Chapter 724 0719 [Ball Game and Horseback Archery]

The Imperial Archery Competition was postponed. The temperature suddenly dropped at dusk that day, and it snowed heavily at night. It continued to snow the next day.

A few days later, the competition was held at the North City Stadium, and the envoys from Liao, Xixia, and Goryeo were invited to watch the Cuju competition.

By the way, they competed in horseback archery.

The warm sun in the sky swept away the snow.

The royal family members sat in the audience seats with the best view, followed by the ministers of the cabinet and envoys of various countries, and then the civil and military officials. Many Tokyo citizens were also allowed to buy tickets to watch the game.

There are four major football clubs in Tokyo now.

The old Qiyun Society and Yuan Society are still strong.

Li Bangyan likes Cuju, but it is inconvenient to show off because of his status, so he asked his nephew to come forward to form the Chuanyun Society. From the name, it seems that he is going to overthrow the Qiyun Society.

Gao Qiu's eldest son and second son jointly established a Jinbiao Society, which was named to win the championship - the word "Jinbiao" originated from the winning of the colored standard in the dragon boat race in the Tang Dynasty.

In addition to the four major ones, there are six small ones, a total of ten teams.

Emperor Zhu personally came forward to guide, allowing ten teams to participate in the league, and also formulated a set of points rules.

Football gambling was also formalized, and the court issued three football licenses, which merchants obtained through bidding. In the future, only these three companies are allowed to gamble on football, and they must pay taxes to the court.

This thing is really impossible to ban. As long as there are still football games, there are people who gamble secretly. It is better for the court to guide, and by the way, it can also collect some taxes, and it is easier to investigate and deal with problems.

In order to prevent the three companies that have obtained football licenses from monopolizing, each company must have more than five shareholders of different surnames.

A license can only last for eight years, and it needs to be re-bid after it expires.

Envoys from various countries arrived at the stadium, sat down and waited to watch the game. They were not unfamiliar with this thing.

The Song Dynasty often entertained foreign envoys with Cuju performances.

The Northern Song Dynasty was rich, and it specially raised football teams and a hundred opera artists in the Jiaofang Division. These two groups were jokingly called "left and right armies." The Southern Song Dynasty was financially insufficient, and the performance team for entertaining envoys had to be temporarily summoned from the people.

After the stadium was closed, the game did not start immediately.

Some athletes who had no games today played ball to entertain the audience. They played goalless Cuju, various high-altitude throwing and catching, and sometimes even performed solo for two or three minutes.

Whenever there was a wonderful move, the audience cheered enthusiastically.

"Dangdangdang!"

After the warm-up, the bell rang three times, and the Qiyun Society and Chuanyun Society teams entered the field.

Li Bangyan called his nephew Li Du over: "Have you told them?"

Li Du replied: "I have made it clear. Everyone who scores a goal will be rewarded with 10 guan, and the goal scorer will be rewarded with an additional 10 guan."

Li Bangyan said: "Today's game must not be lost. The royal nobles are all here, and the envoys from various countries are also here. If we lose, we will lose face!"

Li Du reported: "I actually want to give the other side 500 guan to let them relax at the critical moment. But those bastards on the other side also want to win, and they don't take my uncle seriously at all. A group of former nobles set up a football club, and now it is the new Ming Dynasty. I don't know what they are so arrogant about?"

"They also have someone behind them, so don't say these words anymore." Li Bangyan warned.

The game has already kicked off. Influenced by the two time travelers, the rules of Cuju in the new Ming Dynasty have changed a lot.

First of all, there is the goal. There was only one goal in the Song Dynasty, and it was set up in the midfield. Now it has been changed to a goal at each end of the court, and the goal hole has become much larger.

The ten-meter-high goal has become five meters high.

Secondly, the number of players on the field, from seven per team to nine per team.

Less than two minutes after the start of the game, a player jumped up to fight for the ball and headed it away, while another player caught it steadily.

"Boom!"

"Asheng, Asheng!"

The whole stadium cheered, and many spectators stood up excitedly. It was obvious that the person who caught the ball was a star.

Zhu Ming hadn't watched a game for half a year, and he didn't understand what was going on, so he asked casually: "Who is Asheng?"

There were many wives and concubines around him who didn't know, only Zheng Yuanyi said: "I accompanied the queen to watch a few games, and they were all pulled by Li Daizhao. There was a game where they shouted like this, and later I asked, and there was a player named Li Asheng who played very well."

This Li Asheng was the head of the ball (captain), and the left and right pole nets (left and right backs) on the opposite side surrounded him together, and even Sanli (libero) rushed through the double team.

Li Asheng quickly passed the ball.

The main striker received the ball and passed it to the deputy striker (shadow striker), who shook past the opponent and passed the ball to Li Asheng who was running over.

The new rules set up a restricted area, where only the ball head of the attacking team and the left and right poles of the defending team can enter the restricted area. In addition, there can be no physical contact in the restricted area, and only other methods can be used to interfere. Otherwise, how can the goal, which is only as big as a basket in the air, be scored?

At the same time, after the ball head dribbles into the restricted area, the ball cannot fall to the ground. Once the ball falls to the ground, the attacking team is judged to have lost the ball.

The whole set of rules is a hodgepodge.

Zhu Ming really dislikes the Song Dynasty Cuju style, where the ball cannot fall to the ground throughout the whole process, so he formulated a rule that the players of both sides cannot have physical contact. The skills are very high, but the confrontation is too weak.

