"Hey, hey, hey …"
Wang Rufeng let out a strange cry as his body flew more than ten feet away before crashing to the ground. A mountain of flesh quickly collapsed, and the ground trembled a few times. For a moment, mud and sand flew up, and cheers sounded from all directions.
In sumo, as long as the opponent's body touched the ground, it would be considered a win. However, the most brilliant winning move was to hit the opponent out of the ring.
Among the methods to hit the ring, one could grab the opponent's belt, turn around, and use inertia to throw the opponent out of the ring. One could also rely on their powerful strength to pick up the opponent and throw them out of the ring.
The most exaggerated method was Yang Fan's. Through a palm strike or a head-butt, he would suddenly send the opponent flying with a "Forceful Collision".
Although Yang Fan's "Forceful Collision" actually had an element of trickery in it, it was not against the rules. Besides, how many of the spectators could understand what was going on? They only saw Wang Rufeng pounce over, Yang Fan step back, and throw a mountain of flesh out of the "ring" with both palms.
"Good! Good! Beta Persei, you're really amazing! "
Chu Kuangge's brothers on his side all cheered. Even the servants and families of the noblewomen, except for the servants of Madam Yao, all cheered.
The other strongman saw that Wang Rufeng was like a lion pouncing on a rabbit. He was waiting to see Yang Fan fall to the ground with a bloody nose and a swollen face. Who would have thought that in an instant, the outcome of the battle would be reversed? The one who fell to the ground in a sorry state was actually Wang Rufeng, causing him to be dumbfounded.
Chu Kuangge's ruffian brothers did not spare him and took the opportunity to ridicule him. They only used slang from the streets, and none of them were pleasant to listen to. The strongman was so angry that his lungs were about to explode, but he did not know how to deal with them. The other party was a sharp-tongued person, and there were six or seven of them. If they really quarreled, he would not be able to gain the upper hand.
Wang Rufeng lay on the ground, feeling dizzy from the fall. It took him a long time to recover. He looked up at the white clouds drifting in the distant and clear sky. He tried hard to recall for a long time, but he didn't know how he fell out.
Yang Fan glanced to the side and saw Tin Aino and Liu Junfan talking and laughing as they walked down the forest. He gave Chu Kuangge a look, telling him to delay for a while.
Chu Kuangge understood and laughed. He walked over to Wang Rufeng and helped him pat the sand off his body. He said with a smile, "It's hard to avoid mistakes in a contest of skills. It's nothing. My brothers have always been sharp-tongued and are not willing to forgive people. Please don't blame them, Brother Wang." He turned and scolded, "Shut!"
As soon as Chu Kuangge said this, his brothers all shut their mouths.
Chu Kuangge bowed to the women in the tent and said, "My honored guests, the purpose of this wrestling contest is to relieve your boredom and to have some fun. If I can please you, then that's all. I hope you won't take it to heart. Seeing that many of you noble guests have brought horses with you, I presume that you are also very fond of bowing. It just so happens that my brothers and I are also fond of bowing. Everyone enjoying the autumn scenery by the banks of the Luo River can be considered as fate. Why don't each family send out a few people to have a bow-striking competition? It doesn't matter who wins or loses, it's just to relieve boredom. "
When Madam Yao saw that the man she admired was speaking, she was already very happy. When she heard him speak politely, she was even happier. Her charming eyes wandered over his firm chest and she smiled. "Fine, I'll offer a thousand taels as a reward. Madam Feng, Madam Huo, your families will each send out three people, and my family will send out four. Let's have a contest. How about it?"
The two women only wanted to have fun. They didn't care if their servants won or lost face, or if their bones were broken. They immediately agreed and both sides began to prepare.
Yang Fan didn't understand sumo, let alone bow-striking. He had grown up in Southeast Asia, a place where even horses were rare. He didn't know how to ride a horse, so how could he have ever seen bow-striking? Because of this, he automatically retreated to the side.
Unfortunately, Wang Er had his eyes on him.
…
In the leftmost tent, the women were still having a drinking contest.
"The younger generation will surpass the older. Haha, Wan 'er, this time it's your turn to drink."
The young woman in red held a jade chip in her hand as she spoke to the lady in the plain jade gown with a face full of smiles. A maid in a green gown who was standing at the entrance of the tent suddenly giggled and cried out involuntarily, "That dog ate sh * t, what a miserable fall!"
