Chapter 393 Great Master (5k)
A good match!
In the gray-black courtyard of the charity hall, Zhao Duan's heart skipped a beat. At this moment, the muscles under his cotton coat tensed up and he felt instinctively alert.
I suspect I've been exposed!
The princess suddenly mentioned herself, with naked praise and criticism, and mentioned that Zhenbao was a good match, which really seemed to mean to "point out" him.
This made Zhao Duan suspect that the other party had seen through his disguise.
But when he caught a glimpse of Princess Wenzhu's natural expression and her sincere eyes without any mockery, he immediately realized that he was overthinking.
Then, an indescribable sense of strangeness came over him. He curled his lips and said, "Your Highness, you must be joking..."
A smile rose on the slightly rough yet charming face of the noble lady who held a high position in the Western Regions.
"Mr. Lin, are you frightened? If you really want to do this, I, your aunt, can introduce you."
This idea came to her on the spur of the moment.
If a new and decent lover could be promoted and supported to replace Zhao Duan, it would be a clever way to eliminate the treacherous minister without damaging the relationship between aunt and niece.
Even from the perspective of interests, if this Link can really get to the top, she can also earn a share of the favor.
It is conducive to the further consolidation of the Western Regions and the empress's regime.
There are many similar operations in the history that Zhao Duan is familiar with. For example, when Wu Zetian was lonely in her later years, her daughters often sent their lovers to their mother to please her.
Wu Zetian's daughter Princess Taiping was particularly attentive. It is said that many of the handsome men presented to Wu Zetian were first "personally tested" by her daughter Princess Taiping.
A daughter will only share her experience with her mother if she feels it is a good one.
It's really eye-catching...
But it is indeed a powerful means to strengthen the mother-daughter relationship.
Zhao Duan was very smart and understood everything immediately. He grinned secretly, feeling a sense of darkness before his eyes. He couldn't help but look forward to the other party's reaction after learning his true identity...
Well... the premise is that this aunt wouldn't also think about "trying it out" for her niece first...hiss...
Shaking his head, Zhao Duan dismissed all the messy thoughts and said with a stern and righteous look:
"Your Highness, please do not mention it again. Your Majesty is so noble, and Envoy Zhao is a rare talent. The two are a perfect match. I don't know where Your Highness has heard all these slanders against Envoy Zhao."
Princess Wenzhu's eyes showed a hint of disappointment, and she asked curiously:
"Oh? Really? But I've heard a lot of criticism, especially from many Buddhists in the city, who particularly dislike this person."
This was a test made with pretentious innocence.
Zhao Duan said seriously:
“Although I am of humble status, I know what is great kindness and what is small kindness.
The envoy Zhao has been planning new policies, and recently he personally traveled to the south to preside over the opening of the market... This will benefit both the country and the people, and is a great virtue;
"What does it matter if I help a few orphans? As for those believers who are angry about the 'ban on Buddhism' and slandering Zhao Shijun, they are just temporarily deceived."
Princess Wenzhu smiled and said nothing.
I wasn't surprised by Link's reaction.
After all, with the reputation of "Zhao Yanwang", who would dare to slander him openly?
This Link claimed that he was from a small family, and even if he had some background, he would not dare to provoke or offend Zhao Duan.
Therefore, it is human nature to express such an attitude.
However, even a hero like the young man in front of him was so afraid of "King Zhao", which shows how powerful the treacherous minister was and how deeply his cruelty was rooted in people's hearts.
As for her sudden comparison of the two and her disparagement of Zhao Duan, she also had other motives:
As long as Link doesn't react in time and shows a tendency to accept her statement, it means "giving people a chance to criticize him."
It was equivalent to giving her a handle on him.
There is no bad intention in setting a trap with such words. Instead, it is because he admires the hero in front of him and wants to recruit him, so he tries to further bind him.
Unfortunately, Link's answer was flawless.
Phew... I finally fooled her. I was almost deceived by her previous "saintly" appearance and lowered my vigilance... Zhao Duan sighed when he saw the slightly disappointed look on the lady's face.
Finally, I had a preliminary impression of this eldest princess who had returned from marrying far away.
When Zhao Duan first read the information, he imagined a woman who married far away alone and was able to help her husband stabilize the situation. She was a powerful female monarch.
When we came into contact with each other, I felt that it looked more like a "Virgin Mary" sign.
Now, with the unintentional sneak attack from her words, Zhao Duan also began to outline the image of this Western Region Holy Mother in his mind:
He has certain scheming and skills, but he is not a strong man. Instead, he is good at forming alliances and building up personal connections. He is a soul figure jointly promoted by the Buddhist ancestral temple and the Dayu Dynasty to consolidate the "Western Yu friendship".
