Yang Fan and the others were preparing seriously. Even though they did not care about winning or losing, they still hoped to show their strength to the best of their ability. This was to prevent the Uighurs from looking down on the Tangs and to fight for a better chance for the Imperial Army.
Even though they had not spent many months with the Imperial Army and were close to each other, once outsiders were involved, they would still feel a sense of common enemy.
The first requirement for polo was the horse. If a horse did not listen to one's commands, did not have enough horsepower, and was not agile enough, the rider would still be limited by the horse. If they were up against a weak team, they could still show off their prowess like Yang Fan did at the Luo River. However, if they were up against the best team in the world, it would be impossible.
Secondly, it also required excellent horse-control skills. The ball was sometimes left and sometimes right, sometimes front and sometimes back on the field. Without good horse-control skills, you could only chase after the ball and run around the field. No matter how good your horse was, it was useless.
Next was the mastery of the ball and teamwork. This sport was passed down from the Tubo Empire. It was originally invented by the cavalry when they were bored. Therefore, it became a sport to test and train the cavalry's ability to cooperate with each other. Therefore, the overall strength of the team was equally important as the individual's ability to control the ball.
The Uighurs were a horse-riding people. Their riding and archery skills were not inferior to the Tubo Empire. Seeing that the other side was also preparing, Chu Kuangge tightened his horse's belly and whispered to Yang Fan, "Be careful later. Some movements are very dangerous when hitting the ball. Be careful not to get hurt."
Yang Fan nodded.
"Woo, woo, woo!"
Dozens of bugles were raised high and sounded at the same time. The sound of war drums rumbled, and as the sound of the bugles entered everyone's ears, the surrounding generals and soldiers immediately cheered.
The game began.
The announcer threw the red polo ball high up. All the riders on both sides squeezed their horses' bellies, shouted, and rushed at the ball at the same time.
After all, the Uighurs were a people who rode horses. Even though the difference between speed and slowness was not that obvious in such a short distance, it was very obvious from the high platform that the Uighurs were charging forward at a speed that was faster than the White Horse Temple's troops.
On the White Horse Temple side, Chu Kuangge's speed was not any slower than that of the Uighurs. In fact, he was even faster for a moment. However, the two opposing players arrived at the same time. One of them swung his cane to hit the ball, while the other also swung his cane to hit the ball. However, the cane and Chu Kuangge's cane collided in mid-air.
The moment the two sticks collided, the other Uighur picked up the red ball with his stick and rushed towards the White Horse Temple team's goal. Yang Fan rushed forward with his horse. He was half a body's length slower than Chu Kuangge. At this time, when he saw the opposing player rushing towards his side with his horse, he immediately pulled the reins. His horse slightly leaned to the side, and he raised the stick in his hand to grab the ball.
"Pa!" A crisp sound rang out as the two staffs collided. Yang Fan's palm went numb. Even though his palm was wrapped in sackcloth, he still had a feeling that he couldn't hold it. Yang Fan couldn't help but be startled. This person had such great strength.
The man on the other side felt even more uncomfortable than he did. When the two staffs collided, the speed of his charge was immediately stopped. The ball was no longer under his control, and it rolled away. Hongyi rushed up and snatched the ball.
"Haha, it's mine!"
Hongyi perked up and was just about to dribble the ball forward when several opposing players followed up and intercepted the ball. At this time, Chu Kuangge rushed back on his horse and fought with Yang Fan, who was rushing forward.
In the beginning, relying on Chu Kuangge and Yang Fan's excellent skills, coupled with the spirit of Hong One and Hong Six, they were able to compete with the other side. The two sides fought back and forth, and the red ball only lingered in the middle of the line. No one could do anything to the other.
However, this situation only lasted for half an hour. The other side's men and horses were completely spread out, and the red ball spread out to a larger and larger area. Yang Fan and Chu Kuangge found it difficult to fight alone. With just the two of them, it was inevitable that they would be in a difficult situation. The overall strength of the other side was far greater than the monks of the White Horse Temple. The other monks could only follow behind the other side and eat dirt.
The score began to pull apart. One to zero, two to zero, three to zero …
In the fourth quarter of the game, Yang Fan intercepted a sharp attack from the opponent and immediately passed it to Chu Kuangge, who was riding back to support. Chu Kuangge immediately turned his horse around and attacked the opponent's goal. Yang Fan also immediately rushed forward to support him.
Several defenders of the Uighurs rushed up to intercept. Chu Kuangge broke through two lines of defense in a row. When he felt that he could not continue, he quickly glanced and saw that Yang Fan had already plugged in from the sidelines. He wanted to pass the ball to him. As soon as he moved, the opposing players noticed his intentions. Two Tubo players suddenly stabbed in from the side.
Their horses were extremely fast, and by the time they arrived in front of Chu Kuangge, they seemed to be unable to stop the charge of the warhorses. The three warhorses neighed and collided heavily with each other. At the same time, the elbows of the two Uighurs were like two large hammers, slamming heavily into Chu Kuangge's ribs.
