Chapter 59: Cui An and Ma Chao Battle Lü Bu

  After introducing Lü Bu, Lü Bu also exchanged greetings with everyone. Then Cui An mounted the war horse that had been prepared for him.

  Fair competition, of course, neither side can use their own war horses, and both ride the most ordinary war horses randomly selected from the Xuzhou army.

  Cui An mounted his horse and cupped his fists in a salute to Lü Bu, "I am Cui An, also known as Cui Fu, from Fufeng. I have come to learn from you!"

  "Wǒ yuán lǚ bù lǚ fèng xiān!" = "I am the ancestor of the five barbarians, Lü Bu!"

  As soon as the words fell, the two began to fight. To say that both of them were masters of the spear, and their moves were basically all about attacking, so they fought fiercely. After thirty or forty rounds, there was no winner, back and forth, it was quite lively. Both of them had used their real skills, and they treated each other as a good opponent.

  There's a saying that outsiders watch the excitement, while insiders watch the doorway. Someone like Tao Shang Cao Jiao can only be said to be watching the excitement, whereas Ma Chao is very clear in his heart. Although it seems that neither of them has gained the upper hand for now, soon Crui An will not be able to hold on.

  As expected, it seemed to confirm Ma Chao's thoughts, and there were changes on the field.

  Lü Bu said to Cui An: "Cui Fu Da, is this all you can do?"

  Choi Ahn was enraged upon hearing this and thought to himself, "You think you can look down on me? Shut up, Lü Fengxian! Take my spear!"

  Cui An intensified his attack, and the spear danced up and down in the air, but Lü Bu defended against his attacks without leaking a drop of water. Those moves had little effect on Lü Bu.

  Lü Bu saw that the opponent was accelerating their attack, so he also started to speed up his own attack. As a result, Cui An was slowly unable to withstand it. Lü Bu's skills were not just bragging rights; he was truly skilled, and after all, his strength was on a different level, absolutely not something that Cui An could win against.

  Ten rounds, twenty rounds, thirty rounds, the two men fought sixty rounds and still no winner was decided. However, Choi Ahn had already shown signs of defeat, and indeed at the 64th round, Lü Bu's spear pierced to death, not Choi Ahn, but Choi Ahn's war horse.

  Choi Ahn seemed to be able to guarantee that he wouldn't let Lü Bu hurt him, but he couldn't keep his own horse safe. Ma Chao saw the situation and hastily shouted at Lü Bu: "Lü Fengxian, there's no need to fight anymore, we've lost this battle, I admit defeat!"

  Lü Bu naturally stopped his next move. While Cui An fell off the horse after his warhorse died, he also heard Ma Chao's words and knew that his lord was protecting him.

  He said to Lü Bu: "Lü Fengxian, you win! But I still don't admit defeat to you, and in the future, I will find you again!"

  "Anytime!"

  It's indeed hard to find an opponent, nowadays Lu Bu hasn't had such a refreshing feeling in years. He also wishes he could fight dozens or hundreds of rounds every day, unfortunately, there is no opponent.

  Others may not have noticed, but Ma Chao knew that Lü Bu was originally able to hurt Cui An. However, he showed mercy and only killed the war horse. Ma Chao understood that this was because of what he had done for Lü Bu in the past at the Xiongnu royal court. He nodded his head in gratitude towards Lü Bu.

  However, Lü Bu just took a glance at Ma Chao and didn't show any expression, but Ma Chao understood that no matter what Lü Bu would become in the future, at least for now he was still the same Lü Bu who knew gratitude and revenge. As for his slight change, it also had something to do with his various experiences. There were some aspects of Lü Bu that Ma Chao quite admired, but they weren't likely to become friends yet.

  Cui An returned to Ma Chao's side, "My lord, I lost."

  "Foda, this isn't your fault, anyone would have lost!"

  Ma Chao took these things very lightly, winning or losing being a common occurrence in the military, and he naturally wouldn't be affected by the outcome of one game. Moreover, for the final game, in his opinion, going all out to win was the most important thing.