The "people-friendly" and "madonna" image she presents to the outside world is not a disguise, but it does have a utilitarian element.
In the brief conversation, she tried to recommend him as her lover, so as to improve the relationship between the Western Regions and the empress, and at the same time achieve the goal of attacking Zhao Duan... It can be said that she killed two birds with one stone and was quick-thinking.
Not surprising.
After all, the Western Regions is different from the Dayu Dynasty. If we say that Princess Wenzhu in front of us is the "Regent" in name only.
The Buddhist "Dharma King" and the five monastic sects are the "Emperor" of the Western Regions.
As long as the Dharma King is in power, Princess Wenzhu can only be a "holy lady" affiliated with the Buddhist sect and cannot control the real power.
In the small courtyard.
The two fell into a brief silence.
But they all have their own thoughts.
One wants to recruit and win over.
One tries to find out and make friends.
The Western Region warriors surrounding the stone table, and the three men Chen Juan who had returned from their work and were reuniting with their colleagues, all waited in silence.
At this time, the old dean with a broken leg came over with a teapot in his hand and shouted loudly:
"Look at my memory. Two kind people came, but I didn't even get a sip of hot water..."
Zhao Duan took advantage of the situation and stood up, saying goodbye with a smile: "No need to entertain us, we will leave now."
The dean also knew that the charity was poor and it was difficult to entertain them, so he politely sent the group of people away.
Zhao Duan glanced at the sky and saw that it was still some time before noon, so he invited:
"Your Highness has not been back to the capital for a long time. If you have some free time, how about I treat you at noon?"
Princess Wenzhu glanced at him, smiled and shook her head.
Zhao Duan was stunned.
The gentle lips of this noble lady from the Western Regions spit out a string of white mist under the bright winter sun. She rubbed her hands and whispered:
"Mr. Lin taught me a lot today, so I should be the one to treat you. But before that, I was planning to go to Huangting Alley. If Mr. Lin is interested, we can go and join in the fun."
Huangting Lane?
Which alley in the capital is famous for being a gathering place for chess players?
"Is there anything lively there?" Zhao Duan asked curiously.
Princess Wenzhu's face was dazzlingly white in the sunlight reflected off the white snow, and her red lips curled up slightly:
"Yes, I have."
…
…
Huangting Lane.
It is a few streets away from the charity hall, on the edge of Dongcheng and the main city center of Beijing.
It is a place where Go enthusiasts gather all year round in the capital. Several well-known Go clubs in the capital are located on the street where Huangting Lane is located.
Among the Go masters of all generations, 70% came from here. It is a holy place for Go players well-known throughout the Dayu Dynasty.
The alley is long and ancient. There is a plum tree at the entrance that is said to be a hundred years old. Because it is adjacent to many chess clubs, it is the place with the highest concentration of chess stalls in Beijing.
No matter it is cold winter or hot summer, it is always bustling.
There are people setting up stalls, playing chess, and other people coming and going here. There are not only masters from the market, but also disciples from several large chess clubs. Even the national chess players who are respected as "chess attendants" in the palace will occasionally show up here.
When Zhao Duan and Wenzhu arrived at the alley by car, they saw that the snow at the entrance had been cleared away and they could hear noises from far away.
"It is said that the reason this alley is named 'Huangting' is because there is a house deep in the alley, which is the former residence of a chess master of the previous dynasty, so it is named after him."
Princess Wenzhu dismounted and walked to his side, her eyes full of nostalgia:
"When I was in the palace, I once studied under the chess attendant Wang Jixin. The first chess game I learned was the Huang Ting chess manual."
Zhao Duan couldn't hide his surprise: "Princess, do you like playing chess?"
The one who answered him was the tall female warrior with loose braids.
The only difference from what happened in the charity hall before was that the Western guards, led by the female warrior, took out winter cotton cloaks from the car, put on hoods, and wrapped themselves up completely.
Especially the face, wrap it with a scarf.
Dressed like this, they cannot be identified as people from the Western Regions. As long as they don't speak, outsiders will just think they are people from the Yu State who are wearing thicker clothes.
It seems that he wanted to keep a low profile and avoid being watched.
"Go is very popular in the Western Regions. Hundreds of years ago, General Zhang of the Yu State's border army introduced Go to the Western Regions, where it became popular. There are now as many Go players as in your Yu State."
The female warrior spoke in somewhat unstandard Mandarin.
Yes... There are few entertainment options in the Western Regions, and playing chess is indeed a low-cost game to relieve boredom... Zhao Duan nodded.
Princess Wenzhu asked in return, "Master Lin, are you not familiar with this place?"
Zhao Duan nodded honestly: "I play chess normally, but this is my first time here."
He had indeed never been here. The previous owner was a soldier who didn't like Go at all and only had a rough understanding of the rules.
