female concubine

On the third day of the fire ban, the palace held a banquet in the Daming Hall to hold a Cuju competition, and summoned the ministers, clans, and their families to the banquet with the martial arts Jinshi.

In front of the Daming Hall, there is an east-west square Ju court. In the center stands a single Ju gate that is three feet two feet high and nine feet five inches wide. A colorful flag is tied on the top of the Ju gate. Below the flag is a ball hole that is two feet eight inches wide. , There are blue and red flags on both sides of the court. Sitting next to the flags are two referees.

"Holy One!"

The emperor walked towards the South Palace in a scarlet robe with wide sleeves and a round neck. The emperor loved martial arts and liked Cuju, but judging from his clothes, it seemed that he did not intend to participate in Cuju this time.

Several emperors followed Yulongzhi warriors and stood in order under the railings around the throne with swords.

"Long live Your Majesty!"

The emperor stood in front of the stage with his hands behind his back and scanned it for a week. Compared with last year, there was a lot more fresh blood this year, so he said with a smile: "In the year of peace, after two tests of civil and military, I am delighted to have a talent. Today's competition will be handed over to you." Let the young people fight for it."

——Boom!Boom! ——Boom!Boom! —The drums sounded immediately.

Two teams of troops appeared on the left and right sides of the Juchang, the left army wore red brocade robes, and the right army wore green robes, with words printed on the front and back of their respective robes.

Before the match between the clan and the courtiers, a special Cuju team will compete on the court. They are all carefully selected kickers from the Imperial Army.

The eunuch stood under the stage and said loudly to the court: "The winning team will each be rewarded with [-] gold, a brocade robe, eighteen hairpin flowers, an additional [-] gold for the ball head, and a bottle of royal wine. Those who follow the rules, the head of the ball will be whipped."

With an order, "The competition begins!" It is signaled by whistle and drumming.

———Boom!Boom! ————

The team to the left of the Emperor kicks off first.

On the left side of the throne is the clan, and on the right are courtiers and unemployed Wu Jinshi. The King of Chu stared at the single door on the Ju field, "This time it is not a confrontation. King Zhao has been in the army since he was a child, and the army uses Cuju to fight against it." For training, not confrontation...Does Your Majesty want the crown prince to win?"

Sitting beside her, Xiao Youqing smiled lightly and said, "It seems that Liu Lang can't guess His Majesty's thoughts!"

The King of Chu turned his head and was stunned for a moment, "What do you mean by this, does my sister know His Majesty well?"

Xiao Youqing shook her head, "The one who understands His Majesty is not a concubine." Before marrying into the palace, she had never had close contact with the emperor. I fought bloody battles for this!"

Cuju with a single goal is different from the confrontation between the east and the west with double nets. The goal is won by the number of goals, and the kick accuracy required for the last shot is higher.

"It's just a pity that neither the crown prince nor King Zhao has his shadow!"

Xiao Youqing pointed to the two glasses of cold wine on the table, "Next time, who do you think His Majesty will protect?"

The King of Chu looked down, stretched out his right hand and waved in front of the two cups, then smiled and stretched out the other hand, picked up the two cups together, and drank them all.

——Boom boom boom boom! ——

There was applause from the watching hall. It turned out that Zuo Jun scored a goal at the beginning of the game.

The inflated ball is passed to the right team, and the players bounce the ball several times to the sub-ball head, then the sub-ball head passes to the ball head, and the ball head shoots!

Abandoning the joy of chasing, the loser will not be rewarded but will be whipped, so the heads of both sides become tense.

Half an hour later, the drumming was suspended, and the green team won with most of the red chips.

"reward!"

Twelve servants from the Ministry of Internal Affairs walked into the court with rewards, and Qiu Tou led the team members to kneel and thank them.

Then another servant came along with a whip.

"Since the winner has been divided, we must follow the rules of the court. The winner will be rewarded and the loser will be punished. This is the rule established by Emperor Tai Zugao back then."

The servant handed the whip to the head of the winning team, "Commander, please~"

The right army ball was dressed in green clothes, with long-legged hair on his head, he picked up his whip and walked to the left army ball with a smile on his face, "Hey, Commander Su can't blame the subordinates. In terms of strength, subordinates are not as good as commanders. But this shot, hehe, who knows why His Majesty, who always likes to watch confrontation, suddenly changed to a single shot!"

"If you want to fight, hit fast!"

"Hey, let me hit you lightly, and I'll treat you to a drink later."

