The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

In late January, on the eastern outskirts of Shangcai, the wasteland where Li Si and his son chased cunning rabbits with yellow dogs was suddenly filled with camps filled with people. The few places with green land were now surrounded by a sea of Qin soldiers.

They stood on a pile of walls, staring at the fierce confrontation on the rectangular lawn.

As the military judge, who was acting as a referee, blew a copper whistle, Li Xian, wearing black clothes and black leather armor, protected his chest, back, thighs and arms tightly, and wore a leather helmet on his head. He took a deep breath, took a few steps back to run, and kicked the pig bladder wrapped in cowhide and filled with feathers and straw high!

The ball flew more than ten steps away, passing over the heads of his companions who were also wearing black armor and standing in a row of five, and finally landed on the right half of the rectangular grass field, where a group of Qin soldiers in red armor were...

The tall flag-bearing soldier Mu had been staring at the ball for a long time, and at this moment he suddenly jumped up and hugged his hands in his arms! Then he began to run forward with big strides, his steps as heavy as a rhinoceros, but as soon as he crossed the center line drawn by the black charcoal powder, he was rushed by five black-armored Qin soldiers who had been waiting for him and tried to knock him to the ground!

However, Mu was tall and strong, and he still took a few steps forward despite being pulled and pushed by several people. Before he was pressed to the ground, he swung his arm and threw the ball heavily, and it was caught by Dongmen Bao who was running forward quickly from the edge of the lawn - he was the leader of this red-armored team!

Dongmen Bao was running across the grass like a galloping leopard. Under the command of Li Xian, he tried to pull and push back the black-armored Qin soldiers who were trying to stop him, but they were all knocked over by the red-armored soldiers who were protecting Dongmen Bao. Even Li Xian, who was the last one, was knocked unconscious by this guy and fell to the ground. Finally, Dongmenbao successfully ran to the end line and threw the ball into the goal. The ball entered the goal frame and was caught by the fishing net behind it...

A copper whistle sounded again, and the Qin soldiers watching cheered deafeningly. Dongmenbao also showed off to everyone like a hero on the battlefield...

Zhang Han, who was sitting on the earthen wall, saw this scene. Although he didn't quite understand it, he was also infected by the atmosphere and laughed loudly, but turned his head and said loudly to Heifu: "Captain, I still have one thing I don't understand. Isn't it called football? Why do the soldiers on the field use their hands?"

"Didn't you use enough when serving at the beginning? It's not wrong to call it football..."

Heifu's argument was specious, but the fact was helpless, because the game in front of him really couldn't be called football. Instead, it was like a mixture of football field and rugby rules and gameplay.

At first, he wanted to teach everyone to play football with the "ju" used in Cuju. After all, it was better than doing nothing all day, and it was more interesting than throwing stones beyond the rules, arm wrestling and throwing pots.

But everyone was like a child who had never seen football and didn't know the rules. They got into a mess soon after the game started. Not only were there frequent physical collisions, but people also pushed and stabbed each other, causing chaos. People often subconsciously caught the ball with their hands. Dongmen Bao was so excited that he couldn't kick it with his feet. He actually grabbed the ball directly and jumped into the fishing net that served as the goal with the ball. Then he laughed like a fool and said that he hadn't had such fun for a long time...

Seeing this scene, Hei Fu had an idea and changed the rules and gameplay of the game into a weird one:

The two sides competed with ten people. The game could use both hands and feet. The round-based attack system was adopted. The defending side kicked the ball to the attacking side. After catching the ball, the attacking side would try to move forward. They could run with the ball or throw it forward until they were intercepted and pressed down by the defending side. The attacking team will start another round of attack from where the ball was intercepted, with a total of three chances, until the attack times are exhausted, or the ball is sent to the bottom line and thrown into the goal.

So, in Zhang Han's eyes, a group of Qin soldiers wore heavy armor on their bodies like going to war, or defended their opponents in rows of five or five, or ran like crazy with the ball, and a group of Qin soldiers blocked and pushed each other under the command of their respective squad leaders, looking for opportunities to break through!

The most common scene is that they collided with each other with strong bodies, making a clattering sound of armor friction, or like a leopard catching a sheep, knocking the opponent to the ground and pressing him under his body, sweating, mud and grass flying, and the onlookers were also excited.

This is the "football" that has been popular among the soldiers of Nanjun for nearly half a month. Because Zhang Han was ordered to repair another tunnel, we saw its true face today...

It's hard to say anything else, but it's a great way to kill time. Not only do the players have a lot of fun, but the spectators will also be fascinated after understanding the rules.

Zhang Han is like this. Hei Fu explained to him that there are 10 people on each side of the attack and defense, which is just enough for the number of Qin's squad.

In the middle of the front row, a squad of soldiers wearing heavy armor is arranged to block people, called line forwards, and two people sprint to catch the ball, called receivers. In the back row, there is a squad leader who makes decisions and serves, and two defenders, called defenders.

Every time you catch the ball and break through, you must move forward five steps until you are tackled by the opponent, otherwise, you will give the opponent a chance to attack. If the ball reaches the bottom line, you get 1 point. If you reach the bottom line with the ball, it is called a "touchdown", which gets 2 points. If you can throw the ball into the goal, you get 3 points.

The offensive team should advance as far as possible, while the defensive team should steal the opponent's ball and run as far as possible in one breath to hinder the enemy's attack as much as possible.