The football players in Tokyo also dislike Zhu Ming's rules very much, thinking that the way Zhu Taizi plays football is too barbaric.

The two sides compromised and merged, that is, they became the current four-in-one.

On the contrary, in the army, it completely became modern football, and the fight was fierce.

Li Asheng used all parts of his body to move and adjust the ball. The two defensive players on the opposite side were like enemies. They not only had to interfere with the goal, but also had to prevent physical contact. If Li Asheng hit them with the ball, it would be a foul for the defensive players.

"Swish!"

A ball flew out and went into the hole.

The whole audience cheered.

The goal used to be ten meters high, but now it has become five meters, which is too easy for Cuju masters.

Zhu Ming felt it was boring because the confrontation in the penalty area was too poor.

Zhu Ming called Bai Sheng over: "Tell the ten teams from the four major societies and six small societies that I don't care how they usually play football. But as long as they play here, they must follow the rules of Cuju in the army. In addition, before New Year's Day, change the goal here to a large ground goal like the one in the army!"

"Yes!" Bai Sheng didn't care about it, he didn't like Cuju.

In Zhu Ming's boredom, a football match was finally over, and then there was a polo match.

The Jin envoys liked this thing very much. They were so impressed that they decided to play polo after returning home.

The polo match ended, and then the real topic came.

Many targets were erected in the field. Zhu Guoxiang sent people to pass on the message to the envoys of various countries, asking them whether they would send representatives to the field for archery.

The first to go on the field was the Xixia representative.

This was a young man named Wang Lizhongxin. He went to the side of the field to choose a good horse and shoot with his own bow and arrow.

The rule was to ride the horse from the side of the field and run at a certain speed when reaching the first target. There was a target every twenty meters, and a total of ten targets were set up, and the horse could not stop in the middle.

Wang Lizhongxin hit the tenth ring with the first arrow, and the second arrow hit the eighth ring. It seemed that the Xixia envoys had been prepared for it. They had planned to participate in the imperial archery competition in spring, but now it was advanced to winter.

Unfortunately, the third arrow was messed up, the horse was running faster and faster, and there was no time to slow down the horse, so it was too late to pull the string and missed the target.

Ten arrows were shot, with a total of fifty-seven rings.

Wang Lizhongxin returned to the audience with his head down. He was careless for a moment and did not think carefully about the rules. He was in a mess when shooting.

"Saba, you go." Wanyan Zongfu said.

There were many people named Saba in Liao and Jin, but this one was Hesheli Saba.

This man was less than thirty years old and had fought with Aguda in his youth. Because of intermarriage with the Wanyan family for five consecutive generations, the relationship between the two tribes was very close, and the entire Hesheli tribe was a supporter of the Shizu system.

Hesheli Saba rode the warhorse he brought with him, his legs lightly clamped on the horse's belly, and the warhorse slowly accelerated.

Neither rushed too fast, so as not to have enough reaction time.

Nor ran too slow, otherwise he would be ridiculed even if he hit the target.

He hit two ten rings, one nine ring, and one eight ring in a row.

Moreover, this guy learned the lesson of the Xixia envoy, leaned forward on the horse's back, and hooked the reins with his left hand holding the bow, and paid attention to controlling the horse's speed while shooting arrows.

A total of eighty-four rings!

After shooting, Hesheli Saba galloped back and forth, holding a birch bow in his hand to show off his power, and even went to the Xixia envoys to stroll around.

The Xixia envoy's face was livid, obviously disgusted.

The Jin envoy smiled and was very satisfied with Hesheli Saba's performance.

"Dongdongdongdong!"

The drums sounded and the Ming archers appeared.

The generals from the south fought in Hebei last year, and most of them went back to serve as garrison troops.

Only Yang Zaixing was left to study military theory systematically. While studying, he assisted in compiling military textbooks (actually helping).

Whenever he had free time, he would come to Tiansijian Ranch to practice, and his horse-riding and archery skills became more and more sophisticated.

He hit three ten rings in a row, and a target official immediately raised a sign, which surprised the Jin envoy.

It is not difficult to hit ten rings in a row, and it is not difficult to ride and shoot on a galloping horse, but it is a bit difficult to ride and shoot continuously while running.

A total of eighty-nine rings, Biheshelisaba surpassed five rings.

"Good!"

The audience cheered continuously, and every time Yang Zaixing shot an arrow, the audience burst into thunderous cheers.

For them, today's ticket price is really worth it. Not only can they watch two games, but they can also see the archers of the Ming Dynasty beat the vassal envoys.

Zhu Guoxiang smiled and said: "All civil and military officials and their children who are interested in riding and shooting can go on stage."

The emperor said, many Han children who can ride and shoot ran to the sidelines to line up to choose horses, and even Li Bangyan went on stage to join in the fun.

Zhu Ming stood up and left the table, walked over to Wanyan Zongfu and said: "How about going on stage together to practice?"

Wanyan Zongfu bowed and said: "Being respectful is worse than obeying."

"The prince shoots in person!"

"The prince shoots in person!"

"Boom boom boom boom!"

Seeing the prince personally appear on the stage, the war drums were beaten particularly vigorously, and the drummers wanted to break the drum skin.

Wanyan Zongfu's mind was not on the competition of riding and shooting.

The Ming Dynasty is showing off today. Even Prince Zhu is showing off. Peace talks may not be easy!

(Updated at midnight on the first day of the Lunar New Year. The timing is quite weird. Squinting smile.)