In an area of Xincheng District, Tianjin, close to the Tianjin Maritime Academy and the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy, a huge open-air stadium is undergoing final maintenance. The first football match of the Ming Dynasty will be held here.
In the stadium, Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao were talking and laughing discussing the details of the first football match.
"Lao Liu, this venue is okay, big enough, and cool enough~"
Zhu Houzhao looked at this huge football field with great satisfaction.
The entire football field is oval-shaped, and except for a few important locations on the east side that are not open-air, all other locations are open-air.
If the venue is fully occupied, it can accommodate 20,000 people watching the game at the same time. Such a huge venue will be considered a large venue even in later generations.
The playing field in the middle is very flat and planted with grass. After careful inspection and construction by dedicated personnel, it looks very exciting for people to sweat on the court.
"Haha, of course. If I want to build a stadium, I must build the best stadium."
Liu Jin was also very satisfied with the stadium in front of him. As a fan who traveled back in time, he attached great importance to the first football match of the Ming Dynasty. The venue must be good and big.
And this time, Liu Jin sent invitations to many dignitaries in the capital. Even Emperor Hongzhi and the Queen sent invitation letters, inviting them to come to Tianjin to watch the football match.
A very important thing about football is the atmosphere.
Having a good atmosphere is extremely important.
Football in later generations of China is not good. Although there are many factors, a big factor is that the atmosphere is not good. There are not many football fields in a city, there are not many people playing football, and there are not many football games throughout the year.
The atmosphere of the game was so bad.
Of course, in later generations of China, due to many factors, the common people were also relatively miserable and did not have so much time, energy and money to spend on sports.
Unlike Europeans and Americans, they have less working hours, high income, good foundation, and all kinds of sports are more popular.
As for the foundation of teenagers, the physical education classes of later generations have been completely squeezed out, and they are all working hard for exam-oriented education, leaving aside physical education.
Traveling through time to the Ming Dynasty, Liu Jin felt that there were many things he could do, and this was true in sports.
If the Ming Dynasty could continue its external expansion and colonization, the Chinese descendants would spread all over the world in the future and have a vast living space, and they would no longer have to be limited to East Asia.
With a lot of land, resources and good living conditions, it is natural to develop various sports, and football is no exception.
"When the game comes, the stadium is full of people, and tens of thousands of people are cheering for you. Just thinking about it is exciting."
Zhu Houzhao clenched his fists. He was the main player of the Tianjin Royal Military Academy team. Thinking that he was going to play here, his whole body was filled with excitement.
"Your Highness, stop being excited and take some practical actions. How much money are you prepared to give as a bonus?"
Liu Jin smiled. To watch football, you really need to watch it live to enjoy the atmosphere.
"bonus?"
Zhu Houzhao was slightly startled.
"Yeah, how can this competition be done without a prize? I've asked people to go everywhere to collect donations, and now I've raised almost 100,000 taels of silver. But as for the prize, the more the merrier."
Liu Jin nodded and said.
"I'll give you one hundred thousand taels of silver. One hundred thousand taels is indeed a bit small."
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and said very grandly.
"That's great."
Liu Jin immediately laughed. Student Xiao Zhu was indeed very willing to spend money in this regard.
"Sell newspapers~ sell newspapers~"
"Tianjin will host the first Ming Dynasty football match~"
"The competition prize is as high as two hundred thousand taels of silver."
"Sell newspapers~ sell newspapers~"
Soon, in the streets and alleys of Beijing and Tianjin, the news that Tianjin was about to host a football match spread throughout the Beijing-Tianjin area through the Ming Dynasty Morning Post.
"football?"
"What is football?"
People who saw the newspaper asked very curiously.
More people know about football here in Tianjin, because Tianjin Maritime Academy, Tianjin Royal Military Academy, and many industries under Liu Jin’s command have football matches. They usually play football among themselves, but it is not widely spread at present.
Now through the Ming Dynasty Morning Post, football has spread throughout the Beijing-Tianjin area immediately.
"Isn't it clearly written in the newspaper? This is similar to Cuju in the Song Dynasty, but there are some differences."
"It's quite interesting~"
"The prize money in this competition is as high as 200,000 taels of silver. This is really a sky-high prize money."
The entire Beijing-Tianjin area is discussing this football match, and the focus is naturally on the two hundred thousand taels of silver prize money.
Two hundred thousand taels of silver, this is absolutely an astronomical sum for ordinary people.
Since ancient times, money has been the most attractive thing, not to mention such a huge number. For a while, everyone from the government officials to ordinary people were discussing this matter.
"This Liu Jin is just messing around~"
"Cuju is Cuju, can it be changed by changing the name?"
