Chapter 393 Great Power

Chapter 393 Great Power

Chapter 393 Great Power (5k)

A good match!

In the gray and 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 became instinctively alert.

I suspect I have been exposed!

The princess suddenly mentioned herself, with naked praise and criticism, and also mentioned that Zhenbao was a good match, which really seemed to be an attempt to "point" at 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 are joking..."

The noble lady who was highly respected in the Western Regions smiled on her slightly rough but charming face:

"Mr. Lin, are you frightened? If you really want to do this, I, your aunt, can introduce you to someone else."

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 might 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 promoted, she can also earn some favors.

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 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 the 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 at once. He grinned secretly, and felt as if his eyes were darkening. 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 would not also think about "trying it out" for her niece first...hiss...

Shaking his head, Zhao Duan put aside all the messy thoughts and said with a righteous look:
"Your Highness, please do not mention it again. Your Majesty is so noble, and Envoy Zhao is also a rare talent. The two are a perfect match. Your Highness, I don't know where you heard all these slanders against Envoy Zhao."

Princess Wenzhu showed a little disappointment in her eyes and asked curiously:

"Oh? Really? But I heard a lot of scolding, especially from many Buddhists in the city, who particularly disliked this person."

These words were a temptation pretending to be naive and ignorant.

Zhao Duan said seriously:

“Although I am of humble status, I know what is great kindness and what is small kindness.

The envoy Zhao planned the new policy and recently went to the south to preside over the opening of the market... This will benefit the country and the people, and it is a great good;
I helped a few orphans, so what? As for those believers who were angry about the "ban on Buddhism" and slandered the governor Zhao, they were just deceived for a while."

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?
Link claimed that he was from a small family, so 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 such a talented young man in front of him is so afraid of "King Zhao", which shows how powerful the treacherous minister is and how deeply rooted in people's hearts his cruelty is.

As for her sudden comparison of the two and her belittling of Zhao Duan, she also had other intentions:
As long as Link fails to 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 talented person in front of him and wants to recruit him, so he tries to bind him further.

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 saw the slightly disappointed look on the lady's face and sighed.

Finally, I had a preliminary impression of this eldest princess who had returned from marrying far away.

When he first read the information, Zhao Duan imagined a female monarch with powerful skills when he saw a lonely woman who married far away and was able to help her husband to stabilize the situation.

When we came into contact with each other, I felt that it was more like a "Virgin Mary" sign.

Now, with the unintentional sneak attack from her words, Zhao Duan also began to sketch out the image of this Western Region Holy Mother in his mind:

He has certain scheming and tactics, but he is not a strong man. Instead, he is good at forming alliances and building up personal connections. He is a key 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 displays to the outside world is not a disguise, but it does have a utilitarian element.

In the brief conversation, he tried to introduce him as his 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 he killed two birds with one stone and was quick-thinking.

Not surprisingly.

After all, the Western Regions is different from the Dayu Dynasty. The 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 woman" 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 who wants to recruit and win over.

One tries to find out and make friends.

The Western Region warriors surrounding the stone table, and Shen Juan and the other two who had returned from 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:
"Look at my memory. Two good people came, but I didn't even get a sip of hot water..."

Zhao Duan took the opportunity to stand up and said 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 respectfully 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 spare time, how about I host 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 Lane. If Mr. Lin is interested, you can go with me to 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 under the sunlight reflected from 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 in the capital gather all year round. Several well-known Go clubs in the capital are located on the street where Huangting Lane is located.

70% of all Go masters throughout the ages came from here. This 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 of the alley that is said to be a hundred years old. Because there are many chess clubs nearby, it is the place with the most chess stalls in Beijing.

Whether in winter or summer, it is always bustling.

There were people setting up stalls, playing chess, and other people coming and going here. There were not only masters from the market, but also disciples from several large chess clubs. Even the national chess players who were respected as "chess attendants" in the palace would occasionally show up here.

When Zhao Duan and Wenzhu arrived outside the alley by car, they saw that the snow at the entrance of the alley had been cleared away long ago, and they could hear noises from the alley from afar.

"It is said that the reason why this alley is named 'Huangting' is because there is a house deep in the alley, which is the former residence of a chess master in the previous dynasty, so it was 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, and the first game I learned was Huang Ting's 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.

