Chapter 1 An Aptly Named Public Competition

With Yi Zhan Lou's current scale and influence, the so-called public competition is a clever way of putting it. Ye Tao, and even Tan Weixin, haven't yet been able to conduct tiered selection competitions nationwide, followed by a more representative and higher-quality national finals. This is not only due to financial resources, but also because the game of junqi (military chess) hasn't yet reached a sufficient level of popularity among the public, and the player base is still relatively weak. Furthermore, Yi Zhan Lou, or at least the distribution network of Yi Zhan Xiao Pu (Yi Zhan Shops), hasn't been popularized to that extent. More troublesome is that the training of staff for the Da Zhanlue (Grand Strategy) mode is far from meeting the needs of organizing a nationwide competition. In modern times, the Da Zhanlue mode would be a quasi-turn-based strategic simulation game that could be played online, with a large number of calculations and piece arrangements handled by computers. However, in this era, with the general level of mathematics being so dismal, it isn't easy to find people who can perform even slightly complex mixed arithmetic calculations. As for some of the index calculations and more complex geometrical calculations that Ye Tao is brewing for later development, as well as tolerance calculations that allow for a certain degree of error, he can probably only discuss them with Tan Weixin when brainstorming further developments for junqi.

However, with a modern mindset, even this competition with limited scale can still be manipulated into a grand event that attracts widespread public attention.

As a publicly conducted competition, the various rules and regulations of the competition have long been distributed through Yi Zhan Xiao Pu, and all teams and individuals who register to participate in the competition can obtain a detailed copy of the rules. The competition doesn't charge a registration fee; instead, it provides a certain standard of food and lodging subsidies to participants from other places. This "business" is handled by Qingluo Hangshe, which has been doing mediocre business in Danyang.

For Ye Tao and Tan Weixin, turning the public competition into a highly anticipated grand event seems to be a simple matter. In the small square in front of Yi Zhan Lou, a series of huge posters painted with oil-based pigments were displayed in rows, starting a few days before the official registration began. Each of these posters depicted an aspect of war. Besides the scene of a large-scale battle in the center, there were also images specifically depicting the details of logistics, scout troops, fortification construction, operation of machinery, evacuation of civilians, organization of laborers, feeding of warhorses, and other services for the war. Although this era is somewhat different from the era that Ye Tao and Tan Weixin came from, in this land where they live, in the artistic field dominated by ink wash paintings and water-based paints, these posters, painted with oil painting techniques combined with modern poster techniques, seemingly simple but extremely rich in content, have become a huge attraction in themselves. After all, a large proportion of the people who are actively involved in junqi competitions and training are the sons of wealthy families and officials, and these people aren't too bad at appreciating art.

Even more captivating were a series of small-scale, localized, and highly targeted lectures and seminars. Although Ye's employees couldn't participate in the competition due to conflict of interest, their wealth of experience made them the main force in organizing these lectures and seminars. Those chess players from various places were very happy to learn something from them. After all, outside of Yicheng and Danyang, other places have only had a short time to come into contact with junqi, especially the Da Zhanlue mode, and there's still a considerable gap in the development of tactics and other aspects compared to Yicheng and Danyang.

In fact, for most chess players, Yi Zhan Lou's extremely strict competition system seemed a bit unbelievable, and even the fact that Ye's employees didn't participate due to conflict of interest made everyone feel a little baffled. Isn't the point of organizing a competition after paying for it to show off one's influence and ability in this area? Those who can truly see the huge benefits that Ye Tao and Tan Weixin can gain from this competition naturally wouldn't tell those simpletons who are thinking about collecting a small registration fee but providing so many services how the competition organizing committee can balance profits and losses.

The individual competitions, with their uneven levels of skill, started first. In just two days, the initial two rounds of extremely laughable qualifying rounds came to an end. Unlike the Da Zhanlue mode, which requires team participation, the individual competition only requires an understanding of the classic version of junqi as a board game, and doesn't involve much military content. Those who can fully发挥 (fā huī - bring into full play) as strategists and commanders in the Da Zhanlue mode teams lost miserably in the individual competition in large numbers. The quality of the competition only improved when it entered the top 64 knockout stage.

