In the blink of an eye, New Year's Eve is here, and firecrackers are going off in Tokyo early in the morning, making every household very lively.
The Song Dynasty had not been peaceful in the past two years. Although the capital was not affected by military disasters, the successive rebellions in Hebei, Huaihe, and Zhejiang had affected the normal operation of the empire.
The most direct thing is that the price of grain and rice has soared, livestock and meat have become more expensive than before, and the number of refugees has further increased, flowing north to Kaifeng, Zhongzhou, and to the south to places such as Lianghu.
The pressure on the city of Tokyo increased sharply when autumn entered. Many grain shops on the market announced that they were sold out. Later, the Kaifeng government sent a letter and Emperor Daojun ordered that the treasury be opened to sell some old official grain, which alleviated the crisis. However, the rising grain prices But it never fell off.
Prices are skyrocketing. In other words, the currency is depreciating. The exchange of copper coins for silver has reached five or even six coins before it can be exchanged for one or two coins.
Silver was not a currency in circulation in the Song Dynasty, but during the reign of Emperor Daojun, especially after Cai Jing's reform, the value of copper coins continued to decline. Originally, it was only used for bulk transactions, or when purchasing horses, furs and other items in the market or foreign countries. The newly used silver has quietly entered the market, and during those days of food shortage, many shops only accepted silver, not copper coins.
Because of this incident, the Kaifeng Prefecture shut down some shops and arrested some people. Several of the leaders had their heads chopped off and their homes ransacked to curb this trend.
Not long after, the chief official of Kaifeng Mansion changed, and Cai Mao was appointed as the right to know the affairs of Kaifeng Mansion.
Cai Mao is the second prime minister of Shenzong and the son of Cai Que, the prime minister of Zhezong. Cai Que and Cai Jing are from the same clan. Cai Que's great-grandfather and Cai Jing's great-grandfather are brothers.
Cai Mao, on the other hand, has no integrity. He used to flatter Cai Jing brothers and his son, but now he is even colluding with Liang Shicheng, Gao Qiu and others.
And this person has no responsibility. After knowing the Kaifeng Mansion, he never made the final decision on all matters. He reported everything to Cai Jing and only listened to the orders of the Cai family. As for the suffering of the people and the people in the market making a living, he turned a blind eye and closed one eye to prevent people from starving to death. Just fine.
But this is the case for the people. Although life suddenly becomes tight, they pay more and more attention to festivals, especially at the time of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. They grit their teeth and buy nothing less than every year, and the sacrificial rituals are more solemn.
The people's thoughts are very simple, praying for a better life next year, so although they are very poor this year, they still decide to have a good New Year.
On the morning of the 30th, Zhao Tong sat in the front hall and played chess with Lu Junyi.
His own group, Lu Junyi, Du Bo, Zhang Xian, and the heroes from Suiyulou.
Among the people in Suiyu Tower was General Lu, who was tying the ropes.
Zhao Tong did not kill General Lu, but brought him back to Tokyo from the south of the Yangtze River and threw him into the Broken Jade Tower. General Lu was a weak scholar and could not escape from the Broken Jade Tower surrounded by wolves. go out.
Moreover, when he heard that Zhao Tong had beheaded Zhu Mengman's family, he remained silent for a long time, did not go on a hunger strike, and stopped making trouble. Sometimes even if he was loosened from the rope, he would not kill himself by banging his head.
He was also watching the chess game at the moment, with a very serious look on his face. He felt that Zhao Tong was really overestimating himself. He was simply overestimating his own capabilities against so many people.
You must know that Zhao Yu and Lu Junyi played chess, not Go. Xiangqi in the Song Dynasty was very popular, and many people in the city knew it. Moreover, the equipment for playing chess was not expensive. There were people setting up chess boards and chess pieces outside in the streets and alleys, and in tea shops. There are chess sets for guests' entertainment.