In short, this is the rule that Hei Fu put together randomly. Everything is simple and easy to understand. After all, if he really wants to bring out the complicated offside rules of later rugby and football, this group of mostly illiterate soldiers will fall asleep before they finish listening...

While simplifying the rules, he also shortened the game time, all for a more intense confrontation.

"What if they fight because of a disagreement over the ball?" After the game reached a halftime break, Zhang Han asked Hei Fu with some concern.

"General physical collisions are harmless. Just don't go too far within the rules. Besides, I have arranged for medical emergency personnel to wait on the side. They have no place to use their skills in the past few months without fighting."

Hei Fu put away his smile: "But if you start fighting because you are not convinced, it will be considered a private fight. Everyone knows how to punish it."

He pursed his lips and pointed at Le who was blowing the whistle on the field and said: "That is the military judge of our command. With him judging on the field, I don't see who dares to mess around!"

Zhang Han nodded, and at this time another whistle sounded, and the second half of the game began.

Zhang Han was just watching the excitement at first. Watching Dongmen Bao and others steal the ball, then fall and fall, and being pressed down by a group of defenders, he could also make him laugh.

However, as time went on, watching the two sides attack once, twice, and three times, wearing away again and again, and advancing inch by inch. When they were ten steps away from the baseline for the third attack and it seemed hopeless, they suddenly sent a pass to save their lives. When they were one step away from crossing the line, they were suddenly pinned down by the opponent and failed. After repeated failures, ten of them gathered in a circle to discuss how to defend, then hugged each other's arms and roared, and then prepared for the next kick in a solemn atmosphere...

Watching all this, Zhang Han felt that he was fascinated.

Once again, the ball and the player went into the net beautifully, and the spectators cheered again. This time, even Zhang Han couldn't help but stand up and applaud them.

"I once watched people wrestling as a show in Xinzheng City, but it was not half as exciting as today! This is the real military show!"

No, this "football" seems to be more than just a military show.

Zhang Han seemed to understand why he had such a strong sense of déjà vu. Under the command of the "squad leader", the whole team took on the responsibility of blocking, running, and carrying. Some people sacrificed, some fell, and some took the ball and continued to move forward, just to throw it hard to the bottom line.

He felt that there was a little bit of military strategy hidden in this play...?

Zhang Han was not the only one who felt this way. After the game was over, when everyone was congratulating the winning team, several messengers in the back shouted, "General Wang is here!"

…

There was only one person in the army who could be called "General Wang". The Qin soldiers who were watching and the players who were sweating profusely and had no time to wipe their sweat all bowed to the ground, respectfully looking at the old general who had been sitting in an inconspicuous corner and watched the whole game with the personal accompaniment and explanation of the captain Li You...

Hei Fu also bowed to the ground. When he looked up, he saw a little white in the black clothes and black armor that everyone wore. General Wang Jian looked like an ordinary old military leader, wearing ordinary cloth clothes, but the towering egret crown on his head exposed his status. The general's once tall body had shrunk a lot, but the momentum that could make the three armies bow their heads at a glance had not diminished at all!

"You two or three guys' performance today really opened my eyes."

Wang Jian's voice was still full of energy. He asked everyone to excuse themselves, and this sentence was also from the heart.

Like Zhang Han, Wang Jian was just curious and wanted to see what kind of game this "football" was, which could be popular among the soldiers of Nanjun and make hundreds or thousands of people stand for half an hour to watch.

With Wang Jian's vision and experience, this game looks very simple, just passing, blocking, running, and shooting, without complicated rules. It is sometimes fierce, sometimes dull, and sometimes entangled. Twenty people on the field defend each other, or rush and charge, or fall into the mud and stumble.

But when he saw the back, he suddenly glimpsed a hint of the meaning of war from this small lawn of 100 steps square!

Flesh and wisdom, violent collision, space advancement, team cooperation, looking for space, and hitting the target. Ten thousand soldiers were pent up in the middle, and a flash of lightning split the clouds. Wang Jian was very familiar with that feeling.

Yes, he suddenly realized that this was not football, but the art of war, and he had experienced countless military battles!

Five soldiers lined up in a row to block the opponent, but the cavalry on both wings suddenly rushed in and interspersed. The commander commanded everyone to win by the right combination and the surprise.

In the short two-minute confrontation, in order to defeat the opponent, the soldiers used many methods. From the attack, Wang Jian actually saw that the empty is real, the real is empty, the profit is lured, the chaos is taken, the real is prepared, the strong is avoided, the angry is frustrated, the humble is arrogant, the idle is tired, and the close is separated. Attack when the enemy is least prepared, and surprise them...

From the defense, we can also see that if you prepare in front, the rear will be weak, if you prepare in the rear, the front will be weak, if you prepare on the left, the right will be weak, if you prepare on the right, the left will be weak, if you prepare everything, then everything will be weak...

The things in the art of war, the military momentum, the reality, the military formation, and the nine changes, seem to be concentrated in it. The twenty people are just ordinary soldiers and military officers. Of course, they don't understand the art of war. They just do it subconsciously after playing this game for a long time, because in this world, there was combat confrontation first, and then there was the art of war to summarize its rules.

But the person who came up with this game must be someone who understands the art of war and knows military struggle!

Wang Jian's eyes swept among the crowd.

"Where is the commander Heifu?"