Later he became a playboy and had no interest in coming to such a boring place.
After Zhao Duan came here through time and space, he played quite a few games, but most of them were just to kill time or to make moves casually in social situations.
For example, back then, he went to the Imperial Palace Garden and saw Yuan Li playing chess with the Empress...
At that time, I witnessed the level of Go in this world.
How should I put it... His chess skills are pretty good, but many of his playing styles and ideas are very "backward".
In his previous life, Zhao Duan learned Go for a while in order to please his boss, but his level was quite average. However, while learning, he was attracted by some stories in the Go world and abstract anchors... and read a lot of information.
Among them, one can't help but watch people explain the famous games of many Go masters in history just for fun.
Therefore, although his chess skills are not good, his vision is good.
After traveling through time, with his vision influenced by the chess records and famous games of masters of all generations, he naturally felt that the Go of the Dayu Dynasty was boring and backward.
Many fighting styles that are familiar to later generations did not appear at all.
Naturally, he didn't have much interest in it, especially after he advanced to the "God Chapter" realm, his five senses were greatly enhanced.
His memory, agility and calculation ability have long surpassed those of ordinary people, and his chess skills have skyrocketed. Coupled with his vision, he has become less and less interested in this thing.
How could he be so bored that he would come to Huangting Lane and play chess with a bunch of noobs?
Listening to music in a brothel... Bah, isn't it nice to work hard for the country?
But when Wenzhu heard this, she just thought that Mr. Lin was not good at Go.
"Let's go in and take a look."
Princess Wenzhu pursed her red lips and invited.
Zhao Duan stroked his chin after the disguise, showing an interested look.
…
…
The arrival of the noble lady and the young man did not attract much attention.
Because today, all the chess players in Huangting Lane were attracted by a foreigner who was also visiting for the first time.
When Zhao Duan stepped into the alley, he found that the stone floor, which had been cleared of snow, was empty.
The chess stalls that used to stretch from one end of the alley to the other are now empty.
A small paper stool, the vertical and horizontal lines on the wooden chessboard, and the black and white chess pieces were all hastily thrown into the winter air.
Almost everyone gathered at a chess stall deep in the alley.
Zhao Duan and his group walked past the century-old plum tree and came to the outside of the crowd that was surrounded by three layers of people.
No need for his orders.
Hou Renmeng and Chen Juan, as well as female warriors and other people from the Western Regions, used brute force to forcibly open up a passage.
“Who is it?”
“Don’t push!”
This inevitably led to waves of scolding.
But those chess players who were wearing thick cotton robes and watching from the neck immediately fell silent and swallowed their curses as soon as they saw Zhao Duan and Wenzhu coming hand in hand.
Although I don't know them, I can tell from their demeanor that they must be a lady and a gentleman of status.
How dare you offend me?
The closer Zhao Duan got, the clearer the subtle sounds of chess pieces falling and hitting the chessboard came from the gaps between the crowd.
When he parted the front of the crowd, he finally saw the scene clearly in the crowd.
There were two chess players playing against each other. The black and white pieces were densely packed on the board, and half of them had already been played.
One of the parties was a skinny middle-aged man.
The other one was actually a young novice monk!
He was about a teenager, still childish, wearing a red monk's robe. He had the typical three-dimensional facial features of a person from the Western Regions, but his manners and behavior were similar to those of a person from the Yu State.
There was a large bamboo box next to the young monk. He sat on a small stool with his legs together and his back straight.
Look focused.
“Pah.”
Dan Che picked up a black piece, placed it somewhere on the chessboard, and said calmly:
"You lose."
The skinny middle-aged chess player had a pale face and beads of sweat on his forehead.
Wow——
The crowd erupted in another round of noise, and someone shouted:
"The dragon has been slain! The great dragon has been slain!"
A look of shock appeared on everyone's face.
Danche?
Zhao Duan's pupils suddenly narrowed, and the information and portraits of the members of the Western Regions delegation emerged in his mind.
He recognized this young monk whom he had never met before as the disciple of the "Holy Monk", the leader of the Western Regions delegation.
Why would this monk from the Western Regions, whose identity is sensitive, appear here?
Is this the fun you brought me to see?
Zhao Duan turned his head and looked at Princess Wenzhu's profile.
Princess Wenzhu had already started asking a chess player nearby about what had happened. The latter, upon seeing that it was a beautiful woman with an extraordinary temperament, blushed and hurriedly explained what had happened.
It turned out that at dawn today, the little monk came to Huangting Lane alone, carrying a bamboo box.
He occupied a small stall, set up a chessboard, and carefully erected a wooden sign with the word "Challenge" on the ground. If you defeat him, you can get ten taels of silver.
