Genius remembers in a second [Aishang Novel Network biquge.info] to provide you with wonderful novels to read.

Monday, July 1, 1634.

The Long Island Stadium in Manchester, which began to be built intermittently in 1627 with a total investment of more than $700,000 and completed at the end of 1631, finally opened the prelude to the implementation of national sports in China and the United States. In addition to various sporting events, many large national public celebrations have been held here over the past few years, such as the "Opening Ceremony of the First North American Champions League" today.

The city of Manchester currently has a population of more than 67,000 people, and nearly a quarter of the capital's citizens attended today's opening ceremony. The stadium, which can accommodate more than 15,000 spectators, is packed. After resigning from the House of Representatives last year, Li Ping, who succeeded Chen Yuanyuan, who had retired with honor, as the second president of the American Republic of China and the first female president, personally attended the opening ceremony.

On the turquoise stadium, a large phalanx of more than 1,200 members of the National Defense Army, Navy, National Guard, Foreign Legion and a military band of 300 people formed a huge phalanx, playing a military music that had already become popular in the country in the form of a parade performance.

The "March of the Soldiers" (Ode to the Emperor Friedrich) had just been played, followed by the prelude to the "March of Honor" (Elizabeth March), and the audience clapped their hands excitedly to the rhythm.

Then the "March of the Foreign Legion" (March of the British Grenadiers) sounded, the Foreign Legion military band entered, the familiar piccolo and strong drum beat made many veterans who retired from the Foreign Legion and naturalized to stand and salute collectively, and the tofu block-like marching army just completed a gun and shoulder change action at this time, so that the atmosphere of the scene instantly rose, and more than 15,000 spectators burst into warm applause.

In the VIP seat, seeing that at least 70 percent of the officers and soldiers below belonged to the army, Lieutenant General Chen Liwen, the commander of the army, who was invited to watch the ceremony, was full of pride. After so many years of painstaking army building. Today, the total strength of the Wehrmacht Army has reached 3,500 men in nine battalions, plus 1,500 men in the "Bison Brigade", a foreign legion.

The Army's expansion plan, which had been dormant for many years, was finally approved by Congress at the beginning of this year, and the second "Bruin Brigade" of the Foreign Legion was about to be formed. In addition, there are still a number of national reserve soldiers in the country who are constantly accumulating, and as long as the country has ideas, Chen Liwen can completely organize a reorganization division of tens of thousands of people within two months.

Admiral Wang Tiehammer, the commander of the navy on one side, was calm, as if he didn't look at the army commander next to him at all. When it comes to the country's overall military development strategy, the navy is still in the first place. With the entry into service of 3 large light cruisers of the Princess class, the Navy now has a main fleet consisting of 18 light cruisers, 8 frigates, 6 transport ships, and 3 working ships, and other offshore ships or auxiliary ships are too lazy to count. The total strength of the navy is more than 4,500 people.

This large-scale parade military music performance at the opening ceremony of the football league can be regarded as another grand event in which the country has continuously strengthened its national defense awareness and enhanced military-civilian relations over the years, and it seems that the effect is very good.

Just when the two military commanders were secretly competing with each other, the most important row of chief seats on the viewing platform. Several government officials are also whispering.

“…… The French government has sent diplomats to negotiate in the American concession in the Azores, hoping to come directly to our country for negotiations. Staring at the military music performance phalanx below, Yan Xiaosong also turned his head and muttered to Qi Jianguo, who remained prime minister for the fourth time, "Obviously, once the Swedish army is defeated, it will retreat." The third phase of the Thirty Years' War will end. There was no power in all of Europe, except for the Bourbon royal family in France, that could prevent the Habsburgs from winning the final victory, and Richelieu planned to take matters into his own hands. ”

"Richelieu will never go it alone, nothing more than hope for military spending and arms aid. Your Ministry of Foreign Affairs will follow the established plan, and you can allow them to come and talk. The time is set for the National Day, and the venue of the meeting will be arranged in Xianglin Town, Haizhou. Qi Jianjun's hair has turned a lot gray, which is a bit inconsistent with his age of 54.

