Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 58 A Prodigy! Green Eyes in the River!
Inside the government-owned ship, its lights flickering, a few wisps of river breeze seep in through the curtains.

Gu Zhimian, a scholar from a humble background, was drinking tea next to Jiang Xingzhou when he saw Han Yugui's gaze sweep over him. He assumed Han Yugui was looking for him to play chess, so he immediately perked up, put his teacup down on the table with a "clink," and stood up. "Brother Han, are you looking for an opponent?"

"I didn't call you that, you lousy chess player!"

Han Yugui leaned against the chair with a faint smile, the silk ribbons hanging from his jade crown swaying gently with the movement of the ship.

He held the black jade chess piece between two fingers and tossed it into the sandalwood chess jar with a crisp sound.

"The story of how you lost twelve games to me last December, leaving me with no pieces, and how you cried and threatened to smash the chessboard and eat the pieces."

He leaned forward and flicked his sleeve, causing the agate chess pieces in the chess jar to clatter. He said disdainfully, "Have you forgotten so quickly? Or has your chess skill improved so much that you've gained confidence again?"

"It's not that bad!"

Gu Zhimian's ears suddenly turned red, and he almost knocked over the teacup in his hand.

Embarrassed, seeing that Han Yugui disdained to play against him, he sat back down sheepishly: "Compared to last year, my chess skills should have improved somewhat."

His voice was weak, and it was lost in the sound of oars outside the cabin.

A few muffled laughs suddenly rang out inside the cabin. It seemed they were mocking Gu Zhimian for his lack of self-awareness, daring to accept Han Yugui's move.

"Brother Jiang, would you dare to play a game?"

The chess pieces in Han Yugui's sleeve jingled.

I am completely outmatched in poetry and prose.

But I still have quite a bit of experience in slaying dragons on this three-foot-long chessboard!

The gilded lamplight swept across Han Yugui's proud brows, making him appear extremely confident.

Even Zhou Guangjin, the top student in the outer school's chess game, couldn't survive past him in the middle game.

"I'm not playing against you, not because I can't beat you. It's because I'm afraid you'll lose faith in the way of chess!"

Jiang Xingzhou leaned against the window, holding "A Study of Jiangzhou's Local Customs," and smiled faintly as he watched the fleeting shadows of birds flying past outside the window.

There are also some ancient chess manuals in the Langhuan Pavilion library.

He looked through it.

Taking the Tang Dynasty chess manuals "Wangyou Qingle Ji" and "Shangshan Yipu" as examples, Black goes first and White goes second.

Ancient chess used a set system, and because there was no komi rule, all players sought to fight with all their might.

In ancient chess, Black, with its advantage of moving first, would fight to the death, aiming for a decisive victory. White, being behind, was also forced to fight back desperately, resulting in mostly fierce battles.

Just now, Zhou Guangjin's large white dragon was severed at its vital point by Han Yugui's "Suppressing God Head" move, a decisive kill that is still vividly remembered on the unfinished chessboard.

Unlike later generations of Chinese chess, where the black and white forces were evenly matched after the komi, but instead became a group of cowardly players who were meticulous about every little detail, developing their strength in a sneaky way by occupying the edges and corners, and even going so far as to develop the "floor-laying" style.

Upon hearing this, the cabin fell silent.

"Hmph~!"

Han Yugui frowned, and a thin crack appeared on the chess piece he was holding.

Zhou Guangjin suddenly straightened up, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

"The ship will take another five hours to reach the prefectural city. With nothing else to do, why doesn't Young Master Jiang play a game of chess to pass the time?"

Qingfei then added a pot of freshly roasted Longtuan Shengxue tea, poured out the fine wine from a silver-plated teapot, and gently pushed the cup of tea to Jiang Xingzhou's table. Snowflakes floated and sank in the cup like the moon.

Amidst the rising steam of the tea, the patterns of the locust wood on her wrist were faintly visible.

Jiang Xingzhou took the teacup and looked up to see Han Yugui angrily flicking his sleeves to rearrange the chessboard, the black jade pieces swirling between his fingers like ink dragons spitting pearls.

"Fine!"
"We'll be heading to Jiangzhou Prefecture by water; it's still early."

Jiang Xingzhou stood up, put away "A Study of Jiangzhou's Local Customs," and, with a wisp of breeze rising from his flowing robes, went to the seat opposite Han Yugui.

He straightened his clothes, sat down, and picked up the white chess box.

The octagonal palace lanterns hanging from the dome of the ship illuminated the 361 star positions of a sandalwood chessboard, making them shine like a starry river, revealing every detail.

Cao An swiftly closed the gold-plated folding fan in his hand and, along with Li Yunxiao, Lu Ming, and the others, gathered around.

Just now, Zhou Guangjin had a large white group slaughtered, leaving corpses strewn all over the place, and he resigned.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on Han Yugui, eager to witness his formidable skill in slaying dragons and whether he could defeat Jiang Xingzhou, the top student in the imperial examinations, on the chessboard.

