Longzang

Chapter 526 Internal and external troubles
Wei Yuan walked into the secluded courtyard beside the herb garden and saw Canglong Shi and Qiuyue Monk playing chess in the courtyard, with Chen Zhou watching from the side, and Xuanji Zi studying the game alone in the room. The Seventh Elder was talking to Bao Manshan.

Upon seeing Wei Yuan's arrival, the several grandmasters were extremely excited. Monk Qiuyue swept the chessboard aside and said, "Young friend Wei has arrived, so let's call it a day."

Canglong Shi didn't care about Qiuyue Monk's petty rascality. With a flick of his sleeve, the chess pieces returned to their respective chess boxes. Then he said, "Xuanji Daoist and I have both studied your incomplete chess piece. We were amazed. Some of the moves in it are simply unbelievable. Chenzhou's statement about the chess master of our time is not an exaggeration."

With another wave of his sleeve, Canglong Shi sent countless black and white pieces onto the chessboard, arranging them into the middle game score written by Wei Yuan.

Xuanjizi also came over, stood with his hands behind his back, and said, "This game has just begun, and it is a battle for supremacy. Therefore, Fellow Daoist Canglong and I named it 'The Battle for Supremacy Manual' and have already printed many copies to send to fellow enthusiasts all over the world. However, Fellow Daoist Canglong and I each have our own opinion on how to play the two hundredth move, and neither of us can convince the other. This is our own move."

Xuanjizi and Canglongshi set up the chess pieces, one placing his piece in the lower left and the other insisting on the upper left. Both areas were fiercely contested battlefields, where victory or defeat hinged on the slightest difference, making it difficult to determine which side was more important.

Xuanjizi and Canglongshi were locked in a fierce debate, having already resolved countless rounds with each side experiencing wins and losses, making it truly difficult to determine who was superior.

Shen Zhou and Master Qiu Yue originally had their own solutions, but they were clearly inferior to those of Xuan Ji Zi and Cang Long Shi, so they did not share them.

As the two masters played, sparks flew. Neither would yield, and they eventually brought out another chessboard, setting up two games simultaneously. One board displayed the solution to the mystery puzzle, which the Azure Dragon Master was tasked with solving. The other board was used in the exact opposite way.

The two national champions simultaneously engaged in offense and defense, putting on a spectacular show that drew applause and praise from Master Chenzhou and Master Qiuyue. Seventh Elder and Baomanshan were also deeply moved, though they were puzzled.

As the game of chess was going on, a voice suddenly rang out from the side: "You old man, how could you make that move here?"

Everyone turned their heads at the same time and saw that True Lord Xuan Yue had arrived at some point and was craning his neck to look at the chess pieces, his face flushed with anxiety.

Fortunately, True Lord Xuan Yue only habitually couldn't control his tongue; he wasn't truly lacking in self-awareness. He knew very well that in the world of chess, even a hundred of himself tied together wouldn't be enough to defeat two world-class masters. So, after saying that, he immediately fell silent.

Respecting Xuan Yue Zhenjun's cultivation level, the players from all countries remained silent and continued their game.

Half a day passed in the blink of an eye, and both games had reached the final endgame stage. However, the situation on the board was very close, with each player having an advantage in one game, and the overall outcome was difficult to determine.

Seeing that the chess game was clear, Canglongshi stood up and said, "We two have made a fool of ourselves. Let's hear what young friend Wei has to say about the solution!"

So everyone restored the chessboard to its original state and waited quietly for Wei Yuan's solution.

In this endgame, Wei Yuan had already deduced that the game would progress to the endgame stage. Although his 200th move was unexpected, according to his analysis, it was the only optimal move, and there would be other variations after four or five moves.

Wei Yuan picked up a piece and placed it in the empty space on the right with a snap!
The left side of this game was fiercely contested, with a complex board layout where both sides were locked in a stalemate. On the right side, however, there was still a large empty area, with neither side having made many moves.

