Fang Yuan and his party traveled north in the sea less than ten miles offshore. Sergeant Xuanjia was on a large and medium-sized troop transport, while Fang Yuan was on a more magnificent ship.

This trip took 20 days to cross the waters of Zhejiang, and there were still several hundred nautical miles away from Jinshanwei, which was preparing to land.

This was the first time Fang Yuan had been on a boat in the sea for such a long time. A round of sunshine on the sea, flocks of seagulls, flying fish, and the occasional big whale were all scenery that Fang Yuan had never experienced.

In the first few days, Fang Yuan was still very fresh, often lying on the deck of the bow of the giant ship, looking out at these rare sea beauties.

But after a week, as soon as the initial novelty passed, Fang Yuan realized that life at sea was boring, and it was really like a year.

Fang Yuan dangled around on the bow deck, bored, watching the sailors on the deck below gather to play dice and gamble. They took out some broken silver in twos and threes, and shouted in a circle.

Gambling is strictly forbidden under the Ming Law, and violators are punished with 80 rods and imprisoned for one year. In the more disciplined military, gambling is strictly prohibited. In front of Fang Yuan, he didn't know how to restrain himself, so he was even more bold.

"Governor Fang, these people are simply bold and reckless!"

Hu Qi immediately found Admiral Shi Fu, pointed to the sailors who were gambling on the deck and asked, "Admiral Shi, these people are openly gambling in front of Governor Fang, and the military discipline has been corrupted to this point, how should they be dealt with?" ”

Shi Fu was slightly surprised, these sailors gambled like this on weekdays, because life on the sea was too boring, and he did not prohibit it. However, if you want to put the military regulations on the line, it must be a violation of military regulations and must be engaged in military law.

In front of Fang Yuan, Shi Fu still had to be restrained, and hurriedly said, "Yes, Governor Fang, I will immediately arrest these gambling sailors and punish them with thirty rods." ”

Shi Fu was about to send the sergeant of law enforcement to go down to the deck to arrest these sailors to beat the board, but was stopped by Fang Yuan, he smiled and said, "Admiral Shi, these sailors dare to gamble in front of me, it can be seen that there is such a military rule on weekdays, right!" Today, these people have been punished, and tomorrow they will not be wrong? Treat the symptoms but not the root cause! ”

Shi Fu said embarrassedly, "Governor Fang, the sea is not as good as marching on the road, the scenery is the same every day, one time to go to sea is a month, what can these sergeants do without gambling?" ”

What he said was also reasonable, Fang Yuan had a deep understanding of the boredom of life at sea these days, and Fang Yuan's living conditions were so boring, not to mention these sailors whose living conditions were even worse.

Soldiers on land, those who have families can still reunite with their families; If you don't have a family, you can go to the Qinglou and the kiln to find a woman. Where did the Qinglou and kiln women vent at sea, and the way some sailors vented their desires is probably to engage in homosexuality.

It is better to arrange some necessary entertainment for these sailors than to make them come all day.

However, the unskilled gambling of dice must not be promoted, and the prohibition of gambling in all dynasties is not groundless. The negative impact of gambling on these sergeants and their emotions must not be underestimated. Letting these sailors go like this will seriously affect the combat effectiveness of the Xuanjia Army's sailors.

After thinking about it carefully, Fang Yuan decided that it was better to block it, and instead of forcibly restricting these sailors from gambling, it was better to shift their hobbies to more meaningful things.

What Fang Yuan could think of was the sport that British sailors entertained on warships back then, which was football, which was actually the ancient Chinese Keju.

China's Keju is the predecessor of modern football, which originated in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties. But since Zhu Yuanzhang, it has been forbidden to play Keju in the army. However, folk playing Kemari is still a pleasure, and even a performance project was born in which women play Kemari. It can be seen that although the women of the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty also wrapped their feet, they could still play football, and they were by no means the perverted and deformed little feet in the later Manchu Dynasty. The truly perverted culture of self-mutilation and foot-binding is an original invention of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

But in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Emperor Shunzhi dictated that even the folk played Keju was banned, and Emperor Qianlong simply strictly banned Keju in the form of a holy decree. At this point, the Keju movement, which was all the rage in the Tang and Song dynasties, was strangled by the Manchu regime.