After the rewards and punishments were completed, the servants came forward after getting the emperor's will.

"The holy ancestors taught that all the children of Cuju, regardless of their superiority or inferiority, are all astounded by their handsomeness."

Many young people standing on the side of the court all bowed their hands in the direction of the throne and answered, "Yes!"

Crown Prince Wei Shu, wearing a gown with a round neck and narrow sleeves, a belt, and soft silk shoes, walked back from the Juchang to the viewing hall, and walked up to the Crown Princess.

"Isn't Your Highness going to compete today?"

"Of course!"

"Then Your Highness?"

He stuffed the soft scarf into the crown princess's hand, "The soft scarf on my head is loose, please trouble the crown prince to tie it up for me!"

The meaning was clear, the Crown Princess lowered her head and smiled, stood up slowly and said, "Turn around, Your Highness."

The prince followed suit and asked: "Young people from the clan present, there are only three of us brothers today, who does the princess think will win?"

The hand that tied the soft towel trembled suddenly, and immediately tied another knot lightly.

He added: "The winner is rewarded, the loser is punished, the punishment is small, and the shame is big!"

"What exactly does your Highness want to ask?"

The prince straightened the soft scarf on his head and turned around, "Who do you think wins?"

"..."

Seeing that the person didn't speak, the prince bent down and took a glass of wine to drink, "If you don't tell me, I will know, but this time, I will definitely win!"

The emperor got up from the throne and walked to the railing, "If the princes of the clan are victors, they will be given a banquet at the mansion after the fire is banned, and they will be granted the imperial court. The victors of the courtiers will have their salaries increased. He also agreed to the leader with one condition."

"Anything in the world that I can get, I will not refuse!"

"Nothing is not allowed!" The King of Chu looked at the wine glass, as if he had no intention of participating in it, "Your Majesty has started to fool people again!"

"I think so, otherwise!"

The King of Chu put down the empty cup, "Otherwise it's not, it's not a confrontation, it's boring to watch, it's Shengchun, everyone is watching the ball in the Daming Palace..." She suddenly stared at Xiao Youqing, and beckoned to Xiaoliuzi.

Little Six came closer and saw the King of Chu muttering in his ear for a while, then Little Six turned around and walked under the throne.

"It's Qi Neishi." Xiao Huangmen, the servant under the throne, said with a smile.

"Ms. Zhao, please convey a few words for the villain and Zhao Duzhi."

"it is good."

It was passed around, and finally Zhao Ci went to the emperor's side, bowed and waved in his ear, and said a few words, the emperor glanced at the king of Chu's seat, and then nodded slightly.

Seeing the emperor nodding, the king of Chu pulled Princess Chu from the seat.

"Where are you going, my lord?"

"There is a big pond in the south of Da Nei Genyue, named Yanchi. Now in the height of spring, thousands of plum trees are planted under the mountain, and geese and rabbits live there."

"Gen Yue...Qi Neishi seems to have told me that the most beautiful scenery in Ouchi is not in the palace city, but the Huayang Palace in the northeast corner of the palace city. Is the prince going out of the palace to watch the game? Then His Majesty..."

"Your Majesty has agreed. In the battle on the field, only the result is the most exciting. If so, we just have to wait for the result. Why waste time watching them pass the ball!"

"Yesterday, what did you say to your brother?"

In the Daming Hall, there was no one on the throne of Chu, King Zhao looked at it and smiled slightly.

"Brother, Liu Lang has already left the court, so he felt that Cuju is tasteless and left, but the younger brother has not yet, and he wants to share his worries for the elder brother, so we still have to fight for the opportunity to come out of the court."

"The opportunity is right in front of you. Whether you can get it or not depends on whether the third brother has the ability!"

King Zhao smiled, bowed his hands to the prince, and immediately stretched out his hand to indicate to the left, "Your Highness is the king, please go first!"

From the door of Chenhui, driving towards the northeast corner of the old city, the people who pulled her out were absent-mindedly looking out of the car window and did not dare to look back at her along the way.

Genyue is the royal garden of the palace, so it is guarded by the forbidden army.

As soon as I entered Yanghua Gate, I heard ethereal birdsong from the mountain forest. The spring flowed from the top of the rocks and formed a small waterfall from top to bottom and flowed into the stream. There were deer drinking water by the stream, and wild geese lived in the forest and were submerged in water. There are still a few red-crowned cranes staying on the Asakusa stall.

When Xiao Youqing first entered, he was indeed amazed by this picturesque scenery.

