Tang people actually love playing football.
The reason why there are so many students who are good at playing football in the academy is inseparable from the general environment in which people in the Tang Dynasty love playing football.
In the Tang Dynasty, we have to mention a traditional festival that has disappeared today - the Cold Food Festival. It is held one hundred and five days after the winter solstice and one or two days before the Qingming Festival. According to legend, it is to commemorate Jie Zitui who would rather be burned to death on the mountain than come out to accept the reward during the Spring and Autumn Period. According to tradition, fireworks are prohibited on this day and only cold food is eaten. In the subsequent Qin, Han, and Sui dynasties, additional contents such as sacrificial sweeps, outings, swings, and Cuju were added.
In the Tang Dynasty, the "Cold Food Cuju" style reached its peak, and it almost became a "legal football day". After sweeping graves, if you didn't go out to play football in the suburbs, it seemed like this day had never happened.
Wang Jian, a poet from Xuchang in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in a poem "Gong Ci": "I will always stand by the flower tree in Zhaoyang before tomorrow. When I am cold, I will eat for a long time, and I will scatter money in the treasury first."
This poem is highly cited in many articles on ancient sports research. The "white kick" in the poem refers to a very popular kicking method without goals in the Tang and Song Dynasties, where two or more people play against each other. Bai Juyi, a native of Xinzheng, also left a poem "Luoqiao Cold Food", describing the scene on the football field, "The dust will not rise after kicking the ball, and the rain will clear after throwing fire."
In addition, cold food Cuju has been mentioned in the works of famous poets such as Wang Wei, Li Bai, Liu Yuxi, and Wei Yingwu. Due to the wide spread of "Cold Food Cuju" in the Tang Dynasty, Du Fu, who had been wandering all his life, wrote a poem "Qingming" in his later years, lamenting that "Ten years of Cuju will be far away, and the custom of swinging thousands of miles away will be the same."
Du Fu was born in Gongyi and visited Luoyang, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei and other places, which shows that these places have the custom of Cuju during the Cold Food Festival.
The Tang people’s love for playing football is evident from this! It makes perfect sense that so many young people who like to play football have been born in such a big environment.
Although the recorded football experts in the Tang Dynasty are not as famous as those in the Song Dynasty, there are still many of them. For example, Yang Xuan and Wu Chongxun were guests of Li Chongjun, the son of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty.
It was also in this football atmosphere initiated by the Tang Dynasty that stars with extremely outstanding personal skills such as Gao Qiu and Liu Sanfu emerged in the Song Dynasty.
"Beep~!"
Li Zexuan blew the whistle and signaled the start of the game with a hand gesture. Li Chengqian's side got the right to kick off. Seeing that the opponent had so many more players, Li Tai knew that with his own strength, he would not be able to break through alone. He made a side pass and passed the ball. The football was passed to the feet of Li Chengqian, who was only ten steps away from him on the left front, and then quickly ran forward to receive the ball.
After experiencing Li Zexuan's previous teachings, Li Tai already knew that in football matches, one cannot show off one's courage. This is an eleven-man game, and it is difficult to win the last laugh just by relying on personal recklessness.
Li Chengqian didn't dare to be careless after catching the ball, because Cheng Chumo was running towards him at high speed. At that speed, as long as he dared to dribble a few steps, Cheng Chumo would definitely catch up and steal the ball from him!
On the court, there is no such thing as a prince or a minister, and Cheng Chumo will never be polite to him!
In the royal family, Li Chengqian had the best and most exquisite football to play since he was a child. He also loved playing football since he was a child, so his basic skills were relatively solid. He raised his eyes to see the right direction, made a cross pass, and accurately passed the football. Pass it to Li Huairen's feet!
This is a method they have just developed to deal with players with extremely strong personal abilities like Cheng Chumo, which is to keep passing the ball! This tactic that emphasizes absolute possession of the ball is similar to the tiki-taka tactic used by modern Guardiola when he coached Barcelona! However, tactics are not the decisive factor in the outcome of the game. The key depends on the tacit understanding between the players!
"Huairen! Take the ball~!"
After playing for such a long time, the blood in Li Chengqian's body has already boiled. At this moment, he no longer has the gentle and elegant image of the prince before, and his voice has become louder!
That's right, among the group of people who just joined, there happened to be Li Huairen, a general tiger son. As a martial arts master, Li Xiaogong, his son would be at least much better than ordinary people even if he was worse.
There was no problem with Li Chengqian's prediction of where the football would land, and he even left a small margin for Li Huairen. However, Li Huairen had just come on the field. It was his first time to experience this kind of formal football match, and the reactions of various parts of his body were somewhat unable to keep up with the rhythm. He Hearing Li Chengqian calling him, he paused subconsciously. With such a pause, the distance between him and the football had become a little far away. It was too late to pursue him anymore, because Sun Zifan had already taken the opportunity to get close to the football.
"(⊙o⊙)Wow! The prince team's ball was robbed!"
"This little guy reacts so quickly!"
(Now that Sun Zifan and Li Tai have successfully lost weight, no one calls them fat guys anymore)
"Good shot~!"
"This should be regarded as a passing error by the prince, right? What a pity!"
"Fart, this is obviously the student who was stunned for a moment and failed to follow His Highness's pass! Do you know how to watch the ball? If not, don't talk nonsense!"
The students watching outside the field, after seeing Sun Zifan steal the football, exclaimed, sighed, and cheered loudly, but it was not lively anyway.
They didn't have the opportunity to play in person and compete with Li Chengqian, the crown prince of the country, so they could only watch from the sidelines.
The lively scene here continues to attract students who are passing by after eating. After a while, there is a circle of people around the playground, and there are even some gentlemen from Yanhuang Academy. Now they have just finished their exams and have time to come out. Look at the excitement.
"Beautiful~! Zifan, pass it to me quickly!"
When Cheng Chumo saw Sun Zifan stealing the football, he quickly waved to the latter and shouted loudly at the same time.
Needless to say, Sun Zifan knew that Cheng Chumo was their team's most important scorer. After grabbing the ball, he spotted Cheng Chumo's position without hesitation and passed a ground ball!
There was only about three feet between him and Cheng Chumo. With such a close distance, of course it would be more reliable and effective to pass ground balls!
I saw the football drawing a straight line on the grass, and it was about to roll to Cheng Chumo's feet. Suddenly, a black shadow blocked the path of the football. This sure-fire pass was actually intercepted!
"Wow~!"
There was an uproar outside the venue!
"It's the King of Han!"
"What a speed!"
"I heard that the King of Han knew martial arts. Did he use martial arts?"
"Shit! What do you know? King Han relies entirely on his body's reaction. If he uses martial arts, do you think a master like Shan Chang won't be able to tell?"
"That's right! Can you be more powerful than the mountain chief?"
"What a beautiful grab for the ball! Well done to His Highness the King of Han!"
"Look! His Highness the King of Han is about to counterattack! This... single-handed attack! He is going to break through the opponent's defense line alone!"
The onlookers outside the field were completely affected by every move of the players on the field. Sometimes they cheered, sometimes yelled, and sometimes sighed, making the academy under the sunset full of vitality at night again!
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