Liang Shanbo: The Poor Scholar-Emperor

Chapter 105 Xie Xuan Admits Defeat at the Second-Rank Seated Illumination Realm

Xie Xuan no longer hesitated and said to Xie Daoyun, "Since you have said so, elder sister, then I will agree to this and act as their matchmaker."

However, he frowned slightly again: "Even if I were to act as matchmaker, the Zhu couple might not necessarily agree."

I know Zhu Guang well; he is a magnanimous person, otherwise he wouldn't have allowed his daughter to dress as a boy and go out to study.

However, being open-minded is one thing, but marrying off one's daughter is another. He probably wouldn't easily agree to let his daughter marry a poor man.

Moreover, the Ma family of Shangyu coveted the Zhu family's assets to fill the financial hole in their private army. Even if I acted as matchmaker, the Ma family would most likely not give up easily, and the Langya Wang clan might also interfere. The Ma family's two thousand private soldiers were, in fact, being supported by the Langya Wang clan.

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, powerful clans would integrate local military forces into their own networks through marriage alliances. Local strongmen needed the protection of these clans, while the clans needed the military support of the local strongmen. The relationship between the Wang clan of Langya and the Ma family of Shangyu exemplifies this.

In addition, Shining County was originally part of Shangyu County, and was originally the southern part of Shangyu. In the fourth year of Yongjian reign of Emperor Shun of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the southern part of Shangyu was separated and Shining County was established.

Shining County is located south of Shangyu County, and the two are closely adjacent. The Xie Family Manor in Shining is not far from the Zhu Family Manor in Shangyu. Zhu Guang had some dealings with the Xie family, but their relationship was not deep. Xie Xuan also knew something about Zhu Guang.

Xie Daoyun pondered for a moment and said, "If you want this matter to go smoothly, I have a way."

Xie Xuan asked, "What brilliant plan does my elder sister have?"

Xie Daoyun said, "It's not exactly a brilliant plan. If you and I, brother and sister, write a letter together to our uncle, Anshi, and ask him to write a letter to Zhu Guang in his own hand, then this matter will most likely be successful."

The arrival of my uncle's letter signifies the Xie family's intention to form an alliance with the Zhu family of Shangyu. If Zhu Guang is a sensible person, he will naturally be eager to forge this marriage alliance. As for the Ma family of Shangyu, they dare not act rashly.

However, this matter requires both of us to write a letter together. Only then will my uncle agree, considering that we are jointly requesting it.

Xie Xuan considered it for a moment, then nodded and said, "Agreed."

He suddenly smiled: "However, it can't be too easy for me to revise this letter. You and I, siblings, have gone to so much trouble, even disturbing our uncle, so we must test Liang Shanbo again."

At that moment, Xie Daoyun ordered Qingxiao to go outside and lead Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai into the study.

Liang Shanbo entered the study and looked up to see that Xie Daoyun had not hidden behind the blue silk curtain, but was sitting at the same table as Xie Xuan in a generous manner.

He finally saw Xie Daoyun's true face.

Last autumn, during that parting glance, with only a corner of the oxcart window lifted, he caught a glimpse of Xie Daoyun's face. Though he could infer from this that Xie Daoyun possessed remarkable beauty, it was ultimately a case of seeing flowers through a fog. Today, facing her directly, he finally saw her elegant appearance, composed demeanor, and an air of authority that could not be taken lightly.

A slight thought crossed his mind. Although he was somewhat surprised, he did not lose his composure and remained calm.

Xie Xuan summarized the main points of his discussion with Xie Daoyun and recounted them to Liang Shanbo.

Finally, he said, "My elder sister admires this young lady from the Zhu family and has already promised to write a letter for her to my uncle. However, if you want me to write a letter for you to my uncle as well, you must have some ability to impress me. Last year you used a lot of effort to make me agree to that promise. What ability do you have today that would make me willingly write this letter for you?"

Upon hearing this, Liang Shanbo lowered his gaze slightly, placing it on the unfinished game of chess on the low table.

Black and white pieces are scattered on the board, and the white pieces are in a precarious situation.

He stared at it for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and said, "Sir, there is a game of chess in front of you. I, Shanbo, dare to challenge you to a game."

If I am fortunate enough to win, I will ask you to write a letter.

This is the method that Meng Wenlang taught him before he left.

That day, Mr. Meng said to him, "If Xie Youdu refuses to act as matchmaker, you can try asking him to play a game of chess. He is passionate about chess and his skills are superb. However, your chess skills are already exceptional, rarely seen in the world, so you have a greater chance of winning."

Xie Xuan was surprised that Liang Shanbo would take the initiative to play chess, and couldn't help but chuckle, "Oh? You're good at chess?"

