Late Tang

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The thunderous hoofbeats awakened Li Jing from his short sleep, and the golden morning sun had already entered the bedroom through the delicate wooden windows.

Li Jing got up, walked to the window with her muscular upper body naked, and looked down from the window on the third floor.On the small martial arts arena in the mansion, heavily armed guards of the town [***] are conducting morning drills, and the guards of the suburban army with silver spears in silver cloaks are either galloping on horses, or fencing, or practicing arrows, or Riders were chopping straw dummies, and knights were chopping stakes.

Li Jing saw Xin Yu riding his horse galloping across the hard mud and piercing the scarecrow's head.Cloth pieces shattered, straw flew, and the guards of the Silver Spear Suburban Army laughed and praised.

Sure enough, the swordsman is still young, and his glory is still there!

This is the mansion of Chang'an Qinrenfang, which is the residence in Beijing bestowed by the emperor to Li Jing.Originally Li Jing planned to live in the Bashang military camp when he was in the capital, but the emperor disagreed and gave Li Jing a mansion in Jurenfang.

Qinrenfang, also known as "Qinrenli", is located in the east of Zhuque Street East Second Street according to the sequence of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty. The layout is the same as that of other squares facing north and south. The whole is divided into four major areas by the big cross street in the square. There are small cross streets in each area. , the square is surrounded by rammed earth square walls, and four gates are opened on all sides. It is located on the fourth of the six high slopes passing through Luocheng.

Adjacent to the Imperial City, Qinrenfang is located in the core area of ​​Chang’an City, only one square away from Guozijian, and close to Wannian County, Jingzhao Prefecture.

The well-known residences in the square include Teng Wang Yuanying's residence, Yan Guogong Yu Zhining's residence, and Feng Gun's residence in Gishizhong. Dagon is the son of Feng Su, the governor of Dongchuan in Jiannan, and Li Dan, the father of Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji of Tang Dynasty. The former residence of Jufan, the residence of Zheng Wanjun, the consort of the Princess of Dai, the residence of Prince Zhan Shi Weikun, the residence of Yang Hongwu, Minister of Zhongshu, the residence of Prince Wang Xijun, the residence of Princess Changle, the residence of Anlushan, the residence of Guo Ziyi, Baima County, Huazhou Lingsun Qi's house, Liu Zongyuan's house, Princess Xihua's house, Li Guochang's father and son's house, Gishi Zhonglu Zhi's house, Prince Dianshan Lang Weijun's house, Li Shi's house, etc.

The most luxurious place in the square is the original mansion of Guo Ziyi, the king of Fenyang County. It has a quarter of the name of Qinren Square, that is, the whole Qinren Square and their Guo family account for a quarter. Traveling between people has to ride a horse or a car, and the family has three thousand.Although a bit exaggerated, it can be seen in general.And there is also the old residence of Ruizong Li Dan, the mansion of the three princesses.

In addition, generals of the Hu nationality such as An Lushan and Li Guochang were also granted the residence of Qinrenli successively.

As Li Jing is currently the favored minister in front of the emperor, Li Xuan also rewarded Li Jing with a big house in Qinrenli.This house is huge, almost as large as Guo's house.

The hall is high and looks up, and the house is wide and rides in a car dealership.

In such a large mansion, everything is ready. When Li Jing came in, there were countless servants inside, including the housekeeper and servants. The dark Kunlun slaves, the beautiful Silla maids, and the Sogdian who knew how to do business People are in charge of affairs, and eunuchs pulled out from the palace are the chief managers of the mansion.There are even several teams of kabuki and dancers.There are thousands of servants in the whole mansion.

The weather was sunny, warm and comfortable.Li Jing had breakfast with the town [***] generals who stayed in Beijing, and Xin Yan and his two nephews were also invited to have dinner together.The breakfast is very rich. The new Duke of Qi’s mansion has a kitchen team of nearly [-] people, who are responsible for purchasing, serving dishes, side dishes, cutting vegetables, frying vegetables, cooking, washing dishes, serving dishes, serving tea, wine, and serving meals. all available.

The restaurant is also very big, sitting in it is like being in a palace.

Xin Yan sat there with no appetite, only drank some porridge, and seemed to be still angry at the emperor's absurd behavior.On the contrary, Lin Wu, Wang Zhong and other generals devoured the food in front of them like a storm.

"Brother Xin, are you ready?"

Xin Xuan put down his chopsticks, and said calmly, "Although he is best at using swords, he is quite proficient in polo. It's more than enough to deal with people like Chen Jingxuan."

Half an hour later, Li Jing went to the palace together with Wang Zhong, Lin Wu and other leaders of the town [***], as well as Xin Xun. Li Jing's six disciples and Xin Xun's two nephews also followed.When they rushed to the Linde Hall in the palace, Mi Haiwan, Shi Jingcun, and Qi Bizhang had also arrived. Seeing Li Jing coming, they all came forward to say hello happily, their tone full of flattery.This time, Li Jing recommended them to fight for the Datong Army and Ping Lu Army's Jiedu Deputy Ambassador, which made them both surprised and grateful.

"You don't have to be grateful to someone, it depends on everyone's performance whether things can be done." Li Jing was not willing to recommend these three people, but it was Tian Lingzi who recommended four people, and Li Jing didn't have any suitable candidates, so he had to connect Let them recommend it together, after all, these people are already the governors of the three northern states.

