Chapter 49 Playing Polo (Seeking Recommendation Tickets)

  "Ah ah ah……"

  Wang Rufeng let out a strange cry, his body flying over a dozen feet in the air before crashing to the ground with a loud thud. A mountain of flesh quickly collapsed, causing the earth to shudder violently for several moments, sending mud and sand flying everywhere. Suddenly, a chorus of cheers erupted from all directions.

  In sumo wrestling, as long as you make your opponent's body touch the ground, it is considered a win. However, the most impressive winning move is to knock your opponent out of the ring.

  One way to throw someone out of the arena is to grab their belt, spin around and use inertia to toss them out. Another way is to rely on brute strength, pick them up and forcibly throw them out.

  And the most exaggerated one is Yang Fan's style, which uses palm strikes or headbutts to deliver a sudden and powerful "force strike" that sends the opponent flying.

  Although Yang Fan's "forceful collision" was actually a clever move, borrowing force to counterattack, it wasn't an illegal action. Moreover, among the onlookers, how many could truly understand what had happened? All they saw was Wang Rufeng charging forward, Yang Fan retreating and yielding, his palms striking out in unison, sending a mountain of flesh flying off the "competition platform".

  "Alright! Alright! Yang Er, you're really something!"

  The brothers on one side of the Chu Kuang Song were all shouting "good", and even the slaves and family members of those noblewomen, except for the slaves of Mrs. Yao's household, were all shouting "good".

  Another powerful move by Wang Ruo Feng, like a lion pouncing on a rabbit, was just about to land a devastating blow on Yang Fan's face. But in the blink of an eye, the tables were turned and it was Wang Ruo Feng who ended up crashing to the ground in a sorry state, leaving him stunned and speechless.

  The Chu madman's followers, those ruffian brothers, took advantage of the situation to mock and ridicule him. They spoke in nothing but street slang, not a single pleasant phrase among them. They insulted Lishi until he was furious, but didn't know how to respond. The opponents were all eloquent and numerous, six or seven of them, so even if he wanted to argue back, he wouldn't have the upper hand.

  Wang Rufeng lay on the ground, dazed and dizzy from the fall. It took him a long time to recover, and when he finally sat up, he gazed up at the distant, clear sky with wisps of white clouds drifting across it. He tried hard to remember for half a day, but still couldn't figure out how he had fallen out.

  Yang Fan glanced sideways and saw Tian Ai Nu and Liu Jun Wan walking towards the woods with smiles, so he gave Chu Kuang Ge a signal to delay for a while.

  Chu Kuang Ge understood the meaning, looked up at the sky and let out a loud laugh. He walked over to Wang Ru Feng, pulled him up and helped brush off the sand from his body. With a smile, he said: "Comparing skills, it's inevitable to lose sometimes, no big deal. My brothers here are sharp-tongued and won't spare anyone, don't blame them, Brother Wang." As he spoke, he turned around and scolded: "Still not shutting up!"

  As soon as Chu Tian Ge said this, his brothers under him immediately shut their mouths.

  Chu Kuang Ge bowed to the several women in the tent and said, "Ladies, wrestling was originally for your entertainment and pleasure. Now that we're competing, if we can bring you joy, then that's all that matters. I hope you won't mind."

  I see that you gentlemen have brought horses with you, and I suppose you also enjoy horse riding. My brothers and I are fond of it too. Since we're all gathered here by the Luo River to appreciate the autumn scenery, let's consider this a chance encounter. Why don't we each send out a few people for a game of horse riding competition? It doesn't matter who wins or loses; it's just for fun and relaxation."

  Madam Yao saw that the big man was speaking, and her heart was already filled with joy. She heard his polite words and was even more delighted. Her charming eyes swept across his sturdy chest muscles, and she smiled: "Alright, I'll offer a reward of 1,000 coins. Madam Feng, Madam Huo, each of your families will send three people, and my family will send four. Let's have a competition with them, what do you say?"

  Those two women only sought pleasure, as for the slaves at home winning or losing, whether they lost face or broke their bones, it was not on their minds. They immediately responded in unison and both sides prepared themselves.

  Yang Fan didn't understand sumo wrestling, and even less so about horse riding, because he grew up in Southeast Asia since childhood, where horses were rarely seen. He couldn't ride a horse at all, let alone see polo? So he automatically retreated to the side.

  Alas, Wang Er had set his sights on him.

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  In the canopy on the far left, several women were still drinking and having fun.

  "You're quite formidable, young one! You've won this round, hehe, Wanyu, it's your turn to drink now."

