Warring States Odyssey

  On the other side of the viewing platform, a large group of people also came over, all wearing tight-fitting short shirts. The leader was a man in armor, about fifty years old, smiling and staring at Li Yinghong.

  Li Yinghong said: "General Yuan, you just watch, today we will definitely win your vanguard camp."

  General Yuan chuckled and said: "Is that so? I'll take a good look." He then led several guards up to the viewing platform.

  General Yuan's soldiers all stayed at the bottom of the stage, and a big man came up a few steps in between, laughing loudly: "Young lady Du Yi, do you want us to let your two flags go first? We can let both of them go." After he finished speaking, the soldiers behind him from the vanguard camp also burst into laughter.

  Du Yi was not to be outdone and said: "Wang Hu, you'd better not come here selling your arrogance. This time we will definitely win the vanguard camp."

  "Really? Then let's see each other on the field in a while."

  At this time, Li Yinghong looked at Gao Yuan and said, "Can you do it? We've already lost to the vanguard camp three times. This match we can't afford to lose."

  Actually, at this time the plateau also has a bit of a return to the military camp feeling, like this situation where each team can't see eye to eye and is competing with each other, in that era it was all the same. So after thinking about it for a moment, he said: "Although I know a little bit about kicking, I'm not very clear on the rules of Cuju, so let me watch from the sidelines first! If you need me, I'll go on the field."

  Li Yinghong thought for a moment and felt that Gao Yuan was right. After all, she hadn't seen him kick the ball earlier and didn't have much confidence in him. If she could win by herself after waiting for a while, then there would be no need for Gao Yuan to take the field. And if they were losing to their opponents, it wouldn't be too late to let Gao Yuan take the field either.

  Just then, Li Mu arrived at the front of the viewing platform with Zhao Xuan and a team of guards. Gao Yuan and Du Yi hastily paid their respects, saying "General." Li Yinghong said "Father". Actually, Li Mu had already been enfeoffed as the Marquis of Wu'an and could be referred to as "Your Lordship", but in the military camp, the soldiers still called him "General".

  Li Mu smiled and said: "Ying Hong, are you going on stage again?"

  Li Yinghong said: "Yes, Father, you just watch from the stage, this time we will definitely win against the Front Army Camp."

  Li Mu smiled and said, "Great, I'll take a good look." He turned his head and said to Gao Yuan, "Gao Yuan, are you coming to watch them play cuju too? Let's go up on stage together to take a look."

  Gao Yuan Dao: "Thank you for your kind intentions, General. I'll just watch with them for now. Who knows, maybe later on, I'll also get to play."

  Li Mu was also taken aback, and smiled: "Oh, I didn't expect you to like cuju too. Alright, I'd love to take a look later." After that, he led Zhao Xuan and the guards up to the viewing platform, where the people on the platform all bowed in unison, saying: "Great General."

  Li Mu waved his hand and said, "Everyone sit down. No need for formalities."

  At this time, the armies of various countries were basically divided into five armies: front, back, left, right and center. The commander-in-chief sometimes also served as the commander-in-chief of the central army. In the current Zhao army, Li Mu concurrently served as the commander-in-chief of the central army, with Yuan Xuan as the commander-in-chief of the vanguard, Chen Zong as the commander-in-chief of the rear army, Yao Shao as the commander-in-chief of the left army, and Ji Sun as the commander-in-chief of the right army. They all arrived at the watchtower now.

  After everyone sat down, Yuan Xuan said: "General, was that young man just now the Heavenly General you brought back?"

  Li Mu nodded and said, "It's him."

  Yuan Xuan said: "He's just an ordinary person, can't see anything extraordinary about him."

  Li Mu smiled and said: "One can't judge a person by appearance."

  At this time, the Kemari game on the ground had already begun. The size of the Kemari field in this era was roughly the same as that of a modern football field. At both ends, two wooden poles were erected, about 5 meters high and 10 meters wide, which was probably the goal, but there was no crossbar. Between the two wooden poles, three small flags were hung. However, the number of players on the field was sixteen people per side. Moreover, at this time, thousands of soldiers had already surrounded the field.

  Li Yinghong and Du Yi led the soldiers participating in the competition into the field, while Gao Yuan and other soldiers watched from the sidelines. On the other side, Wang Hu also led his team onto the field. The two teams dispersed across the field, and with Li Mu's command, the cuju match officially began. Players from both sides moved back and forth, the ball flying through the air in the field, while the soldiers outside cheered them on, creating a lively atmosphere.

  The general watched the game on the sidelines, asking the soldiers beside him questions. It turned out that playing Cuju was a common practice in military camps of various countries, as there were not many entertainment activities during this era, and even fewer in the military camp. Soldiers could not train day and night, and it was better if they were fighting against enemy troops. What worried them was this stalemate situation, where most soldiers had excess energy with no outlet, easily leading to irritability, frustration, fatigue, and anxiety.

  Therefore, in addition to training, organizing some competitive activities can not only allow soldiers to temper their bodies and vent excess energy, but also cultivate a sense of competition and winning mentality among soldiers, while strengthening the cohesion between soldiers. Cuju is an ideal activity, with sufficient exercise intensity, yet not as directly confrontational as martial arts or fighting, without harming harmony.

