Chapter 238

Li Xiang himself is a banana lover. He has no resistance to this kind of banana with excellent flavor.

He decided that from now on this banana would be called the Elephant Banana!
What Big Mike, it doesn't sound good at all!
After returning, he gave two bananas to each of his two concubines, and four bananas to his principal wife Pei Xueqing.

He is different from Li Shimin. No matter how much he dotes on his concubines, he will never let them take over the reins and let them have improper thoughts, which will lead to them taking action against Pei Xueqing.

"Xiang'er likes bananas so much, why did he give me four?" Pei Xueqing asked puzzledly.

"My sister is the principal wife, so naturally she will favor you." Li Xiang said with a smile.

Pei Xueqing smiled and asked, "Is it just because I'm the queen?"

"Of course I love my elder sister the most." Li Xiang replied with a smile.

"Well, close your eyes." Pei Xueqing said softly.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiang obediently closed his eyes.

Then he heard a rustling sound, and just when Li Xiang was curious, he suddenly felt a warm feeling on his mouth.

Then, I felt a piece of banana enter my mouth.

"Is it delicious?" Pei Xueqing whispered softly into his ear.

"It's delicious!" said the little elephant with certainty.

……

The next day, Li Xiang got up early as usual.

Today is March 1st, the day when the Second Tang Dynasty National Games begins.

Li Xiang made a lot of preparations for this sports meeting.

After breakfast, Li Xiang and his family went to the Tang Royal Stadium.

This name was applied for from Li Shimin before.

Originally, Old Li was a little reluctant, but when he saw the stadium for the first time, Li Shimin decided that the stadium must be named after the royal family.

Li Shimin's aesthetic taste is the same as that of the Rabbit Army in later generations: bigger is better, more is beautiful.

The royal family is naturally special. There are special boxes for the royal family in the Royal Stadium, and there is also an emergency evacuation tunnel leading to the outside in case of emergency.

The box is on the first floor, large enough to accommodate the entire Li family, and it also has the best view in the entire stadium.

In the center of the stadium, there is a special rostrum that contains the wisdom of the craftsmen. Just like the principle of the Temple of Heaven, the person on the rostrum can easily amplify his or her voice so that the entire stadium can hear it.

In the stadium, banners were hung with slogans that were easy to understand yet inspiring.

The Games had been promoted to all parts of the country as early as last year, and the people who came to the stadium to watch were not limited to Chang'an. Merchants and scholars from all over the country also came to watch the games.

Tickets for the opening ceremony cost ten cents, tickets for the morning session cost five cents, and tickets for the afternoon session cost six cents.

For people in Chang'an, this is not an unaffordable price at all.

At noon, the venue will be cleared uniformly, and the daily competition schedule will be posted at the entrances and exits of various markets in Chang'an three days in advance to facilitate everyone to buy tickets.

For example, during the afternoon competitions on the opening day, the entrances and exits of Chongrenfang and other market towns would be written with "Wei Shi, 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter, 3,000-meter preliminaries; Shen Shi, horse racing preliminaries; You Shi, shooting preliminaries".

One type of competition would last for a full hour, and it was not the final, but just an ordinary preliminaries.

After all, this competition brought together people from all over the country, including athletes from other ethnic groups. For the 100-meter race alone, there were more than a hundred people signed up to participate.

The track can only accommodate fifteen people running at the same time, which means that the winner can only be decided in waves.

The advantage of having a match preview is that everyone can buy tickets according to their favorite matches.

It is obvious that the popularity of running competitions is obviously not as high as the polo preliminaries on the third day.

The most popular sport in the Tang Dynasty was polo.

If football is the world's number one sport, then in this era, only polo can be the world's number one sport. Not only the Tang Dynasty, but also the grasslands, Tubo, Goguryeo, Silla and Japan are all very keen on this sport.

Of course, the same is true for Persia.

Starting from the morning hour, people gradually began to enter the Royal Stadium.

Standing outside this towering Tang Dynasty Royal Stadium, no one would not be shocked by its majestic momentum.

Even the legendary Weiyang Palace of the Han Dynasty may not be as majestic as the Imperial Stadium of the Tang Dynasty.

After being shocked for a long time outside, everyone came to their senses and went to the stadium.

