I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 91 A profitable business

Zhu Houxuan's life in Beijing settled down. In fact, he didn't have much to do in the capital. He would either stay in the Princes' Pavilion and create new music with Qin Yuelan, or go to the Leopard House area to play with Zhu Houzhao, or just stroll around the capital.

He knew that there were many very famous historical figures in the capital, and even Wang Yangming would come to the capital next year. However, he also knew that his identity as a vassal king was destined to be hated by everyone, and interacting with them would only affect their careers. Therefore, Zhu Houxuan consciously avoided provoking them and was happy to have some peace and quiet.

So he visited the royal family living in the capital, mainly the princesses and their princes-in-law.

On this day, Zhang Yong was working in the yamen when suddenly someone reported that someone outside the door wanted to see him, and a token was also delivered.

When Zhang Yong saw that the token turned out to be a leopard card that could allow people to enter and exit the Leopard Room, he immediately asked someone to invite the person in.

"Good morning, Eunuch Zhang!" the visitor said with a smile as he entered the door.

"Your Highness Prince of Jing, how come you are in the mood to come here?" Zhang Yong looked at Zhu Houxuan, who was dressed like a nobleman, in surprise.

"When I have nothing to do, I just walk around. There are not many people I can visit in the capital, and Eunuch Zhang is one of them." Zhu Houxuan said with a smile.

Zhang Yong is already tied to him to some extent, so there's nothing wrong with dating him.

"Then I'll find a restaurant to have a drink with His Royal Highness Prince Jing." Zhang Yong also walked out from behind the table.

"I didn't come to see Eunuch Zhang just to drink!"

"Then please tell me what your Highness is doing."

"I want to visit the Beijing Camp and see the warriors there." Zhu Houxuan said very directly.

"This..." Zhang Yong was a little embarrassed. He was the commander of the 12th Regiment and the Chief of the Shenji Battalion. It was not a big problem for him to take someone to visit the Beijing Camp, but he was a little confused about what Zhu Houxuan wanted to do.

Zhu Houxuan understood Zhang Yong's dilemma and said quickly, "I am not visiting the Beijing Camp for any other reason, but because I have a profitable business that I want to do with Eunuch Zhang."

"A profitable business?" Zhang Yong was even more confused. "Your Highness, are you short of money in the capital? If you are short of money, just tell me. I have some money here."

"It's not me who is short of money, it's your Majesty who is short of money!" Zhu Houxuan sighed and said, "I have been with my brother recently, and I saw that he was worried about the money and food for attacking Mongolia all day long, so I wanted to share his worries."

Zhang Yong breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone knew that His Majesty was short of money. Then he thought of the scene he saw in Qizhou. The Prince of Jing in front of him was a man who was good at business. He couldn't help but feel a little bit of anticipation.

But this still couldn't clear up the doubts in his heart, "What does this profitable business have to do with visiting the Beijing Camp?"

"It does matter. This business requires some personnel from each of the twelve battalions!"

"Send people from the 12th Battalion?" Many thoughts flashed through Zhang Yong's mind. He thought Zhu Houxuan was going to do something illegal. "What exactly is this money-making business of your Highness?" "Please look, Eunuch Zhang." Zhu Houxuan took out two balls. These were the footballs he had custom-made at a workshop. Their weight and volume were similar to those in later generations.

"Is this the ball used for Cuju?" Zhang Yong recognized it immediately, but he was even more confused, "Are they selling this kind of ball?"

By the Ming Dynasty, Cuju had reached its peak, not inferior to that of the Song Dynasty, and everyone, young and old, men, women, and children participated.

In a classic work of the unspeakable, Ximen Daguan was full of wine and food, so he prepared to play Cuju, and the brothel girl Li Guijie also wanted to play Cuju. The players of Yuanshe (football club) flattered her and said: "Guijie's outfit (football equipment) is one of the best, dozens of times better than the daughter of Dongguan in Ertiao Lane."