  This victory of Wu Bei was also within Tao Qian's expectations, and he was very grateful to Lü Bu.

  "Taishi, Bu still has something to attend to in Jinyang, I'll go ahead first!"

  Lü Bu was in a hurry to return to Pingzhou, he didn't like to see fair competition. Today, he saw Ma Chao, Lü Bu thought of rushing back to tell his good friend Zhang Yang about the news. He knew that Zhang Yang cared about Ma Chao very much, so now that he had news of him, Lü Bu felt it was only natural to inform Zhang Yang at the earliest opportunity.

  Actually, Zhang Yang was still worried about Ma Chao after he ran away. Ma Chao thought that since he had no fixed residence and wandered around various states every day, there was no need to contact Zhang Yang for the time being. But later when he returned to Liangzhou, it was natural that they would definitely get in touch.

  Tao Qian saw that Lü Bu was determined to leave, so he didn't try to persuade him to stay. After all, Lü Bu wasn't a native of Xu State, but rather a guest who had been invited to help with the battle. Since he insisted on leaving, it wouldn't be proper for Tao Qian to try to retain him.

  He personally escorted Lü Bu out of the school grounds. Lü Bu not only helped himself in a big way, but more importantly, his identity. As the adopted son of his good friend Ding Yuan and Ding Jianyang, Tao Qian also had to see off Lü Bu out of respect for his friends.

  Before parting, Tao Qian also said some words to ask after your father Ding Jianyang on my behalf. Lü Bu agreed and then set off on the road back to Pingzhou. Originally, Tao Qian had wanted to give Lü Bu some gifts as a token of gratitude, but thinking again about his friend Ding Jianyang's temperament, he gave up in the end.

  After seeing Lv Bu off, it was time to start the third round. This round naturally couldn't be held in the school field anymore, so everyone returned to the Governor's Mansion and sat down in the reception hall, with the host and guest taking their seats.

  After a moment, Chen Ke said: "This second game, everyone has seen it clearly. This round is a draw, and Tao Shang of the Tao family wins!"

  The pottery merchant was overjoyed, and it wasn't easy to turn the game around. Although he had nothing to do with it himself, his father, who was the governor, had found someone else. This Lü Bu was really too handsome, not only in appearance but also in martial arts skills, probably the best in the world.

  This time, Tao Shang really got it right. He's grown up like this and hasn't judged many things correctly, but this one counts as one of them.

  Tao Qian said after Chen Gui finished speaking: "Everyone, now there is only this last crucial round left. I suppose you all should have some understanding, this last round is set by the most respected and prestigious elder of our Xuzhou, the nameless old man!"

  An unnamed old man said, "I don't mind coming from afar, it's all because of Tao Shi's invitation. In the first two rounds, I actually watched them too, not bad, very good, and it was worth my trip. Now that this third round is mine to set, I won't be polite about it. Everyone please listen carefully!"

  The old man hadn't even spoken yet, but he swept his gaze over the crowd. The other seven people were all looking at him, but what they were thinking was vastly different.

  Tao Qian thought that everything was going according to his plan, and he estimated that the third game would not have any variables. As long as the two sides were tied in the third game, he would proceed with his final step.

  While Tao Shang and Ma Chao were both fully focused on listening to the old man's words, they were both thinking about winning the third round. However, what they wanted was different. Tao Shang was thinking of embracing a beauty, while Ma Chao was thinking of money and grain. It had been agreed earlier that this time he would help the Zou family, and after the Zou family succeeded, they would use all the money to invest in grain storage.

  Choi Ahn thought that today he lost to Lü Bu, proving what his teacher said before, and indeed there are people outside of people, and skies beyond the sky. From now on, he must practice his martial arts well, so that in the future he will have another chance to fight Lü Bu again.