Chu Kuangge was experienced after all. As soon as the two of them approached, he felt that something was wrong. He took a deep breath, and the muscles in his chest and abdomen immediately contracted, becoming as taut as iron. With two muffled sounds, Chu Kuangge's body swayed twice, but he did not fall off the horse.
The two Uighurs straightened up on their horses, and a trace of surprise flashed in their eyes. If it were an ordinary person, both sides of his ribs would have been broken by the collision, but the big Tang man in front of them seemed to be fine.
Although this small action was concealed by the galloping horses and their robes fluttered when they collided, it could not be hidden from the other people on the field. Although the skills of Hongyi and Hongliu were inferior to these Uighurs, they were not completely powerless to fight back. Chu Kuangge dribbled the ball forward, and Yang Fan supported him from the sidelines. When the Uighurs all returned to defend, they had already rushed to Chu Kuangge's side.
The small actions of the two Uighurs were seen by them, and the two immediately flew into a rage. Hongyi cursed, "Motherf * cker, you guys are playing dirty!"
The group of hooligans immediately shouted and cursed. The two sides were cursing endlessly, and the game was forced to end. However, the other side insisted that it was a galloping horse that could not stop and crashed into it. At this time, there were not too many strict rules in the bow-throwing competition, so there was really no way to deal with the other side. In the end, they could only nullify this section of the game and replace it with incense.
Yang Fan asked with concern, "Brother Chu, how are you?"
Chu Kuangge took a deep breath, and his ribs were aching. He shook his head and said, "It's not a big deal, I can still play!"
Yang Fan said, "Good! Brothers, get on the horses! "
Hongyi waved to the group of bald monks behind him, and his eyes revealed a fierce light. The group of ruffian monks understood tacitly, and each of them tightened their face and got on their horses with a murderous look. The Uighurs saw their expressions and were not afraid at all. Some of them even spat heavily to show their disdain.
After the game resumed, a fierce scuffle began.
Hong Liu clenched his teeth, raised his horse, and charged forward. When he was still six feet away from the vermillion ball, he raised the staff in his hand high up, concentrated his energy into his dantian, and shouted, "Bang!"
"Whoosh!" Suddenly, Hongliu pretended to go straight for the red ball, and the staff in his hand swung down hard. A Uighur man who had just turned around on his horse hurriedly dodged and hid in the stirrup. The staff whistled past, and the man's hat was blown away. A piece of skin on the top of his head was scratched, and blood splashed all over his face.
"Motherf * cker, don't you have eyes?"
A few of the Uighurs cursed. Hongliu shouted back, "Motherf * cker, I was hitting a ball, who knew that blind donkey would hit my staff!"
As soon as the fight started, the other side also became angry. Hongyi had just rushed in front of the red ball when one of the opposing players hit him with his staff. The staff drew an arc and did not hit the red ball, but hit Hongyi's calf bone instead, and the staff broke with a crack. Hongyi screamed and fell off his horse, holding his calf and wailing.
The doctor rushed over, and after a brief examination, announced that Hongyi's calf was fractured, and hurriedly ordered two soldiers to carry him away. As soon as the fight started, the audience also started to make a ruckus. At first, knowing that the Empress and the Emperor were present, the soldiers still knew to restrain themselves. But when they saw the fight on the field, they couldn't care less. Many of them covered their mouths and cursed loudly.
"Bastards! How despicable!"
"Ghosts that are worse than dogs and pigs!"
"Uighur slaves that eat dog intestines!"
This was the territory of the Tang dynasty, and more than ninety percent of the audience were soldiers of the Tang dynasty. Needless to say, it was the soldiers of the Tang dynasty cursing the Uighurs. For a moment, the people of the Tang dynasty were cursing the Uighurs. Emperor Li Dan glanced at Wu Zetian uneasily. Wu Zetian sat calmly on the rope bed, her expression unchanged. She looked at the field with a peaceful smile on her face.
In the third row, a few Uighur envoys twisted their fat bodies uncomfortably, pretending that they didn't hear the tide-like curses. After Hongliu was carried off the field, Maqiao, who was sitting on the bench, was the first to stand up and shouted: "I, I'll go!"
Yang Fan looked at him deeply, smiled and said: "Okay, you go!"
Maqiao was wild with joy. He immediately led a warhorse over, flipped over and jumped on its back. He pulled the reins a few times, grasped the staff that was handed to him, and rode into the field. Yang Fan warned: "Be careful, don't get hurt!"
Maqiao nodded heavily. He knew that his skills were limited, but he would definitely play seriously today, use all his strength, and perform to the best of his ability.
Yang Fan raised his hand to appease the angry brothers who had gathered around and said in a deep voice, "Don't quarrel. If he wants to play dirty, then we'll play dirty with him. However, we can't let others gossip about us, understand?"
"Understood!"
The monks nodded with all their might. Their faces were ferocious, and their eyes were fierce. Many of them regretted not bringing a few bricks and a few bags of lime to the field.
Shanghai Wan 'er turned her body slightly and covered her mouth with her sleeve. She smiled at Princess Taiping and said: "Lingyue, this year's bow-fencing competition in Shangyuan is going to be interesting."
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