"This was built by the former emperor exhausting his national power. He took the rare and strange spiritual stones in the world and moved the beautiful and rare flowers and trees in the south. After more than ten years, the world was in chaos after being extremely extravagant, favoring and trusting treacherous people. , Emperor Tai. Zugao wanted to demolish it after the founding of the country, but was persuaded by Taizong, Taizong felt that it was a pity to demolish it after it was built, and it would not help, so it is better to use it as a warning to his descendants.”

The two of them went to a pavilion, no matter how good the scenery was, if they were careless, they would not be able to appreciate it, Xiao Youqing sat down slowly, looked up at the King of Chu, "I'm afraid the prince didn't bring his concubine out to admire these exotic flowers and plants Right, the real purpose of the lord is not to let the concubine see anything, right?"

"Uh..." The King of Chu immediately squatted down beside Xiao Youqing's legs with a silly smile, then stretched out his hands and lowered them slightly, "I really want to spend more time with my sister, instead of watching those rude people fight, I'd rather watch The scenery coming out of the painting is much more comfortable.”

Xiao Youqing looked down at each other, smiled slightly, and asked: "Yesterday, what did the prince and brother say?"

----------

Even though Cuju has established rules that do not distinguish between superiors and inferiors, the crown prince and the king of Zhao were the first to play, and the young people who competed recorded the number of times the crown prince had won chips, and the rest scored the most points less than the two of them. There is one person who surpasses, and dare not have.

The prince sat on the seat, complacent, "Let me just say it, I will definitely win this time, King Zhao has been in the army for a long time, and Cuju was taught by His Majesty himself, I have never won against him since then , but this shot, Ben Gong is not weak!"

"Your Highness, don't be too happy, this year, there will be a martial arts champion!"

The crown prince closed his words, and then he heard the counting official on the field shout loudly: "Wu Zhuangyuan has to raise 140 seven!"

The Crown Princess smiled and said, "Wu Zhuangyuan is more than twice as rich as His Highness!"

The prince blushed and muttered, "If it weren't for that old guy Yao Shen, how could this Xiao be where he is today!"

The leader was snatched away, and the prince felt unwilling, so he called out, "Si!"

"The little guy is here!"

"Tell other Wu Jinshi, if you can win the Wu champion, I will give you another reward!"

"Yes."

Until the end of the game, these martial arts Jinshi all scored hundreds of goals, but none of them surpassed the champion of martial arts.

"Your Majesty, the winner is Duke Longde's grandson, Wu Zhuangyuan Xiao Yunze, who scored 140 goals in a quarter of an hour."

The emperor got up and walked forward, bowed his head and said with a smile: "After all, he is the son of the Xiao family, the son of a general, and he is not in vain of the name of the champion of martial arts!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the compliment."

"Shangshu's Xizi has won the first place, congratulations!" The colleagues on the right where the officials were seated congratulated.

And Xiao Xianrong just smiled back, turning his head to quietly look at the face of the emperor on the stage.

The emperor stroked his beard and thought for a while, "I will confer the title of Lieutenant Yun Qi, who will be stationed in Tokyo to command eleven."

After hearing this, Xiao Yunze raised his head in surprise, and immediately knelt down in joy, "Master, thank Your Majesty for your grace!"

"Your Majesty, the champion of martial arts has never been on the battlefield, so he hastily handed over the horse army commanded by Tokyo Eleven to him. I am afraid that he will not be able to convince the crowd!"

Yunqi is the cavalry under the Majun Division. There are fifteen commanders in total. Among them, there are eleven commanders stationed in Tokyo City, one commander each in Chenliu and Xijing, and two commanders in Gongxian County.

The emperor glanced at Yao Shen, and then looked at Xiao Yunze again, "Did Xiao Qing hear what the privy envoy just said?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, I have heard that the soldiers will not obey the general, except they themselves have the final say, that is, they obey the emperor's order. If the privy envoy can calm people's hearts with a single word, what do the generals have to do?"

Yao Shen has been an official for decades, but he has never been bullied in front of the emperor by a young man who just entered the official career, "You!"

"Okay, Yao Qing don't care about young people, he is the grandson of Duke Longde, I trust him, he has this ability!"

"Yes."

"I keep my word. In addition to granting you an official position, I also promise you a promise. Tell me, what does Captain Yunqi want?"

Xiao Yunze raised his head happily, and immediately knelt up straight, turned his head to glance at the Imperial Academy among the ministers, kowtowed to the emperor and said: "I want to be alone!"