  As for Cao Jiao, he thought that Lü Bu was too formidable. At the time, when he heard the governor's words, he still thought they were exaggerated, but it turned out to be true after all. Lü Bu is indeed unparalleled in the world.

  Chen Kui next to him thought, this time the fair trial, three games have passed two games, both sides won one game, the last game must not be that Tao family boy win. With his appearance, how can he match up with the daughter of the Miao family? If you look at it yourself, he and the son of the Ma family are not comparable.

  But if I had to say who was the most depressed, it would be none other than Cao Pi. He never expected that Tao Qian would invite such a ruthless person, and even his own favorite, Cui An, was no match for him. He could only hope that Ma Chao would win this last game in one go, so as not to have offended Tao Qian in vain.

  The old man continued: "A few days ago, I thought of a question and wondered if anyone could answer it?"

  As he spoke, he took out an object from somewhere and placed it on the case. Ma Chao saw it and was stunned for a moment, it looked so familiar, like something from his past life, a balance scale. He didn't know if this big fellow had a balance scale or not, but what the old man took out was indeed a balance scale, made of bamboo though.

  This is indeed Ma Chao's ignorance, the steelyard has existed since ancient times. At this time, the steelyard was made with bamboo strips as the crossbeam, silk threads as the lifting thread, and a copper plate suspended at both ends.

  An old man said, "I have twelve identical jade pendants. One of them is different in weight from the other eleven, but I don't know whether it's heavier or lighter. How can I use a balance to find the unusual one by weighing at most three times?"

  Everyone heard the problem, and their heads were big. I don't know how heavy it is, at most use a balance to weigh three times to find out which one is different? This is too difficult, others are thinking deeply, how can they find the unknown weight jade pendant in at most three times.

  The pottery merchant was completely at a loss after hearing the question, and as for Ma Chao, he did have some impression of this problem, but so many years had passed, and to recall how to weigh it, he could only think slowly.

  To say that the person with the most relaxed expression among the crowd is Tao Qian, because everything is under his control and has developed according to his expectations. Now that the old man without a name has come up with such a difficult question, I wonder how many people in the world can solve it.

  He was very satisfied, thinking to himself: "Mò Tàigōng, you're now lifting a rock only to drop it on your own foot. Originally, you thought that using this idea of a fair trial would allow that young master Ma to win, but I've invited the number one martial general from Bianzhou, and this nameless old man has come up with such a difficult question, let's see if you can still laugh in the end."

  At this time, Ma Chao stood up and said to the crowd: "Everyone, I am not talented, but I just thought of a plan. Please let me go and demonstrate it to you!"

  The old man listened to Ma Chao's words and also came with interest, "Please, young friend!" He still had a good impression of Ma Chao.

  "Please, Governor Tao, prepare a brush for me, I need it!" Tao Kan ordered his servant to hand over the brush.

  Ma Chao came to the front of the unnamed old man's case, "First, let's sort and number the jade pendants. The first group is one, two, three, four. The second group is five, six, seven, eight. The third group is nine, ten, eleven, twelve." He said as he marked the jade pendants with a pen.

  "And the first case is, the first step is to put two groups of whatever on both sides of the scale, either balanced or not. Ma Chao said as he did it, and everyone nodded in agreement after hearing and seeing it, indeed it could only be this way, no one doubted it, and they all understood."

  "It's balanced, so the two groups of jade pendants are exactly the same, and the one that stands out is in the last group." The balance remained unchanged, Ma Chao saw the state of the balance and continued to say, everyone nodded in understanding.

  "So the second step is to randomly take out three jade pendants from the last group, and then randomly take out three jade pendants from the other two groups, and place them on both sides of the scale. Everyone sees that it's still balanced, which can only mean that the unusual jade pendant is the one left in the last group." Ma Chao said as he picked up the remaining jade pendant from the last group.

  Everyone except Cui An understood, and they had all thought of this situation. At this time, Tao Qian spoke up, "This is just one possibility, what about other possibilities?"

