Behind some historical stories, is the real historical truth?
For example, in the Tang Dynasty, escorting drinking women was legal, a legitimate occupation, and was included in the scope of official protection.
According to the Tang Laws of Neglect and Miscellaneous Laws (vol. 26), "Whoever rapes the wives of others, miscellaneous households, or women of official households shall have a hundred rods." The strong, each plus one class, and the wounded, each plus the first degree of the crime of fighting and wounding. This means that at that time, if you raped and accompanied a drunkard, the starting price of the punishment was to be beaten a hundred times, don't underestimate this hundred times, if the executioner was fierce, it is estimated that few people could stand it.
Direct exile in serious circumstances, or hanging, shows the severity of Tang's laws.
When modern people mention the escort girls, probably the first thing that comes to mind is the Qinglou, and subconsciously believes that what they do is improper.
In fact, many of the qinglou women in ancient times only sold their art and did not sell themselves.
In ancient society, people were hierarchical, collectively known as "nine streams", subdivided into "upper nine streams", "middle nine streams" and "lower nine streams".
Among them, the last of the "lower nine streams" is "prostitutes", the grass roots among the grass roots. In terms of rank, it is something that everyone can trample on.
So in the Tang Dynasty, was the escort girl a "prostitute"? Absolutely.
However, at that time, the Qinglou of the Tang Dynasty was not called qinglou, they had government-run teaching workshops, and among the many lifangs, the most famous was Pingkangfang.
According to historical records, Pingkangli, or Pingkangfang, is the name of Chang'an Neighborhood in the Tang Dynasty, which is the most famous red light district in the Tang Dynasty, and Fang is also a jurisdiction equivalent to the city where xiang is located.
At that time, Chang'an was 9721 meters wide from east to west, 8652 meters long from north to south, and there were 36 squares south of the imperial city; on the east and west sides of the imperial city and miyagi, there were 110 squares in the east and west.
The street is 40 to 60 metres wide. Each square is divided into four districts, and there is a small cross street in each district, which is divided into four districts, and the whole square is divided into sixteen districts, each district is divided by three horizontal alleys, and the built-in residences are built.
The great aristocratic officials are not subject to this restriction, and some royal palaces and official residences can exclusively occupy one-sixteenth of the square, one-quarter of the square, half of the square or even the whole square, which is extremely huge and luxurious.
The "Testament of Kaiyuan Tianbao" describes it as follows: "There are Pingkang fangs in Chang'an, and the place where prostitutes live is also, and there are few heroes in Kyoto, and more gather here." ”
And at that time, the degree of openness of the Tang Dynasty was unprecedented, it is said that there were "palace prostitutes" in the imperial family, "domestic prostitutes" for dignitaries and dignitaries, "camp prostitutes" in military garrisons, "official prostitutes" in every city, "singing prostitutes" in tea house liquor stores and "drinking prostitutes" who specialized in accompanying wine.
Do not underestimate these female prostitutes, in the Tang Dynasty to become an excellent barmaid, in addition to white and beautiful skin, but also to be talented, understand poetry and song, people without two brushes are difficult to appear in the gathering of various high-level officials and nobles.
After the formation of a mature organization, in the higher-ranking brothels, the most senior prostitutes were called "All-Knowing".
Their appearance is not particularly outstanding, they can learn and fight back. At that time, the escort girl had to be trained if she wanted to take up a job.
Most of the learning is: music, song and dance, poetry, painting and other aspects of skills and knowledge, so that you can talk about poetry and song with the dignitaries who come here.
It is said that some prostitutes have a literary background far above that of ordinary literati students, so much so that in Chang'an, Luoyang and other places, some prostitutes have even made temporary teachers for young scholars who come to study or take examinations.
At that time, the more famous prostitutes who could write poetry and talents were: Zhang Miao, Xue Tao, Liu Caichun, Liu Fengxian, Yu Xuanji, Li Ye, Xue Xiaocong, Zhao Yingying, Shen Dongdong and many others.
Among them, many of the romance poems that have been passed down to future generations are also from the hands of prostitutes, and their number exceeds the sum of the chinese women's works handed down to future generations.
Therefore, the main purpose of the consumers who lingered in the church at that time was not only to vent their desires, but also to obtain spiritual relaxation and tranquility, to promote pleasure with fine wine and food, and to show their knowledge.
For men of some classes, it is the best place to get rid of the troubles of family and daily chores, after all, there are good songs and dances to tell jokes, accompany them to relieve boredom and chat beautiful with wine girls.
It can be imagined that the Tang Dynasty people at that time drank small wine, chanted poems against each other, and also watched the multi-talented performances of beautiful people, which was not only a pleasant enjoyment in spirit, but also a visual feast for the eyes.
In the long run, visiting the church can be said to be a trend of the Tang Dynasty.
Even the big celebrities that we modern people are familiar with: Du Mu and Bai Juyi, will go to the church without problems.
In his spare time, he invited three or five friends, bombarded, and engaged in things, whether he had money or not, he was happy to participate in the gathering of the church.
The whole two small dishes, drinking small wine, and pushing the cup to change the cup, not only satisfies the appetite, but also connects the feelings.
However, going to a party is not just to drink, drinking also needs to master the routine, will do things, in order to have more fun.
The scene is not hi up, it is definitely necessary to have one or two soul characters as a small expert in warming up.
The ancients did not have so many games to play at that time, except for the bard against the poem, it was indispensable to accompany the drinking girl to perform to help cheer up.
Seeing this, do you think that the Tang Dynasty's wine companions were really just simple wine companions?
In fact, these high-class people, in addition to eating, drinking and having fun, do not forget to engage in careers.
Although anyone can go to Pingkang Fang, it is not a private room that can be picked at will. Since only excellent escort girls can have long-term contacts with high-ranking officials and nobles in Chang'an, the electors who want to enter the official arena will use the excellent escort women they have cultivated as a springboard to enter the official field and give them to these prominent officials.
Befriended by prostitutes, meet the powerful and other electors.
From this perspective, Pingkang Fang provides a good social platform for people who want to be officials and the children of powerful people and eunuchs.
It can also be said that this platform is actually a small "political center" for officials and literati.
Without rules and no circles, the increasingly prosperous workshop industry has exposed more and more problems, and the drinking girl is the lowest, and she can become popular overnight or die overnight.
Why?
At first, Tang Lu did not have much protection for such practitioners, after all, at that time, people of any status would come here to entertain, which added a little uncertainty to the identity of the escort girl.
Because no one knew which adult she was friendly with, if the legislation did not make it difficult for the water to wash away the Dragon King Temple, it would be difficult to do it. Then, the Tang Law we mentioned earlier stipulates that escorting drinking women is a legal profession and is protected, so how did it come about?
This is thanks to a very famous prostitute in the Tang Dynasty at that time- Li Yifu.
He was not only a big red man in front of the emperor, but also a playboy.
The escort woman was legalized, and this law appeared because of him.
It is said that at that time, he was also quite angry, and most of the drinking girls he looked up to were raped before they could do it themselves. In this way, the big red man in front of the emperor naturally could not swallow this breath, so he tortured those who raped to death.
And such cases still happen from time to time, even the emperor feels speechless, simply legislate directly, after all, he is the head of the Tang Dynasty, and it is not the turn of others to punish these scum.
Even if they are legalized, they will only do what is within their purview. Unreasonable requests from guests can be rejected and will not be enforced.
It seems that the people of the Tang Dynasty will still play! So open, it is no wonder that many people want to cross back to the Tang Dynasty.