Chapter Fifty-Four: The Game of Go

  Hong Xun burst out laughing again and said, "Old brother, you're great in every way, but this pretending to be stupid thing, I've got something to say about it. What's wrong, don't you consider me, old Han, as a brother?"

  Zheng Dazhu, the team leader, toasted Yan Xiwen and said: "Brother Yan is trying to get you to speak first, isn't that right, Brother Yan? Come on, let's have another four drinks. In my opinion, you two brothers should stop beating around the bush. I, Zheng Dazhu, am a straightforward person who can't hide anything in my heart. I'll say it straight out: the treasure of Jiajia Bay must not be allowed to fall into the hands of those little Japanese devils! Brother Yan, our two families' troops will work together, take down Jiajia Bay, and retrieve this batch of treasures. What do you think?"

  Yan Xiwen didn't even have time to speak, when Han Hongxun took the lead, "Haha, Old Yan, my brother has hit your weak spot, right? Alright, that's settled then!"

  Yan Xiwen accompanied the team leader to finish the wine in his cup, took a bite of food, and replied: "Old Han looks like a rough man, but he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. I, Yan Xiwen, was able to fool Li Zhangguan back then, but running into you here, I've actually been seen through by you?"

  Han Hongxun burst out laughing, raised his wine glass to accompany Yan Xiwen and said: "I, Han Hongxun, don't have that kind of endurance. It's just this time your elder brother really couldn't hold back his temper, which is why he was deceived."

  Yan Xiwen said: "The troops are in one place, take down the Jia family's Wan, and retrieve this batch of treasures. These things are not a problem, to be honest, I came over this time, also thinking so, but, the question is, after retrieving this batch of treasures, how should we arrange it?"

  Yan Xiwen's direct questioning hit the nail on the head and stumped Han Hongxun and his brother.

  Yan Xiwen added: "Is it being embezzled? Or is it being handed over?"

  Han Hongxun downed his head and drank several cups of wine in a row before making up his mind, saying: "I'll listen to you, Old Yan."

  Yan Xiwen gave Han Hongxuan a thumbs up and said, "You old Han are indeed a good fellow. In my life, I have always respected heroes like you who are not greedy for wealth or beauty. Come on, let me toast to you!"

  Han Hongxun drank Yan Xiwen's toast, but disagreed with his words. He said: "We Northwestern Han men speak directly, you say I'm not greedy for wealth, huh? On this point, I agree. If you say I'm not a lecher? Then you old Yan must penalize yourself three cups! Ah, those who are not lechers are still real men, right? Haha, is that so, old Yan?"

  Yan Xiwen understood that Han Hongxun was joking with him. Perhaps Han Hongxun didn't understand the true meaning of "seeing but not desiring", but it didn't matter anymore, he stood up and downed three cups in a row, then said: "To be honest, I'm also quite lustful."

  Everyone burst out laughing together.

  With a smile, Yan Xiwen said seriously: "I think the treasure should belong to the state. My suggestion is that after taking down this batch of treasures, hand it over to the department in charge of cultural relics in Chongqing. Doing so may be unfair to the brothers who sacrificed and were injured for this, because after all, this is a battle without any gain."

  Han Hongxun put away his smile, his expression extremely serious. He said: "Fighting the little Japanese is a matter of course for every Chinese, to die on the battlefield fighting the little Japanese with blood and sweat is our greatest honor. I've decided, the 3rd battalion will stay behind, the 1st and 2nd battalions will follow me to Jiajiazhuang. Dammit, I don't believe these little Japanese aren't made of flesh and blood, they're really bulletproof and knife-proof!"

  That same evening, Wei Dong found Ye Tu Fei.

  Wei told Ye Tuofei about Secretary Peng's concerns, hoping that Ye could help analyze and come up with a good solution to dispel Gao Qiaobai's suspicions about Shan Xiajingwu.

  Yè Tú Fēi thought for a moment and said, "From my understanding of Takashi Goto, whatever we can think of, he must have thought of it beforehand. Although I couldn't guess his solution, I believe he has already come up with a countermeasure."

  Wei Xiangdong thought Ye Tufei's words were reasonable and nodded frequently in agreement. However, Ye Tufei's next words made Wei Xiangdong fall into the ice pit again. "The key is still that batch of treasure! With Gao Qiaosheng's intelligence, handling either the Peng Secretary affair or the treasure affair separately would be more than enough, but if he tries to handle both at the same time, I estimate he will stir up trouble."

  Wei Dong said: "At the time of Gengji Town, Gao Dage had expressed that in order to prevent this batch of treasures from falling into Japanese hands, he would rather sacrifice himself. I discussed with Secretary Peng, after solving the problem of the treasure, let Gao Dage leave the Japanese and go to our side."

  Yè Tú Fēi gently shook his head and said, "You and Secretary Peng have both underestimated the abilities of Yamashita Keigo. It's true that currently, Yamashita Keigo seems a bit foolish, but that's because he has Takahashi Shin by his side. Once Yamashita Keigo discovers that Takahashi Shin is no longer a reliable ally, his abilities will erupt. By then, I'm afraid the treasure issue won't be resolved yet, and Takahashi Shin will already be deeply trapped."

  Wei Dongdao said: "What you say makes sense, but we are now at the point of no return, and must shoot!"

  Ye Tu Fei said: "Then let's send it out a bit earlier, while Shan Xia Jing Wu hasn't fully figured it out yet."

