Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness King Shun is seeking an audience outside." Eunuch Zhao walked lightly into the tent and whispered to the emperor who was leaning on the soft couch.

The emperor slowly opened his eyes, his eyes were dull, and he seemed to be asleep, "Is there something urgent at this late hour?"

"His Highness said that he wanted to visit you. If you fall asleep, he will come back tomorrow morning to say hello."

"He has a heart, let him in." The emperor turned over, and the court ladies who were kneeling on both sides to beat his legs immediately stepped aside.

After he sat down, he saw Li Xu walking in wearing a long gown without any decorations. He had just showered and his hair was still wet. His long hair hung down his head, and there was a kind of indistinguishable beauty for a moment.

Li Xu usually doesn't see this kind of beauty. He looks handsome and handsome, but he has an outstanding temperament, and his every move is full of heroism, which doesn't make people think of a woman. But at this moment, his hair is disheveled, and he is wearing loose clothes. The white long gown, it has a sense of agility.

Li Xu's face looks a bit like an empress's. The emperor looked dazed for a moment, as if he saw the time he spent with his first wife when he was young. Their husband and wife have also been in love for a few years, but their relationship can't stand the passing of time. Coupled with the change of women in the harem one after another, his heart will inevitably be divided into countless parts.

No one knew that before the queen died, he had asked the reason for the Han family's rebellion. How did the other party answer at that time?She said: "Your Majesty certainly doesn't remember the white-haired agreement back then, but my concubine remembers every word clearly and regards it as a standard. If that's the case, then I will let my concubine fulfill him with my own hands."

The emperor thought about it for several years, but still couldn't remember what the specific content of the agreement was. He had said love words to countless women, and also said various love words. How could he remember every sentence, and it was all so many years ago. thing.

It was also because of this that the emperor felt a little guilty towards the empress, but this was not enough to make up for her crime of seeking to usurp the throne.

"It's so late, why hasn't Xu'er rested yet?"

Li Xu originally planned to go to sleep. After taking a shower, he lay on the bed and thought about the racecourse. In the end, he wanted to come over and talk about it early, so he came here.

"I heard that the father left the banquet very early today, and my son came to see you, but you are not feeling well?"

The emperor sighed faintly, "I'm old, I'm sick all over, and I'm easy to get tired, you just have to play to your heart's content."

"Father, don't say that, you just don't exercise too much, why don't you practice boxing and archery with your son tomorrow, we don't go into the mountains, just move around in the camp."

The emperor was amused by his honest suggestion, "Okay, just move, cough cough..."

Seeing that he was coughing badly, Li Xu couldn't help feeling a little worried, not because he was concerned about the emperor's health, but because he was worried that the emperor would let him go if he didn't have time to make arrangements.

Seeing that he was not in good condition, Li Xu went straight to the topic and said, "Father, I went to the nearby Royal Racecourse tonight, and saw that there are thousands of good horses over there. Can you hear me?"

"Oh? But did you take Kou Xiao to choose horses? I knew it was impossible for you tricksters to choose the horses in the stables peacefully."

Li Xu turned slightly, showing a little childishness, "The horses here are all docile mares, and it's fine for my son to ride a ride. That rough man Kou Xiao likes wild horses that are difficult to tame."

"Then you have picked the one you like?" The emperor had heard before that Kou Xiao came back tonight with a good horse.

"Yes, I tamed a wild horse. It has a strong temper. He likes it very much. He must bring it back overnight." Li Xu said with a helpless look, and his tone could not hide his pampering, but it was a pity for the other people present Didn't even realize it.

Eunuch Zhao also casually praised: "Your Highness is really kind to General Kou."

Li Xu lowered his head and smiled, but it's a pity that the light was too dim, otherwise he would have seen his slightly shy and bright smile, which was a kind of loving smile.

"What was your idea just now?" The emperor brought the topic back.

He propped his head up and heard Li Xu say, "That's it. It's a waste, my son, to see so many good horses in the racecourse. Why don't you take this opportunity to hold a polo match, from tens of thousands of Yulin soldiers and Jingji battalion sergeants?" 1000 people are selected from the team, and the generals participating in the hunting competition will each lead a team of ten people to form a hundred teams. Hundred regiments will fight, and they can compete in the camp. To be honest, they all go to the mountains to hunt. It’s really boring for civil servants and ministers and other peripheral people to see and not see.”