The content of the competition, which took place in a room isolated from outside interference, was delivered directly to the commentary hall by specially assigned personnel, and the judging panel, led by Suo Zheng, selected the exciting content from all the games for commentary. For Ye Tao, this commentary hall, which continuously rotated with commentary and was busy non-stop for two shi chen (hours) each in the morning and afternoon, became another place that evoked his memories and made him linger. Every noon, he would run to the office behind the small stage in the commentary hall, which summarized the situation of all the games. Perhaps because the original design had relatively independent cubicles for each person, or perhaps because the chaotic work led to the ubiquitous mess in the office, this office, except for the lighting, was extremely similar to a modern office in almost every other aspect. Especially at noon, when all the floor-to-ceiling blinds leading directly to the garden behind were opened, letting the spring sunlight, which was beginning to become moist and gentle, shine in and illuminate the entire large office, this feeling became even more obvious. As this large office gradually became the central office of the organizing committee that commanded and guided the entire junqi public competition with the progress of the competition, and as this office became increasingly busy and tense in the leisurely atmosphere of this classical era, this office became increasingly attractive to Ye Tao. As a result, a few days after the public competition began, Ye Tao finally couldn't help but create a relatively independent cubicle by the window for himself in this huge office. From then on, this also became the place that everyone who wanted to find the increasingly busy Ye Tao had to reach. As for how the crowd, who were accustomed to leisure, felt about this busy, tense, and occasionally somewhat laughable little chaos that made people scratch their heads, that wasn't within Ye Tao's consideration.

"Young Master, is it okay to talk about these two games this afternoon?" Taking advantage of Ye Tao hurriedly stuffing lunch into his mouth in the office, Suo Zheng hurriedly inquired, unsure about the selection of a few games.

"Does it matter if the game itself is exciting? The real thing is whether you can make it exciting." Ye Tao was a little puzzled, and sent Suo Zheng away with a smile, finally successfully setting aside a block of time to deal with the person sent by Little Princess Tan Weishi to find him.

Under her sister's guidance, Tan Weishi spent only a few days building a fairly good team. In addition to Chi Lei, who was very familiar with the game and served as the head of the scout troops, thus fulfilling the feat of the Chi family siblings serving in three different teams, Tan Weishi's team also gathered many strange people. Zeng Zining, who was an apprentice in a pawnshop in the West City and was extremely sensitive to the calculation of minor battles, and Lin Shaohua, who claimed to be well-versed in military books but worked as a librarian in the Guozijian (Imperial College), could only be considered very ordinary figures in this team. The most special, however, was the little eunuch who was now standing respectfully in front of Ye Tao, Li Mian, who was only seventeen years old but was already one of the chief eunuchs in charge of the accounting work of the internal affairs of the Eastern Ping Palace.

No one knows what Li Mian's original surname was. Since he was adopted by the current chief eunuch of the internal affairs, Li Sishu, when he was an infant, he began to call himself by his current name. Li Mian is an extremely soft-hearted child. Li Sishu is old, and in order to be able to follow Li Sishu at all times and take care of the old eunuch who had devoted himself to the Eastern Ping royal family for decades, Li Mian entered the palace as a little eunuch. One is a eunuch, and the other is an orphan. Originally, they didn't have too many ideas about carrying on the family line, so they just went along with it. Li Mian is one of the few eunuchs who has an extremely sensitive touch for numbers and formulas. When Tan Weixin discovered this in a simple accident and recommended Li Mian to Li Sishu, Li Mian gradually revealed his talent in the internal affairs and consolidated his position with his talent in this area. How powerful is Li Mian's talent? Basically, he is a human-shaped computer. If he knows the formula, you can tell him the variables in the formula, and he can almost instinctively report the answer.

Since the team that Tan Weishi formed was somewhat rushed, Ye Tao's advice to Tan Weishi, as well as his and Tan Weixin's assistance to Tan Weishi in forming the team, was to have this team start from the game mechanics of the Yi Zhan Qi Da Zhanlue mode, relying on precise control and management of numbers and data to gain an advantage, rather than conducting unprofessional strategic thinking in a crude manner. Under the support of this idea, Li Mian and Zeng Zining and others are very useful.

Li Mian was a little uneasy. With the Eastern Ping royal family's plain self-restraint, they naturally wouldn't tolerate any arrogant and domineering behavior from servants. Although there's some power struggles and some sinister things in the palace, in general, Li Mian, who had been determined to serve Li Sishu and the royal family all his life since he was a child, had never stood at the forefront of glory. This time, since he agreed to Little Princess's invitation to join the team and undergo a series of training sessions, his feeling has been a little off. He finally understood that this team was going to stand in a place that attracts much attention and compete against those teams that are also attracting attention. As the training progressed, Li Mian discovered that his position in the team was becoming increasingly important. Although he didn't understand much about military affairs, more and more battles were becoming increasingly dependent on his opinions. Just this morning, he accidentally discovered a problem with a formula...

The matter is like this: in several internal training对抗赛 (duì kàng sài - sparring matches) conducted this morning, Li Mian took advantage of what he thought was a loophole in the game's numerical and formula settings, repeatedly winning by using the continuous impact bonus of the cavalry. In the formula system of the junqi Da Zhanlue mode, when a unit is continuously attacked by units with higher mobility than itself within a certain period, the attacking side will continuously accumulate attack bonuses. In fact, this is in line with the basic principles of guerrilla warfare, harassment warfare, and mobile warfare, and everyone agrees with this setting. However, Li Mian deliberately used small-scale suicide units to launch attacks in order to accumulate enough bonus for the final cavalry general attack. In reality, this tactic is completely impossible to achieve, because there's still a big difference between continuous suicide and continuous harassment. However, the Little Princess Tan Weishi's team was starting from the game level, and their first consideration was not the rationality of reality but the possibility of winning by using the game system.

