Chapter Thirty-Four Polo Flourishes

  Du He walked out of the imperial palace with a carefree and self-satisfied expression, but he didn't know that at this moment, the court was already in an uproar.

  Li Shimin's various bestowals of awards made one by one the civil and military ministers' eyes redden, from the prime minister down to the remonstrating officials, each and every one of their eyes gleaming with a cold light.

  No desires and no demands, this is nonsense.

  Entering the imperial court as an official, what one seeks is nothing but to serve the country and make a name for oneself, holding great power in one's hands.

  If they were pointed out by Li Shimin as the best minister of the year, the best general of the year, and the best remonstrance official of the year, it would undoubtedly be an affirmation of their hard work for this year, and fame and power would naturally follow.

  All civil and military officials of the court highly praised Li Shimin's intelligence and called him a wise and sage ruler.

  Before the praise had died down, Li Shimin dropped another heavy bombshell.

  At this imperial court, Li Shimin told the idea of Du Fu's horse racing to all the civil and military officials.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, old man Kong Yingda was the first to jump out and loudly exclaimed: "Indulging in frivolity ruins one's will!" If Li Shimin were to say that he would promote the teachings of Confucius and Mencius throughout the world, this old fellow would certainly applaud with both hands and feet.

  But this promotion of fun, this old man was the first to disagree with it.

  He thought he was good at literature and had some achievements in it, but he didn't know that sports were just as important as books.

  This is the experience summed up by later generations.

  There were many people who shared the same idea as Kong, among whom a counselor named Zhang even clamored to take out and behead the proposed sycophant officials to serve as a warning.

  Li Shimin's face turned stern as he shouted: "This is an idea I came up with, am I also to be dragged out and beheaded?"

  This question scared the remonstrating official almost to death. Who in the Tang Dynasty would dare behead Li Shimin?

  Li Shimin was praised as a wise ruler, and it was not for nothing. He had already anticipated that this matter would be announced, and it would inevitably lead to discussions among the courtiers. Before today's court meeting, he had secretly won over Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji, Hou Junji, Li Ji and other ministers.

  Of course, if Duhe's proposal is not beneficial to the Tang Dynasty, even if Li Shimin tries to win them over, it will be impossible for people like Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and Li Ji who are loyal to the Tang Dynasty to agree.

  But it was precisely because of Du He's proposal that he was able to achieve good results and stimulate the people's interest in practicing horse riding, which is why they unanimously recognized him.

  They faced the attack of the Chinese scholars with a powerful counterattack.

  The imperial court has become a marketplace, with arguments that cannot be resolved.

  But with the support of Li Shimin, coupled with the efforts of the two chancellors Fang and Du, as well as the old fox Changsun Wuji, the opinion in favor of holding polo matches gained the upper hand.

  Wei Zheng also joined in at this time and expressed his support for holding a polo match.

  Up to this point, several of the most impressive ministers in the court had been supporting Li Shimin with a positive attitude.

  Cheng Yaojin seemed to have had enough of the officials' bickering, and shouted: "You scholars are arguing about nothing but a horse racing match! Is it worth all this fuss? I love this sort of thing! Stop arguing, I'll form a team right away and take the championship myself! If anyone dares to dispute this, come find me for a one-on-one showdown - we can compete in horse riding, archery, martial arts, or even physical strength!"

  His loud and clear shout unexpectedly shocked all the ministers.

  Those ministers all cast contemptuous glances at Cheng Yaojin, a fierce general who charged into the fray on the battlefield daring to challenge these literati to single combat, this guy also dared to speak out.

  Cheng Yaojin, however, regarded these as objects of worship, and a person who was self-satisfied.

  "Very well!" Li Shimin also began to mediate: "Exercise can make people have a strong physique, free from illness. This matter is beneficial to the physical and mental health of the people of Great Tang, my intention has been decided, no need to say more."

  Polo was from this moment on considered the most important sport of the Tang Dynasty.

  For this purpose, Li Shimin also established a polo supervisor, set up a polo sacrificial wine and a polo doctor to handle all the affairs of the ball game.

  That night, at the dinner table, Du Ruhui stroked his beard and smiled lightly, looking at Du He with both eyes: "What's that horse ball, is it something you little rascal thought of?"

  Du He didn't expect to deceive this guy who had outsmarted everyone in history, so he nodded and confessed honestly.

