Chapter 60: Ancient Football, Qixi Festival

Meanwhile, the roads in the south were also under construction.

In the blink of an eye, it was the day before the Qixi Festival. At this moment, Su Liang set aside the matters at hand to prepare gifts for the several young ladies in his residence for the festival.

The ancient Qixi Festival, also known as the Begging for Skills Festival, is held annually on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Young maidens and wives often gather to worship the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl stars.

On this night, in order to beg the clever Weaver Girl for dexterity, people would hang lanterns and decorate, building "Skill-Begging Towers." The young maidens and wives, dressed in new clothes, would use tea, wine, fruits, longans, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds, and cosmetic pollen as offerings, sacrificing to the Weaver Girl star while the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were reunited.

Afterwards, they would thread needles by the moonlight, using "Seven-Skill Needles" with seven eyes at one end. Whoever threaded them the fastest was considered the most dexterous, and the winner was called "Skill-Gainer." The purpose of threading needles to beg for skills was to hope for the Weaver Girl's guidance, allowing them to become experts at weaving and sewing; at the same time, it was also a form of aspiration for the young girls regarding their future marriages.

Just at this moment, Li Er arrived.

Su Liang did not need to think to know why Li Er had come; it was nothing more than to sponge off him.

Sure enough, the next moment Li Er looked at Su Liang and laughed heartily: "Haha... Son-in-law, have you prepared any good things today? Give some to me as well, so I can take some decent gifts back for your Empress Mother."

Subsequently, Su Liang brought over the cheongsams sewn by the clothing workshop; there were not only long-sleeved ones but also short-sleeved and even sleeveless ones.

"Hehe... Your Majesty, please choose for yourself. If it's not enough, I will bring some more over," Su Liang said, looking at the wide-eyed Li Er with a smile.

"Haha... Good, good, good. This way, my other concubines will have them too."

Li Er was not at all polite about this, immediately taking all the cheongsams Su Liang had brought, and then urging Su Liang to go and fetch more. For a period of time afterward, Li Er also requested some bags, perfumes, lipsticks, as well as undergarments, underwear, socks, and the like.

When Li Er had made a full harvest, he looked at Su Liang and said: "Son-in-law, now that all the soldiers of our Great Tang have adopted your troop training method, can the training method that uses Cuju to drill soldiers' formations be cancelled? Give me an idea."

"Recently, the military generals have been arguing endlessly over this matter."

As the words fell, Su Liang also recalled the matter of Cuju.

Cuju had been a popular recreational game among the people as early as the Warring States Period, and starting from the Han Dynasty, it became a method for military training. At this moment, the Cuju of the Tang Dynasty had evolved from the original solid ball stuffed with hair to using an inflatable ball.

At this time, the Tang Dynasty mainly had three forms: the two-goal match, the single-goal match (two types of "Zhuqiu" play), and the no-goal match ("Baida").

The single-goal match involved two goalposts three zhang high erected in the center of the field, with a goal about one chi in diameter at the top, called the "Wind-Flow Eye." The two-goal match involved setting up identical "Wind-Flow Eyes" on both sides of the field.

The no-goal match ("Baida") used no goals; each person kicked individually, using their feet, shoulders, head, back, and other parts to contact the ball, not letting it touch the ground. It was a competition of who could play longer without the ball touching the ground, and who had more diverse playing styles to win.

The most mainstream two-goal match in "Zhuqiu" play consisted of a Left Army and a Right Army (two teams) with different colored clothes, with twelve or sixteen people per team standing on both sides. Each player had their own role and task; the most critical was the "Ball Head," and others included the "Vice Ball Head, Side-Color, Main-Meeting, Net-Guard, Section-Officer, Brave-Color, Meeting-Manager, Chief-Urger, Left-Army, Right-Army, Point-Out, and Slant-Fly."

Besides kicking with the feet, the head, shoulders, buttocks, chest, abdomen, knees, and other parts could all receive the ball; the rules of play were almost exactly the same as modern times.