There are a total of eighteen entrances and exits, all of which are classified according to the seating order. Li Xiang arranged people to check tickets at the door, and everyone entered with tickets.

Two of the entrances and exits are reserved for special personnel. For example, one entrance is reserved for court officials or people with luxury packages, and the other entrance is reserved for leaders of various tribes.

This advanced model once again impressed everyone.

"This stadium of the Tang Dynasty is truly magnificent." Tubo Prime Minister Lu Dongzan said to the people around him with emotion.

"Who says it isn't? Even the Potala Palace can't be compared with it..." The people next to him responded, shaking their heads.

"No wonder Qin Ling doesn't want to miss Tibet. It would be the same for anyone else." The person on the other side also sighed.

The leader of the Huihe tribe, Tumidu, also expressed his feelings to his son: "How on earth was such a tall building built?"

"Who knows? How can we imagine even one ten-thousandth of the power of the Tang Dynasty?" Li Pojun stared at the towering stadium in front of him with dazzled eyes, and he was eager to become a Tang person.

Since the Uighurs could not build such good buildings, then doesn't it mean that they also had some credit for becoming Tang people?
The leaders on the grassland also had a separate box, which was on the second floor. It was not too far from the royal area, but it was not close either.

Tumidu originally wanted to pay his respects to Li Shimin, but when he saw the distance that was so close yet insurmountable, he gave up the idea.

Forget it. There are plenty of opportunities to pay respects to the Khan. Anyway, I won’t leave Chang’an for a while.

Before long, the seats in the Royal Stadium were full.

Everyone sat in their seats and started communicating with the people around them.

They were either marveling at the magnificence of the stadium or discussing the upcoming events.

It must be said that an event like the Tang Dynasty, which brought together athletes from all over the world and allowed them to compete, was something that I had never seen or even heard of.

Some scholars have searched through history books but have not found a similar event.

Tens of thousands of people were whispering to each other, and the sound was extremely terrifying.

For a moment, the venue was extremely noisy.

At 4:45 pm, Li Xiang went out. He had planned to let Li Shimin go up to speak, but Li Shimin was unwilling to do so.

"Just go, Grandfather." Li Xiang scratched his head: "You are the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. If you don't go to speak, do you want me, Grandfather, to go?"

Hearing Li Xiang's words, Li Chengqian's face darkened, but he couldn't refute it.

This is indeed the truth, and we should not do anything that oversteps the boundaries of authority. However, why does this sound so uncomfortable?

"I won't go. From now on, the world belongs to you young people." Li Shimin said with a smile: "Or, you can go."

"How can a grandson overstep his authority? Let your father go." Li Xiang looked at Li Chengqian.

Big Li Zi would of course decline such a thing. Although he would feel uncomfortable if he was not called, he would not want to stand up if he was really called.

How can you say that? I can choose not to go, but you can't not call me.

"You should go. I am not good at dealing with this kind of situation." Li Chengqian said tactfully.

On the one hand, he didn't like this kind of excitement and could be considered half socially anxious; on the other hand, since Li Shimin was interested, he naturally would not steal the limelight from his son.

After all, he was not An Longji and Choros Qizhen, the bad guys who even snatched their son's things.

"In that case, then my grandson has overstepped his authority." Li Xiang spread his hands to express his helplessness.

"Go ahead." Li Shimin waved his hand, "I'll stay here and watch over you."

"Come on, Xiang'er!" Li Mingda waved his little fist to cheer Li Xiang on.

"Xiang'er, come on!" Li Shu imitated Li Mingda's tone in a sarcastic tone.

Li Xiang made a fist gesture to his aunt, and then made a strong gesture to his three wives.

"Let's go." He said, and walked out of the box.

Soldiers from the Jingzhao Prefecture Environmental Sanitation Center, who were responsible for maintaining order, had already stood in the stadium.

More than a thousand people stood neatly in the center, facing the rostrum.

Li Xiang walked up to the podium, looked around, and felt his heart surge.

Seeing Li Xiang standing on the podium, the people in the stadium shut their mouths and prepared to see what Li Xiang was going to say.

Li Xiang first said loudly: "Many of you should recognize me. I am the grandson of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty."