Liang Shanbo said, "He may not be a top-tier expert, but he should be quite good."

Xie Xuan asked with a hint of pride, "Then do you know how good I am at chess?"

Liang Shanbo said, "Mr. Meng once told me that your chess skills are superb, and ordinary people are no match for you."

Xie Xuan pressed further, "Since you know all this, why do you still dare to suggest playing chess with me?"

Liang Shanbo replied, "Sir, you want Shanbo to demonstrate his abilities, but you have already witnessed my skills in philosophical discussions, poetry, military strategy, wrestling, and archery last year. Now, seeing a chess game in front of you, I thought of playing chess. I will do my best and give it a try. If I lose, it will be at your fault, and it won't be shameful."

Xie Xuan turned to look at the unfinished game, the very game that Xie Daoren had pondered for a long time without finding a solution.

A mischievous glint suddenly appeared in his eyes. He pointed to the chessboard and laughed, "This is an endgame, and White is in dire straits. I don't want you to start the game from scratch. You'll play this endgame, taking the white pieces. If you can turn the tide, I, Xie Youdu, will write this letter for you. How about it? Do you dare to accept the challenge?"

Having witnessed Liang Shanbo's extraordinary talents firsthand last year, he did not underestimate Liang Shanbo's chess skills. Even so, he did not believe that Liang Shanbo could turn this seemingly hopeless game into a winning one.

He was well aware of the difficulty of this game; even his elder sister, with her considerable chess skills, was helpless. What could Liang Shanbo possibly do? He was merely testing Liang Shanbo's chess abilities. If Liang Shanbo lost, it wouldn't mean he wouldn't write a letter to Xie An.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yingtai's gaze fell upon Liang Shanbo, filled with anticipation.

She knew very well how skilled Brother Liang was at chess.

Xie Daoyun was very curious. She had been racking her brains to find a way out of this seemingly hopeless situation. Could this Liang Shanbo possibly find a way out?

Thinking of this, she stood up and gave way to Liang Shanbo.

Liang Shanbo said no more, straightened his clothes, and knelt down opposite Xie Xuan, facing the unfinished game.

He lowered his head and stared at the chessboard, his gaze slowly sweeping across the nineteen lines.

On the chessboard, the white stones are heavily surrounded by the black stones. A large dragon in the center is on its last legs, and a small group of white stones in the upper left corner is struggling to hold on, but the black stones are all around it.

Most ordinary chess players would surrender upon seeing this situation.

Liang Shanbo didn't rush to make a move; he simply watched quietly, his gaze focused.

The room was completely silent, with Zhu Yingtai, Xie Daoyun, and Qingxiao all holding their breath and listening intently.

For a long while, Liang Shanbo remained motionless.

His gaze began from the top left corner, slowly tracing along the edge; then he started from the large group in the center, calculating step by step. Every possible move, every possible response, was rapidly calculated in his mind.

To abandon a pawn? No way.

Getting an eye surgery? Too risky.

A strong attack? That plays right into Black's hands.

Cut it off? Black's connections are very strong, making it difficult to succeed.

Suddenly, his gaze stopped at an inconspicuous spot in the upper left corner of the chessboard. There lay a few white stones, seemingly insignificant, rendered lifeless by the black stones. However, what if he changed his approach? If he placed a stone there, sacrificing one to gain the other, using sacrifice as a means of advancement, then for black to respond, he would have to—

His eyes suddenly lit up.

Then, he placed his first piece.

With a soft "snap," a white piece landed steadily on the chessboard.

The place where the piece was placed left Xie Xuan, Xie Daoyun, and Zhu Yingtai all stunned.

Instead of rescuing the precarious dragon in the middle, he placed a piece lightly in a seemingly insignificant corner in the upper left.

Xie Xuan was slightly taken aback, thinking to himself, "What is this boy's intention? Instead of rescuing the dragon, he's playing chess in a corner. Isn't he just courting death?"

He glanced at Liang Shanbo and saw that the other man was calm and composed, without any sign of panic. So he remained calm, picked up a black piece, and methodically reinforced the encirclement of the white group.

Without hesitation, Liang Shanbo placed his second piece in the upper left corner. This piece echoed the previous one, subtly weaving a small net in the corner, leaving behind a highly flexible ko-and-live shape.

Xie Xuan thought he was just stirring up trouble in the corner. Although he found it a bit tricky, he was confident that he had already formed an ironclad encirclement in the center, so he didn't care and continued to apply pressure in the center, intending to kill the large white group in one fell swoop.

Third son. Fourth son.

