Chapter 141 Polo Match Officially Begins
Jin Sui laughed, young people are so impulsive! Gu Changxiao, have you forgotten the purpose of our polo match?
But even you are so obsessed with it, which shows that this polo match is really attractive, and other teams will be thousands of times more obsessed than Gu Changxiao.
She nodded and said, "Now that the emotions have been brewing to this point, if we don't get started, everyone will be discouraged."
"Have Hanxing send out a formal notice to start the full preliminaries tomorrow, with eight teams entering the finals."
She told Gu Changxiao that she was following the promotion rules of future football matches. There would be revival matches and extra matches, and it would take at least a month to compete with dozens of teams.
As the popularity of the Cuju competition remains, the border town will be lively until October.
At the beginning, only the teams from the Yanzhou scholar families came to the border town to participate in the competition. After this period of fermentation, noblemen from all states in Yan came to join in the fun.
There were 32 teams that signed up! The border town was very lively during this period, with tents and temporary inns expanding endlessly in all directions, and it was so lively that it didn't look like a border town at all.
Captain Liu’s original words were: he couldn’t recognize his home after being away for three days, and when he came back after being away for half a month, he thought he had gone to the wrong place!
It really is different every day! Jin Sui has many ideas for urban construction. She can learn from some of the tricks used by cities in later generations to attract tourists.
Football games attract male tourists, food markets attract children with families, and various job vacancies attract the lower class people.
Unlike the ladies in Chang'an, the ladies in Yan rarely traveled far away. The ladies in the states of Yan often traveled with their fathers and brothers to various states.
For example, at the previous treasure-fighting meeting in Yanzhou, many noble ladies came to play. Yanzhou was led by Yan Twelve Niang, so it goes without saying that many noble ladies came, and soon noble ladies from other states in Yandi also joined the ranks.
Female guests are not as interested in football games as male guests. They will only come to watch the game excitedly if one of the players is their relative, friend, or loved one. Otherwise, they would rather go to see the scenery and visit the market.
Jinsui issued several more instructions regarding the issue of female guests. For example, flowers grown in tomato greenhouses should be placed at the door of any inn with female guests.
She invited two opera troupes to perform at fixed times every day, but the plays they sang were not those known only by middle-aged and elderly people, but the sentimental love plays she wrote herself, adding some personal sentiments, to encourage women to read and awaken to the female lead.
In order to promote sales, the costumes and jewelry were remade, especially the women's costumes, which were deliberately made to look like what women of that era often wore, such as winter cloaks, hooded capes, outer coats with fur balls, gloves, and cloud shoulders.
When she entered the room, she took off her outer coat, revealing various long skirts underneath. In order to prevent the women of that era from being unable to accept it, she slightly changed the style of the skirts of that era.
The sleeves are transformed into lotus leaf sleeves, petal sleeves, and fairy-like flowing sleeves, and a circle of lace is added to the collar. The hem is changed from the traditional four- or eight-panel pomegranate skirt with complicated embroidery to a three-layer puff skirt, a waisted long skirt, and a flowing fairy skirt with brighter colors but simpler styles.
Various small accessories such as ribbons, silk flowers, belts, collar flowers, shoulder ornaments, etc. are used to embellish.
The traditional stage was also greatly modified, using props and lighting techniques from later dramas to perform, making it easier for the audience to empathize with the drama.
This was a big job and it certainly could not be completed by Border Town alone, so she asked Chen Yuniang and Yan Shier Niang to do it. Yan Shier Niang was very happy to be able to help the prince.
Dozens of embroiderers from the Yan family were brought over overnight to work overtime. Jin Sui gave the embroiderers big red envelopes and gave 30% of the theater's income to Yan Shier Niang, who became even happier.
She always felt that the more business she and the prince cooperated in, the stronger the bond between them would be. Even if she could not become a couple with the prince, they could still be lifelong friends.
In short, the theater had an immediate effect, and female tourists who came to the border town wanted to watch it three times a day.
After the show, I went to the ready-made clothing and jewelry store opened by Yan Shier Niang to buy, buy, and buy. The same styles of costumes were all sold out.
Yanzhizhai’s business is also very hot. The finished products launched on the same day were sold out by noon. Many customers can only make reservations.
Jinsui felt that it was time to give Yanzhizhai a shot in the arm and add fuel to the excitement of the border town.
The recipe for making two simple perfumes was given to Yan Shier Niang. It is really very simple. Add various spices and flowers, and a main flower essential oil. Mix them with highly distilled liquor, and then distill them again, and you get perfume.
Although the smell is not as strong as the Liushen flavor of later generations, but in this era where people like and love fragrance and every noble wears fragrance, the smell of perfume is a hundred times more elegant and subtle than that of sachets, scent bags, and scent pills!
It is also better than the other two in terms of usage. Especially when traveling far away, it is inconvenient to fumigate clothes with fragrance, and burning incense takes time, while perfume only needs to be sprayed on a few parts of the body, and the fragrance will remain all day long!
Unsurprisingly, the perfume sparked a buying frenzy as soon as it was released.