The young woman in red raised an eyebrow and asked, "Xiang Ning, what are you looking at?"
The green-robed maid at the entrance of the tent hurriedly turned around and bowed. She giggled and said, "There are two families over there who are enjoying the autumn river. They are having a contest of sumo techniques. One of them is as fat as a bear and the other is as thin as a monkey. This servant thought that the bear would win, but who knew that the monkey would beat the bear."
The young woman in red laughed and said, "You stupid girl, why can't you even understand what I'm saying?"
She lazily waved her hand and ordered, "Remove the right side of the tent. Let's watch the show!"
The young woman in red gave the order and the side of the tent was immediately removed.
The bow-kicking game was very popular in the Tang Dynasty.
Light cavalry was very popular in the Tang Dynasty. The imperial court paid attention to the training of light cavalry with high speed and good for long-distance attacks. When Li Shi Min found out that the Tubo people played polo, he promoted the sport in the Tang dynasty.
When the Tubo ambassador found out that Tang Taizong liked polo, he specially gave him a polo as a gift. However, Li Shi Min didn't want the Tubo people to know his true intentions, so he pretended not to like it and burned the polo. But after that, the game of polo became popular in the Tang dynasty.
Nowadays, the nobles, scholars, and soldiers all liked to play polo. Even the daughters of the noble families and the palace maids in the imperial city were good at polo. However, most people couldn't afford a horse and rarely had the chance to ride a horse. Therefore, they weren't good at riding, so they played polo.
Polo was cuju, and polo was bow-kicking.
Nowadays, the imperial family built polo fields in various palaces. Some high officials also built polo fields near their mansions. The polo fields they built were slightly wider than modern standard football fields, but the length was slightly shorter. The total area was about the same size as a football field, but the quality of the construction was extremely exquisite. From the top, it looked like a mountain, and from the bottom, it looked like a mirror.
In order to make the ground smooth and flexible, so that grass wouldn't grow in summer and it wouldn't freeze in winter, some rich and powerful families didn't even hesitate to spend huge amounts of money to pour buckets of oil onto the field. With so much effort, it could be seen how much the upper class liked to play polo at that time. Their obsession with polo was no less than the love of modern people for football, and it might even surpass it.
Of course, this temporary field couldn't be so particular. They used the poles left over from the tent to make the goal, and drew lines on the sand to make the field. The field was a bit smaller than a normal field, so using the local materials, it was quickly set up. The players from both sides were also neatly dressed, ready to enter the field.
At this time, there was a maximum of ten people on each side, but there was no minimum limit. In other words, the number of players on both sides was not required to be exactly the same. If you wanted to, one person could take on ten people on the other side, and no one would care.
Although there were many people on Chu Kuangge's side, there were only five people who knew how to play polo. Yang Fan and the others who didn't know how to play polo helped to tie the ponytails one by one.
Wang Rufeng was thrown miserably by Yang Fan just now. In his mind, Yang Fan said he didn't know anything about Sumo at the beginning, and then asked Chu Kuangge to explain the rules to him on the spot. He was deliberately showing weakness and tricking him. Now that he had lost a lot of face, he hated Chu Kuangge to the core.
Now that he saw that Yang Fan didn't prepare a horse for the competition, he guessed that he really wasn't good at horsemanship. Wang Rufeng's eyes darted around, and he whispered a few words to a polo player who was also in Yao Manor. That person nodded slightly, and walked over with his horse. He said to Yang Fan, "Little brother, your Sumo skills are so superb, so your bowing skills must also be extraordinary. I would like to experience your skills, how about it?"
Yang Fan smiled, "I'm ashamed, I don't know how to ride a horse, and I don't know how to bow."
That person looked up to the sky and laughed, but there wasn't a trace of a smile on his face. He said coldly, "Just now you said you don't know anything about Sumo, but in the end, didn't you still beat Wang Er cleanly? As a man, being too humble is hypocritical."
Yang Fan didn't care about winning or losing. He sneaked a glance and saw Tin Aino and Liu Junfan chatting under a row of trees in the distance. Thinking that as long as he could stall for time and attract Madam Yao's attention, he would be fine. He smiled, and replied in a good mood, "I really don't know how to bow, but … since this brother has requested it, I will give it a try."
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