However, in Fang Yuan's view, the sports of juju and football can be implemented in the army. At least he can play Keju well, whether it is physique, physical strength, or endurance, he is stronger than ordinary sergeants. Promoting this sport in the army can be entertaining and educational, and it is better to enhance the physical fitness of non-commissioned officers than to play dice gambling all day long.

However, Fang Yuan couldn't see the negative impact of promoting the sport of Keju in the army for a while, so he could only promote it in the sailor camp for the time being and observe the effect.

Fang Yuan said to Shi Fu, "Admiral Shi, have you ever played Keju?!" ”

Shi Fu said truthfully, "I have played, but I don't play well, I like to watch others play, and then gamble a little money." ”

Fang Yuan nodded and said, "Then in the sailor camp, lift the ban on the sport of juju!" ”

Shi Fu didn't know why he suddenly lifted the ban on Keju, and asked in amazement, "Governor Fang, military law stipulates that you can't play Keju in the army, do you really want to lift the ban?" ”

Fang Yuan nodded again and said, "Yes, playing Keju can exercise your body and kill the time of boredom, which is better for training in the army than playing dice, right?" From today onwards, it is forbidden to gamble on dice, and the ban on Keju will be lifted! ”

"Every time we go to sea, a Keju tournament is held, and each thousand battalions send a team of five people to participate in the competition, and the top three are rewarded with silver. 100 taels for the first place, 50 taels for the 2nd place, and 20 taels for the third place. What do you think? ”

Shi Fu agreed with his statement, but just playing Keju was only beneficial to the sailors who participated in the game, and the rest of those who failed to participate in the game still did not get any benefits, so he said tentatively, "Governor Fang, in fact, everyone gambles just to win some silver." If the dice are banned, I am afraid that there will still be some difficulties. ”

He was hinting to Fang Yuan that if he wanted to hold a Keju competition, it would be best to even open the gambling game of Keju to order the rest

Fang Yuan had already understood it, and said with a smile, "Admiral Shi, you don't have to bet on dice if you want to bet, right?" You can also bet on the wins and losses of Kemari! So be it! Let's start by issuing a kind of Keju lottery ticket in the sailor. Each ticket sells for one tael of silver, and each person goes to sea once to compete, and the limit is one ticket. After going ashore, according to the results of the game, the winner will return 1.9 taels of silver by virtue of the previous lottery ticket. In each game, the sailor will take a penny of water money for the organization and reward of the competition. ”

Shi Fu asked again, "Governor Fang, is this Keju lottery ticket you are talking about a paper ticket like treasure money?" ”

He guessed it, Fang Yuan nodded and said, "You can understand it like this." ”

Shi Fu is an old fritter, and he is clear about the doorways in these gamblings, and said embarrassedly, "Governor Fang, your idea is good." However, most of these sailors only know a few words, what lottery tickets are played, and it is too laborious to issue tens of thousands of tickets at one time. Daming treasure banknotes can be forged, if you encounter a counterfeit lottery ticket, the loss of the army can be great. ”

Anti-counterfeiting,It is the top priority of issuing lottery tickets,Fang Yuan has long been aware of it. Before the anti-counterfeiting method of the lottery ticket, he had bought banknotes for practicing counting money on Taobao. Although these banknotes were much inferior to the pre-Chinese printing of the renminbi, they were worlds apart from the printing technology of the Ming Dynasty. With the printing technology of the Ming Dynasty, and even the most advanced technology in the world, it is impossible to imitate that kind of banknote under any circumstances.

Fang Yuan was in his chest, and bought a few banknotes for counting money from Taobao and handed them to Shi Fu, so that he could see if he could forge a few similar ones.

Shi Fu looked up and down for a long time, and the lottery ticket given by Fang Yuan was unprecedented in terms of the texture of the paper and the fineness of the portrait on it. The printing press he knew was impossible to forge, and even a fool could see it at a glance.

Shi Fu was dumbfounded and said, "Governor Fang, you are really a man of God, I am convinced!" ”

Fang Yuan smiled at him and said, "Since the lottery anti-counterfeiting technology has been solved, from the next time I go to sea, the first Keju competition of Daming will be held!" ”