"Brother Jiang, you're playing white? You know that white's winning percentage has always been relatively low! Don't blame me for having the upper hand with black."

A hint of displeasure flashed in Han Yugui's eyes, and his voice was filled with annoyance at being slighted.

Instead of guessing who goes first, he took the white pieces himself, which is clearly the style of a grandmaster who lets the black pieces go first.

"It doesn't matter!"

Jiang Xingzhou said calmly. "Tap!"

Han Yugui flicked his finger, and the black stone at his fingertip pierced the air, landing heavily on the central Tianyuan star position, startling the ash from the Boshan incense burner on the table.

"Snapped!"

Amidst swirling smoke, the boat on the river moved at a steady pace, while Bai Zi lightly tapped his small eye to the southeast.

Half a stick of sandalwood has burned out.

Han Yugui's wrist was trembling, beads of sweat trickled down his temples, and his face was pale. The black piece hovered above the chessboard, but he dared not place it.

On the board, the white stones have occupied all the corners and edges like a bone-scraping knife, and the black stones are already dozens of points behind.

On the chessboard, the black pieces, like trapped beasts, charged left and right, fighting fiercely from all sides, but the white pieces plundered their territory and surrounded them completely.

Qingfei's pretty face was filled with infatuation, her eyes revealing admiration as she gazed at Jiang Xingzhou.

The cabin was deathly silent.

Zhou Guangjin, the top student in the outer dormitory, stared in disbelief and sat there dumbfounded.

"evildoer!
Indeed, a skilled strategist achieves victory without fanfare; the outcome is decided before any battle even begins!

Zhou Guangjin's Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice was strained.

He stared at the endless white pieces on the chessboard and suddenly realized that those seemingly casual moves were like spring rain nourishing the earth, quietly encompassing the entire chessboard.

He was a step behind Han Yugui. Han Yugui was a long step behind Jiang Xingzhou.

The skill involved in this strategy is truly terrifying!
A skilled strategist makes no brilliant moves throughout the game!
Zhou Guangjin suddenly muttered to himself, recalling this maxim from the "Chess Classic." When he looked at Jiang Xingzhou again, his gaze held a hint of awe.

This isn't just playing chess; it's clearly enlightenment!
"What kind of approach is this?"

Cao An slammed the gold-plated fan in his hand.

He had never seen such a style of play, as sharp as a steel blade scraping bone—no blood was seen on the board, yet the opponent's sinews and flesh had already been stripped away.

"Weird!"

Zhang Youyi flipped through the "Thirteen Chapters of Chess Classic" in his hand, but couldn't find a similar strategy: "Brother Jiang didn't even mention a single piece, how come Brother Han did?"

Seeing Han Yugui's face turn ashen, he abruptly stopped speaking.

"wonderful!

They didn't fight to the death in a single city or territory, but they gained the upper hand in every situation!
Without slaughtering a single dragon or its lineage, they have already confined the Black Dragon to a small space!

Cao An looked at it for a long time and sighed.

"Look here—'To subdue the enemy without fighting is the best strategy!' Brother Jiang doesn't even bother with killing the dragon. Wherever the white pieces are placed, the black pieces have no foundation!"

"Brother Jiang won because of his strategic planning!"

"Brother Jiang's chess moves flow like water, leaving absolutely no openings!"

"I've never seen chess played like this before!"

Inside the cabin, the students watching from the sidelines gasped in shock, and their gazes toward Jiang Xingzhou changed.

Demon!
If someone writes good poems and essays, that's fine.

Even his mastery of Yi, one of the six arts of a gentleman and the eight refined pursuits of a scholar, is so profound!
Han Yugui, the young genius from Jiangyin who had been so full of vigor just moments before, now looked ashen-faced and stared blankly at the chessboard for a long time.

The cabin was filled with the aroma of tea.

The students played chess, drank tea, and chatted in the cabin. Before they knew it, the ship had quietly sailed to the Jiangyin sluice gate.

Jiangyin Sluice Gate is an important waterway checkpoint on the Yangtze River.

This massive bronze maw, which blocks the great river, has an underwater heavy iron fence to prevent the sea monsters of the East Sea from entering the inland waterway.

Suddenly, a dull creaking sound came from outside the window as a winch turned, creating huge splashes.

The five-zhang-long (approximately 10 meters)-long ship trembled slightly as it slowly passed through the lock. The muffled sound of the ship's hull rubbing against the stone wall startled the egrets on the shore.

As the last lock gate opened, the "Jiangyin Wenyun" flag on the bow of the ship finally disappeared into the territory of Jiangzhou.

Suddenly, the sky darkened, and dark clouds gathered.

The leaden clouds hung extremely low, as if they were about to touch the weathervane at the top of the mast.

The river was deathly still; even the finless porpoises that usually chased the sides of the boats were nowhere to be seen.

In this eerie stillness, streaks of dark green light appeared in the water, as if hundreds of fireflies were swimming underwater.

Jiang Xingzhou felt a chill run down his spine, and glanced out the window at the river.

(End of this chapter)