  "Has this matter been discussed with Gao?"

  Yè Tú Fēi said: "This is just my personal opinion, I haven't discussed it with anyone."

  Wei Dong said: "You go and invite Gao Ge, let's sit down and have a good talk."

  Ye Tu Fei made an exaggerated expression of surprise and said: "At this time, you're going to summon Gao Qiao Xin? Are you planning on pushing him into the fire pit?"

  Wei Dong understood and said: "Yes, I was negligent. It's likely that Shanxia Jingwu has already started monitoring Gao Dage below the mountain."

  Yatou Fei smiled and said: "Even if Shita Makoto is monitoring Koyuki Takashi under the mountain all day, I, as the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards, can still go play two games of Go with Koyuki-kun, right?"

  Wei Dong also smiled and said: "If it's convenient for you, after finishing the game of Go, can you move to Gengji Town and play two more games of Chinese chess with Secretary Peng?"

  Ye Tu Fei clasped his fists in both hands and said: "Obedience is better than respect!"

  As Yeh Tu-fei said, Takahashi Makoto was indeed being monitored by Yamashita Keigo. As for being monitored, Takahashi Makoto was also aware of it, he set up the chessboard and invited Yeh Tu-fei to sit down, saying: "Don't mind him, let him monitor, that idiot Yamashita can't catch my tail."

  The two of them had played about twenty moves when Ye suddenly said: "If Shusaku comes at you with a ko, what would you do?"

  Takahashi pointed at the chessboard and said: "You're distracted today! How are you going to save this piece?" As he spoke, he made a move that put pressure on his opponent.

  Ye Tufei raised his face and glanced at Takahashi Shin, then responded with a sentence: "You just wait and see, whether you die or I live."

  After Gao Qiao's child was born, he took a closer look and his heart skipped a beat. He muttered to himself, "Wow, the kid's got a lot of vitality!"

  Ye Tufei's one-handed support seemed foolish, but its effect was surprisingly good. For a moment, Takashi Hashimoto couldn't calculate the complete annihilation of that piece. After thinking for five minutes, Takashi Hashimoto chose to compromise and gave up his plan to annihilate that piece, instead opting to cut off Ye Tufei's tail.

  Ye Wudi reached his goal and gained the upper hand, dropping a son in the midst of Gao Qixiang's heavy troops.

  Takahashi Shinden bowed his head deeply and stared intently at the chessboard, remaining motionless for a long time.

  "It seems that today's chess game was not me who was absent-minded, but Mr. Gao!" Ye Tu Fei couldn't help but feel a little proud and deliberately teased Gao Qiao Xin.

  Half an hour later, Takashi Hashimoto casually dropped a piece onto the board and said: "I couldn't kill this one, the difference in liberties is just too great. Alright, you win this game."

  Ye Tu Fei smiled and said: "Mr. Gao's mind is all about how to deal with Yamashita Keigo, losing this game of chess is a matter of course."

  Takahashi Shin looked at Yatou Fei with a slanted gaze and said, "Bullshit! Hayama Shita still doesn't have the ability to make me, Takahashi Shin, lose focus. What did you just say? If Hayama Shita dares to come at me strong, I'm afraid he'll be in for a world of hurt."

  Ye Tu Fei heard this and his heart was set at ease. He said: "Could it be that Mr. Gao still has a trump card up his sleeve?"

  Takahashi Shinnosuke waved his hand and said, "There's no need for any tricks or schemes. Heizan Kōji knows my background. Alright, I won't hide it from you either. It'll save you all the trouble of worrying about me all day instead of doing your actual jobs."

  Takahashi gathered up all the pieces on the board and then pointed to the board, saying: "How about another game? We can play while we chat."

  "My adoptive father is Takashi Takaishi, he's a professor at Nagoya University, I think you all know that through Xiaowei. But do you know what his specialty is? Yamashita Keigo was my adoptive father's student, and his specialty is mechanical design, which is just one of my adoptive father's basic specialties, haha, I won't beat around the bush anymore, let me tell you straight out: Takashi Takaishi is Japan's top-notch weapons design expert, almost all of Japan's tanks and armored vehicles are designed by him."

  Ye Siwang seemed stunned, a move was made on the chessboard, but it was actually a misstep, and two pieces were captured by Takahashi Shin.

  "Don't mention Mountain Under, Jing Wu can't even grasp my little tail, even if he did grab it, what could he do to me? He's just a small Da Cao, in front of many generals, he's not even a fart."

  Ye Tufei was amused and responded with a smile, "Those inexperienced generals are not even worth a fart in front of your foster father!"

  Takahashi Shin'ichi said with a serious expression, "You're right, there aren't more than a hundred people in the Japanese military who have the qualifications to discuss things with my adoptive father."

  The two men chatted as they played chess, and before he knew it, Takahashi's advantage had disappeared. Not only that, but on the board, Takahashi still had two pieces that were not in a safe position, and fortunately for him, he was able to resign with his second move.

  Ye Tu Fei was puzzled and said: "What's wrong with you today? The outcome of this game is still undecided!"

  Takahashi Shin replied: "One of these two must die, and in the end it will be a loss for both."

  Yè Tú Fēi said: "You can make both chess pieces come alive, it's just that you're not in a good state today and don't want to think too much."

  Takaashi nodded and said, "My mind is full of those treasures. Do you know? Yamashita plans to transport these treasures to mainland Japan next month."