Not only the female guests were fighting for it, but also the male guests! Especially the polo team, all of them were young men from aristocratic families. Although their style was not as good as Yan Jiu's, they were just as refined.
After playing ball and sweating a lot, no matter how you wash, there will still be a sour smell left. If the incense is not used properly, it will turn into a strange smell.
Nowadays, many noble ladies come to the border town. If you meet a girl you like and the two of you greet each other, and she smells a bad odor on you, would you still have the nerve to speak?
The popularity of the perfume even attracted Yan Jiu, who gave advice to Yan Shi'er Niang and sent a capable housekeeper to lead people to expand the workshop and purchase raw materials from various states in Yan.
After Jinsui came up with strategies to attract tourists one after another, the polo match in the border town finally evolved to its current situation.
Everyone couldn't wait to start the official competition! The next morning, Jin Sui personally went to the polo field to hold a grand opening ceremony.
Li Heng brought a group of Yanzhou officials to watch the ceremony. Originally it was just entertainment for the children of the gentry, but now their fathers, brothers and relatives also came to watch the ceremony.
The noblemen also knew that the nature of this competition had completely changed. In order to be included in the Border Town Records, their families put pressure on them. Although their pressure had increased, their motivation and enthusiasm had also become full.
They attach a hundred times more importance than before, and everything from team uniforms to saddles is exquisite, all to show the family spirit.
Jin Sui, the 'King of Evil', still had to take her last stand and give a speech on stage, but her speech was very brief, and she only said a few words about sportsmanship.
Next was the singing and dancing segment. They had originally planned to invite dancers and have a cheerleading program. But Jin Sui rejected the idea and asked the soldiers of the Black Feather Camp to sing the war song.
Holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, they wore light armor and sang "Horse Trampling Yanran", a song that has been passed down from the Eastern Han Dynasty to this day. Then the players from each team entered the arena.
Cheng Yu introduced the team members loudly. The first to appear was the Yanyun team, led by Yan Shiyi. All members wore red headbands and bright red riding uniforms... Both the Yan brothers and sisters loved red clothes, no wonder they could play with Heihu.
Carrying the Yanyun team's flag, they entered the field slowly with one hand clenched into a fist on their chest and the other holding the reins.
It was a team full of energy and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, Yan Shiyi opened his mouth.
Such a handsome man just opened his mouth.
Dozens of Yanyun team members, led by Yan Shiyi, shouted in unison:
"Yanyun, Yanyun, the strongest in Yanzhou! Defeat all opponents in the world! Hey!"
This slogan had neither rhyme nor momentum. When they shouted it, the team members who were like tigers just now immediately turned into big cats.
Yan Shier Niang covered her face with her hands, and even from a distance Yan Jiu could feel that his expression looked very bad.
He looked unhappy, but Gu Changxiao looked very happy. He just liked to see Yan Jiu make a fool of himself.
It seems that this slogan was added by Yan Shiyi on his own initiative.
Jin Sui lowered his head and laughed, but heard Hei Hu angrily saying: "How arrogant! How dare you say that you can defeat all opponents in the world! Brother Han, how about changing our slogan to, "Step on Team Yanyun?"
Han Xing glared at him, and Hei Hu shrank his neck and dared not speak anymore.
During this period, someone unexpectedly came to Jin Sui. It was the wealthy Jin Zilin, who was her first pot of gold supporter but she had never met him in person.
Jin Zilin had the face of a nouveau riche, with a round face, smiling eyes and a bulbous nose. His team members' riding uniforms were the most gorgeous, and it was said that the golden words on their chests were embroidered with gold thread.
Grandpa Ling clicked his tongue when he heard this: "If your clothes get torn during the competition, you can pick up gold on the ground!"
Jin An took it seriously and said to Jin Sui: "Brother Prince, after the game, don't let others pick it up. I will pick it up!"
As the host, the Black Feather Team was the last to enter the stadium. There was no slogan, only one sentence: "Border Town Black Feather Team!"
But the Black Feather Team still received the loudest applause and cheers today, if for nothing else, then for their outfits.
A tall horse with the same fur color as his owner, its entire body was pure black, except for its four hooves which were snow-white, and it was wearing the same blue mask as his owner.
All members of the Black Feathers team wore half masks, round-top polo hats of the same color, blue and white sports shirt-style tops, knee-high deerskin boots over white trousers, and blue elbow guards and belts with the team member number written on the back.
This was designed by Jinsui in order to formalize the polo uniform, combining it with the polo uniforms of later generations.
As expected, once it appeared, it attracted everyone's attention. The girls blushed and whispered to each other: "So stylish and beautiful! I didn't expect riding clothes could be worn like this!"
"Do you have any women's styles? I want to buy one, too. They look really light."
Miss Bai excitedly said to the Yan family maid beside her: "The tallest one is Black Tiger. Ah! Did you see him waving at me?"
Yan Shier Niang's gaze unconsciously fell on Han Xing, and she admired in her heart, it is true that clothes make the man, and she didn't expect that this old-fashioned Han Xing would look so handsome in this outfit.