"The medical team sent to Emden last year has also returned to the Azores. Frederick V had survived the plague there, and he wanted us to come to our aid. to facilitate his negotiations with Oldenburg. Su Zining also interjected at this time, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, "I have already made a reply, and we don't want him to be too prominent at the moment." Now the Earl of Oldenburg has a territorial succession relationship with the Kingdom of Denmark, and it will take a few more years for the conflict between Sweden and Denmark and the all-out war in Europe to allow him to expand his territory......"

"Well, it's best if he's honest and obedient, otherwise we won't have the energy to wipe his ass. Starting next year, we can increase our food aid to Emden and transport all our old grain at half price. Qi Jianjun has become more and more reassured by the two "young men" who are in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "How is it on the Irish side?" I heard that Dai Botong personally went over to persuade Dai Qingqing again. ”

"This kind of thing usually needs an opportunity to match, or break." Su Zining spread her hands and said that she couldn't change the choice of the director of the Military Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of Defense, who was already on the verge of dismissal, "Her current attitude has a bit of co-existence with Ireland, maybe she has been too close to the Irish radical independence aristocracy over the years." ”

"Although England is now mired in the quagmire of Scotland and Ireland, I don't think England will be dragged down, and with our east wind in the last few years, they have migrated to Virginia much faster than we thought, as evidenced by the occupation of New Providence (Nassau) last year. The Irish had not told us beforehand about their action, and the Irish had launched it a little earlier. It is dangerous for Dai Qingqing to continue to stay in Killarney, and if necessary, she can be brought back by any means. This kid has been away from home for too long......" Qi Jianjun sighed, and the girl who had chosen to stay alone in Ireland because of Zhou Kemin's sacrifice appeared in his mind again.

"Okay, the contingency plan, I'm ready to start it in advance. Spain, too, began to pay attention to the Irish question, and if necessary, Spain could be involved. ”

Su Zining said, turning his head to Yan Xiaosong, the two looked at each other, and both nodded slowly.

The cheers of the audience reached a new ** at this time, and the military music performance queue in the stadium had stopped in the center of the stadium, and the radio began to play the most exciting song "War Song of the Republic" that officially debuted on last year's National Day and quickly spread throughout the country. Music plays. The sound of drums grew from small to large, and the voices on the scene were quiet, and in the huge stadium, there was only a solemn women's chorus. The women's singing troupe, led by Jenny herself, performed such a song full of bloody patriotic enthusiasm very sacred.

"We live in this land, fighting in the glorious grace of God."

"We live in this land, fighting under God's justice and justice."

After the murmuring chorus of drum accompaniment, many orchestral accompaniments are heard, and the male chorus joins in. The songs are getting more and more high-pitched. After a few beats, the audience sang along.

"Oh come, oh come~ my motherland! Oh come oh come ~ my motherland! Oh come oh come ~ my motherland! It's my warmest home! ”

"Oh come, oh come~ my motherland! Oh come oh come ~ my motherland! Oh come oh come ~ my motherland! I protect her with my life! ”

Su Zining silently looked at the stadium that had been ignited by the excitement of the people, and his thoughts gradually flew to the distant European continent.

……

After the celebration, the first match of the "1634 North American Champions League" began, with the "Manchester City United" playing against the "Blue City Whalers". About 300 fans from all over Haizhou cheered for the Qingcheng team.

The new parliament and government came to power last autumn, and the Ministry of Culture and Education, which is in charge of national sports, officially established the football league, the first large-scale sport in China, after the billiards league and the playing card league in the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China. With the basic conditions of Manchester City's Long Island Stadium, compared to the amateur leisure mode of the previous two leagues, the Champions League Football League has always been of a high standard.

As early as 1625, football matches were held between the army and navy from time to time, but only on the sports field. The competition was extremely rough and barbaric, and was once regarded as a kind of competition for the military. Over the past few years, this kind of movement with strong tension has been carried to various towns by retired officers and soldiers.

The establishment of the North American Champions League has led cities and towns that are interested in showing their sense of zài on the domestic stage to form city-level football teams. Even with the backing of the traversers, these city football teams have found corporate sponsorship, thus giving them the flavor of semi-professional football clubs right away.