The emperor's eyes lit up, and the previous drowsiness was swept away. This idea is good. He is actually very boring. Apart from dealing with the memorials sent by the capital, the rest of his time is to chat with people, eat and drink, but in this kind of place. He likes to hang out with beauties, and his life is extremely monotonous.

The emperor was very moved, so he still asked: "The polo game is very interesting, and it also involves resourcefulness and skill, but what does it have to do with the racecourse? There are still a thousand horses in the hunting ground."

Li Xu said with a smile: "After all, those horses are owned by the owner, and I know that most of the horses in the racecourse are actually rewarded by the emperor. Why don't you lend them to these soldiers first. If anyone wins the ranking, you will reward them." It's also a privilege to have some of their fine horses."

The emperor thought for a while and asked Eunuch Zhao, "How many people participated in the hunt this time?"

Eunuch Zhao knew the list very well, and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, there are 360 ​​five people in total, including 230 high-ranking generals, and the rest are the children of various families who have not entered official positions and some civil servants with both civil and military skills."

"How do you determine the hundred leaders?"

Li Xu said lightly: "You can let those who want to participate register themselves, and then rank them according to their results today, and the one with the highest will be selected."

"Okay, let's do it this way, this matter will be left to King Shun, and I will wait and see the excitement."

Li Xu joked: "You can't just be a spectator, you have to prepare prizes."

The emperor was amused by him, he looked at Li Xu more, maybe because his attire today is not aggressive, it makes people feel weak, and even the humor between words is particularly pleasing, just like a normal person at home. A child whose parents act like a spoiled child.

After finishing talking, Li Xu also left. He asked someone to deliver warm milk to the emperor. It was filled with sugar and some crushed nuts. It was the supper he had always prepared for the little princess, and he also coaxed the emperor. After taking a few sips, I watched him lie down before leaving.

After he left, the emperor opened his eyes and stared at the pattern on the top of the camp tent, and asked softly, "Old Zhao, do you think this kid is a little nicer? No one else's kid can compare to him."

Eunuch Zhao lowered his head through the curtain and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, that is the child you raised carefully, so it is naturally very good."

"Yes, but he is so nice, why do I always feel bad in my heart?"

Eunuch Zhao can't answer this topic. Apart from the love between father and son, there is also a division of interests between father and son in the Tian family.

"Your Majesty, there will be fun tomorrow, so you should rest early."

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In the early morning of the next day, Li Xu passed on the news of organizing the polo team match, and limited one hour to sign up. After one hour, he would not be eligible to participate.

Some people are happy and some are sad. The children of rich families in the capital have played polo since they were young, and they are much better at hunting than hunting in the mountains. However, those generals who climbed up from the bottom may not like this sport.

"Why do you want to play polo all of a sudden? I've never heard of people who don't go hunting to play polo here. Why can't you play polo?" Someone asked angrily.

"I heard that His Royal Highness King Shun thinks hunting is too boring and wants to watch something new."

"Then how is this ranking calculated? We can win or lose by our own strength in hunting, and polo is suitable for cooperation. If the teammates are too poor to compare with others, then we will not suffer and die?"

"I heard that the teammates are all elites selected from the Habayashi Army and the Gyeonggi Battalion. They are randomly divided into [-] teams, and the team leader draws teammates by lottery. It is also based on luck." Judging from the cooperation, these people have never worked together, so they must have no idea.

The list of team leaders is determined here, and Situ Yong and Lin Zhao also selected the team members for the competition. According to Li Xu's request, these people must first be their own people to ensure that there are no moles. Second, they must be good at riding horses, otherwise No matter how good the horse is, it is a waste for him, and these 1000 men can be replaced at any time in the middle, and the best cavalry must be the one who can persist until the end.

In such a prosperous age, although many contestants had objections, those who did not participate all applauded. When civil servants come to Xishan, there is no entertainment except for outings and drinking. It is definitely better to have this kind of competition than to wait for a group of people to be accepted every day. Animal carcasses are interesting.

"My lord is thinking of us." A civil servant said tearfully.

"But the werewolf killed me yesterday and I haven't had enough fun yet." Kong Jing sighed. He just won half of the game yesterday and is preparing to continue to shine today.

