Back to Tang Dynasty to be Emperor

Five days was not very long for Li Ke. On the contrary, after a day of hunting, Li Ke began to practice literature and martial arts every day and take care of the affairs of the palace.So, five days passed without knowing it.

On this day, Li Ke was chatting with his sworn brother Qin Huaiyu and others in the front hall of Juyi Hall, when he saw a servant in the mansion report that he would be the prisoner, Master Su, who would come to see him.When Li Ke heard that it was Su Zhi, he remembered that he had been asked to make footballs, and hurriedly asked his servants to invite Su Zhi to Juyi Hall.

It was the first time for Su Zhi to come to the Palace of the King of Han. The grandeur of the Palace of the King of Han gave him the feeling of walking in the palace.When he came to the Hall of Juyi, Su Zhi didn't expect that besides Li Ke, there were several unidentified teenagers in extraordinary clothes.After saluting to Li Ke, he saluted everyone one by one. How dare Qin Huaiyu and the other five people stand up to return the salute.

Seeing that Su Zhi had finished seeing the ceremony, Li Ke invited him to sit down, and said enthusiastically: "Su Shaojian can come to my palace as a guest, the Han Palace is really full of splendor."

Su Zhi didn't dare to bear it, so he quickly cupped his hands to express his thanks, and said in a respectful tone: "Your Highness praises this humble minister too much, I dare not be a minister." After speaking, he paused and said, "All the humble officials who came today are His Highness who was in prison five days ago. what was ordered."

Li Ke was happy, and said: "Bring it up and let me have a look."

Immediately, two eagle guards carried a box into the hall and placed it in the center of the hall.Li Ke walked to the box in three steps and two steps in parallel, and couldn't wait to open the lid.I saw ten head-sized footballs neatly placed in the box.Qin Huaiyu and others also followed to watch, Chai Zhewei asked curiously: "Third brother, what is this? Could it be the new Cuju you mentioned?"

"Third brother, is this the ball you mentioned for the new cuju?" Qin Huaiyu asked, his tone uncertain.

Li Ke didn't have time to answer them, he picked up the first football of the Tang Dynasty with his own hands, looked at it carefully, and couldn't hide the excitement on his face.The football feels very good. According to Li Ke's request, the inner layer is made of an inflated pig bladder, separated by a piece of thin cotton. There is no trace of line or corner, which shows that the workmanship is extremely fine.

Li Ke weighed the ball in his hand, feeling that the weight was comparable to football in later generations, and he was very satisfied.He praised Su Zhi: "Young Supervisor Su is really ingenious. I don't know how to thank him for making such an exquisite ball."

Su Zhi hurriedly got up and said: "Your Highness, this is a matter of the minister's duty, I dare not ask for a reward."

Seeing that Qin Huaiyu and others were very curious about the ball in his hand, Li Ke introduced with a smile: "This is the utensil for playing Cuju. As for the name, well, it is called Juqiu. Now this king has invented a kind of ball that is different from the horse. How to play ball and cuju. I wrote down the specific rules and the details of the penalty, and I asked the copywriter to copy many copies.” Li Ke said as he walked to a table next to the wall, and when he came back, his hand There was already a stack of books in the room, and the eyes of the five followed him all the time, and finally they all fell on the booklet in his hand.Li Ke distributed the booklet to five people, and continued: "The way to play Juqiu has been clearly written in my booklet. You might as well read it now. After reading it, we all go to the school field for a practice."

The five of them were already tired of all the entertainment items in Chang'an City. Seeing that Li Ke had invented a new Cuju, they hurriedly lowered their heads to study it carefully, for fear that they would not understand the rules when kicking and be sent off.

Li Ke turned his gaze to Su Zhi and asked, "Master Su is going too."

Su Zhi was always curious about Li Ke's ball, now seeing that he has a new way of kicking Cuju, he naturally wanted to see it, so without refusing, Li Ke asked someone to give him a brochure.

Later, Li Ke asked Chen Qi to select twenty or so agile men from the Eagle Guards as team members, and gave him a booklet by the way, asking him to tell the Eagle Guards to memorize everything that should be remembered.He also ordered Yang En to invite Ma Zhou, gave him a booklet to read the rules carefully, and acted as a referee.When Ma Zhou saw the words "New Cuju" on the cover of Li Ke's booklet, he was a little puzzled. After listening to Li Ke's explanation, he watched it carefully. Cuju is such a complicated game.

Seeing that everyone had almost read the rules, Li Ke told Yang En to go to the school grounds to prepare first, and they would arrive later.After Yang En left, Li Keyou gathered everyone together and explained some differences between the new Cuju and the old Cuju in detail. The mode of modern football has been changed to two gates, and everyone understands it.Li Ke immediately led the crowd towards the school field in a mighty manner.When they came to the school grounds, everyone looked at the Cuju field with two gates. Since Li Ke explained it first, they didn't feel strange.Li Ke divided the people into two teams. He was paired with Chen Qi and several eagle guards, dressed in black; Qin Huaiyu, Chai Zhewei and other eagle guards formed another team, dressed in red.Ma Zhou acted as the referee, and Su Zhi was in charge of timing.Thus, the first Cuju game with modern significance started in such an environment.

