Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1201 Epilogue : Teaching the Little Emperor How to Lie Down

Xie Yan was dragged to the Eastern Palace by the little emperor.

Although the young emperor had moved out of the East Palace a long time ago, he liked the "martial arts field" there, which could be used to practice martial arts, horse riding, Cuju, Chuiwan, and Shuttlecock (badminton).

Before he even reached the edge of the field, the little emperor asked, "Uncle-in-law, how are you at playing?"

"My white shots and single wickets are terrible, but my double wicket skills are OK," Xie Yan replied.

Cuju was very popular in the Ming Dynasty. During the time when Li Dunshi was doing cement experiments with Xie Yan, he took a leave of absence and went to play Cuju with his friends.

Even the princess and Qingluan occasionally played for free at home, and their skills could easily crush Xie Yan.

Baida is a game of Cuju without a goal, and it comes in many forms, from one person to ten people.

Playing alone requires the highest skills.

The whole body must be straight, and the waist can be bent but not arched, and various routines can be performed. A set of fixed movements is called a "solution", and there are dozens or even hundreds of solutions in total.

The idiom "using all your strength" comes from the rules of Cuju.

As the number of people increases, there are more tricks and rules.

For example, two people fight for nothing.

You can "hit two", that is, the first kick stops the ball, and the second kick kicks it back. You can also kick without rules, which is the most authentic white kick. You can also use only one foot to kick, which is called "picking kick". You can use any part of your body to kick in various ways, which is called "miscellaneous kick".

“Sun and Moon Passing the Palace” is the most interesting. Two players stand opposite each other and must kick two balls at the same time!

If the number of players increases to ten, according to the changes in the number of footballs, it would be like a riot of demons, which would be too much for the audience to watch.

"Liang Fang, come on, ball!"

As soon as the little emperor shouted, a eunuch threw the ball over.

The little emperor puffed out his chest to stop the ball and began to perform the "upper interception technique", which is a routine in which he only uses his shoulders, chest, head and face to stop and dribble the ball.

After performing the upper-cut moves, the middle-cut moves are performed using the waist, abdomen and knees.

Xie Yan was watching from the side, and was complaining wildly in his heart: This guy is not an emperor at all, he is clearly Gao Qiu who has not grown up!

With your football skills, do you still need others to give in to you?

Suddenly, the little emperor made a mistake in the "lowering the bead curtain" move and accidentally dropped the football to the ground. In order to hide his embarrassment, he kicked the ball to Xie Yan: "Little uncle, you should also show me some moves."

After receiving the ball, Xie Yan tried his best to perform, doing bicycle kicks and Marseille turns, which made the little emperor and the eunuchs laugh.

The little emperor shouted, "Uncle-in-law, when you play with the ball, the ball must not fall to the ground. This is the method of double-door Cuju!"

White play and single goal are both traditional kicking methods in the Song Dynasty, and the football is not allowed to touch the ground.

The double-door Cuju was introduced by Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming. This style of play was played by everyone in the army and was also popular among the people.

"Then let's go double-door," Xie Yan said, "I don't know how to do either single-door or free-door."

The little emperor said: "Double doors, double doors!"

There were not enough people, so they decided to play five-a-side football. Xie Yan and the little emperor each chose four eunuchs as their teammates.

These eunuchs were all children between the ages of 10 and 13.

In the Ming Dynasty where child labor was prevalent, those who were castrated at a young age and entered the palace actually lived a happier life than many child laborers.

Facing a group of children, 17-year-old Xie Yan was strong and thought he could beat them.

That’s weird!

This guy was riding his bicycle when he was suddenly approached by the little emperor. Xie Yan tried to shake off the little emperor, but failed. He did not dare to rely on his physical advantage to fight against the little emperor. When a little eunuch came to attack him, he was so scared that he quickly passed the ball back to his teammates.