However, unlike what happened in the charity hall before, 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 did it 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 border army of the Yu State introduced Go to the Western Regions, and it became popular there. There are no fewer Go players than in your Yu State."

The female warrior spoke in 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 back, "Master Lin, are you not familiar with this place?"

Zhao Duan nodded honestly: "I usually play chess, 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 knew the rules roughly.

Later, he became a playboy and had no interest in coming to such a boring place.

After Zhao Duan came here through time, 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, when he went to the Imperial Garden of the Imperial Palace, he saw Yuan Li playing chess with the Empress...

At that time, I witnessed the level of Go in this world.

How to put it... His chess skills are pretty good, but many of his playing methods 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 hosts... 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 eyesight influenced by the chess records of masters of all generations, he naturally felt that the Go of the Dayu Dynasty was boring and backward. Many playing styles that were familiar to later generations did not appear at all.

Naturally, he didn't have much interest in it, especially after he was promoted to the "God Chapter" realm, his five senses were greatly enhanced.

His memory, agility and calculation ability have already far surpassed those of ordinary people. His chess skills have skyrocketed, and 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 better 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 have a look."

Princess Wenzhu pursed her red lips and invited.

Zhao Duan stroked his disguised chin with 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, Shen Juan, female warriors and other people from the Western Regions used brute force to open up a passage.

"Who!"

"Don't squeeze!"

This inevitably led to waves of scolding.

But those chess players who were wearing thick cotton robes and watching the game 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 man of status.

How dare I provoke you?

The closer Zhao Duan got, the clearer the subtle sounds of chess pieces falling into the chessboard through the gaps in the crowd became.

When he parted the front of the crowd, he finally saw the scene clearly in the crowd.

There were apparently two chess players playing against each other. The board was densely packed with black and white pieces, and half of the pieces 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 was sitting on a small stool with his legs together and his back straight.

Look focused.

"Clap."

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 appeared on his forehead.

wow——

The crowd of onlookers 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 Western monk with a sensitive identity 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 who was watching nearby what had happened. The latter, upon seeing that it was a beautiful woman with 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 put up a wooden sign with the word "Challenge" on the ground. If you beat him, you can get ten taels of silver.

Soon, this little monk, who was obviously not from the Yu country, attracted attention, and some chess players went over to play against him out of curiosity.

As a result, all the players suffered heavy losses. However, in the fifth game, the young monk Danche defeated a famous chess player from the Kyoto Chess Hall in the middle game, which finally caused a sensation in Huangting Lane.

Some people began to invite chess 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 sky is and how deep the earth is!"

However, the status of the chess players participating in the competition is getting higher and higher, but their results are getting worse and worse.

defeat!
Failed!

Another miserable defeat!
The young monk seemed to never have 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 statements, 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 Kyoto Chess Institute finally took action personally. He was the middle-aged man in front of him.

However, the latter, which was highly expected, was about to collapse in the middle stage.

"Madam..., what is this?" Zhao Duan moved closer and asked in a low voice.

Princess Wenzhu said calmly:

“I just found out about Dan Che’s visit on my way back to Beijing. He has been studying chess for many years in 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 that 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. So, this seemingly inconspicuous little monk wanted to make a name for Buddhism in the Western Regions 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 time, the expressions of several chess players from the nearby chess academy changed drastically. One of them looked up at the sky and suddenly said loudly:
"It's almost noon, seal the game!"

The others gradually came to their senses and echoed: "Seal the chess!"

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 dean of the chess academy.

The longest game of chess in the Dayu Dynasty lasted for three and a half months, during which the game was repeatedly "sealed". When the weaker party saw that the situation was not good, they would pause and go home 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 crowd's 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 that you still have the habit of using long thinking to delay 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 'seal your hand'. Here is the paper and pen."

The so-called sealing of the hand means that whoever wants to leave and rest during the game must record the next move on paper.

All-round blocking, he was really well prepared.

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 rested on 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 behind the crowd:

"I'm here to learn 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 towards the end of a narrow passage that was open to both sides.

"Chess attendant! Chen Jiuyan!"

"Chen Guoshou is here!"

-

Layout is updated first and then modified
(End of this chapter)