Li Mian just felt a little strange, is this considered a loophole in the game? Is this considered a missing part of this huge and complete game system? The education that Li Mian received since childhood was that the Eastern Ping royal family they served would not make mistakes, and if there were mistakes, refer to the previous article. Even, their duty is to make up for these big and small mistakes for the Eastern Ping royal family they serve, that is, the Tan family. After Tan Weishi called Ye Tao jie fu (older sister's husband/brother-in-law) again and again, Li Mian currently regards Ye Tao as a zunzhe (venerated person) that he must treat with caution.

Ye Tao watched as Li Mian unconsciously formed a ceremonial arch with his hands in his sleeves every time he mentioned the Eastern Ping royal family and the two princesses of the Tan family, and his body would unconsciously bow a little bit. This is no longer restraint or respect, it has simply become a conditioned reflex. Ye Tao found it interesting, the probability of such a person existing in the era he originally lived in is too low.

"Li Gonggong..." Ye Tao thought for a moment. But Li Mian immediately bowed and interrupted: "Dare not, dare not, Young Master Ye, you can just call me Xiaomianzi, I can't bear the title of Li Gonggong."

"... Xiaomian," ignoring the symbolic name "Xiao Mouzi" for eunuchs, this name seemed a little intimate, but it showed that Ye Tao never treated Li Mian as an inner court eunuch and treated him differently in any way, "What do you think should be done now?"

Li Mian said decisively: "Change it. The calculations for the competition are all done by your subordinates, Young Master Ye. These people who are doing the calculations are all trustworthy. If you modify this formula, Young Master Ye, everyone will definitely not have any doubts."

Ye Tao shook his head and said, "This is a competition that needs to have authority. And the authority of the competition comes from fairness and justice. All the formulas of the Da Zhanlue mode are public. Although everyone is busy with various considerations in the competition, and most of the audience doesn't understand why, modifying the formula, as long as it's not enough to shake the final result of each calculation, doesn't shake the local victory or defeat, and only slightly adjusts the gains and losses of both sides, it's true that it won't cause any suspicion. But, from the perspective of this game, how can we let everyone believe the explanations and promises we make in the future?"

Li Mian said: "... But, if someone sees this problem, the game won't be perfect."

"Creating such a complex game, I knew from the beginning that this game must be imperfect. But, this is just a game. I am grateful that you came to tell me about your discovery, and I won't object to you using the flaws in this game rule in the competition. Because, this is all within the scope allowed by the rules of this game..." Ye Tao paused and said: "The imperfection of this competition is not limited to this aspect. It's just that this is the first problem in the formula design. After this competition, Yi Zhan Lou will release the first comprehensive modification plan for the various problems existing in the game. But, for the time being, since everyone is on the same starting line and is playing this game according to the same rules, then, in general, the authority, fairness, and justice of the competition are still guaranteed. Isn't the ability to discover the loopholes in the game also the ability of those teams and those quick-witted individuals?"

Li Mian savored what Ye Tao said, and bowed deeply, saying, "I have been taught." He then asked hesitantly: "Before I came out, Her Highness Princess Xiu instructed me to ask you if you would grace us with your presence at the Embroidery Garden tonight for tea?"

The Embroidery Garden is the current name of the Wangshi Garden that Ye Tao pirated. In fact, during the construction, Ye Tao made some adjustments to make this small garden more and more filled with a strong atmosphere of life and exquisite details. Since its completion ten days ago and Tan Weishi moved in, there have been banquets held in various names almost every night. The beautiful Embroidery Garden has become the thing that Little Princess Tan Weishi wants to show off the most. But Ye Tao has never been to even one banquet. There's no other reason, he just feels that those polite and perfunctory banquets are a bit troublesome to deal with. Although his friendship with Tan Weixin and his familiarity with Tan Weishi have almost made him not need to consider the so-called etiquette issues in front of them, it doesn't mean that he can be unrestrained in front of everyone and not care.

"Since it's an invitation from Her Highness the Princess, I shall obey." After thinking about the afternoon's schedule for a while and calculating the time it would take to inspect the construction site in Tiecheng and then rush back to bathe and change, Ye Tao agreed. At least a third of the reason was that he didn't want to embarrass Li Mian.

Although Li Mian said it politely, Ye Tao knew that Tan Weishi wasn't so polite when she gave the order. Most of the time, she would just drop a sentence, "You bring Ye Tao here for me," or something like that. Although Tan Weishi wouldn't vent her anger or get angry, the little princess's small temper is enough to make a guy like Li Mian, who calls himself a servant, panic for a long time.