Then, his teammates deliberately let him go, and he was slow to catch the ball and was intercepted!
Xie Yan was confused. Am I fighting nine alone?
The young genius, Master Xie, was furious and yelled at the eunuch who let the ball go: "No one is allowed to let the ball go!"

The little emperor also shouted: "Yes, you are not allowed to give in to me anymore!"

Under the strong request of the two, the eunuchs finally took it seriously.

At least, they dare not let the water go blatantly anymore.

Xie Yan's football skills were the worst, but the opponent also had loopholes. No matter who got the ball, no matter how far the football was from the little emperor, they would try every means to pass the ball to the little emperor.

Therefore, Xie Yan only needed to defend the little emperor.

Similarly, the young emperor also focused on defending Xie Yan. Because the other eunuchs did not dare to confront the young emperor, but also did not dare to let him go too hard, so they also liked to pass the ball to Xie Yan.

Xie Yan and this little brat emperor were actually evenly matched in the fight.

He really didn't let the opponent win, he just avoided physical confrontation. But if he didn't engage in physical confrontation, how could his skills be better than the little emperor?
After the game, the score was 8 to 17.

Xie Yan suffered a crushing defeat.

Damn it, it's more tiring than fighting the princess for three hundred rounds. These little eunuchs are all secretly letting me win and refusing to cooperate.

Eunuchs are really bad!
Xie Yan was so tired that he was out of breath. After taking a break for a while, he lay down on the spot.

The little emperor's eyes lit up in surprise. He also followed Xie Yan's example and lay on the ground, rolling around twice very comfortably.

A maid came over to remind him: "Sir, the ground is very dirty. If the Saint sees it..."

The young emperor immediately interrupted his sermon: "My uncle-in-law can lie down, why can't I?"

"The majesty...the dignity of the royal family..." the palace maid muttered.

Xie Yan was too lazy to care about these things. He lay on the ground, looking at the blue sky, and crossed his legs.

The little emperor followed suit and also lay down with his legs crossed. He said excitedly, "It's really comfortable this way. My uncle really knows how to enjoy himself."

Xie Yan said: "After strenuous exercise, you can't lie down immediately. You have to relax for a while like I did."

"Got it, got it," the little emperor suddenly had an idea and ordered the group of eunuchs who were playing ball, "All of you lie down, and you are not allowed to stand!"

The young eunuchs looked at each other in bewilderment. The young emperor threatened again, "I am lying down, but you are standing. Do you want to be higher than me?"

The young eunuchs were so frightened that they fell to the ground in an instant.

The palace maids didn't know how to respond. They wanted to persuade the emperor to pay attention to the dignity of the royal family, but they were afraid of offending the emperor by persuading him too much. They didn't want to lie on the dirty ground, but they didn't dare to stand taller than the emperor.

After thinking it over, the palace maids squatted down one after another, and some even knelt on the ground.

Seeing this, Xie Yan had no choice but to sit up.

The little emperor did not sit up, but continued to lie there. Seeing that the palace maids were in an awkward position, he shouted, "Just move away!"

The palace maids retreated far away as if they had been pardoned, and finally dared to stand normally.

The little emperor looked up at the sky: "Lying down like this and looking at the sky feels different. It's more...more comfortable than before."

Xie Yan couldn't laugh or cry.

The first skill we taught the little emperor was actually how to lie down?
The little emperor was particularly happy today: "Uncle-in-law, you are amazing. You can actually score eight goals. In the past, they didn't dare to score a single goal. Even if they want to give me a goal, at least act more realistically."

Xie Yan was still brooding over it, and said, "If they hadn't let me win the game, I would have won today!"

"Hahaha, keep up the good work, uncle." The little emperor gloated.

Xie Yan said: "After we take a break, let's play shuttlecock."

Hand shuttlecock is badminton, and the racket and ball are very similar to modern badminton.

In addition, football was already an inflatable leather ball in the Tang Dynasty, with an animal bladder inside and eight pieces of leather sewn on the outside.