Xuanjizi and Canglongshi never expected that Wei Yuan would actually escape first!
In this way, Wei Yuan did indeed gain a huge advantage on the right side, but the two groups of stones on the left side immediately became extremely vulnerable, facing imminent destruction. The entire game would also fall into a passive situation.

Currently, all the top players in the world are striving to gain the upper hand, so why would they give up the initiative? Therefore, Xuanjizi and Canglongshi did not even consider the right side.

Chen Zhou and Qiu Yue each had their own solutions, both landing their pieces on the left side of the battlefield. Only the Seventh Elder showed a look of joy; he had anticipated Wei Yuan's move before, only his placement was two squares off.

Xuanjizi and Canglongshi stared at Wei Yuan's move, remaining silent for a long time. In an instant, they had calculated countless variations in their minds, but the subsequent development of the game remained shrouded in mist, difficult to discern.

Canglongshi suddenly picked up a piece and placed it on the chessboard as a response to Wei Yuan's move. This move was expected by Wei Yuan, so he also made a move.

The game went back and forth, slowing down more and more. Canglong Shi launched a fierce attack on the two groups of stones on the left, while Wei Yuan walked on thin ice, on the verge of death at any moment, but just barely holding on. In the end, Canglong Shi failed to kill a single stone, and at this moment, Wei Yuan's move of letting go proved useful, and he finally won the game by a narrow margin.

After Canglong Shi was defeated, Xuanji Zi sat down and began playing chess with Wei Yuan.

This game was similar to the previous one, but Xuanjizi's offensive prowess was slightly inferior, while his overall strategic planning was a notch above Canglongshi's.

In the end, Xuanjizi still couldn't kill Weiyuan's pieces. Then, he was a step too slow in trying to contest the big field with Weiyuan. No matter what he did, he couldn't catch up to the last bit of the gap and lost narrowly.

After the two games were over, Wei Yuan took his leave, leaving the national team players to finish the game themselves.

In truth, Wei Yuan didn't dare linger. His own chess skills were utterly terrible, only at the level of a guaranteed win against Master Xuan Yue. Playing chess according to worldly standards, Wei Yuan knew the "how" but not the "why." If the top players asked him a few more questions, he would surely be exposed.

That's why Wei Yuan wanted to take advantage of their shock and get away quickly.

The top players didn't try to persuade Wei Yuan to continue the game of "Chasing the Deer," as the next two matches would provide them with ample material for their study. Leaving the secluded retreat of these masters, Wei Yuan returned to the front lines. At the original site of Ding'an City, 100,000 laborers and 20,000 strong, forged warriors were working. They dug trenches in the ground, partly to hinder the rapid advance of the Wu tribe, and partly to connect the small fortresses. They then excavated underground tunnels to connect all the fortresses in a network of underground passages.

Wei Yuan walked among the new fortifications, observing and occasionally chatting with the laborers. Everyone was working enthusiastically, knowing that the more fortifications built, the fewer people might die in wartime.

Amidst the everyday chaos of war, the possible course of events continues to unfold. Although the situation seems to have stabilized at this point, and the human race even holds a slight advantage in terms of strategic advantage.

However, those in the community believe that now is the time with the highest risk of war. The number of migrants arriving from outside has decreased significantly, with fewer than 10,000 arriving each day, many of whom bring their families.

In the ensuing battles, Yu Jing will not be able to play a significant role. Only when the human race retreats back into Hanyang Pass will the powerful Yu Jing have a chance to prove himself.

The observer believed that the Xu family's 500,000-strong army stationed at Hanyang Pass posed a significant threat. If Qingming's population were to drop below one million, this army of 500,000 could potentially overwhelm Qingming in one fell swoop. Furthermore, given the current war situation, if the Wu tribe were to launch three more attacks, Qingming's morale could very well collapse.

Therefore, the Human World believes that it is necessary to suppress morale with Taoist magic, just like the Witch Clan, and have Dao Foundation cultivators use puppetry to control a dozen or so mortals to go to the battlefield.

Wei Yuan initially intended to scrap the plan, but after some hesitation, he allowed Human Fireworks to continue refining it and finalizing the details. This was perhaps Qingming's last resort in resistance.