Yan Shiyi jumped three feet high and glared at Jinsui angrily. No wonder King Li had never allowed the Black Feather Team to play!
So this is hidden! I spent so much time designing riding clothes and cool outfits, but they were all stolen by the Black Feather Team! Stingy! Let me take a look at your riding clothes, it won't make you lose a piece of meat! Can't I just not be the same color as you?
I will make it bright red, write a number on it, wear a half mask, and be the first to appear on stage, attracting everyone's attention. How cool!
But when he saw Jin Zilin, Yan Shiyi felt more balanced and said to Jin Zilin in an annoying way:
"Hey, so what if you use gold thread to make clothes? They are not as impressive as the simple riding clothes of the Black Feather Team."
Jin Zilin glared back at him: "You too! Shouting such arrogant slogans will only make people laugh at you."
Yan Shiyi rushed to hit him, and Jin Zilin laughed at him sarcastically: "You are afraid that you can't beat our team on the field, so you can only punch us outside the game, right?"
Yan Shiyi then gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! If you have the guts, we'll meet on the field!"
After all the team members entered the venue, the preliminaries of drawing lots began. Thirty-two arrows were inserted in a tube, and each team leader came up to draw. Those who drew the same number of arrows formed a group.
All the captains were praying that they would not be drawn into a group with the Black Feather Team.
As a result, the last team to draw, the Black Feather team, got 'one', while the other 'one' was the team led by Zhou Hong.
No one knows who Zhou Hong is, but some people must know his grandfather, who is the head of the Zhou family who took advantage of his seniority to bully Yan Jiu in front of Li Heng.
Zhou Hong was very nervous. He never thought that he would be so lucky to be selected into the Black Feather Team and be the first to play! With the other players saying "goodbye" in their eyes, he and his teammates were visibly depressed.
Patriarch Zhou looked about the same age as Grandpa Ling, also with white hair and beard, and he blew his beard and glared and shouted:
"Everyone, cheer up! How can you be afraid before the battle? Let them see how powerful the Zhou family's men are!"
Thinking of the head of the family and the clan members watching below, with tens of thousands of people present, under the spotlight, even if they lose, they must not lose the game, lose the people, but not the battle! Zhou Hong led Zhenbo to shout: "We have practiced hard for so long, just for this moment, come on everyone! Don't give up easily!"
"Roar, roar!" The Zhou family team members shouted in unison.
The Black Feather Team were originally frontier soldiers. They knew that a lion would use all its strength to fight a rabbit, and they knew even more that an arrogant soldier would eventually be defeated. They did not underestimate the Zhou family at all.
Han Xing said, "The prince is watching, fight well!"
The team members saluted and punched their chests three times: "Yes!"
Jinsui started the first game. She rode her big red horse and threw the polo ball, and the game officially began.
The result was as expected. The Zhou family's skills were superb, but their playing style was too old-fashioned and the coordination between the players was too artificial. As soon as the position changed, the formation would be disrupted.
Zhou Hong shouted at the top of his voice, and the team members looked nervous and at a loss.
On the other hand, the Black Feather team rarely spoke, but they cooperated very well, and it felt like they were in a battle, as if losing a ball was not losing a point, but losing a brother's life.
They can also give commands using sign language. Han Xing only needs to make a few movements with one hand and Hei Hu and others will receive the instructions.
Soon the Black Feathers scored a goal, then two, then three...
After a quarter of an hour of the first game, the score was already 8 to 0, which was unbearable to watch. The halftime break was a cup of tea, which was five minutes.
When Jin Sui saw that Patriarch Zhou was angrily scolding Zhou Hong, she hurriedly asked Li Heng to pull Patriarch Zhou back, on the grounds that he must not affect the team members during the game.
In the second game, Zhou Hong learned his lesson and did not fight with the Black Feather team. He just stared at the ball and got off to a good start by scoring the first goal.
He won the applause of the whole audience, because it was not easy! But he only scored one goal, and the second game ended with 6 to 1. The Zhou family team lost miserably and ugly.
The thirty teams watching were all silent. They had long wanted to see the strength of the Black Feather Battalion. Yan Shiyi had begged Jin Sui many times, but the Black Feather Battalion still refused to fight with them.
Now I finally see it, the stone in my heart has not only not fallen to the ground, but has become heavier.
The Black Feather Battalion was very strong! The Zhou Family Team, which was at a similar level to them, fought against the Black Feather Battalion like an adult beating a child or an army beating a servant.
The most nervous were the members of the Yan family, because Yan Jiu personally gave them special training, and the requirement was that they must win the championship.
They didn't dare to look at Yan Jiu's face, and asked Yan Shiyi nervously: "Captain, what should we do now?"
Yan Shiyi pondered for a long time and said, "It has come to this..."
Even Yan Jiu and Yan Twelve's mother looked at him, thinking that Yan Shiyi could come up with some good ideas under the stimulation of the Black Feather Team.
Then the other person said in a gorgeous way: "Now that things have come to this, let's eat first! We'll talk about it after dinner."
Everyone should remember that when things get bad, let's eat first! Nothing is more important than eating.
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