Manchester City United, the club sponsors are the deep-pocketed North Industries Corporation and General Industries. Even many of the team members are employees of these two companies. It is precisely because of the prominent status of the two companies that they can only take the name of a joint team. Thus abbreviating it as "Manchester United"......

The Qingcheng Whalers, as the name suggests, the club's biggest sponsor is naturally the ocean-going whaling company under the state-owned Agriculture, Forestry, Fishery and Animal Husbandry Group, and more than half of the players are members of the whaling fleet in various towns and cities in Haizhou.

The Porter Trail Blazers are proud of their name, because the citizens of Porter City have always regarded themselves as the country's northern pioneers, and the Porter Paper Company, a subsidiary of Huamei Wood, and an alpaca breeding company have become sponsors, but the player mix is very mixed.

The Caribbean Butterfly Team is naturally the coquettish son of Butterfly Island Twin Ports City, and the sponsors are Xinhua Chemical Company and COSCO International Trade Group. Mayor Zhang Mingcheng was an amateur football player before the crossing, and the football in Shuangzigang City was even promoted faster than most local towns in a sense, and several main players were personally selected and trained by Zhang Mingcheng, and were known as the strongest team in the current professional group.

The name of the Bermuda Wild Boar Team is a bit indecent, but it just symbolizes the most distinctive Bermuda spotted pork in the region...... The sponsors are a bunch of small trading companies led by the Bermuda Commercial Bank, and the players are mostly from dock workers.

In addition to the above five teams that are the most well prepared, Jersey Town, Yacheng City, and Elm Town have also followed suit to form their own urban teams, but both the scale and strength of the club and the financial resources of the sponsors are poor, and they basically belong to the teams with a small number.

Finally, there are the four military football teams: West Point Army Army, Long Island Sea Army, National Guard Unit, and Foreign Legion Bison, which can be regarded as the wildest and lowest class of football representatives.

Due to the transportation problems of the 17th century, it was impossible for the North American Champions League to play as many home and away games as it did in later generations, and there were no real venues for playing anywhere except in the capital city of Manchester. Therefore, the Champions Football League adopts a centralized competition system, and 12 domestic teams will gather in Manchester City's Long Island Stadium in July (first half) and August (second half) every year.

In the first two weeks of each stage, there will be two-by-two knockout rounds to determine the semi-finalists of the three stages. In the third week, the three teams will play two round-robin matches against each other, and the two finalists will be selected by the elimination method at the end of goal difference, and in the fourth week, the first place in the stage will be determined.

Finally, in the first week of September, the top winners of the upper and lower stages will face off to prove who is the true champion of the football league that year. If the first place finisher in the upper and lower stages is the same team, the title will be won directly, and the second and third places will be determined between the second place in the upper and lower stages.

The winning team will be eligible to keep the 18-karat gold trophy at the team club. As for the annual league player bonus, it is naturally a high sponsorship of up to 20,000 US dollars provided by the domestic capital giant UnionPay Fund.

With such a stimulus that is full of great temptation in both glory and money, it is no wonder that the opening game of the inaugural Champions League was full of gunpowder as soon as it came. In the eyes of later generations, Manchester United and Qingcheng Whalers were all two-shot level, and the players quickly forgot the rules of the game and tactical play ordered by the coaches, and the first and second halves were full of all kinds of spontaneous ideas that were out of tune, and the referee's whistle was about to blow, which seemed miserable in the eyes of the crossing public.

But both the spectators and the players themselves are resigned to this indulgent confrontational sport. Two minutes before the break, the score was still 5-5, and at the final crucial moment, Manchester United were awarded a penalty opportunity.

Just as the penalty team players walked to the penalty spot, almost all the Manchester City spectators stood up at the same time, poked down with their thumbs together, and shouted "Kill!" in unison. Kill! ”

Not only were the hundreds of guest fans of the Qingcheng team dumbfounded, but the European referees on duty were also frightened on the spot, what kind of football stadium is this, the whole thing is a gladiator battle in the Colosseum.

(To be continued)