Northern Di back outside Yule Mountain, watched the magnificent sunset over the long river and the desert countless times, and experienced life and death countless times.

Yan Zhong was 23 years old that year, and he was 26 when he returned to Beijing. His features had become more resolute, his skin had become darker, and his black eyes were as bright as the North Star. Because of his outstanding military achievements, he was promoted to the title of prince and his title was confirmed.

Jiang Wu only realized after this recollection that there were early signs that Yan Zhong had tricked him into becoming a security guard for the Great Zhou. At that time, he thought that as long as Yan Zhong got enough of the thrill of being an emperor, he would be able to learn the secret of Hong Chen's ascension. Tsk, after all, he was too young and could not outwit the old fox.

Thanks to this memory, Jiang Wu successfully replicated the high-spirited yet calm temperament of the young Cangyue before he turned evil, which surprised Hou Siping and he praised him for his understanding.

Jiang Wu did not forget Zhong Xue's suggestion, and asked Zhang Xiaoyu to buy some milk tea and send it over to express his gratitude. He then opened the WeChat chat interface with Han Zhong and sent the three words "old fox" to him.

Not long after he sent the message, Han Zhong replied with a question mark.

Jiang Wu snorted and ignored him.

The entire crew is composed of mature and qualified actors, so when the dragging Jiang Wu came to his senses, the progress was quickly accelerated, and Cang Yue also entered the later stages of her transformation into a villain, and this part of the plot was almost entirely with the heroine Yue Mingge, played by Zhong Xue.

At the beginning of the play, Cang Yue appeared in the heroine's dream by chance, and became the heroine's master with a purpose, and began to teach the heroine magic and intrigue. Later, as the plot developed, Cang Yue's conspiracy gradually emerged, and the heroine Yue Mingge also realized that her master was actually the real murderer who killed her entire family.

In order to improve efficiency and save costs, the crew will shoot all the scenes that take place in the same location. In addition to the literary scenes, this week's scenes also include several fighting scenes. After learning that Jiang Wu had never filmed a costume fighting scene before, Hou Siping specially asked the martial arts teacher to demonstrate and explain it to him.

However, Jiang Wu's brows wrinkled unconsciously after looking at it for a while.

Hou Siping asked, "Why, is it difficult? The movements showing the front and side of the face must be performed by the person himself, and the rest can be performed by a substitute--"

Jiang Wu shook his head, "Too simple."

Shen Yan thought he didn't understand, so he explained, "It looks simple, but special effects will be added later. When you wave your hand, a beam of magic light will hit the other side."

Hou Siping nodded. Although the audience had already complained about this countless times, this was originally a fantasy drama, and the real-flesh fighting style was a bit unsophisticated. It would take too much time to design these actions in combination with special effects, and it was not a martial arts drama, so there was no need to spend that money.

Jiang Wu paused, "Can I play freely?"

Everyone was stunned. Is he acting like a big shot like they do on the Internet?

Hou Siping looked unhappy. "Although the fighting scenes in fairy tale dramas don't focus on details, they are not completely unimportant."

"But I don't want to perform fancy moves."

“…”

As soon as these words came out, everyone's expression changed slightly, and Mu Xiaoying secretly raised the corner of her mouth.

Sure enough, Hou Siping's face darkened.