Chapter 25 Section Thirteen

The rules of polo games in the Tang Dynasty are similar to those of modern polo games. A pair of poles are erected at both ends of the court, and the distance between the poles is five feet. This is the so-called goal.Either side scores a point if it hits the polo into the opponent's goal during the game. The game is divided into six quarters, and each quarter takes a moment of Xinxiang, which is about ten minutes now.The venue and horses have to be changed every quarter, because polo games have high requirements on horses, and one or two horses cannot play the whole game no matter what, so every polo player participating in the game must prepare at least five or six horses mounts.

Princess Taiping's nephew and five sons of King Xiang were representing Princess Taiping: Li Chengqi, King of Shouchun, Li Chengyi, King of Hengyang, Li Longji, King of Linzi, Li Longfan, King of Baling, and Li Longye, King of Pengcheng. Empress Wei's four nephews represented Princess Anle on the stage: Wei Jie and Wei Guan, Wei Weiqing, Wei Weiqing, and Wei Kai, Zuo Qianniu Zhonglang.Then there is Cui Hao.Originally, Cui Hao's position belonged to Gao Song, Empress Wei's nephew, but because Princess Anle insisted, Empress Wei had to agree that Cui Hao would play.This caused Cui Hao great trouble.

People can eat at the same table with people of low status, but no one wants to play games with people who are much lower than themselves, not to mention such an important game, the members of the Wei family and the few princes who are facing each other have the same idea.Only Li Longji, who has a good impression of Cui Hao, can understand this matter. He already knew that this was a brilliant move arranged by Huifan. of. Because of Cui Hao's participation, the originally noble and fierce polo match became like an uncontrolled melee. Except for Li Longji, his four brothers forgot their original intention because of this unexpected insult.Of course, only Li Longji and his two elder brothers knew about intentionally losing the game.

Perhaps no one among those watching the match would think that this was an unfair match. A crow squeezed into the crowd of phoenixes should be treated the same as Cui Hao. Webster's children would never pass the ball to this little boy with a low status even though he came from a family. They insulted Cui Hao loudly on the field for his disgraceful rogue horse and that weird cue.When Wei Guan hit the ball with his club, he seemingly unintentionally swung it towards Cui Hao's head. Cui Hao dodged sideways, the head of the club brushed against his brow bone, and blood flowed continuously down his cheek.

"Brat, don't you have eyes?" Wei Guan shouted loudly. Immediately afterwards, Li Longfan hit the air with one shot, and the club hit Cui Hao's calf from bottom to top, so hard that the club broke in two. "Damn bastard, you broke my club!" When Cui Hao rode his horse and rushed towards the opponent's goal with the ball alone, the burly Li Longye and the sinister Wei Qi rushed over from both sides.The moment the three horses collided, the elbows of the two hit Cui Hao's side heavily like two iron clubs, knocking him off the horse. "Get out of here, you clown." They both yelled in unison.

Even so, Cui Hao scored a goal. At the end of the fifth quarter of the game, Princess Taiping led 4 to 3. Li Longfan and Li Longye performed bravely and scored two goals each. "You bastards. I came here to let you win the game, not to fight against my Ding Kunchi." Princess Anle's temper was really scary.Her son-in-law Wu Yanxiu was like a handsome follower, and she kept complaining in the voice of Princess An Le: "What is this like? You have to win the ball before talking about something." "You little bastards who don't have long eyes, stand over here." At some point, Empress Wei came up close.Her voice was rough and high-pitched, her pair of phoenix eyes were terrifying, and her gestures were quick and decisive when she spoke. "Who do you think you are? What do you think of our mother? Is it because your wings have grown hard, or do you think you have some good ideas? I can give you wealth, and I can also kill you. If you lose today's game , I will send you to the South China Sea."

"Come here." Empress Wei called Cui Hao over, and gently wiped away the blood on his face with the silk scarf in her hand. "Queen." Hui Fan who was following the queen immediately handed over an opened small silver box, which was filled with milk-colored ointment.Empress Wei dipped a silk scarf into the ointment, and spread it evenly on the wound between Cui Hao's eyebrows.The wound was huge, two or three inches long. "You think I'm blind, and my own people beat my own people?" Hui Fan looked very excited and worried, and said, "Queen, let the little monk go. This kid was trained by me. He has never played with these guys. I will go with him. Assisting these masters will surely turn the situation around."

"I'm relieved to have you here. But, be careful of your bones, you're not young anymore." The queen seemed to be very considerate, without putting on airs. Hui Fan must have been prepared long ago, he did not know where he led a Dawan horse with a coat as white as snow.This horse is one foot taller than a normal polo horse, and the cue in Huifan's hand is also much longer than usual.I saw him riding a horse, with the cue in his hand leaning against the stirrup, his back straightened, his head raised slightly, and his body moving slightly with the horse's gait. The sun had already set in the west, and the reddish rays shone on Huifan's fair face, giving off a layer of soft luster like precious jade.His demeanor stunned the audience.

This is the favorite polo player of Empress Wu back then! Although Li Longji couldn't tell the truth to his two younger brothers, he knew what to do.Shortly after the opening of the sixth quarter, he rode forward with the ball.At this time, Hui Fan quickly squeezed over from the side, and Li Longji saw his two elder brothers charging forward, while his two younger brothers had already rushed towards the opponent's goal. Cui Hao is a smart player, he rushed to meet Li Chengqi and Li Chengyi.Li Longji couldn't help admiring him secretly, he immediately pretended to pass the ball to Li Chengqi, but the ball was slightly missed and fell behind the two brothers' horses.

At this time, Cui Hao had miraculously escaped from the pincer attack of Li Chengqi and Li Chengyi, just in time to block Li Longji's well-timed pass, rode his horse alone, and hit the ball into the goal.The score on the court was four to four. There was a burst of applause on the court.The drums brought by Webster's children were beaten earth-shatteringly. The final blow that decided victory was dramatic.At that time, Huifan dribbled the ball. Instead of going straight to the opponent's goal, he went around the outfield and then cut to the baseline.Seeing this, Li Longfan rushed towards him, and the moment the two collided, Huifan hit the ball with his swing.The ball didn't roll on the ground like a normal hit ball. It was thrown high, drew a beautiful arc in the air, and went straight to the goal.

Cui Hao clearly saw Hui Fan's movements, he pulled his horse and flashed outwards, and then flashed Li Longye, who was rushing up to intercept, to Wei Rui behind him, while he ran a short arc and used his ugly ball just in front of the goal. The scarred cue lightly moved the polo in the air, and the ball flew into the goal neatly. A gong sounded, and the game was over. No one can deny that this was a really exciting and intense game, especially the last goal, which made the audience crazy, and Cui Hao became famous in one fell swoop. It is a pity that when Huifan passed that out-of-the-ordinary high ball, he was knocked off the horse by Li Longfan who rushed up, and his left foot was severely sprained.