"Master Kong, there is no conflict between playing polo and playing games. We can watch while playing." Doctor Yu Shi is also a big fan of werewolf killing.

After half a day, the team leader and team members were all assigned, so Li Xu decided to save the rest of the day for them to get to know each other better, and let them go to the racecourse to select horses and develop a relationship with his mount.

Although half a day is too little, everyone is the same, there is nothing to say, but this kind of game is far more intense and exciting than the previous hunting.

Among the players Kou Xiao drew were seven members from the Habayashi Army and three soldiers from the Gyeonggi Battalion. They were all between 20 and 30 years old. This is the most energetic age in a person’s life. To play a polo match well, Not only is riding a horse good, but energy and endurance are extremely important.

Swinging the club in one hand, Kou Xiao walked slowly in front of the ten teammates, looked at each of them carefully for a while, and finally asked, "Do you know what the winner of this game will get?"

Most of the sergeants in these two camps have some background in their families, and they have heard a lot of news from their families.

A tall and bearded man said: "General Kou, you don't need to attract us with prizes, and we don't care about that. What we care about is the honor of the winner. Presumably General Kou wants to win more than we do?"

"Of course, this time I came to Xishan, the general is aiming at No. 1." Kou Xiao said with great confidence.

Everyone has the same goal, so it's easy to talk. Kou Xiao is actually not good at playing polo. He is best at hunting in the mountains and forests. If he follows the previous competition, he will definitely win No.1.

"I'm not afraid to tell you, this general has only played Cuju since he was a child, but not polo. I wonder who is the best at this?" Kou Xiao said bluntly.

Everyone felt lucky to be drawn by Kou Xiao. After all, Kou Xiao was the most popular winner, followed by the two sons of General Lu. With such a team leader, their confidence also doubled. Unexpectedly, this person did not play. Over polo.

Isn't he the confidant of King Shun?Why did King Shun propose such a game but didn't take this into consideration?Everyone inevitably had some guesses in their hearts, Kou Xiao didn't care about it, he just said: "Come here and talk to the general about the rules first."

Then, Kou Xiao spent the whole afternoon learning about the sport of polo. It was near evening when they got the horse. Kou Xiao was riding the wild horse he tamed last night. Li Xu personally took it to the racecourse to nail the horseshoe. Saddle up.

In the first round, Kou Xiao rode a horse with a club and ran all over the field without any rules. Although the ball was always under his control, he fouled several times and didn't talk about cooperation at all, which made a group of old men angry up.

The man who is best at playing polo is called Yuan Hongyang. He is thin-skinned and tender. It is said that he is the nephew of Marquis Zhenyuan.

Yuan Hongyang looked down on Kou Xiao privately, thinking that this man only became what he is today because he has been with King Shun for a while, otherwise he would be a general in a poor country. I heard that South Vietnam used to be poor, and the soldiers even ate food. Not full.

Seeing Kou Xiao playing polo so badly, he couldn't help but sneered: "If General Kou plays at this level, I'm afraid we will lose the first game."

Kou Xiao waved his club and nodded earnestly, "You are right, so you can just say what is wrong, and the general will correct it."

Yuan Hongyang rolled his eyes and continued: "Our team consists of eleven people. These eleven people must be united and cooperate with each other. It is not enough for the general to hit the ball into the opponent's goal all the time. You alone Human strength is limited after all, and the opponent will definitely send out manpower to strictly control you, if you are disqualified because of a foul, how will the remaining ten of us fight?"

Everyone knows the importance of a team leader, but when they encounter a team leader who doesn't understand anything, they really don't have the confidence to win.

"You explain the rules to General Ben carefully, and General Ben will remember."

Although Yuan Hongyang didn't agree with him in his heart, he also knew that it was impossible to change people now, so he had to explain the rules to him carefully several times, and even repeated three or four times for some easy-to-make mistakes.

For dinner, I still eat the leftover meat from yesterday, because I have already eaten it once, and the second time it is not so amazing, and most of my thoughts are on training, just eat something to fill my stomach.

Kou Xiao even saved the time for eating and trained alone in the field.

He has good riding skills, and it's not a problem to run and hit with a stick. After a few rounds, the stick makes him very flexible.

