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Hearing the sound of someone making noise, a few people didn't feel too surprised, after all, although this is far away from the capital, it is a place to welcome the send-off, and it is normal for someone to gather here at this time.

The carriage continued to move forward, walked about thirty-two steps, the whole picture of the roadside pavilion appeared, this is a brick and wood structure of the pointed hexagonal pavilion, covers an area of about one zhang, the entrance is in the east, the exit is in the west, the two sides are guardrails, the guardrail is very wide, about one foot two inches, three feet from the ground, there is a backrest next to it, you can overlook it by the railing, you can also sit down and rest, it can be said that it kills two birds with one stone, there is a round stone table in the middle of the pavilion, the shape is simple, the carving and lettering, it is very heavy, a circle of four stone piers and the stone table are the same material carving, complement each other, Although this pavilion is located in the suburbs, often beaten by the wind and rain, but because of the maintenance of people from time to time, so the paint color is bright and clean, not as old and decadent as most suburban buildings, the entrance of the pavilion also has a section of ten or so steps long Yongdao, both sides are the guardrails of wood, the top is crossed by wooden strips, there are creepers on both sides of the Yongdao, the vine branches climb up along the column, the wide vine leaves cover the Yongdao almost completely, there is a pond on the south side of the pavilion, the water surface is wide and there are dozens of zhang square circles, the lotus leaves are all over the place, with the wave of the pond water and a volt together, A few frogs croaked, and suddenly their legs jumped into the water, and with a thud, splashed a few watery flowers, and rippled a few waves.

The source of the noise was in the pavilion, four or five young men and women, and two children were pointing around the stone table in the middle, and there was a chess set on the stone table, but it was not Tan Xiaotian who knew. Hearing the sound of the carriage here, they saw that another pedestrian was coming, and these people didn't care. I turned around and continued to watch the two little children sitting there fighting on the chessboard.

The so-called first come, first come, since the pavilion has been occupied by others first, Steward Zheng does not plan to join in the fun, seeing that those men and women are dressed very exquisitely, and a few people still have a haughty and confident look on their faces, they know that these people are likely to be the sons and daughters of big families in the capital to go to the suburbs to play, there is no need to provoke, so he instructed the coachman to drive the carriage to the shade of the tree. He took out the straw mat from the car and spread it on the ground, and took out some dried meat and dry food. For food such as melons and fruits, several people sit on the ground, eating, drinking, chatting and enjoying the coolness.

Tan Xiaotian is young and has a small amount of food, so he feels full after eating a hard noodle bun and two pieces of dried meat in three bites. Steward Zheng chatted with the dart head, and he felt interested. I had nothing to do, so I stretched my neck to see what those people in the pavilion were playing, although their location was some distance from the pavilion, but Tan Xiaotian's eyes were very good, and he could see it relatively clearly.

――There are two children who are playing against them, a boy and a woman, and the two children are not very old, similar to Tan Xiaotian. The boy has a tiger head and a tiger brain, and he is very strong. Maybe he was anxious, or maybe he was anxious because the situation was unfavorable, so he simply knelt on the stone pier with his knees, held the table with both hands, and lowered his head and thought hard. Compared with him, the little girl opposite is much more leisurely, with a small face that is snow-white and pink, bright eyes and bright teeth, although she is young, she is a beauty, playing with two chess pieces in her hand, and urging the other party to hurry up and fall with a smile.

"Uncle Zheng, what kind of chess are they playing?" After watching it for a while, he couldn't figure out what the two people were playing, but seeing the excitement of a few people watching the battle, Tan Xiaotian became curious and asked Steward Zheng.

"They, oh, they play chess." Steward Zheng glanced at it, and then replied.

"Chess?" , Tan Xiaotian has never seen chess, and just saying a name means nothing to explain.

"Yes, it's chess, like Go, it's also a game of wits between two people, and the rules are a little more complicated than Go." Steward Zheng then explained further.

"How complicated is it?" Tan Xiaotian said curiously.

"Hehe, the Go chess pieces are only black and white, and the two sides take turns to drop the pieces, in principle, except for the absence of gas and the need to drop the pieces when robbing, there are almost no artificial restrictions, as long as the player is willing, the chess pieces can be placed wherever they want."

There are many artificial rules for chess, such as soldiers, can only move forward and not backward, can only go one square at a time, and can only move laterally after crossing the river, and the cannon and the rook, as long as there are no other chess pieces on the way forward, you can go to the end, the horse must go days, and there are restrictions on the legs of different horses, that is, if there are chess pieces next to the horse, the horse can not move in that direction, the phase can only go to the field character, when there is a child in the middle of the field character, it is called blocking the elephant's eye, and the elephant's eye can not move. Soldiers and generals can only move in the nine squares, the soldier walks a diagonal line, will walk a straight line, not sloppy at all, in addition to eating pieces, if there is an opponent's chess piece on the landing point of the chess piece, then the chess piece will be removed from the chessboard, but the cannon is an exception, the middle must be separated by a chess piece of the side or the opponent, well, that's roughly what it looks like. Steward Zheng explained that although he didn't have much research on chess, he still knew the basic rules and things.

"Wow, how is it so complicated! Who invented it? Tan Xiaotian sighed.

"Hehe, I don't know who invented it, but the reason why there are so many rules to say is actually easy to understand, because chess is a game that simulates the battle between two armies, each kind of chess piece corresponds to a class, and each class has its specific characteristics, such as soldiers, six of the sixteen chess pieces on one side are soldiers, the largest number but the smallest value, obey the orders of the generals, can only advance and not retreat, although it is not a pity to abandon it, cannons, long range, powerful, close combat is not as good as even a pawn, once forced into a dead end, It can only be restrained, horses, fast movements, flexible landing points, majestic on all sides, but easy to be limited by the terrain, there is a risk of being separated from the horse's legs, can not cross the river, soldiers can only be guarded in the forbidden city, the commander is the least limited power is the key to victory or defeat, once it is eaten, the chess game is lost, these are similar to the real war. Once you understand this, it is not difficult to understand the rules of chess. Steward Zheng replied.

"Oh, I see, it sounds like fun, Uncle Zheng, do you know how to play chess?" Tan Xiaotian said curiously.

"Hehe, it's natural to go down, but I don't care too much, I do it occasionally, it's not good, it's just average." Steward Zheng stroked his short beard under his chin and replied with a smile, although his words were modest, but his expression was very complacent, obviously deep down he didn't think that he was just playing chess. (To be continued......)