  So the Zhao army camp would hold a cuju match every now and then, with each camp sending participants. The previous matches between the front camp and the middle camp had been the most intense, but the front camp had two soldiers who were quite skilled at cuju, namely Wang Hu and his brother Wang Bao, who had just provoked Du Yi earlier. In the past month, the two sides had competed three times, with the middle camp losing each time.

  Li Yinghong was a girl, but she was very active and liked to ride horses and practice martial arts from a young age. She had learned good martial arts skills and at the age of 16, she was already considered a skilled swordsman. Therefore, this time in battle, Li Mu brought her along with him to let her experience the real battlefield. In the military camp, Li Yinghong also liked to play cuju (a traditional Chinese sport) and would personally take part every time. However, having lost three matches in a row, everyone in the military camp was holding their breath, and Li Yinghong personally went to each camp to recruit players, determined to win this match today.

  In this era, Cuju basically had no uniform rules. It was just kicking with feet and not using hands. The rest of the rules could be negotiated temporarily. The current rule is that kicking the ball into two wooden posts counts as one point, and pulling down one of the opponent's flags can pull down three flags to win. If it gets too late and neither side can pull down three flags, the side with more flags wins.

  At this time, the competition on the field was extremely fierce, and the cheers of the soldiers off the field were also rising and falling. It was very lively. However, in Gao Yuan's view, both sides were basically just kicking wildly, with almost no formation or tactics to speak of. Most people would kick the ball forward with big strides after getting it, so most of the balls were flying back and forth in the air, while a few people were waiting ahead, kicking the ball towards the two goalposts as soon as they got it.

  However, the front camp was indeed a notch higher, especially the brothers Wang Hu and Wang Bao, who were outstanding. The two of them waited on the front court for the ball to be kicked from behind, and then they would fight for it with all their might. After getting the ball, they would adjust it at most once before kicking it towards the goalposts. It was quite a bit like a long pass in the air. And among the balls passed from the back court, seven or eight out of ten could be snatched by the brothers. This wasn't because their technique was better than others, but because these two were tall and strong, so they had a great advantage in fighting for the ball and pushing each other around.

  As a result, this is the advantage of this point, and it made the soldiers of the central camp suffer greatly. In the early stages of the game, Wang Hu first grabbed the ball in the front court, forcibly squeezing open his defensive opponent, scoring a goal and pulling down the first flag for the vanguard camp. The two brothers also grabbed the ball several times in the front court, creating danger. Later, despite the central camp's desperate counterattack, they were unable to pose enough of a threat to their opponents due to the lack of tall players like Wang Hu and his brother Wang Bao in the front line.

  Li Yinghong is small in stature, but she darts around the crowd, sprinting across the field, and appears to be very agile. However, since she can't hold onto the ball at the front, no matter how agile she is, it's all useless.

  The result lasted for nearly twenty minutes, and this time Wang Bao used his weight advantage to break through the defense of Du Yi in the front court, grabbed the ball, and scored another goal for Qian Junying, pulling down another flag. This left only one flag remaining for Zhong Junying. The soldiers of Zhong Junying hung their heads in despair, while those of Qian Junying were jubilant, as if they had already won.

  Du Yi hastily found Li Yinghong and said: "Big sister, let Mr. Gao go on stage, otherwise we won't have time."

  Li Yinghong had no other choice but to treat the dead horse as a live one, nodded and immediately asked for a replacement. At this time, Gao Yuan also basically had confidence in his heart, so he walked into the field with full confidence.

  Now many of Zhao Jun's soldiers know the origin of Gao Yuan, so when they see him on stage, it also causes a stir. Du Yi says: "Mr. Gao, it's up to you."

  Gao Yuan nodded and said, "I will try my best."

  The cuju match did not have a kickoff, so Gao Yuan directly took the cuju out from the end line of the Zhongjun camp, controlling the ball himself and advancing with small steps.

  At this time, Wang Hu and Wang Bao brothers were waiting in the front court. Seeing Gao Yuan controlling the ball to advance slowly, they didn't rush up like others, kicking their feet forward. Wang Bao took a step ahead and rushed up, stretching out his foot to poke the ball.

  Gao Yuan gently pulled the ball, and a curve easily passed Wang Bao. Immediately afterwards, Wang Hu also rushed over. Gao Yuan kicked his foot, and the ball drilled through the two feet of Wang Hu. At the same time, Gao Yuan dodged from the side of Wang Hu.

  This series of actions was extremely natural and smooth, especially the drilling past Wang Hu, not only technically clever, but also with a hint of teasing his opponent, and all were techniques that other soldiers had never seen before, thus triggering a burst of applause from the watching crowd.

  After overtaking Wang Hu and Wang Bao, Gao Yuan also approached the midfield and started to accelerate. With his left foot stepping on one side and his right foot carrying on the other, he suddenly passed by five or six people in a row. In fact, Gao Yuan's ball skills were mostly fancy tricks, but no one in this era had ever seen such a way of playing football. As a result, many people were caught off guard by Gao Yuan and didn't even see his movements clearly, only feeling dizzy for a moment before realizing they had been left behind.

  In the blink of an eye, Highlanders had already broken through most of the defensive lines of the front camp, leaving only two people behind. They both rushed towards Highlanders at the same time. However, Highlanders pulled the ball out and rolled past them from their left side, while he himself passed through the middle of the two men, making a beautiful arc-shaped move, and then passed through the opponent's last line of defense again.

  At this time, there was no opponent in front of the highland, and the highland took two more steps forward, easily sending the ball between the two goalposts.