In the stadium of Jinling University of Science and Technology, thousands of people are cheering for the polo players who are fighting hard on the field!
In the stadium, more than a dozen riders wearing two different types of clothes galloped on horseback, waving the clubs in their hands, trying to hit the ball rolling fast on the ground into the opponent's goal.
The scene is extremely intense and even spectacular!
Watching this kind of polo match gives people the illusion of watching cavalry from both sides fighting each other. In fact, polo is basically similar to the fight between knights. It is fierce and spectacular, but it also means huge risks.
Many referees are paying attention to the situation on the court with their eyes wide open. When any foul or accident occurs, they will blow the whistle without hesitation and forcefully stop the game.
Avoid a repeat of last year's stadium incident.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, the polo team of Guozijian University and the polo team of Jinling University of Science and Technology were invited to compete in the palace.
In front of the Holy Emperor, the Prince, dozens of other royal members, and more than 2,000 dignitaries, two polo players collided at high speed, resulting in one death and one serious injury.
Afterwards, Emperor Sheng severely criticized the relevant officials, believing that they had one-sidedly pursued the viewing pleasure of polo, but seriously ignored the safety of the players.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Rites formalized the management of various sports clubs established spontaneously by universities and private citizens. The first thing they did was to formulate strict rules to prevent the occurrence of various tragic accidents.
However, the rules are not established to restrict, but to make polo more rational, popularized, and even professional.
In the Tang Dynasty, people did not engage in sports only when they were free, but mainly for the sake of ethics.
This newspaper boasted about the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty every day, but in fact the Tang Dynasty did dominate the world, and the people of the empire were full of self-confidence.
But it is a prosperous age after all, and as hard power increases, soft power must keep up.
Hard power is of course guns and battleships! This aspect of the Tang Dynasty can undoubtedly defeat the earth ten times.
The soft power is also very strong. The culture of the Tang Dynasty is unmatched by other regions. However, most of these cultures are traditional cultures. As a new dynasty, the Tang Dynasty needs its own things.
Therefore, the Ministry of Rites of the Tang Dynasty had already begun to support new types of literature and art.
For example, governments and schools across the country are forced to adopt standard Mandarin, and violators will be severely fined.
It also adopts unified standard Mandarin phonetic notation and punctuation marks that are easier to learn, making it easier for people to read and recognize characters.
In addition, it also promotes popular literature that is easy to understand. This is mainly because traditional classical Chinese literature is too high-end and cannot be understood by ordinary people.
That’s why there is such a thing as popular literature. For example, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and the recent Journey to the West are all popular literature that is easy to understand.
As for these easy-to-understand texts, any elementary school graduate in the Tang Dynasty would be able to read through these popular articles without any problems.
The promotion and popularization of popular literature has a great positive effect on shaping the values of the people of the empire and guiding public opinion.
Therefore, the cultural development of the Tang Dynasty has been quite good in the past ten or twenty years. A large number of excellent literary and artistic works have emerged enthusiastically, and the Tang government has also made a lot of efforts in cultural support.
However, the support provided by the Tang Dynasty government depends on the situation. It only supports works with correct three views. It would be better if the greatness of the Tang Dynasty can be properly praised.
The reason why I say it should be just right is because the Tang Dynasty officials are also very reserved. If you just write a book and brag about how awesome the Tang Dynasty is and how awesome the Holy Emperor is, other officials will not bother to pay attention to you.
But if you praise it in a roundabout way, for example, although on the surface it seems to be a life-and-death love story about the love between the male and female protagonists, it actually depicts the prosperity, greatness, and advancement of the contemporary Tang Dynasty from the side.
Then the officials of the Ministry of Rites and Culture Department would be happy to see it.
It is similar to the story of a poor scholar who, through his own efforts, reached the pinnacle of life and married Bai Fumei. What does this mean?
This shows that we in Datang have vast room for improvement. As long as you work hard and fight hard, you can become a master.
This kind of public opinion guidance is something the Ministry of Rites is very happy to see.
How should I put it? We are all decent people, so we should be a little more reserved. Don't be too explicit when flattering us. We should be more reserved.
The Ministry of Rites of the Tang Dynasty promoted literature, but also did not forget other things, such as drama, music, etc., in addition to sports.
Yes, in the Tang Dynasty, sports affairs were also the responsibility of the Department of Culture.
A long time ago, the military promoted some fiercely confrontational sports in the military based on the tradition of the past hundreds of years. On the one hand, it made the soldiers happy, and on the other hand, it also cultivated team awareness.
Mainly polo and step ball.
Both of these sports are actually sports involving extreme distances. Needless to say, polo is played on horseback and is intense and even spectacular.
It has always been a sport designated by the military and the court. In the past decade or so, the Tang Dynasty court has often organized polo competitions. Each army organized a polo team to participate in the competition.
However, the professional demand for venues, horses, and riders and the high cost have prevented it from becoming popular among the people. That is, only a few universities have organized polo teams.
Among the people, step ball is more played.
Football is actually polo without riding a horse. Although there is no horseback riding, the gameplay is similar, and this kind of football was improved by the Tang Dynasty military.
Given the poor nature of the Tang Dynasty's military, these sports were never meant for entertainment, but to cultivate soldiers' sense of bravery and teamwork.
Therefore, after the improved football by the Tang Dynasty military, the confrontation was extremely fierce.
On the surface it looks similar to later hockey, with a stick used to hit the ball, but in fact the confrontation and intensity are not on the same level at all. One of the most important points is that in the military's improved football rules,
Reasonable collisions are allowed.
This also leads to a situation where everyone is overwhelmed as soon as the ball kicks off. An attack often only lasts a few seconds before a timeout is called, because by that time it is often already overwhelming.
Those who don't have any physical fitness will be knocked out directly when they come on the field!
Those who don't have any courage will be scared to death before they even get on the stage.
It is precisely because the improved step ball that allows reasonable collisions is more dangerous and intense, so this improved step ball needs to wear professional armor, otherwise, you will have to break a rib as soon as someone hits you!
What kind of armor do the pacers of the military's infantry team wear in the first place?
Full plate armor!
The polo players of the early military polo teams also wore full plate armor.
When the Army engaged in these polo and football games, they actually did not consider the sports attributes. They focused more on cultivating the soldiers' tactical literacy and teamwork spirit.