  Ma Chao smiled and said, "Don't worry, Governor Tao. Let me tell you all about it!"

  "What was just said by Shi is not wrong, this is simply the most basic situation. There are a few more situations, please listen to me finish." After finishing speaking, Ma Chao put back that unusual jade pendant.

  "We'll start from the first case after balancing, everyone knows that after balancing, the one that is different from the others is in the last group. So, the second step is to randomly take out three jade pendants from the last group and also randomly take out three jade pendants from the previous two groups, and put them on both sides of the scale. Everyone sees that this time it's not balanced, which means that the different jade pendant is among the three taken out from the last group just now, and at this point we also know whether the jade pendant is light or heavy."

  Everyone took a look and found that the copper plate holding the last group of three jade pendants was slightly lower than the other one, which meant that the unusual jade pendant was lighter than the others.

  Ma Chao smiled, "So the third step, we take two jade pendants from the last group of three and put them on both sides of the scale. It's balanced again, so this one is the unique jade pendant!" He said, taking the last one of the three.

  Ma Chao paused for a moment, then continued: "Of course, there is another situation. Let's take two jade pendants from the last group of three and put them on both sides of the scale. But they are not balanced. So we know that one of the jade pendants must be lighter than the others, and this is the one!" Ma Chao picked up a jade pendant from the slightly lower copper plate.

  "Not bad, that's one way to do it. How about other situations?" Chen Gui asked, having thought of these two possibilities and wanting to know how to use three times to find the jade pendant in other situations.

  "Alright, let's move on to the next scenario. In the second scenario, the first step is still to randomly pick out two groups and place them on both sides of the balance scale. However, as you all can see, it's not balanced this time. This means that the jade pendant must be in one of these two groups. The side marked 1-4 and the other side marked 5-8. And since we don't know the weight of the jade pendant, we have to remember the state of the balance scale at this point!"

  Ma Chao told everyone the numbers of the two groups of jade pendants and asked them to remember the state of the balance. At this time, everyone remembered that one side was lower than the other, with 1, 2, 3, and 4 on one side being lighter than 5, 6, 7, and 8 on the other side.

  "The second step is to put the first, fifth, sixth and seventh jade pendants in one group, and the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh jade pendants in another group, and place them on both sides of the balance. This time, there are still two situations. If everyone sees that it's balanced, then it means that the jade pendant must be among the second, third and fourth ones. So for the third step, we can follow the same procedure as before to find that jade pendant!" Ma Chao said while doing it, and finally successfully found the jade pendant again.

  The old man nodded with a smile, "Not bad, very good!"

  Ma Chao continued, "So if in the second step you all saw an uneven situation and the state of the balance scale hasn't changed from before, then that jade pendant is either one or eight! Finally, in the third step, just randomly take out a jade pendant and one or eight to weigh, if it's balanced, naturally it's the remaining one. If it's not balanced, then it's naturally the one that's not a normal jade pendant!"

  "We continue with the second case, if in the second step everyone sees that it is still not balanced, but the state of the balance has changed, then the jade pendant must be one of five, six or seven. And at this time, the weight of the jade pendant is also known, we just need to follow the third step of the first case and we can find the jade pendant!"

  As soon as the words fell, applause broke out, and this applause came from none other than the questioner, the old man with no name.

  "What you said is absolutely right!" The old man then went on to simply explain how to measure out the unique jade pendant with no more than three attempts.

  Everyone listened to the two men's words and understood, following Ma Chao's train of thought, it was indeed so. It turned out to be this way, everyone was convinced and satisfied with what they heard.

  The old man was full of praise for Ma Chao, saying that he himself had thought about it for a long time before coming up with an idea, and didn't expect Ma Chao to come up with a solution so quickly. He really admired the young generation, making Ma Chao feel embarrassed by his excessive praise.

  The one with the worst mood was definitely Tao Qian. He never thought that Ma Chao could solve such a topic. He can only think that this is fate, and no one can change it.