Li Ke and Qin Huaiyu are the captains of the two teams respectively. The game is the same as the later world games. First, the two sides determine the venue by throwing copper coins, and then the players from both sides greet each other. The difference is that there are no ball boys when entering the game, and there are no linesmen during the game. , and both sides lack a coaching staff.

Li Ke won the ball (no need to fight, everyone let him.), Ma Zhou rang the bell (because there was no whistle at that time, Li Ke ordered someone to find a bell for Ma Zhou instead of whistle), the black team started After serving, Chen Qifei kicked the ball to Li Ke on the center line. Li Ke took the ball and began to attack the opponent's goal. Chai Zhewei reacted quickly and quickly blocked Li Ke. Li Ke stopped the ball , a cross, and kicked the ball to the black-clothed wrestler on his left. The black-clothed wrestler hesitated for a while, and when he saw no one in front, he rushed up with the ball, and then passed it to Chen Qi who was running at the front. The ball was dribbled outside the penalty area. Li Ke saw the opportunity and flew into the penalty area. Chen Qi passed the ball to Li Ke in good time.

Li Ke was overjoyed, and pointed his right hand straight at the sky like a Zen finger. It was the usual celebration gesture used by the contemporary star Shearer after scoring a goal.However, Li Ke also knew the moisture in it.First, everyone gave way to him, especially the black-clothed eagle guards in his mansion, who didn't dare to come forward to intercept him.Second, it is a habit developed in the old days of Cuju. The last kick to the goal should be done by the ball head.Therefore, Li Ke obviously became the head of the black team, and only then did he complete the final blow.Otherwise, according to the situation at the time, Chen Qi could have gone straight to the goal and shot himself. There was no need to wait for Li Ke to enter the penalty area before passing the ball to him.

It's just that such a habit cannot be changed in a short while, so Li Ke didn't want to say it deliberately, but just told everyone that when playing football, don't care about your identity, and focus on scoring goals.Everyone agreed.

The game continued, the red team served the ball, and after the goalkeeper handed the ball to Cheng Huailiang, Cheng Huailiang dribbled a few times, passed all the way, and broke into the opponent's half in an instant. Chen Qi saw Cheng Huailiang's skillful footwork, and eagle guards rarely defended against it. Those who stopped him were directly in front of Cheng Huailiang.Seeing that he could not break through Chen Qi, Cheng Huailiang passed the ball to Chai Zhewei who was following up. Chai Zhewei then passed the ball to Qin Huaiyu who was waiting in the penalty area. Unfortunately, Qin Huaiyu was not very used to having a person guarding the goal. As a result, the ball was higher than the crossbar. Can't help but sigh.

In this way, you come and go back, and everyone kicks with great joy.Soon, the stipulated half-time time was up, and both sides had no more goals, and the score remained at one to zero.

During the intermission, Yang En served tea, and Li Ke took a sip and asked Ma Zhou beside him, "What do King Bin think of the new Cuju?"

Ma Zhou said: "Your Highness, great talent, this kind of kicking of ministers is unheard of. It is very exciting and suitable for strengthening and strengthening the body. It is a great blessing for Datang."

Li Ke said with a chuckle: "The King Bin is overwhelmed by the award. Ke is only interested in playing, so he only came up with this idea when he was so excited. It can't be said that it is a lucky thing for the Tang Dynasty."

Ma Zhou also knew that this was Li Ke's self-effacement, so he stopped talking.At this time, Chai Zhewei said: "Third brother, you can actually come up with such an interesting Cuju method, and we brothers will have something to play with in the future."

Everyone burst into laughter.

After a short break, the two teams exchanged pitches and played again. After the actual battle in the first half, everyone gradually became proficient in offense and defense. Therefore, until the end of the game, the score remained at one to zero.

But everyone had a great time playing, especially Li Ke's sworn brothers, even took away Li Ke's custom-made football and booklet, saying that they would go back and practice hard in the mansion, and then come to the competition.What surprised Li Ke was that Su Zhi also asked Li Ke for a brochure when he left.When he saw that Li Ke didn't have many balls left, before Li Ke could speak, Su Zhi offered to do a few more for him. Li Ke was overjoyed, thanked him and sent him out of the palace.

After Li Ke returned to the Hall of Juyi, he ordered Yang En to build a Cuju field in the open space of the palace, and asked the specifications to be made according to the standards written in his booklet. Yang En took the order and left.

After Yang En left, Li Ke saw Ma Zhou sitting beside him drinking tea. Seeing that Li Ke had finished explaining the matter to Yang En, Ma Zhou asked him, "Your Highness's new Cuju method is very novel today. I want to know how Your Highness came up with it." ?”

Li Ke wondered why Ma Zhou asked such a question, and answered the wrong question, "I don't know what King Bin thinks of the new Cuju method?"

Ma Zhou asked rhetorically, "Your Highness must have his own ideas, so why ask the minister?"

Li Ke said with a faint smile: "This king wants to promote this movement widely, but it's just not the point yet."

After hearing this, Ma Zhou nodded slightly and said, "Your Highness, if you have any ideas, I can give you some details."

Li Ke was also about to tell Ma Zhou his thoughts, to see if he could come up with any pertinent suggestions, so he said to Ma Zhou, "Let's talk slowly in the study."