A light rain suddenly began to fall from the sky, like mist and clouds. Wei Yuan walked in the rain and mist for a while, until his face and body were wet, sticky, and slippery. He wiped his face, left the front line, and returned to his residence.

At this moment, a cultivator from the Primordial Palace placed a stack of intelligence reports on Wei Yuan's desk. Wei Yuan picked them up and read them one by one.

Today's intelligence reports are all about events that happened in the Western Jin court. There are official court reports as well as intelligence reports sent by Consort Yuan, Marquis Xiang, Li Weisheng, Sun Chaoen, and others.

In the past few days, several articles written by Cai Shizhi have been widely circulated among the northwestern states of Jin and Zhao. They mainly criticize Wei Yuan for being cruel and inhumane, filling the battle lines with ordinary people, and disregarding human life.

In the Western Jin court, Li Weisheng's proposal to "fill the court with upright officials" was highly regarded by the King of Jin and the Left Chancellor. As a result, in recent years, the King of Jin vigorously promoted a group of so-called "pure officials." This group of scholars now launches a daily, frenzied attack on Wei Yuan in court, with some even saying they would send troops to punish him and offering to lead the army themselves.

About two-thirds of the intelligence reports were impeachments against Wei Yuan.

The Crown Prince seized the opportunity to demand that an imperial envoy be sent to Qingming to investigate whether the matter was true. With the Crown Prince's intervention and the clamor from numerous civil officials, the Prince of Jin had no choice but to comply with public opinion and issue an imperial decree to send an imperial envoy to investigate.

The imperial envoy had always been Zhao Tong, but how could the Crown Prince let Wei Yuan pass so easily? So after a lot of reasoned argument, most of the civil officials also disapproved of the eunuch faction, and finally decided to appoint the newly appointed censor Zhu Xiaocun as the imperial envoy, who would set off soon to Qingming to inspect the people's livelihood.

Wei Yuan put down the last intelligence report, narrowed his eyes slightly, and muttered to himself, "The Crown Prince?"

Wei Yuan almost forgot about the Crown Prince.

Despite several trips to the capital to pay homage, Wei Yuan and the Crown Prince did not interact much, and the Crown Prince made no attempt to recruit him. Among the Prince of Jin's sons, he had the most contact with the Prince of Wei. In addition, Wei Yuan also found the Prince of Fu quite disliked; there was no particular reason, he simply disliked this stubborn and unruly child.

As for the Crown Prince, his presence was quite low-key, so it's unexpected that he suddenly jumped out at this time. Could it be because of the young Prince of Chu?
The Wu tribe at the front lines were already overwhelming Wei Yuan, and now chaos was brewing in the rear.

Wei Yuan suddenly sneered. Those officials in the court far from the front lines might think this was just ordinary factional strife. But in Wei Yuan's eyes, anyone who held him back at this time was a mortal enemy.

Wei Yuan felt it was necessary for the officials in the court to know this.

Wei Yuan stood before the map, gazing at the wolves surrounding Qingming. After a long period of contemplation, he finally made a plan. He first went to the secluded residences of several national masters.

Xuanjizi and Canglongshi were surprised that Wei Yuan returned so quickly. They had only analyzed a small portion of the game records from the previous two games, and Chenzhou and Qiuyue were busy writing commentaries. Among them, although the monk Qiuyue's chess skills were slightly inferior, his writing skills were the best, making him the main force in compiling the game records.

Upon seeing the distinguished masters, Wei Yuan said, "Half a month from now, or after the next great battle, I plan to hold a treasure appreciation event and invite respected and virtuous people from the surrounding area to participate. I would appreciate it if you seniors could stay a few more days and support me at the event."

"A treasure appreciation event? What kind of treasure could possibly warrant such a grand affair?" Several renowned experts were intrigued. Anything that could prompt Wei Yuan to convene such a event must be extraordinary.

Wei Yuan took out an object and said, "This is the treasure."

When the national champions saw what Wei Yuan was holding, they all gasped in astonishment!
What Wei Yuan was holding was the Yin Bullet.

(End of this chapter)