The polo field in front of Linde Hall is not the largest polo field in Chang'an City, but it is also a huge polo field.

This polo match related to the position of Jiedushi is not open to the public, and there are still many people who can come to watch, from the emperor to the princes.There are two tall stands on both sides of the front hall of Linde Hall, which are also full of relatives of the emperor at this time.

The emperor had arrived early, wearing a military uniform, and holding a cue several feet long in his hand.

On the side of the field, Tian Lingzi had already arrived with a group of generals from the Zuo Shence Army. Chen Jingxuan and others had all changed into polo uniforms, each leading a majestic horse and holding a club.Seeing Li Jing approaching, Tian Lingzi smiled and greeted him cordially, and Li Jing also talked to him perfunctorily with a smile on his face.

Looking at the countless nobles waiting to watch the game in the Linde Palace, Li Jing felt a pity in his heart.All the people were just waiting to watch the fun, but they never imagined that the emperor even used such an important position as Jiedushi to let the people below compete for it by gambling. What hope is there for such an imperial court.

Polo was an extremely popular game in the Tang Dynasty. Everyone loved it, from emperors to traffickers.Even noble ladies and even Fengchenji girls, there are many people who can play polo, and there is even a special court ladies polo team in the palace.And almost every noble and wealthy family in the capital has a dedicated polo team.Even the Forbidden Army such as the Jinwu Guard and the Shence Army have their own polo teams.

In Chang'an, there are countless polo fields.

However, compared to the more popular cupi, hitting the ball immediately is obviously more high-end. Since playing polo requires a good horse, polo has become an aristocratic sport, just like golf in later generations.

Polo has become the favorite sport of the royal family and nobles. There are many courts all over the country, and playing has become popular. It has been strongly advocated by members of the royal family.Eleven of the 19 emperors in the Tang Dynasty loved this sport deeply, and even two of them died because of playing.

Tang Taizong Li Shimin liked to play polo very much, and he also liked to watch people play. For a while, he often went to a stadium to watch the game.As a result, many caring people deliberately went there to play, hoping to attract the emperor's attention.As a result, Tang Taizong quickly understood, and broke the club in public to warn himself.

However, there are very few emperors like Taizong after all, and other emperors in the Tang Dynasty also liked to play. Among the fan emperors in the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong Li Longji was a die-hard fan. The team competed with the Tang Dynasty polo team, and the Tang Dynasty teams lost one after another. This made Li Longji very dissatisfied. He personally asked three members of the royal family to fight against Tubo.In the end, Li Longji formed the Datang Noble Team of four to fight against the Tubo ten-man polo team. Tang Zhongzong was overjoyed when he won the ball game.

In August of the first year of Kaiyuan of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, 31-year-old Li Longji came to the throne, and his polo addiction has not diminished since then. "Poetry on Ming Emperor Playing Balls" says: "Thousands of gates of the palace are open in the daytime, Saburo returns from playing balls intoxicated, old Han Xiu died at the age of nine, and there should be no remonstrance tomorrow." Tianbao six years, 35 years after Tang Xuanzong ascended the throne , and even issued a special edict stipulating that the army must practice polo, thus polo became a training subject in the army.

After Tang Xuanzong, Mu Zong Li Heng was also a super polo fan, and later died of a playing injury.After Mu Zong died, after Jing Zong Li Zhan succeeded to the throne, his fascination with polo continued unabated. He had a group of polo professionals selected from all over the country in the Royal Inner Garden.These highly skilled polo players are called "playing enshrined".Although ball-playing is a highly technical skill, in the eyes of the emperor, it is just an entertainment toy.Their life and livelihood are not guaranteed.Tang Jingzong Li Zhan was a tyrannical monarch who was moody and took pleasure in the disability of others.He often asks to play ball to enshrine the midnight game, so that tragic events of "broken head and arms" often occur.But he took pleasure in it, and the cruel and brutal behavior finally aroused the resistance of the players.

In December of the second year of Baoli (826), Li Zhan was hunting in the countryside, and it was midnight when he returned to the palace. Suddenly, on a whim, he woke up the ball-playing priests from their sleep and asked them to play ball for fun.At this time, the horses are tired, the people are unprepared, and it is dark in the middle of the night, so dangerous accidents are more likely to occur.But Li Zhan insisted on going his own way and never listened to anyone's persuasion. In order to satisfy his brutal nature, he insisted on injuring people and maiming horses.

When he couldn't bear it anymore, he played ball to enshrine Su Zuoming, Wang Jiaxian, Shi Congkuan, Yan Weizhi and others, united and killed Li Zhan.

Today's son Li Xuan, although only 13 years old, is a veritable polo master.

Sitting in the stands on the second floor of the front hall, Li Xuan loudly announced the rules of the game. This time, Team Tian Lingzi and Team Li Jing will each form a ten-man polo team. Two hours, with a quarter of an hour break in between.In the three games, the team that hits the most balls into the opponent's goal at the end wins. Various positions in Lulong Army Commander's Mansion in the state.As for the job competition in the two towns' marshal's mansion, the team with the most goals scored in each team will be selected in turn. (To be continued.)