The steward immediately said respectfully: "His Royal Highness the Eighth Prince said that you are the real Crown Prince of Dakun. The current prince cannot compare with you in any aspect."
The Eighth Prince nodded. At this time, an old man came to the Eighth Prince and said respectfully: "Your Highness, I haven't played chess with Your Highness for a long time. I want to test whether Your Highness's chess ability has increased. How about that?"
A smile of admiration appeared on the Eighth Prince's face, and he said: "Master, I wish you could play chess with me. I wish you the best."
The two sat across from each other, the steward arranged the chess board, and soon the two began to play chess.
Within a quarter of an hour, a look of pride appeared on the eighth prince's face.
"Master, I seem to be winning this game of chess."
The old man opposite shook his head and said with a smile: "No one can say that they will win until the last moment."
"The more proud you are now, the more painful it will be when you lose."
As he said that, the old man thought for a long time, and suddenly a surprise attack came out, and the soldiers on the side suddenly broke the Eighth Prince's momentum. The originally good situation was torn open.
The Eighth Prince originally surrounded all the old man's chess pieces in an all-round way, hoping to form an iron curtain to block all the old man's power and achieve the goal of victory without a fight.
However, he never expected that his negligence towards a border soldier would lead to major flaws in the Iron Curtain he had sealed off. Now it seemed that it was too late to reverse it.
The master's side soldiers broke through his iron curtain and went forward bravely, killing gods when God blocked him, and Buddha when Buddha blocked him!
His iron curtain was completely broken, and all his plans were in vain.
When his veteran general was about to die, the Eighth Prince realized that he had been shocked into a cold sweat.
"Eighth Prince, the chess game is over and you lose."
The words of the old man opposite him woke the eighth prince from his shock. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and forced a smile.
"Master's chess skills are still no match for my apprentice. Although the chess skills are inferior, they seem to be in a different level."
The old man shook his head and said: "Eighth Prince, you don't have to be so humble. In fact, your and my chess skills lie in the control of every chess piece."
"You lost because of your arrogance towards a side soldier. This is also your weakness. Because of your identity, you will not pay attention to such a small character at all. By the time you realize his huge power, it will be too late. It’s too late.”
"It's not difficult to remedy the situation. As long as you take seriously every border soldier who may threaten you, you can improve your situation to a greater level."
The Eighth Prince was stunned for a moment, and then said with great joy: "Thank you, Master, for bumping. My disciple understands."
"Fortunately, this is just a chess game, not a life and death battle between the enemy and ourselves. I still have time to regret it."
"Report!"
A guard rushed in from outside, saw the old man, saluted to the old man and then knelt down to the eighth prince.
"Your Highness, this time the Beiyuan Mission lost the civil fight outside the city."
When the Eighth Prince heard this, he was immediately shocked and said in disbelief: "What did you say, the Beiyuan Mission lost?"
Even the old man looked surprised: "The Beiyuan delegation was led by Liu Yuan and came with great momentum. How could they lose? Are you sure you are not spreading false news?"
The guard hurriedly said: "Your Highness, it is absolutely true. Li Baiyi performed amazingly in the literary competition. He composed two poems and one line, both of which received first place evaluations. The scores were anonymous on the spot, so there is no possibility of cheating."
"Li Baiyi not only defeated the Beiyuan delegation, but also made several courtiers kneel after the Beiyuan delegation entered the city."
"The prince also benefited. Li Baiyi basically gave all the credit to the prince, saying that he could only win because the prince asked someone to help him improve his knowledge."
The Eighth Prince waved his hand with an ugly expression and said, "I understand, you can go down first."
The guard immediately walked out of the small courtyard, and the steward on the side murmured: "Your Highness, I didn't expect that this playboy Li Baiyi would be able to make a splash and win the first place. This kid has hidden deep enough."
The Eighth Prince nodded, then slapped the table, and the tea on the table spilled all over the floor.
The old man said respectfully: "Your Highness, the eighth thing has happened. There is no point in getting angry. What we have to do now is to make amends."
When the Eighth Prince heard this, there was a look of self-mockery on his face.
"Master, how to remedy this? This time, in order to ensure that the Beiyuan Mission will be successful, Gu's uncle, Prime Minister Guo Wentian, left the northwest to deal with the tea and horse business, in order to ensure that the Beiyuan Mission will win."
"What's the result? None of these useless people like Tang En and Song Guang are useful. They didn't find out anything about Li Baiyi's incredible knowledge."
"Such a careful plan was ruined like this. It could have severely damaged the Li family this time and caused the prince to lose his right and left hand."
"This is good. Not only did the prince and the Li family not get hurt, it actually exposed the face of the Li family and gave the prince, a bastard, a reputation."
"Come here, tie Tang En and Song Guang to me. I need to take care of these rip-offs."
The steward immediately agreed and went to send someone to arrest the person, but was stopped by the old man.
"Your Highness, please calm down. In my opinion, they are not to blame this time. It should be that this boy from the Li family has hidden himself so deeply that no one else can see it."
Hearing this, the Eighth Prince raised his eyebrows and said, "Master is saying that this boy is a genius. He is self-taught and not taught by others, so he can deceive others."
The old man nodded and said: "That's what I mean. Even if it is really their negligence, His Highness is now employing people. We must not make them fearful and turn away from the Crown Prince. It will not be a good thing for His Highness."
The Eighth Prince thought for a while, nodded and said: "Master said yes, then let's save their lives first and work for Gu."
As he spoke, he looked at the side pawn on the chessboard, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said: "This Li Baiyi is like a side pawn on the chessboard. He caught the only one by surprise. It seems that the strategy is about to change."
"The prince's reputation has increased unprecedentedly this time. We cannot let him continue. We must make everyone in Da Kun think that Gu is the right son."
"This kid Li Baiyi must be eliminated, of course not now."
"What we need to do now is to take over the prince's disaster relief work. If we do this well, we can not only win the support of the refugees and people, but also make meritorious deeds. This will give us more confidence in front of our father."
The old man nodded and said: "Your Highness's arrangement is good, but I think it can be improved."
"This time His Highness participates in the disaster relief. It can take the opportunity to drive a wedge between the Crown Prince and Li Baiyi and the Li family. Even if it fails, he can still rub salt into the Crown Prince's wounds. As the saying goes, murder kills the heart."
Hearing this, the Eighth Prince showed a proud smile on his face: "Master, this is a wonderful move, just do it like this."