Soon, this little monk, who looked obviously not from the Yu State, attracted attention, and some chess players came over out of curiosity to play chess with him.
As a result, everyone who came suffered a crushing defeat. In the fifth game, the young monk Danche defeated a famous chess player from the Kyoto Chess Hall in the middle game, and finally caused a sensation in Huangting Lane.
Some people began to invite masters from the chess hall to come out and play against him, vowing to "kill this monk's temper!" and "teach him how high the heavens are and how deep the earth is!"
However, the status of the chess players who came here to participate in the competition was getting higher and higher, but their results were getting worse and worse.
defeat!
A crushing defeat!
Another crushing defeat!
The young monk seemed to never feel any difficulty. No matter what kind of opponent he faced, he would always defeat the opponent in the middle game.
He did not make any bold promises, but for a young man from a foreign land to lose consecutively to chess players from Beijing was a great humiliation.
So, not long ago, the dean of the Kyoto Chess Institute finally took action personally. He was the middle-aged man in front of him.
However, the latter, who was highly expected, was about to collapse in the middle game.
"Madam... what is this?" Zhao Duan moved closer and asked in a low voice.
Princess Wenzhu said calmly:
“I only found out about Dan Che’s visit on my way back to the capital. He had studied chess for many years at the Red-roofed Temple in the Western Regions. He once said that he wanted to come to the capital of Yu State one day to learn from chess masters.
But I heard from the Buddhist ancestral temple that they believe this young man’s chess skills are enough to sweep the capital.”
Sweeping across the capital?
Zhao Duan quickly understood the hidden meaning of these words.
The Western Regions delegation came into the city and challenged the Shenlong Temple to a debate in order to spread the reputation of the ancestral temple. This seemingly inconspicuous little monk wanted to make a name for the Western Regions Buddhism through the art of chess.
The purpose of all this is to highlight the presence and to use the Shenlong Temple as a springboard to infiltrate the influence of Western Buddhism into the territory of the Dayu Dynasty.
And if this young man really swept all the chess players in the Yu State, there would be no doubt that this would be the best cheer before the "Buddhist Debate".
"Dean..."
At this moment, the expressions of several chess players from the nearby chess academy changed drastically. One of them looked up at the sky and suddenly shouted:
"It's almost noon, seal the chess game!"
The others gradually came to their senses and echoed: "Seal the chess game!"
Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows, knowing that this group of people wanted to use the lunch break as an excuse to buy time for the director of the chess academy.
The longest game of chess in the Dayu Dynasty lasted for three and a half months, and the game was repeatedly "sealed" in the middle. When the weaker party saw that the situation was not good, they would pause and go home to gather people together to brainstorm and think of a way to break the deadlock.
The young monk Danche blinked, opened the bamboo box beside him, took out a lunch box, handed it over, and said:
"The food is here."
The shouting stopped.
Dan Che took his time and took out lunch boxes, water bags, urinals, bedding, candles, writing materials, and writing brushes from the box. He smiled and said:
"I know you guys still have the habit of using long thinking to stall for time and fight your opponents, so I brought enough preparations to stay here overnight."
Everyone was quiet again.
Dan Che calmly took out the brush, wet it with his tongue, handed it over, and said:
"If you still want to seal the game, you should follow the rules and 'close the hand'. Here is the paper and pen."
The so-called "sealing hand" means that whoever wants to leave and rest in the middle of the game must record the next move on paper.
He was really well prepared for all-round blocking.
Everyone fell silent.
The skinny middle-aged man seemed to be slapped in the face by these words. He gave up dejectedly, stood up, shook his head and said bitterly:
"I lost."
Huangting Lane was completely silent.
Dan Che clasped his hands together, stood up, nodded slightly, and said seriously:
"You're not bad, but not as good as me."
The skinny middle-aged man was speechless for a moment, not knowing whether this was a compliment or sarcasm. He could only turn around silently and walk out of the crowd.
Dan Che looked around at everyone with a smile: "Is there anyone else who dares to challenge me?"
Suddenly, his gaze paused and stopped at the face of Princess Wenzhu, who had appeared at some point. The latter shook her head slightly. Dan Che understood what he meant but did not call out the princess's name.
Then, he looked at Zhao Duan with a little curiosity, wondering who this person was.
There was a moment of silence in the crowd, and the chess players were slightly distracted. Who else could play?
Suddenly, a calm and confident voice came from the back of the crowd:
"I've come to experience the methods of the Western Regions monks."
brush--
Everyone turned their heads to look back.
Zhao Duan also looked over and saw a young man wearing a robe similar to Hanlin's walking calmly at the end of a narrow passage that was cleared on both sides.
"Chess attendant! Chen Jiuyan!"
"Chen Guoshou is here!"
——
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(End of this chapter)
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