The people in the hall may not understand Go at this moment, but almost everyone cannot play chess. Although their levels vary, how can so many people not be able to play one game?
General Lu was a chess master himself, so even though he didn't like the people in the hall, especially the bad guys in Suiyulou, he still watched them carefully.
He found that Zhao Tan's chess moves were something he had never seen before. Nowadays, there are already organizations such as chess clubs among the people. There are also people who write chess records and study various moves. Li Qingzhao even wrote a book called "The Book of Fighting Horses". It focuses on chess.
At this time, chess already had a certain number of tricks, and people who often played chess knew it more or less, and people like General Lu had studied all the popular chess routines at the moment, but what Zhao Tong used He didn't recognize the move.
At first, he thought they were all random tricks, but the more he looked at them, the more wrong he became. There were clearly rules to follow, and it looked like they had been used frequently before.
Lu Junyi's chess skills are average, and he likes to hone his martial arts. He only plays two games when he is tired. If he were facing Zhao Tao now, if not for the help of others behind him, he would have been defeated long ago.
But even so, he lost three games in a row without even getting to the endgame. He stood up and apologized for not playing. Du Bo hurriedly sat down, rolled up his arms and sleeves and said, "I want to teach you how to play chess."
Zhao Tong glanced at him, looking like a black iron tower, and said with a smile: "Is it feasible?"
Du Bo said: "I grew up in a village where people usually play chess for fun when they have nothing to do. I have been playing since I was a child, but... I rarely experience defeat!"
Zhao Tong said in surprise: "Since I have only suffered one defeat, why were all the moves I made just now so bad?"
Du Bo rubbed his hands and said, "If not, how could General Lu have been defeated so quickly, allowing his subordinates to sit and play now?"
Lu Junyi said angrily: "Looking at your honesty and roughness, you are also a cunning person!"
Du Bo smiled and said: "A soldier never tires of deceit; a soldier never tires of deceit."
Everyone in the hall had fun together.
Du Bo's chess skills were indeed superb. He was able to forcefully reach the middle game with Zhao Tao by flying cannon and vaulting horses. However, at this time, he was also in a stalemate. Even if others wanted to talk more, they were scratching their heads and not knowing how to deal with the next step.
In this way, Du Bu also lost three games in a row and did not reach the endgame. On the surface, he looked similar to Lu Junyi, but General Lu could see clearly that Du Bu was much better than Lu Junyi. It was just that Zhao Tuo's methods were more sophisticated and he could already control him. When it comes to winning or losing, if you want to win in the middle game, you will never win in the late game.
"Who else is dissatisfied?" Zhao Tong looked at everyone with a smile.
Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, and they all had some self-awareness. After watching several games, they felt that they were not as good as Du Bo and Lu Junyi, so they kept silent to avoid being embarrassed.
"I, I don't accept it..." A voice sounded with a guilty conscience. Everyone saw that it was General Lu. Seeing that he was tied with a rope but said he wanted to play chess, everyone wanted to laugh.
But no one said anything to ridicule him. Zhao Tao explained that apart from restricting his freedom, he did not need to be treated as a prisoner.
Zhao Tong looked at General Lu with a half-smile but not a smile: "You know how to play chess?"
General Lu nodded: "I've been here since I was a child!"
He was addicted to chess at the moment, and his heart was itching unbearably. He had seen several flaws in Zhao Tielu before. If he had seized the opportunity at that time, Lu and Du might not have lost so quickly. They could not have persisted until the end of the game, and he couldn't bear it anymore. Keep talking.
Du Bo said next to him: "A certain person has also been a prostitute since he was a child!"
General Lu sneered: "You are a wild man, completely disorganized. It's strange that you can win!"
Du Bo was not angry when he heard this and said: "Who doesn't know how to brag?"
Zhao Tong thought for a while: "You are different from them. You are not my king's subordinate. You only want to win or lose for fun. If you want to play chess with me, you need some luck."