When Liang Shanbo made his fifth move in the upper left corner, the remaining pieces had been arranged into an ingenious ko fight. Although it was not yet alive, it contained endless variations. Once it was detonated, it would lead to a full-blown ko fight.

However, Liang Shanbo did not dwell on this. With his sixth move, he suddenly changed his strategy and placed a piece in the center. This move was extremely cunning, placing it precisely on a tiny gap in the black group's encirclement. Moreover, this move itself contained a ko-making move, which, once triggered, would lead to a life-or-death struggle.

Xie Xuan was about to respond casually when he picked up a black piece, but it suddenly hovered in mid-air.

He lowered his head and focused intently on the chessboard, his expression suddenly changing.

In a normal situation, Black wouldn't be afraid of this ko. However, at this moment, the group of White stones in the upper left corner becomes a foreshadowing. Although those few remaining stones are not currently in conflict, they secretly contain a ko-like shape that could lead to survival.

If Black initiates a ko fight with White in the center, White only needs to bring the ko in the upper left corner to life as a ko threat, and White will have an endless supply of reinforcements. With one corner and one center, echoing each other, even if Black has already formed an encirclement, it cannot withstand being attacked from two places at the same time.

The room was completely silent.

Xie Daoyun watched intently, initially finding it strange and quirky, but after watching several rounds, she began to vaguely glimpse its intricacies.

She was secretly surprised: "So those seemingly pointless moves in the upper left corner were actually preparing for this moment. The remaining stones were not seeking to live, but to avoid death. Using the ko threat in the corner as support, they countered by starting a ko in the center, striking right at the black stone's vital point."

While I was racking my brains just now, I never imagined such a strange path. Liang Shanbo's divination methods are truly unfathomable!

In the following moves, Liang Shanbo pressed forward relentlessly, each move landing on a crucial point.

The dragon in the middle of his body, which was originally on the verge of death, gradually regained its vitality after his series of attacks and counterattacks.

First, a ko fight was initiated at the gap. Black was wary of the potential ko to be triggered by White in the upper left corner and dared not fight the ko with all its might. Then, White took the opportunity to make an eye, and then, taking advantage of Black's hasty reinforcement, White forcibly cut and attacked from the gap, creating a passage to the other side, with a second eye emerging.

Xie Xuan couldn't help but become nervous.

He now fully understood that Liang Shanbo's seemingly insignificant move in the upper left corner was not a mere survival tactic, but a meticulously planned strategy. That lingering ko threat was like an ambush, hidden in the shadows, waiting for the central battle to become a stalemate before transforming into endless ko threats, working in tandem with the white stones in the center to tear apart the seemingly unbreakable encirclement of the black stones.

Neither he nor Xie Daoyun initially saw through the mystery, thinking that the white pieces were merely causing trouble in the corner. Little did they know that it was the key foreshadowing that would turn the tide of the game.

The battle raged on until the eve of the final game, when White's large group of stones in the center finally made its second eye.

At that moment, a silent thunderclap seemed to resound on the chessboard. Black's painstakingly constructed encirclement crumbled in an instant. Not only did it fail to trap White's large group, but it also lost several key pieces in the chaotic battle. White even seized the opportunity to make moves in the upper left corner, greatly enhancing its prestige.

After several rounds, Xie Xuan tried his best to end the game, but he had lost a lot of ground in the upper left corner and suffered heavy losses in the middle, so the situation on the board was already very bad.

He stared at the chess pieces for a long time before finally gently placing the black piece he was holding back into the chess box.

He looked up at Liang Shanbo, his face filled with disbelief, which then turned to admiration. He couldn't help but laugh, his loud laughter echoing through the study and breaking the silence.

He then clapped his hands and praised, "Excellent game! Truly excellent game! In this game, you used the method of combining the real and the unreal, and defeating the conventional with the unorthodox."

Those seemingly disruptive moves in your upper left corner are actually ambush tactics; the apparent collapse in the center is a trap. Only when I've pressed forward with all my might, encircling your large group, will I unleash my killing move, coordinating from within and without to break through the encirclement and secure a decisive victory. This isn't just playing chess; it's like deploying troops and strategizing on a battlefield.

Such insight, such strategic thinking—even I, Xie Youdu, must admire it. You just said your chess skills are quite good," hehe, it's more than just "not bad," this level of skill has reached the second-rank "Sitting Illumination" realm, even I am a step behind you."

The ranking of chess players in the Eastern Jin Dynasty followed the old system of the Three Kingdoms and Wei-Jin periods, which divided them into nine ranks, with the first rank being the highest and the ninth rank being the lowest.

The highest level of skill is "Divine Mastery," where players move with divine skill and unpredictable strategies. This is the ultimate realm of a national champion.