The process of the match could be summarized as: the team in control of the ball passed the air-filled ball back and forth between players several times, and finally handed it to the Ball Head to attack the goal, kicking the ball into the "Wind-Flow Eye." If it went in, it counted as a score, and then the opponent would pass and attack.

This final shot by the Ball Head was still somewhat different from later generations.

At this moment, Tang Dynasty Cuju was not just a recreational activity for men. Women's Cuju, besides "Baida" and "Zhuqiu," also had two-person fields and three-person fields, both being kick-back matches. Besides this, they would also use ball-kicking to play other games. The top scholar of the late Tang, Pei Shuo, said in a poem: "Lightly kicking the painted ball in the pot's space, colorful ropes flying high on the palm's body," which refers to a game of knocking over a pot by kicking a Cuju ball.

The Tang Dynasty had an open atmosphere; the women of the Great Tang could play! Knew how to play! Dared to play!

They could not only participate extensively in Cuju sports but also play polo, dance with swords, swing, and go out for outings and archery. The content was rich and colorful, showing the positive, enterprising, intelligent, and wise style of Tang women, which was very rare among feudal dynasties.

It is a pity that after the Tang Dynasty, women gradually began to be bound by various rules, and with the appearance of the evil custom of foot-binding, the right of women to play football was directly stripped away.

And at this moment, the Great Tang army was following the Han Dynasty's training method, using Cuju to train soldiers' formations, such as the Fish-Scale Formation (a military formation shaped like fish scales), the Goose-Flight Formation (a V-shaped military formation), the Lying-Moon Formation (a half-moon-shaped military formation, similar to the football 4-3-2-1 formation), and so on.

After thinking for a long time.

Su Liang looked at Li Er and said: "No need to cancel. Currently, we cannot equip the entire Tang army yet, so Cuju is still needed for training."

"Besides, Cuju is also a very interesting game; the soldiers can use it for entertainment in their spare time."

"However... the rules of this Cuju can be changed a bit."

Currently, the "Wind-Flow Eye" goal, which is only one chi in diameter, is still somewhat difficult for the soldiers of the Great Tang. For children, it is even harder; after all, football needs to be cultivated from a young age.

Subsequently, Su Liang explained in detail to Li Er about adding goalkeepers and changing the shape of the goal.

Finally, the modern football rules of 23 people per team, an 18-man roster, 5 substitutes, and 11 players on the field were set, as well as the standards for the football field and goals.

Once this matter was decided, Su Liang exchanged a large number of footballs and air pumps from the system and handed them to Li Er.

"Haha... This football that my son-in-law brought out is much better than the current leather air-filled balls," Li Er said, holding the football in his hand and clicking his tongue in praise.

Su Liang smiled slightly upon hearing this; the football he exchanged was naturally the best.

Historically, it was not until the Song Dynasty that the ball used for Cuju was made of twelve pieces of leather sewn together, which was exactly the same as the football of later generations.

"Sigh..." Li Er then let out a slight sigh.

After pausing, he continued: "If my son-in-law had told me these rules and ways of playing earlier, the Cuju match during this year's Cold Food Festival would definitely have been much more exciting."

Before this, Cuju matches could only be shot by the Ball Head, which was indeed not as interesting as the modern way of playing that Su Liang spoke of.

As Li Er's words fell, Su Liang also pondered secretly...

The Cold Food Festival is one or two days before Qingming. When it first became a festival, smoking and fire were prohibited, and only cold food was eaten; it is the only festival among the traditional Han Chinese festivals named after dietary customs. Initially, there were only customs of prohibiting smoke and eating cold food. In the development of later generations, customs such as sweeping graves, spring outings, kites, swings, Cuju, tug-of-war, cockfighting, tree planting, willow inserting, rope pulling, flower appreciation, banquets, and reciting poetry were gradually added. The Cold Food Festival lasted for more than two thousand years and was once called the number one sacrificial day for the Chinese people.

And some customs of the Cold Food Festival in later generations have almost been lost, with only Qingming Festival grave sweeping and spring outings known.

Now that he is here, he will definitely make full preparations and will not let these traditional customs disappear. ===== CHAPTER 61 =====