  Big Brother Du said in surprise: "Isn't it His Majesty's own idea?"

  Du Ruhui snorted, "Having followed the Emperor for many years, with the Emperor's character, this plan is unthinkable. The Emperor just wants to take the blame for Erlang."

  If Li Shimin said that this plan was proposed by Du He, the civil and military officials of the court would inevitably say that Du He was young and ignorant, indulging in trivial matters and losing his ambition. Even if Li Shimin insisted on doing it his own way, he would still have a large number of scholars criticizing Du He, saying that he was a sycophant.

  Although Du He doesn't care what others say, being pointed at and talked about is always a troublesome thing.

  Li Shimin said he came up with the method himself, and those Confucian scholars had no way out.

  Li Shimin is known for listening to advice and accepting remonstrance. If you speak out clearly in court, he won't do anything to you even if he gets angry. But if you want to use public opinion to pressure him privately, don't blame him for making things difficult for you.

  Du Gou said, "Second brother is also like this, playing polo is just for fun, why do we need to let everyone in the world learn this thing!" Du Gou was a kind of good-natured person who didn't have any great abilities, but he was more than enough to manage the family business. He hadn't seen through the deeper meaning behind polo either.

  Du He smiled slightly and didn't make any further explanation. After several months of getting along, Du Gou still took good care of his younger brother and didn't argue with him.

  Du Ruhui looked at his two sons with satisfaction and didn't say much more.

  Du Gou is the eldest son, and all the family business he has worked hard for over the years will be inherited by him. Therefore, Du Gou doesn't need to be too clever, as long as he can keep the family business safe. Being too clever would be unbecoming. Du He, the second son, is at a disadvantage in terms of inheritance. To become a dragon among men, everything requires his own efforts, and he must have extraordinary abilities. Apparently, Du He has recently shown his head and also gained recognition from Li Shimin.

  Du Ruhui had only two sons, but one stayed at home and the other went out to make a career, which perfectly complemented each other's deficiencies.

  Two sons are both filial and virtuous, Du Ruhui's heart is naturally filled with great comfort, this wish is enough.

  As Li Shimin positioned polo as a national sport and promulgated various competition commands, the entire Tang Dynasty went crazy for it.

  The ancients valued their names; just think about it, if a team were to obtain the title of "First under Heaven" in the Tang Dynasty, what an honor that would be.

  Thus, a wave of enthusiasm for forming polo teams swept through all circuits, prefectures, counties and districts of the Tang Dynasty.

  Especially the big families, one by one they threw out olive branches and hired people with excellent riding skills at high prices for training. These people didn't have to work and could receive high salaries, every day riding horses and having fun, this good thing made the eyes of the common people turn red.

  In their spare time, they also took the initiative to carry out equestrian training, and some even gathered together to play wildly.

  The horse ball suddenly became popular all over the Tang Dynasty.

  Especially the new-style polo created by Du He.

  In the past, polo was a group of people competing for the ball on a very small field, and it was impossible to unfold intense competition.

  But the polo created by Du He is not ordinary, he expanded the playing field several times. A regular polo field must be rectangular and can't be more than 300 meters long or less than 270 meters, and can't be more than 200 meters wide or less than 180 meters.

  The court is divided into left and right courts like a football field. Each team has 11 players on the court, divided into forwards, midfielders, defenders, and goalkeepers.

  The ball carrier on the field can charge at the defender, and the defender can block head-on to meet the charge, but is not allowed to hit from the side.

  In general, the game is quite brutal and bloody. So, both sides of the regular match must wear protective gear, like American football, horses wear armor, and players on horseback must also wear leather armor for protection.

  The Great Tang Dynasty values martial prowess, and this intense competition is exactly what they enjoy.

  Polo also became popular in a short period of time.

  Of course, the place where it first became popular is undoubtedly Chang'an.

  Chang'an has the most noble families, and in just ten short days, nearly a hundred teams were formed.

  The most arrogant one is this guy, Cheng Yaojin. He can have eight sons, each of whom is a replica of Cheng Yaojin. One team has eight forwards, one center forward, one defender, and one goalkeeper. When the game starts, it's a straight charge, all offense and no defense, which is more powerful than China's Kung Fu football.

  Of course, the results are just like those of the national football team.

  Du He was practicing martial arts in the yard when Luo Tong suddenly came to the mansion looking for him and asked, "Qinglian, why don't we form a polo team too?"