The second-rank "Sitting Illumination" master has a complete grasp of the situation, sees everything clearly, and subdues the enemy without fighting; victory or defeat is decided in a single thought.

The third-rank "Specific" player is well-versed in all chess principles and excels in both offense and defense.

The fourth-rank "Penetrating the Mysterious" can perceive opportunities that are difficult for ordinary people to detect, and lay down deadly moves silently.

The fifth rank, "Using Wisdom," is skilled in calculation. Although not yet at the level of a god, they proceed with caution and strategy.

The sixth grade is "small and skillful," often displaying ingenuity in specific areas, but lacking foresight in the overall picture.

The seventh-rank "combat strength" fighters are quick to fight and rely on brute force, rarely using strategy.

The eighth-rank "Foolish" player's moves and opening strategies may seem foolish and clumsy, indicating a lack of understanding of chess principles, but in reality, each move is solid and makes it difficult for the opponent to attack.

The ninth rank, "Shouzhuo," is the lowest among the nine ranks. It means not to compete in skill, not to act rashly, but to wait patiently.

People often humbly refer to themselves as "a lowly, unskilled player," but if they were to play against a master player who is "a divine player of the first rank," the entire room would fall silent and hold their breath, and even the young servant boy serving the game would not dare to make a move.

At this moment, Xie Xuan said that Liang Shanbo's chess skills had reached the second-rank sitting realm, which was obviously a very high praise, but also a reasonable one.

Liang Shanbo's performance in this game perfectly matches the definition of "second-rank official".

The definition of "Second-Rank Sitting Posture" is: having a complete grasp of the overall situation, seeing things clearly, subduing the enemy without fighting, and winning or losing is just a thought away.

He had the entire game in mind, and instead of trying to save the seemingly vulnerable large group of stones in the center, he placed a stone in an inconspicuous spot in the upper left corner. This proves that he wasn't looking at the gains and losses of a single point, but rather the interconnectedness of the entire game.

He had keen insight, discerning the possibility of a coordinated attack between the upper left corner and the central breakout, and he had calculated the situation many moves ahead. This was precisely the calculation method of the "sitting in illumination" realm.

He subdued his opponent without fighting, not through fierce battles, but by creating a ko fight where the opponent could not win either way through a series of "foreshadowing" moves. By the time Xie Xuan realized this possibility, the game was already over, and victory or defeat was decided in a split second.

Xie Xuan's decision to abandon his pawn and admit defeat was a manifestation of "subduing the enemy without fighting."

At this moment, Xie Daoyun couldn't help but praise, "I was racking my brains trying to find a solution to this game, but to no avail. Liang Shanbo, you actually found such a brilliant move in the endgame, turning defeat into victory. It's truly amazing. Youdu is right, your chess skills have reached the second-rank level."

Zhu Yingtai looked at Liang Shanbo, her face full of pride and joy, her lips curving upwards, unable to hide it.

She recalled how Liang had just started learning chess last January. At that time, he couldn't even set up the most basic opening moves, and his chess skills were far inferior to hers.

She couldn't help but wonder, "If Mr. Meng were here today, seeing Brother Liang's game of chess, what would he think? He would surely be pleased, wouldn't he?"

Xie Xuan then asked Liang Shanbo curiously, "How many years have you been studying chess?"

Liang Shanbo frankly replied, "I started learning chess last January, less than two years ago."

Xie Xuan was taken aback, then laughed and said, "You are truly remarkable! Your achievements in less than two years are equivalent to my nearly twenty years of hard work. I really don't know whether to be gratified or ashamed."

Xie Daoyun looked on with admiration.

Liang Shanbo bowed slightly to Xie Xuan, his expression calm: "Sir, you flatter me. Today, Shanbo only managed to find a sliver of hope by sheer luck. In terms of true skill in chess, I am far inferior to you."

He spoke modestly, but a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, deep emotion/reflection) welled up within him.

He has been studying Go for nearly two years, during which time he has devoted a great deal of time and energy to it. He has memorized various Go scores, often studying them repeatedly on his own, and has also analyzed and dissected the entire game after losing to others on many occasions.

Hard work pays off.

Just as he thought when he decided to learn chess, mastering chess would benefit him throughout his life.

Today, the hard work of the past two years has finally paid off.

Fortunately, his game against Xie Xuan took place today. If it had been last autumn, with his skill level at that time, even with a thousand schemes, he would have been no match for Xie Xuan. In the past year or so, his skill level has improved significantly, and he can now be considered a second-rank master.

Meng Wenlang was no match for him at all.

Even Xie Xuan paled in comparison to him today.