Li Xu brought him dinner and stood aside to watch it a few times. He actually doesn't know how to play football, but playing football is okay, but riding a horse is too difficult.

After reading it a few times, he stopped Kou Xiao and said, "Eat something before practicing. I will definitely work overtime tonight. If you don't eat enough, you won't have strength."

Kou Xiao jumped off the horse, first poured half a pot of water down, wiped his face, and ate up all the food Li Xu brought, and when he finished eating, his teammates came back one after another.

Seeing King Shun standing next to Kou Xiao, they were a little surprised, after all, they don't have many chances to see King Shun up close every day.

Li Xu excused them, and said kindly: "It's fate that you can be in a group with Kou Xiao. Kou Xiao is not very good at playing polo, but he works hard enough and learns quickly. I believe he will be able to play polo soon." You have learned well, you still need to be more patient, and don't be impatient, tomorrow is the first preliminary competition, and the hundred groups will be randomly matched, as long as you don't meet a master, you will definitely win."

Yuan Hongyang is not very optimistic about tomorrow's game. Randomly, there is a high probability that he will meet a strong team. He couldn't help but say, "My lord, do you know which of these one hundred teams is stronger?"

Li Xu also knew about this part today, and shook his head and said: "Today's temporary team, everyone doesn't know each other, it is impossible to form a strong team, but there are still quite a few individuals who are good at playing polo, such as the two little Lu generals , such as Xie Liang, Gang Yuze, Lou Changjing and others in the Habayashi Army, as well as Murong Hua, Yao Kai, Xie Xu and others in the Gyeonggi Camp."

Yuan Hongyang understood this better, and nodded when Li Xu mentioned the names of these people: "Indeed, these are people who won the rankings when they were young. Although they fought less after entering the military camp, their skill is still there. The team I'm on is definitely better than the others."

Li Xu echoed: "Coordination is the most important thing in playing. You can discuss the positions first, and then develop several tactics. Tomorrow, you will sum up your experience based on the actual situation. You have to practice while playing. Everyone is just cooperating, so it must be difficult. There are many, so don’t panic.”

Yuan Hongyang felt that King Shun was too sensible, and what he said was all the main points, but: "My lord, I'm afraid I don't have enough time." Even if he doesn't sleep all night, how can he cooperate well?They didn't even recognize their teammates.

Kou Xiao was not afraid, he said: "I believe that the people who can be selected will not be bad at riding. Except for this general, you all know something about playing polo, so as long as you set your positions tonight, the rest In the next time, let's find a place to study tactics while chatting, and it is also convenient to deepen mutual understanding."

This is a good idea. Everyone nodded in agreement. Even if they disagreed in their hearts, with Li Xu present, they did not dare to express their dissatisfaction with Kou Xiao. Even Yuan Hongyang put away the previous ridicule and treated Kou Xiao better. stand up.

Kou Xiao smiled at Li Xu, knowing that he was here to support him. Although he is not afraid of a few small soldiers, he can make everyone agree with him, save some time, and get into the state faster.

Kou Xiao ran around with everyone again, this time he did not violate the rules again, and his performance was quite satisfactory, which finally made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

Then there is the positioning. A strong general like Kou Xiao must be a striker. A striker focuses on charging forward. There are few rules and restrictions, which is the most suitable for him. The other thing is to have a goalkeeper, which happens to be handed over to the tall and strong bearded man in the team. , His name is Qin Zong, his grandfather used to be the general of Zhengxi, but unfortunately he died in the battle for 20 years, otherwise his achievements would not be like this.

The rest of the people had also set their positions, and Kou Xiao led them back to the tent. Everyone sat around a huge sand table, staring at the sand table in front of them in amazement.

As military generals, they all know that some generals have the ability to copy the sand table, and making the terrain into a sand table is also convenient for drills, but they have never seen anyone make a polo field into a sand table, and there are also little pottery figures representing the players of both sides , wearing two-color team uniforms, very recognizable.

After Li Xu decided to play polo last night, he asked people to rush to make it overnight. It's a sand table, only twenty or so children, it's not difficult.

Li Xu didn't watch their discussion. He is the chief referee of this competition, and there are still many things to arrange, and these arrangements inevitably include some arrangements to defend against foreign enemies. Even he admires them for their subtlety. I temporarily thought of a polo game, which is convenient for him to move.