General Lu said: "I have nothing to offer now, where can I find anything that can be used as a bonus?"
Zhao Tong shook his head and said with a smile: "It may not necessarily be money and utensils."
General Lu looked at the chessboard and gritted his teeth and said, "What do you want?"
Zhao Tong said: "If you lose, sell your life to me and listen to me. I will let you go east and not dare to run west. I will let you beat the dog but not the chicken."
General Lu's mouth twitched when he heard this. What kind of metaphor is this? Such crude words come from a person like you in the literary world?
He said: "What if I win?"
Zhao Tong said: "If you win, I will let you go. I don't care where you want to go. I will also give you travel expenses."
General Lu made some calculations in his mind, and finally felt that something was wrong, so he said: "This is not fair. If I lose, won't I have to sell my life? What I lose is my life of freedom, but you win, but you just let me go. It doesn’t go with anything.”
Zhao Tong looked at him and smiled slightly: "Fairness? Fairness is just an excuse for the weak. The strong do not need fairness. When you talk about fairness with me, are you admitting that your skills are inferior to others and that you are a weak person? Then why are you playing chess!" "
"I..." General Lu was dissatisfied and thought to himself what kind of fallacy this was. How could it be fair to explain it like this?
He was so angry that he had to agree. Anyway, being under house arrest in the Broken Jade Tower was not easy at the moment. Although it was better than being in a prison, he was surrounded by rogues who played with swords and swords. He couldn't even talk to each other, even when he was out every day. Watching them compete with each other, they seem to be living like zombies in a lifeless and boring way. It is simply worse than death.
Zhao Tong suddenly said: "But...if you lose, I can give you another chance."
"What opportunity?" Lu Jiang blurted out.
"Play chess with me once a year. If you can beat me, the bet is still valid."
"You mean..." General Lu blinked: "Give me a chance to play chess once a year. If I lose, I will continue to work hard, and if I win, you will let me go?"
Zhao Tong nodded, and General Lu's mind immediately came to life. He didn't believe what Du Bo said just now about playing chess since he was a child, and he rarely suffered defeat. , I have never lost in chess.
He was born as a college student, and the chess opponents he played against were not ordinary people. They were definitely not comparable to the opponents that Du Fu had in the countryside. Although Zhao Yu had won two games just now, there were still flaws in Zhao Yu's chess game. He felt that his Be sure to outperform the opponent.
General Lu was somewhat confident. After all, if he thought about it, at least such flaws in his chess skills would not appear on him, so his chess skills must still be higher than those of Zhao Tao.
As for what happens if you lose...if you lose, you lose. Isn't it just a bull or a horse? He is not afraid of death, so what else is he afraid of?
He originally joined Mingjiao because of Zhu Meng. He couldn't stand Zhu Meng's excessive taxation and exploiting Jiangnan, so he wrote to the court and complained about Zhu Meng's evil deeds in Jiangnan. As a result, he was directly dismissed from his status as a Taipei student by the court and was given an eternal life sentence. Penalty for non-acceptance.
His future was ruined in this way, and he felt despair. He felt that such a court was not necessary. It happened that the Mingjiao was recruiting followers everywhere. After hearing the teachings, he felt that he had something to rely on, so he joined it.
Because he was proficient in calligraphy and calligraphy, people like him, the Young Master of Mingjiao, were pushed to Fang La's side and gained Fang La's trust. Later, he also supported Fang La's uprising. After all, the emperor was ignorant, the court was dark, and traitors were rampant, so he turned against him!
However, Fang La refused to listen to his strategies several times. He went from being helpless to finally feeling heartbroken. Even Fang La failed and was killed. He was already heartbroken.
But while he was in prison in Jiangnan, news suddenly came that Zhu Meng had been beheaded by Zhao Tong, and he planned to rebel and kill the nine tribes.