"Don't you know that Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty appointed Gao Qiu as a Taiwei just because he liked Cuju, which made the people of the Northern Song Dynasty miserable?"
"You even brought the prince to play Cuju together, and the prize was two hundred thousand taels of silver."
"I heard that a special competition venue was built here in Tianjin. Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were spent just to build this competition venue."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the Ming Dynasty Morning Post, then at the invitation letter sent by Liu Jin, and said angrily.
He originally liked Liu Jin very much. Although Liu Jin was young, Emperor Hongzhi was very satisfied with everything, but when it came to Cuju.
He was quite disappointed, especially since Liu Jin also brought the prince Zhu Houzhao to play Cuju together.
Losing one’s mind by playing with things!
"Your Majesty, you might as well go and have a look when the time comes to see what this football match is like before drawing a conclusion."
"We have seen the changes in the prince since he got together with Liu Jin. He is not a person like Gao Qiu who can only rely on flattery to get to the position."
Queen Zhang on the side looked at Emperor Hongzhi's angry look, smiled and said.
There is no doubt that Liu Jin has meritorious service.
If Liu Jin hadn't earned tens of millions of taels of silver for the royal family every year, would Emperor Hongzhi have the money to repair the palace?
Do you have money to reform the military system and feed the Ming Dynasty’s army?
Maybe she, Queen Zhang, even wants to weave cloth now.
What's more important is that since the prince followed Liu Jin, he trained and studied in the military camp. His body became stronger, he was no longer as thin as before, and he became more sensible.
"Well, that's true."
After hearing Queen Zhang's words, Emperor Hongzhi nodded.
Liu Jin is indeed a man of real ability and does not need to rely on flattery to get to the top.
"Since you said so, then I'll go to Tianjin then. I haven't been to Tianjin for a while. I heard that Tianjin is now more prosperous than the capital."
Emperor Hongzhi thought about it and decided to go to watch this football match. He also wanted to visit Tianjin.
"Okay, I'll go there then."
"If the prince likes football, just like football. People always have to have some hobbies. Football is a multi-sport sport, and exercise is good for the body."
Queen Zhang smiled and said.
"You, you always spoil the prince like this."
"This is not possible. He is the prince of the Ming Dynasty and the crown prince of the country. He will take over this country in the future. In his mind, he should be thinking about how to protect the inheritance of our ancestors. He cannot always think about playing."
Emperor Hongzhi was a little helpless. Empress Zhang doted on Zhu Houzhao. Of course, Emperor Hongzhi actually doted on Zhu Houzhao himself. Many times, he could not bear to punish the prince.
"The prince is still young after all. When he grows up, he will naturally become sensible."
Queen Zhang smiled and said.
The only wife of Emperor Hongzhi was Empress Zhang, who gave birth to two sons and one daughter, but except for Zhu Houzhao, the other two died young, which is why they doted on Zhu Houzhao.
This child is afraid of falling when held in the palm of the hand, and melted when held in the mouth.
"football?"
"Did Liu Jin think of some profitable business again?"
In the British Government House, Zhang Mao looked at the latest Tomorrow Morning Post, and then at the invitation letter sent by Liu Jin.
He didn't think Liu Jin was playing football to lose his ambition. The first thing he thought about was whether football was another money-making project dreamed up by Liu Jin.
Liu Jin never engages in loss-making business.
Liu Jin never does anything without making money.
Everything Liu Jin comes up with is profitable.
Zhang Mao is very sure of this. Liu Jin, the God of Wealth, can turn stone into gold. He can turn any thing into gold for you.
I heard that this newspaper is starting to make money.
"It cost hundreds of thousands of taels to build the venue~"
"The prize money in the competition is as high as 200,000 taels of silver~"
"It's a big deal, I guess it will be very profitable."
"No, no, I have to find Liu Jin. No matter what, I have to get involved in this football match. How can I be left out of making money?"
Zhang Mao kept thinking in his mind.
Although he didn't see where the money was coming from this football match, Zhang Mao felt that as long as it was something Liu Jin was doing, he would follow him.
Making money is easy.
Just follow the right person.
This is Zhang Mao’s secret to making money now.
Anyway, he just follows Liu Jin. Wherever Liu Jin invests, he will follow him. Whatever Liu Jin does, he will do whatever he does.
Following Liu Jin, he would never lose money, he would make a profit on every transaction, and he would make a lot of money.
This allowed Zhang Mao to accumulate an unimaginable amount of wealth in just a few years. It is no exaggeration to say that he is so rich that he can rival his country.
Therefore, he instinctively felt that he should get involved in this football match. If he followed Liu Jin in organizing this football match, he would definitely be able to make money.
"Well, when the time comes, I'll find Zhu Fu and Xu Guangzuo and go to Tianjin to have a look."