"The hosting of the Second Tang Dynasty National Games is inseparable from the dedication of the soldiers of the Jingzhao Prefecture Environmental Sanitation Institute."

"Thanks for your hard work!"

Hearing Li Xiang's words, the soldiers of the Sanitation Institute shouted in unison: "For the Tang Dynasty!"

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With nearly a thousand people shouting in unison, coupled with the special sound amplification effect around the rostrum, the sound could almost be described as shaking the sky.

The soldiers shouted again, and shouted three times.

The onlookers couldn't help but be infected by the shouts of the soldiers.

Who are the people? We are the people!
Besides, who doesn't know these people from the Datang Environmental Sanitation Institute? They have made great contributions to the appearance and sanitation of Chang'an City.
"Good!" I don't know who started it, but the audience cheered.

After shouting for a while, Li Xiang stretched out his hands, signaling everyone to stop cheering.

"On this day of the grand sports event, I would like to say three words to you on behalf of the court!"

"First sentence! To Chang'an, I wish you a successful hosting of this sports event."

"Second sentence! To the people of the entire Tang Dynasty, especially the people who built the stadium and contributed to holding this sports event."

"Third sentence! To all friends from all nations and races around the world, please support the Tang Dynasty in hosting the sports event."

"I hope that the people of the Tang Dynasty, as well as friends from all ethnic groups and countries, will work hard to bring this sports event to a successful conclusion!"

As soon as Li Xiang finished speaking, warm cheers broke out in the stadium.

The cheers continued until Li Xiang raised his hand to signal them to stop.

"I hereby announce that the Second Tang Dynasty National Games has officially begun! Play the music!" Li Xiang said loudly.

As soon as Li Xiang finished speaking, the military band that had been prepared around the rostrum began to play the "Athletes' March" that they had just rehearsed.

Hearing this familiar tune, Li Xiang suddenly felt that his shoelaces had untied.

When he looked down again, he found that he was wearing soap cloth boots.

Well, there are no shoelaces at all, what’s the point of opening?

Then the little elephant realized that it was not his boots that were untied, but his childhood that was gone forever.

The military band rehearsed three songs in total, namely "Athletes' March", "March of Unity and Friendship" and "Welcome March".

These songs are well-known to later generations and are played whenever there is a sports meeting in school.

Or it could be the music played when walking outside for morning exercises during break.

As the military music played, Xue Rengui also walked onto the podium.

Firstly, Lao Xue has a loud voice, and secondly, Lao Xue is tall and dignified, which makes him more suitable for the job of host.

After Lao Xue came on stage, he first introduced himself: "Dear friends, hello! Welcome to this exciting Tang Dynasty National Games! I am your entrance commentator Xue Rengui, and I will bring you a wonderful commentary of the game."

With a brief cheer, Xue Rengui quickly interrupted: "Now I announce that the entrance ceremony will begin now. All teams, please enter!"

Following Lao Xue's order, the athletes began to enter the venue in an orderly manner.

"The first team to appear is the Guannei Road team." Xue Rengui began to introduce the athletes who entered first: "Guannei Road is where the Tang Dynasty's capital Chang'an is located. It has been the ancient capital of the Han Dynasty since ancient times. The athletes from Guanzhong are full of vigor and high morale. They vow to win the most gold medals in this National Games!"

During the Zhenguan period, there was no such thing as Jingji Province, which was still within Guannei Province. In the 21st year of Kaiyuan, Li Longji separated the area near Chang'an from Guannei Province and established Jingji Province.

Following Lao Xue's introduction, the athletes from Guannei Road raised the willow branches they had prepared and waved them around.

When they heard that they were athletes from Guannei Dao, people from all over Guannei Dao and Chang'an City burst into warm cheers.

It’s simple, we’re all fellow Guannei Dao people, we must show our support!

Besides, the sports meeting was held in Chang'an City in Guannei Road.

If we don't cheer hard to show our support, people from other places will think that we, the people of Chang'an, don't even support our fellow countrymen!
Guanneidao is our hometown, we must show strong support! We must not lose face in front of outsiders! We must be more energetic!
With this thought in mind, the cheers grew louder and louder, as if they were competing with each other.

(End of this chapter)