He didn't know whether Zhu Meng was really treasonous, but this southeastern evil tiger, which had been cut into pieces with thousands of cuts, could not bear the guilt of his crimes. Now he was actually killed, and died at the hands of Zhao Tong. He was a little surprised. Aren't they all protected by officials? Why just kill him? Although I couldn't figure it out, I also felt a long-standing depression in my chest.
Everything started because of Zhu Meng. Since Zhao Meng killed Zhu Meng, he has a lot more ideas. At this moment, winning or losing in chess depends entirely on ability. If you win, you will be free. If you lose, you will be a bull and a horse. He, General Lu, will recognize this. thing.
"Okay, I agree!" General Lu took a deep breath and looked at Zhao Tong.
Zhao Tong laughed and motioned to the side. Someone immediately untied the rope from General Lu's body. General Lu rubbed his arm. It was not sore. It was not tied tightly. Everyone knew that he was a weak scholar. Ability to escape.
Zhao Tong said: "Three sets will determine the outcome. If it's a draw, one set will be added."
Naturally, General Lu had no objection. Three games were enough, but five games were a bit too much. If the chess skills were equal, the game would have to go until dark. On New Year's Eve, Zhao Tong would definitely not agree.
"I, the king, will strike first." Zhao Tong smiled, took a step forward and hit the head with a horizontal cannon.
At this time, the shape of chess objects and various rules have actually been finalized, and they are basically similar to those of later generations.
The chess pieces are round, with words on the front and matching patterns on the back. The number of chess pieces is also the same as in later generations.
The only difference is probably in the chess words of both sides.
There is no distinction between "bing" and "pawn" in the words on the chess pieces of both sides, they are both "pawn", there is no distinction between "general" and "handsome", they are both "general", and there is no distinction between "elephant" and "xiang", they are both " "Elephant", and "cannon" is not "cannon". Everything else is the same as later chess.
General Lu saw Zhao Tao raising his hand to face the stone cannon. Without thinking, he jumped on the horse. Zhao Tao laughed and advanced.
General Lu snorted and started to get out of the car.
The two of them were going back and forth, and dozens of moves passed in the blink of an eye. General Lu's face looked a little bit ugly. Something was wrong, very wrong. The opponent's method was different from what he had seen before, and it was another set of moves that he had never seen before.
General Lu gritted his teeth secretly and began to carefully search for any flaws, but to his disappointment, there were no flaws at all!
Could it be that what he did was not as good as Lu Du's? When Zhao Tong played chess with those two people, he showed some flaws, but why are there no flaws now?
General Lu was shocked and confused, this is impossible, this is absolutely impossible!
When the chess game reached the middle game, General Lu's face turned pale. He had lost, and he didn't even get to the end game. It was just the middle game, just like Lu Du!
He was dissatisfied and said nothing. After placing the chess pieces, he took the first step without waiting for Zhao Tong to speak.
Zhao Tong responded with a smile. After about a quarter of an hour, General Lu was shaking all over and his face was paler than before. He lost again, and it was the middle game again!
He opened his mouth: "Three rounds...and one more."
Zhao Tong said: "Win two out of three games. You have already lost. Do you want to continue?"
General Lu said with difficulty: "I, I know I'm losing, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes, but I have to finish the three rounds..."
Zhao Tong shook his head: "Play chess!"
After a while, Lu Jiang leaned back on the chair as if he had lost all strength, his whole body was soaked with sweat, and his face was full of panic.
He tried his best, but this time he still lost, still in the middle game. Just like the last two times, he was killed without leaving a trace.
Zhao Tong smiled: "After one year, you can play chess with me again!"
General Lu grasped the corners of his clothes tightly with both hands, but could not say a single word. He just nodded numbly.
At this time, the guard outside came in and reported: "Your Majesty, it's time for the banquet to begin."
Zhao Tong waved to the people in the room: "Let's go and eat."
Everyone left the room. General Lu was feeling weak behind him. The two brothers from the Ding family held up their arms and dragged him out with smiles...
(End of chapter)
