Riding the wind of rebirth

"Hahaha...that's exactly how Brother Honghui understands it!" Mai Xiaomiao finally found someone to "stand up for justice" and said angrily, "They clearly can't beat Xiaozhi, but they still say that Xiaozhi played badly and didn't follow the rules, humph!"

"Even Chang Jiudan can't beat him?" Liang Hong was taken aback.

If last year was the year of Ma Xiaochun in Chinese Go, then this year is undoubtedly the year of Chang Hao.

In March and August of this year, Ma Xiaochun, who had swept all three countries and was invincible last year, encountered his lifelong rival, Lee Chang-ho, and lost to him in the finals of the Dongyang Securities Cup in March and the Fujitsu Cup in August.

With domestic players narrowly losing in several major tournaments, the prodigious performance of young player Chang Hao stands out. In the China-Japan Go Tournament, he consecutively defeated six top-tier Japanese players, displaying a style reminiscent of the legendary Go master's five-game winning streak, directly breaking through the competition to secure the final victory.

This matter was so extraordinary that it was known throughout the country. Now that Liang Hong heard that such a person had actually lost to Xiao Zhi, she couldn't help but be surprised.

“If it were just one player, and only one game, it could be explained by the fact that Xiao Zhi used an ‘unreasonable move’ that surprised many top-tier players, causing them to react poorly,” Zhou Zhi said. “But as the number of such games increased, it also attracted the attention of the Go Association, which began to analyze Xiao Zhi’s moves.”

"So what results have they come up with?" Yang Honghui asked.

"Not yet, but we have a general direction," Zhou Zhi said. "The way to play Go is similar to the struggle for the world; the final result is to conquer the Central Plains. Now, several masters in the Go academy have an idea that in thousands of years of playing Go, humanity has underestimated the importance of the central area of ​​the board."

"For thousands of years, all chess players have overlooked the importance of the central area of ​​the board?" Yang Honghui found this too unbelievable: "Is that even possible?"

"Actually, I think the masters at the chess academy might have gone astray," Zhou Zhi said. "It's not that the masters of the past have ignored the central area, but rather... how should I put it, with the level of human computing power, we can only calculate the third and fourth lines securely. If we go further into the central area, the complexity of the game will far exceed the difficulty that human players can control. In other words, if human players invade the center too early, the complexity of the game will exceed the calculation ability of both sides. In the process of playing chess, making the moves clear rather than confusing is the direction that both sides will strive for. Therefore, in thousands of years of chess games, everyone has adhered to this philosophy."

“However, Xiaozhi’s computing power far surpasses that of humans in this respect. Therefore, what is uncontrollable and chaotic to humans is controllable and clear to Xiaozhi,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “So although Xiaozhi’s thinking and philosophy in playing chess are similar to those of humans, it is precisely because of this that it places its pieces in positions that humans consider ‘unreasonable moves’.”

“I understand,” Liang Hong said. “Xiao Zhi is like a super genius. Its ability to calculate the moves is above that of top-tier human players, so its layout is also larger than that of humans. It dares to place its pieces in areas that humans cannot control. This is beyond the comprehension of players like Chang Jiudan, which is why they consider it an unreasonable move, but it still loses.”

"Just like the logic in Jesse's 'Drunken Master 2,' Drunken Fist isn't actually 'random boxing,' but rather a sophisticated style of boxing. However, many people who encounter it for the first time don't understand the illogical moves and get utterly defeated, thinking they've encountered 'random boxing,'" Yang Honghui said.

"You mean Chang Jiudan and the others have comprehension problems?" Liang Hong asked.

"I didn't say that!" Yang Honghui quickly waved his hand. "How could I, a manual laborer, dare to mock the comprehension abilities of someone who does mental work?!"

"Hahahaha..." Zhou Zhi discovered that the occasional humor from an honest person was much more effective than his own usual glib tongue: "Hey? You've all learned to ride horses already."

"It seems so, huh?" Liang Hong also found riding a horse very easy. When they were chatting so enthusiastically, she forgot to control the horse and pay attention to its movements. She had unconsciously developed a good understanding with the horse.

Zhou Zhi then untied the reins from the back of the horse, allowing Yang Honghui and Liang Hong to control them alone, and the group continued along the road. "Horses sometimes test the riders' courage," Zhou Zhi explained to the two. "Sometimes they deliberately choose sections that look dangerous, like this road. Sometimes they deliberately choose to walk very close to the roadside, where there's a steep slope right outside. If you fall off, you'll be in serious trouble."

"Then why do they do that?" Liang Hong wondered. "Just like you boys, you often deliberately go against the teacher, just being mischievous?"

“That’s somewhat true,” Zhou Zhi said. “The people at the Agricultural University told us about a field called ‘Animal Psychology,’ which says that animals also compete with humans for ‘control’ over events and challenge human ‘authority.’”

"What should we do in this situation?" Yang Honghui asked.

"First of all, stay calm and don't be frightened by its actions," Zhou Zhi said with a smile. "Horses aren't stupid. The actions they can do are actually actions that they are confident in controlling. After all, they are animals, and they are not stupid enough to want to break their legs."

"If a person panics at this time and takes any excessive actions, it may cause unexpected danger."

“Remaining calm is the first step in countering its deterrence,” Zhou Zhi continued. “It can be understood as the controller not taking these petty tricks to heart at all.”

"The next step is to use calm and clear actions and commands to warn it to stop such provocation. These guys also know how to treat people differently. Before, it was just testing the waters. At this point, it knows that its test has failed and it will usually turn into a good boy again."

"But what if it still doesn't listen after we warn it?" Liang Hong asked.

“Then punishment is necessary,” Zhou Zhi said. “It usually involves corporal punishment.”

"Oh? Is this really necessary?" Liang Hong felt a little reluctant.

"Don't worry, Sister Liang Hong, we don't need to play the villain," Mai Xiaomiao said with a smile. "That's why we brought Black Dragon out."

"If that horse misbehaves, call out to Black Dragon, and Black Dragon will come over when he hears it."

"These livestock were all trained by Grandpa Red Sun. Black Dragon is Grandpa Red Sun's great helper, so the livestock are very familiar with Black Dragon and are also afraid of it. As long as Black Dragon gets close to them, even the most naughty livestock will not dare to be naughty."

"Haha, Heilong is just like Old Zhao back then," Liang Hong laughed. "No matter how naughty Zhouzi and the others are, as long as Old Zhao peeks his head out of the window, they all immediately behave themselves!"

"You're something else! You compared Principal Zhao to a black dragon. I'll tell on him the next time I see him!"

"You dare!" (End of Chapter)