The night is deep, the clouds cover the moon, the wind blows the trees, the leaves and shadows are swaying, the early autumn night has a bit of desolate meaning, occasionally from the grass and bricks beside the road from the sound of a few autumn insects, but also to this bleak autumn night to add a little bleak.

In the east of the city, a manor, the wall is high and the courtyard is large, the houses are in pieces, you can know that it is a rich and noble family at a glance, there are two big red dead wind lamps hanging above the door, the light reflects the plaque of gold characters on the black background on the forehead of the door, 'the first chess player in the world', there is a stone lion in front of the door, the teeth and claws are open, the spirit is vivid, two family members are guarding the door, one yawns again and again, one rubs his eyes from time to time, although the sleep is hazy, he does not dare to take a nap.

"Rustling", in the autumn wind, a young man in a gray robe walked from the road in front of the village, the moonlight was dark and he couldn't see his face clearly, it was estimated that he was eighteen or nineteen years old, with a thin body, free and easy manners, with a very heavy bookish atmosphere, it seemed that he was a scholar with a good family background.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, the two family members who were fighting against the sleepy insects immediately cheered up, and invariably fixed their eyes on the scholar - it was so late, a student didn't stay at home to study, and ran to the street to wander around without anything? Could it be that I ate too much for dinner?

The young man did not stop, but glanced at the door, ignoring the vigilant gaze of the two family members, and still walked, and after a while, the figure of Kung Fu blended into the thick darkness, the wind blew the leaves, the autumn insects murmured, the stars were dotted, and the night was still as if nothing had happened.

The person has gone away, and the nerves that the two family members have just tensed have relaxed again, and the long night is long, how to get through it?

"Third brother, what is written on the plaque hanging on the door?" The younger family asked without words.

"Boy, so you don't know how to read?" The older family asked with a smile, with a bit of banter in his tone.

"Heh, if my family has money to let me study, do I still need to sell myself to Jiangfu as a servant?" The young man laughed.

"Well, that's right. You just entered Jiangfu today, and it's not strange that you don't know this, but you don't know how to live in Jiangfu, and it doesn't matter if you don't know how to read, but you don't know that this plaque is absolutely impossible, this is a plaque given by the emperor, symbolizing the honor of Jiangfu, representing the status of the Jiang family in the Great Zhou chess world,' Eighty years ago, the first generation of the Jiang family, Jiang Yihua Jiang, the old man of the Jiang family, showed his might in the chess battle in front of the emperor, and defeated the three masters with one strength, three battles and three victories, and took the lead. The elder family said with pride on his face, it seemed that the glory of the Jiang family even had supreme glory on the face of him, the gatekeeper.

"The first family of Da Zhou Yilin? Third brother, listen to what you mean, in addition to the Jiang family, there are other Yilin families in Da Zhou? The young man asked curiously.

"Nonsense! Silly you! Listening to the question of the young family, the older family was so angry for a while that he almost didn't spit out a mouthful of blood, "I also want to know, if Da Zhou Yilin only has one Jiangfu family, wouldn't it be redundant, what is it called the first family, is it interesting?" Lao Ding scolded.

"Uh, hey, hey." The young man was a little embarrassed to be scolded, scratched the back of his head, and sneered: "I just came from the countryside, I don't understand anything, if there is anything wrong, you can bear with me." ”

Lao Ding is not really angry, on the contrary, there is such an object who can put the dragon gate array to his heart, the long night is long, anyway, there is nothing to do at the door, beating the child on a rainy day, and being idle is idle.

"Well, seeing that you are still clever, I will tell you about it, so as not to make outsiders laugh at it and say that the subordinates of the Jiang Mansion have no knowledge."

"The big surrounding chess has a long history, as early as more than a thousand years ago, there was a 'Yiqiu, The legend of the good gamer of the whole country, the family sect, can be described as many as a cow's hair, count at will, a little famous sect has to have seventeen or eighteen, the Go family, then it is even more countless, there are at least more than 20 within a radius of 100 miles of the capital, but the sect has size, the family has strength and weakness, although there are many sects, but the strength, the scale is very different, the small sect is only a few people, the large sect disciples are thousands, and the largest sect has three, respectively, the righteous door, the hundred battle gate and the Xiaoyao faction, the family is four, respectively, the Jiang family, the Tan family, the Dong family and the Zheng family, the three major schools and the four major families have many originsFor example, the teacher of the third generation patriarch of the Jiang family, Jiang Tiande, is the head of the Zhengdao Gate, Qingfeng Dao Chief, the fourth generation patriarch of the Tan family, Tan Chongyu, once served as the deputy head of the Baizhan Gate, and the patriarch of the previous generation of the Dong family studied in the Xiaoyao School, as for the Zheng family, although the relationship with the three major sects is not as close as that of the other major families, they often pay a lot of money to hire masters from various factions to teach chess skills at home and teach disciples. ”

Just as the three major schools are recognized by the world because of their strength, the fame and status of the four major families are also obtained by strength -- since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the emperors of all dynasties like to play chess, so the domestic game is flourishing, and it is known as the national skill, and the famous masters are emerging in an endless stream. But as the saying goes, there is no first, there is no second, who has the highest level and the strongest strength among so many masters across the country? This question can not be answered by just saying with his mouth, so 80 years ago, Emperor Jiande first opened the imperial city chess battle, and set up a nine-grade system of Go, and summoned a total of 168 masters from all over the world to compete in the capital, which lasted 100 days, four masters came out of the way, and obtained the qualification to perform in front of the emperor, the first of these four masters is the first master of the Jiang family, Jiang Yihua Jiang old man, and the other three are Tan Gaotang of the Tan family, Dong Mengshu of the Dong family, and Zheng Yihua of the Zheng family. The four of them fought in front of Emperor Jiande for three days, and in the end, the old man Jiang was a step ahead, won all three battles, and was crowned as the first product in the world, and the other three were named the second grade, and the rest were rated as three to nine grades according to their different results. ”

Since then, the Imperial City Chess Battle has become a practice, held every five years, but the scale is not as large as the first time, the number of participating chess players remains twenty-four, the minimum qualification is four grades, and those who enter the top three are set as three grades, and can enter the Hanlin Academy for chess to be recruited, and enjoy the six grades of the court officials, how about it? Doesn't that clear now? ”

After chattering, the old man's narration finally came to an end, and he asked the young man.