This made Li Shimin anxious, and he wanted to trade one for one with me.

But seeing Li Shimin's serious expression, Cheng Jun hesitated for a moment and swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his throat.

Li Shimin, unaware of Cheng Jun's thoughts, continued:

"As an imperial censor, you can not only supervise all officials, but also the Imperial Guard."

"When you go to the Ministry of War this time, you need to cooperate with Li Jing to develop gunpowder and let them know its power."

"Are you confident?"

Li Shimin looked at Cheng Jun and asked.

Cheng Jun stood up without hesitation and said:

"I will go now."

Li Shimin called out to him, "Come back!"

"I have already sent Li Jing to make preparations. You don't need to rush over. You have other things to do."

"If only I had run faster..." Cheng Jun regretted that he hadn't run fast enough, otherwise Li Shimin wouldn't have stopped him. He sat down and asked:

"Does Your Majesty have any task for me to perform?"

Li Shimin held up two fingers and said, "Two things."

"First, when you went to kick the Hongwen Academy before, I said in the training ground that you would have a month to teach the Crown Prince, after which there would be a monthly examination for the prince."

Li Shimin, holding his forehead, said:

“Recently, people from the Hongwen Academy have been coming to me every day, asking when I will hold the monthly examination for the princes. I have decided to hold the monthly examination for the princes after the gunpowder issue is settled. Of course, this matter is not in a hurry.”

Cheng Jun nodded slightly and asked, "And the second thing?"

Li Shimin said:

"The second thing is to play chess with me."

I just praised you for your diligence in government affairs... Cheng Jun twitched the corner of his mouth, and when he saw the slight mockery in Li Shimin's eyes, he realized that Li Shimin wanted to gain a sense of accomplishment from him, and he couldn't help but feel speechless.

Li Shimin chuckled and said, "I heard from Kong Yingda that he lost a game of chess against you because he made one move while you made five."

Cheng Jun said, "It was at my home at the time, and that's the custom in my home."

Li Shimin said, "So Kong Yingda was unwilling to accept defeat. I find it interesting to hear that. I have long wanted to play a game of chess with you."

After saying that, he turned to Zhang Anan, who was standing to the side, and said:

"Ananda, go and fetch a chess set."

"The slaves obey the order."

Zhang Anan received the order and left. When he returned, he had a chess box in his hand.

Li Shimin tidied up the memorials on his desk, opened the chess box himself, took out an exquisite leather chessboard, and placed it on the desk.

Seeing that Cheng Jun didn't move, Li Shimin waved and said, "Don't just stand there, come and help set up the chess pieces."

Seeing that he seemed eager to play chess, Cheng Jun sat down opposite him, took out chess pieces from the box, and asked:

"Your Majesty, shall I go first?"

Li Shimin picked up the black pieces from the chessboard in front of him and said, "I prefer to start later and gain the upper hand. You take the first move."

Cheng Jun said no more and picked up a red chess piece, placing it on the chessboard in front of him.

After Li Shimin, with Zhang Anan's help, had set up the chess pieces, Cheng Jun asked:

"Your Majesty, what should we do?"

Li Shimin rubbed his hands together and said, "Just use the normal method."

Cheng Jun pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, my chess skills are not good. If I play poorly and spoil Your Majesty's enjoyment, please do not blame me."

Li Shimin snorted and said, "Don't try that. Ma Zhou praised your chess skills in front of me. How could your chess skills be poor? Don't expect me to let you win!"

"Oh well......."

Cheng Jun chuckled dryly and stepped forward as a pawn.

Li Shimin decisively mounted his horse.

Fifteen moves later, Li Shimin watched as Cheng Jun used a double rook checkmate to win the game. He paused for a few seconds, then looked at Cheng Jun and asked:

"Aren't you going to give way to me?"

"..."

Cheng Jun said earnestly, "Your Majesty's chess skills are superb. If I were to give you a handicap, I'm afraid Your Majesty would utterly defeat me."

Seeing his reluctance, and unwilling to lose like this, Li Shimin gritted his teeth and said:

"Come again."

Cheng Jun immediately rearranged the chess pieces.

In the ensuing battle, Li Shimin's expression shifted from calm to displeasure, then to anger, and finally to numbness.

Six more games were played.