In the Song Dynasty, the outer seams were changed to twelve pieces of leather, and its appearance was exactly the same as that of a modern football.

The double-door Cuju brought by Zhu Ming added a layer of filler between the inner and outer layers to make the football heavier. Otherwise, the ball would be too light to play with.

The two of them were lying on the ground chatting. Empress Dowager Ye, Zhu Tangxi, Tao Jinfeng and others were already walking slowly towards this side.

"That is..." Empress Dowager Ye was stunned.

But they saw Xie Yan, the little emperor, and the little eunuch lying on the ground, and the palace maids standing far away, feeling uneasy.

The little emperor even imitated Xie Yan and pulled out a piece of grass from somewhere and put it in his mouth.

Zhu Tangxi was so embarrassed that he held his forehead with his hand, looking as if he didn't know Xie Yan.

Only Tao Jinfeng was trying to hold back her laughter.

Empress Dowager Ye was so angry that her chest heaved: "This is outrageous!"

Tao Jinfeng whispered, "It's good this way. The emperor is usually too restrained. It's rare for him to be so relaxed. A proper balance between tension and relaxation is the long-term solution. It's not good to be too tense all the time."

Queen Mother Ye thought carefully for a moment, turned around and said, "Let's not go over there, just give him a day off."

Everyone agreed and turned to leave.

After walking for a while, Zhu Tangxi apologized, "Xie Liulang doesn't know the etiquette, please forgive me, sister-in-law."

Queen Mother Ye couldn't help laughing: "When you help your lover, you call me sister-in-law, right?"

Zhu Tangxi pursed her lips and smiled, which was considered as her agreement.

Empress Dowager Ye said, "Since the emperor likes him, you can bring Xie Liulang to the palace once a month. Alas, the situation was complicated in the late emperor's later years, and the child had few playmates since he was young, so his childhood was really pitiful."

Tao Jinfeng said: "Why not select a few young men of the same age to come to the palace to study with you."

Empress Dowager Ye shook her head: "The matter of companion study has far-reaching implications. Let me think about it carefully."

Xie Yan had already gotten up and was playing badminton with the little emperor.

I can't beat you in football, but I'm very good at badminton.

Don’t spoil the little brat!

After losing more than a dozen games in a row, the little emperor threw his racket and angrily accused: "You are bullying me!"

Xie Yan asked: "Can't the government afford to lose?"

The little emperor said, "You are several years older than me, taller than me, with longer arms, and faster than me. How can I beat you in shuttlecock fighting?"

Xie Yan said: "If those foreign states were defeated by the Ming army, would they complain like this? Alas, the Ming territory is vaster than ours, the Ming population is more numerous than ours, and the Ming firearms are more powerful than ours. If the emperor were the monarch of those states, what would he do?"

The young emperor thought seriously and said, "First, make my country strong, and then find an opportunity to go to war with the Ming Dynasty."

"Then the official should practice shuttlecock more often, and come back to seek revenge on me when you grow up." Xie Yan said with a smile.

The little emperor rolled his eyes and said, "Let's compete in horsemanship!"

Xie Yan said: "I give up."

The little emperor said again: "Let's compete in archery."

Xie Yan said: "I admit defeat too."

The little emperor became happy again: "Then your riding and archery are not as good as mine!"

"Would you like to compete in reading?" Xie Yan asked.

The little emperor saw through him at a glance: "Humph, another trick to persuade me to study hard."

Xie Yan said, "Just tell me if you dare or not. I haven't read the Records of the Western and the Mecca. Let's pick one at random and start reading it tomorrow. After a month, we'll see who has learned it better."

"I'm not afraid of you. I'm very good at memorizing!" The little emperor held his head high.

There is always a strange desire to win between men.

The phrase "Can you touch that leaf?" can make a group of men jump around under a tree.

(End of this chapter)