  The woman in red held a jade tally and smiled at the woman in the plain white dress, saying something. A green-robed maid standing at the entrance of the tent suddenly burst out laughing and exclaimed, "This one eats dog shit, and got beaten up so miserably!"

  The woman in red raised an eyebrow and asked: "Xiang Ning, what are you looking at?"

  The maid in the green blouse hastily turned around and curtsied, smiling as she said: "Over there, two families who were out for a pleasure boat ride on the river got into an argument. They started competing to see whose skills were better, one of them was fat like a bear, while the other was thin like a monkey. I thought for sure the bear would win, but surprisingly the monkey won against the bear."

  The woman in red skirt lost her smile and said: "You silly girl, how can you learn a word but not understand it!"

  She lazily waved her hand and ordered: "Remove the canopy on the right side, let's take a look at the excitement!"

  The young woman in a red skirt gave an order, and the curtain on one side of the canopy immediately slowly opened.

  Cuju game, popular in Tang Dynasty.

  During the Tang Dynasty, light cavalry was prevalent, and the court attached great importance to training fast mobile and long-distance raiding light cavalry. After Li Shimin learned that the Tibetans played polo for the benefit of training cavalry, he promoted this sport in the Great Tang.

  At that time, the Tubo envoy learned that Emperor Taizong of Tang liked Cuju and specially gave him a ball as a gift. However, Li Shimin did not want to let the Tubo people know his true intentions, so he pretended to dislike it and burned the ball. But after that, the game of Cuju eventually became popular throughout the Tang Dynasty without anyone realizing it.

  Nowadays, princes and nobles, scholars and soldiers all like to play polo. Many ladies from wealthy families, including palace maids in the imperial city, are also skilled at playing polo. However, ordinary people cannot afford horses and have few opportunities to ride them, so their riding skills are not good, and therefore they play football instead.

  Cuju is kicking a ball, and polo is hitting a ball.

  At present, the royal family has built polo fields in various palaces, and some high-ranking officials have also built polo fields near their residences. The polo fields they built are slightly wider than modern standard football fields, but slightly shorter, with a total area similar to that of a football field. However, the quality of construction is extremely meticulous, flat as a whetstone, and reflective like a mirror.

  To make the ground smooth and flexible, no long grass in summer, no frost in winter, some wealthy families even spent a lot of money, pouring bucket after bucket of oil onto the field. With such great effort, it can be seen that the upper class at that time was so fond of playing polo, their infatuation with polo was not inferior to modern people's enthusiasm for football, and even surpassed it.

  At the moment, this temporary stadium is not so particular. They used the remaining poles of the tent to make a goal, drew lines on the sandy ground as the court, and the court was slightly smaller than usual. With local materials, it was quickly set up. The players from both sides were also dressed neatly, ready to enter the field.

  At this time, the polo match has a maximum of ten players on each side, but there is no minimum limit, that is to say, it does not require both teams to have an equal number of players. If you want, one person can play against the other team's ten people and nobody will stop you.

  In Chu, there were many people, but only five could ride horses and play polo. Yang Fan and others who couldn't play horseball helped on the side, tying knots in each of the horse's tails.

  Wang Rufeng had just been severely thrown by Yang Fan, and in his opinion, Yang Fan had initially pretended not to understand sumo wrestling and asked someone surnamed Chu to explain the rules of sumo wrestling on the spot, which was simply a deliberate show of weakness to deceive him into underestimating him. Now that he had lost so much face, he was already extremely resentful towards him.

  Yang Fan didn't seem to be preparing for the horse racing competition, and it was likely that he wasn't skilled in horsemanship. Wang Rufeng's eyes rolled around, and he whispered a few words to one of the polo players from the Yao residence. The man nodded slightly and walked over with his horse, saying to Yang Fan: "Young brother, your sumo skills are so divine, I'm sure your polo skills are also extraordinary. I'd like to learn from you, how about it?"

  Yang Fan smiled and said: "I'm ashamed, I don't know how to ride a horse or play cuju."

  That man let out a loud laugh, but his face didn't have the slightest smile. He said coldly, "Just now you also said you didn't understand sumo wrestling, yet in the end you cleanly defeated Wang Er. A real man should not be overly modest, or else it's just hypocrisy."

  Yang Fan didn't mind winning or losing, and stole a glance. Tian Ai Nu and Liu Jun Huan were walking and chatting under a row of tall trees in the distance. Thinking that as long as he delayed time and attracted Mrs. Yao's attention, it would be fine. He smiled and replied in a very good temper: "I really don't understand hitting the ball, but... since you asked me to do so, I'll try my best."