Cheng Jun used various techniques, including "Horse Back Cannon," "High Fishing Horse," "Silent Palace Kill," "Iron Gate Bolt," "Fishing for the Moon at the Bottom of the Sea," and "Veteran Searching the Forest," to kill the opponent time and time again.

Moreover, the winning methods are different every time.

Even if Li Shimin was foolish, he would realize at this moment that Cheng Jun was pretending to be weak to take advantage of the situation.

Playing chess with him like this is just asking for trouble; I need to find a different approach... Li Shimin had an idea. After setting up the chess pieces, he said:

"I remember now, there are also rules here."

"They're planning to use underhanded tactics..." Cheng Jun asked without changing his expression, "Your Majesty, please tell me what the rules are?"

Li Shimin picked up the black chess piece marked with the character 'horse' and said seriously:

"There's a story behind this piece of chess. My horse is a thoroughbred, capable of traveling a thousand miles a day and moving several steps in a row without being overtaken by other horses."

Cheng Jun immediately understood and nodded, saying, "I understand."

"He understood so quickly..." Li Shimin was somewhat surprised.

Seeing that Cheng Jun understood his intentions, Li Shimin said no more. He picked up the black chess piece with the character 'horse' written on it, moved it three steps in a row, and placed it next to the red pawn.

Li Shimin said, "Jump the horse."

"eat."

Cheng Jun picked up the red pawn and captured Li Shimin's "Thousand-Mile Horse".

Li Shimin exclaimed in astonishment, "Your pawns haven't even crossed the river yet, what are you eating!"

Cheng Jun solemnly pointed to the red pawn that had captured the black horse and said, "This pawn of mine is an elite piece; it can capture pieces without crossing the river."

"..."

Li Shimin remained silent for a few seconds, then realized that Cheng Jun truly understood the rules he had set.

He couldn't say anything, so he had to accept it. He picked up the black piece marked 'elephant' and directly knocked away the elite red pieces that Cheng Jun had mentioned, saying:

"Flying Elephant".

This time it was Cheng Jun's turn to be stunned. He looked up in confusion and asked, "Elephants can cross rivers?"

Li Shimin said, "The water level of the Chu River and Han Border in this game is not high. It's normal that my elephant can cross the river."

Cheng Jun said, "But we can't just take three steps directly, can we?"

Li Shimin solemnly said, "I just said, 'Flying Elephant'."

"..."

Okay, you're really something... Cheng Jun understood. He thought Li Shimin's mention of flying elephants was a verb, but it turned out to be a noun. He promptly retorted:

"Sergeant."

After saying that, he picked up the red chess piece marked 'Advisor' and, with great momentum, charged straight in, capturing several of the 'Flying Elephants' in front.

Li Shimin glared at him and said, "Are you using your taxi as a car?"

Cheng Jun explained, "The 'shi' in my name is not an ordinary 'shi'; it refers to Minister Li."

"Okay, okay, let's play like this, huh?"

Enraged, Li Shimin grabbed the old general and ate his red 'warrior'.

"eat!"

Cheng Jun was taken aback. "An old general eating a soldier? What do you mean?"

Li Shimin pointed to the black general on the chessboard, looking confident and certain of victory, and said:

"This general of mine is no ordinary general; he is the Supreme General of Heavenly Strategy, which is me! I am the sovereign, and Li Jing is the subject. It is only natural for me to take you, this pawn!"

Cheng Jun picked up his red general and placed it directly over the black general, saying, "General! Your Majesty, I have won!"

Li Shimin was taken aback, then glared at him and said, "What are you going to use to eat my General of Heavenly Strategy?"

Cheng Jun solemnly replied, "Back then, it was the retired emperor who appointed Your Majesty as the Supreme General of the Heavenly Strategy. Therefore, my commander-in-chief is the retired emperor!"

Li Shimin slammed his fist on the table and roared, "How dare you use the retired emperor as a pawn?"

Cheng Jun pondered for a moment and said, "Then, is my commander Yao, Shun, or Yu...?"

Li Shimin rebuked him again: "You are a subject, how can you act as a commander when you are an emperor?"

Cheng Jun thought for a moment, then looked up and said seriously, "Then this piece of mine could be Zhao Gao, Liang Ji, Sima Zhao, Liu Yu, or even Yuwen Hu..."

Zhang Anan, who was listening nearby, gasped in shock. They were all regicides!