Ming Dynasty scholar Zhang Dai's "Dreams of Taoan" records: "When playing Cuju in the temple, Zhang Dalai became famous for his 'one ding mud' and 'one string of beads'. When the ball hits his foot, it spins all over, as if it is made of glue, held up with strings, and pierced with holes. Everyone is amazed."

Qian Fu, the top scholar in the third year of the Hongzhi reign, wrote a poem specifically to describe women playing football: "Playing football on the field in February, the fairy wind blows down two beautiful women. Sweat stains their powdered faces, which are covered with dew, and dust flutters their eyebrows, which are covered with smoke. Their green sleeves hang low, enveloping their jade bamboo shoots, and their red skirts drag their golden lotus feet diagonally. After a few rounds of kicking, they feel so weak that they hate to kill the beautiful young man in Chang'an."

According to the Ming Dynasty scholar Chen Jiru's "Taiping Qinghua", there was a female soccer player named Peng Yunxiu at that time. She was invincible and the male soccer players were proud to play with her. She "traveled the rivers and seas with her elegant female skills", that is, she traveled to various provinces across the country to play in competitions with her superb soccer skills.

Moreover, there were various types of football in the Ming Dynasty, and there were also many rules. The "Cuju Illustrated Book" recorded 24 types of football, and the "Cuju Book" recorded 40 types of football.

There are workshops that specialize in making footballs, and the size, weight, material and color can all be customized.

The sport of football began to decline during the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Shunzhi feared that the Han people would collude to rebel by playing Cuju, so he issued an oral order to "immediately prohibit" it. Emperor Qianlong also stipulated that the number of Han people in private gatherings should not exceed 30. These two emperors directly destroyed football, which had been popular in China for hundreds of years.

Therefore, the root cause of the modern Chinese national football team’s failure has been found: these two emperors destroyed the football tradition that had been popular in China for hundreds of years.

Zhu Houxun has been visiting the capital these days and has discovered that people's love for Cuju can be seen everywhere, from peddlers to high-ranking officials. There are various Cuju clubs and many folk competitions, but there is no unified event organization. Zhu Houxun believes that there is great commercial potential here.

So he planned to organize a Cuju league. Since he was going to organize a league, he needed a team, and then Zhu Houxuan thought of the Jingying.

The Beijing Camp has twelve regiments with a total of 14 people. Each regiment has a team. Together with the Shenji Camp, Jinyiwei, Dongchang and Xichang, it can just make up the sixteen teams required for a league.

Zhu Houxuan described his plan to Zhang Yong in detail, but Zhang Yong was scratching his head, "Can such a competition really make money?"

"It's definitely profitable. I can cheat anyone but Eunuch Zhang!" Zhu Houxuan looked at Zhang Yong sincerely. "Besides, if the soldiers are idle for too long, all kinds of troubles will inevitably arise. Fights, brawls, and gambling will definitely happen frequently. It's better to let them play football to vent their energy. Moreover, the new Cuju rules I set are more competitive than the previous Cuju games, more exciting and exciting, and can also help train the soldiers' ability to cooperate. This is killing two birds with one stone!"

Zhang Yong looked at the excited Zhu Houxun and smiled bitterly in his heart: You really don't know what the Beijing Camp is like now. Are the soldiers in the Beijing Camp still idle? The idle soldiers are starving to death!
However, it would be difficult for him to offend Zhu Houxun. After all, Zhu Houxun was a favorite of the emperor, so he couldn't refuse so directly.

So he said, "Why don't I take you to the Beijing camp to try out the new Cuju rules that you mentioned, see how they work, see if the soldiers like them, and then make a decision."

I will post one chapter first. I didn’t write it last night. In order to finish this week’s work, I worked overtime until very late last night so that I could take a day off today. Now there is only one chapter left. I am still writing the others. I will post as much as I write today.

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(End of this chapter)