After hearing her words, the people around them fell silent instantly.
Vlahos is an expert on drama and also writes it himself. Unfortunately, his works have never been popular.
The family of Vlahos is said to have appeared during the Macedonian dynasty, and was one of the group of nobles who joined Rome when Basil II expanded to Armenia. They claim that the family has continued to exist as a local aristocrat since then, and during the Palaiologos dynasty, because of its support for the change of dynasties, it was quickly promoted, and many important figures emerged and joined the ranks of the great nobility.
In more recent times, the Vlahos have also been quick to respond. When the Purple Horde Khanate took control of Dadu twice, they were the first batch to rebel in time and welcome the new dynasty. They also took advantage of the opportunity when the Purple Horde Khan was still marrying Greek nobles, and through the intricate relationships among the nobles, they successfully took over and kept their titles and wealth. With the expansion of the Purple Horde Khanate, the family's business has become larger and larger, extending to the entire northern Black Sea.
But even so, they, like many Greek nobles, have actually withdrawn from the core of politics.
Although the Purple Horde Khanate still gave them preferential treatment, its main purpose was just to show its generosity to the Greeks and to show that they were not foreign invaders, but inherited the power of the previous dynasty. But as time went by, the Khan's management in the Greek area brought stability and wealth to the area, and was gradually accepted by the locals. Therefore, this function becomes less and less important.
The old nobles did still possess some knowledge and skills, but the Purple Horde Khanate did not need them much. For local managers, the Khan is also more inclined to educate and promote civilians, and especially likes to select talents from retired legionnaires.
Therefore, as long as a state or county is established in a certain place, a group of people who have received basic education, understand military discipline, and are proficient in management methods will soon appear in the local area. The most important thing is that these people generally come from low-level backgrounds, and their connections and promotion channels are entirely within the "Romanian" army and government. They have almost no contact with the local nobles and powerful people. This made the power of the nobles weaker and weaker, and even those local nobles who had been local bosses for hundreds of years were directly squeezed.
Of course, the nobles were very dissatisfied with this, but unfortunately, their power was not strong - after all, if they were really strong, they wouldn't be beaten in turn by visitors from all over the world every day.
After the "Anda War", the local snakes on the Greek peninsula lost the ability to challenge the Khan. The tribes in the mountains are also satisfied with the imperial knighthood system, and their relationship with the great nobles of Constantinople has never been very good. In this way, it completely lost its foundation and became a mascot-like existence.
That's the situation the Vlahos are now in. Although he is still a rich man, his status is far less than before.
At present, in addition to running his business, Mr. Michael Vlahos's main hobby is reviewing and writing dramas. And this is also the traditional habit of Greek nobles.
In the Eastern Roman era, gatherings called "literati theater" were often held among the upper class. Ministers, church leaders, elite citizens, etc. would join such gatherings and perform their own poems and plays.
They have all received rigorous education and have mastered the basic skills of grammar and rhetoric. They are also familiar with various allusions from the Homeric era, and they are able to use common standards to create and comment at any time.
Therefore, upper-class literati often took this opportunity to gather to express their views and recruit friends. The literati theater thus acquired political significance.
On the one hand, people with higher status can convene a more influential "theatre" and attract more and more important people to participate; on the other hand, people who perform well in the literati theater can more easily obtain this The appreciation of a small circle, the support of everyone and the favor of the organizer will be of great benefit to the future political future.
Many important figures, even the emperor himself, would host this kind of literati theater. Therefore, people flock to it. Composing and commenting on poetry and drama have become compulsory subjects for upper-class literati.
However, under the rule of the Purple Horde, this kind of theater has been reduced to a mere hobby club. The Great Khan and the Zhuguo people neither knew nor were interested in this kind of organization.
The early Khans did not have this level of education, and the Li Tiance incident occurred soon afterwards, which caused the high-ranking officials of the Khan's court to have no favorable impression of these Greek arts. Even those literate people later were too lazy to participate.
Therefore, the gatherings of the old Greek nobles were only used for bragging and complaining. However, this kind of gathering has always been popular among the upper class. Banquets like today were actually affected.
As the organizer, Mr. Vlahos is also a theater enthusiast and often participates in such activities. He also writes scripts and publishes them publicly. Unfortunately, his scripts were not very popular.
Vlahos's works are full of nostalgia for the past era and aristocratic life. His scripts are all stories about the palaces of the previous Greek dynasties, full of awkward love scenes and inexplicable conspiracies. Therefore, many people do not like his works, and no theater company is willing to perform them.
In the end, Vlahos's friends worked together, spent a lot of money, bribed and threatened, and finally got a group of troupes to perform his plays, saving some face.
However, everyone knows that this is actually a very loss-making business.
After all, Vlahos and others are not central figures in power. People let them operate here because they looked down upon this field and thought it was not a serious profession at all.
To force promotion in order to save face, you must make exchanges of benefits with other people - others will not help in vain, and there will be a price to pay for all this. Once or twice, that's okay, but if it continues like this, I'm afraid no one can afford to fill this bottomless pit.
Therefore, this incident can be called the most painful memory of Vlahos. Asking him in public how the script was selling was a direct reminder of how embarrassed he was. It can even be said that it is denying his persistence, implying that the culture he cares about actually has neither meaning nor future.
I'm afraid this is more uncomfortable than saying he is bald.
The surrounding guests didn't know what to say and could only remain silent.
However, Shi Huizhen didn't pay much attention - or maybe she didn't care about the atmosphere at all. She glanced at Vlahos, who was trying to keep his expression, and suggested: "Otherwise, it's better not to write. It's better to play while you have this time."
"I don't think I need you to provide advice on this matter, Miss Shi." Vlahos frowned and said forcefully.
"But it's not my decision. If people don't buy it, I can't help it." Shi Huizhen spread her hands and swung her huge sleeves: "To be honest, your script is so useless."
(End of chapter)
