Chapter 4 Chapter Three A Big Gamble

When that other gamble happened, I had nothing to do with it.In fact, I was not born at that time. If someone said that when I was not born, a gamble with certain people in a certain place would have a relationship with me in the future, of course I would just treat it as nonsense. But everything in the world has all kinds of causes and conditions that cannot be seen. I don’t know what year, month, place, or person. It will have a relationship with myself. This is the mystery of the universe, and the ingenious arrangement in it. Only one in ten thousand can be known! That gamble happened three quarters of a century ago.

That was a big gamble. There are too many types of gambling to count.Whether it is big or small—it’s as small as two children deciding who can put a piece of candy in their mouths first with rock-scissors, or as big as Hitler’s military attack on the whole of Europe. It’s all gambling. To classify, it can be roughly divided into two types: ordinary gambling and high-roller gambling. Ordinary gambling, which takes place all the time and anywhere, is not worth mentioning.But big bets don't happen very often, so a big bet, even if it's just a bystander, can be talked about for years.

To be called a high-stakes gamble, it does not care about the size of the bet, but depends on the people who participate in the gamble. If they lose, they will lose everything—even including their lives. Another condition that constitutes a high-stakes gamble is that after the gamblers lose, no matter how serious the consequences are, they will act as agreed in advance-that is, they will never default on their debts. Real gamblers don't renege on their debts. Those who renege are just rascals, who are of no value. In the big gamble at the beginning of the story, the loser has a lot of conditions for repaying his debts, but he gambled straight—more straight than Li Kui, the black whirlwind. Li Tieniu also lied once in order to invite his idol Song Gongming to drink. My own explanation is "right and not straight once", this kind of behavior is not advisable.Jin Shengtan rated it as cute, but I don't know what principle it is based on.

Only under any circumstances, if you lose, you will admit defeat. That is the true nature of a big gambler, which is fascinating. That big gamble has a lot to do with the whole story. Without that big gamble, there would be no such story. The relationship among them is very delicate and complicated, and it will be understood naturally after reading it.Its plot is similar to many legends, so don't think it's impossible—the fact is often more twists and turns than the story.But of course, you don't have to compare the stories with the facts, otherwise the fun will be greatly reduced.

After talking for a long time, it's time for the big gamble. There were only two people involved in the gamble, and their identities were known by simple names: one was Commander Wang, and the other was Commander Li.As soon as you hear this title, you can know that they are special characters in that special period──warlords. Each warlord has its own territory, the gambling took place in Commander Wang's territory, and the winner is Commander Li. Commander Wang and Commander Li are at odds with each other, and they both wanted to annex each other's territory for a long time.But evenly matched, no one can do anything to anyone.

At that time, the political situation in China was very complicated. There were so many warlords, large and small, that it was impossible to count them. Commander Wang and Commander Li are still from the same hometown, so almost all the officers and soldiers under him are relatives. If a war breaks out, it will mean that uncles, uncles, uncles, aunts, uncles, and even brothers want you to kill me, and I will kill you. This situation will happen sooner or later (warlords cannot coexist peacefully for a long time), but even Commander Wang and Commander Li subconsciously feel that they can procrastinate as long as they can.

But the situation is not very favorable for them—near their territory, there is another force that is stronger than the two of them, as long as they launch an attack, they can be wiped out one by one.But if the two of them merge and are stronger than each other, they can turn around and annex each other, forming a considerable force, which can create a big situation, and even hope to conquer the entire world. Commander Wang and Commander Li are also well aware of this situation, so there is this gathering. At the beginning of the party, there was no gamble, and the two were just "talking over wine". When the wine was hot, the two began to discuss the merger.

Although they all know that only by merging can there be further development, otherwise it would be a bad situation for others to break through one by one, but they still can't agree--the main key is who will be the commander-in-chief after the merger. Both want to be commander-in-chief, but there can only be one commander-in-chief. Both of them wanted to persuade the other to be the deputy commander in chief, and they quarreled with each other, and Commander Li was about to walk away, when Commander Wang suddenly suggested: "Fucking, we might as well take a gamble—at the gambling table Win or lose is determined!"

Commander Li immediately agreed and said loudly, "Adjutant Sheng, bring your cards!" It was the chairman of a bank who told me about "another gamble".He didn't tell this story to me alone, there were a dozen other people in the audience.It was after a dinner, everyone got together to chat, and the place was at the chairman's residence. A gentleman in the audience suddenly commented: "Although our Chinese language is not unified and people's hearts are not united, but in terms of gambling equipment, from south to north, there are quite a few items that are completely consistent."

I don’t remember how this issue was suddenly mentioned at that time, and then several people agreed, and pointed out a kind of gambling tool that is common throughout the country and unique to China, that is "Pai Gow". There are quite a few people in the audience who have done a lot of research on "Pai Gow", so they all discuss it.If their speeches were recorded in detail, it would be a paper of more than 100,000 words.Although it is very interesting, it has little to do with the whole story, so it is omitted. While talking, the master said: "Speaking of the Pai Gow gambling, my father told me more than once that there is a gamble that uses Pai Gow. In fact, from south to north, most of the big bets It's all Pai Gow. That gamble, my father's personal experience, was a real gamble, he said it was unforgettable in his life, until now, when he closed his eyes, the scene at that time was still vivid in his mind, it was nearly three-quarters It happened a century ago, so we can see how thrilling the scene was at that time."

When the chairman said this, someone naturally asked him to tell the story of the gamble, and the chairman began to talk. What the chairman said, I have already recorded it in front—of course the chairman has not finished speaking, because I have already interrupted him. I wanted to leave several times, because I have no interest in the story told by the chairman, and I yawned after hearing it. I can get up and leave when he comes to an end. But when I heard him talk about Commander Li shouting for someone to bring the cards, my heart suddenly moved, I made a gesture, interrupted him, and asked, "Wait a minute, what did you say adjutant just now?" I heard him say "Adjutant Sheng", but I knew that the adjutant's surname was Sheng, and there were very few people with the surname Sheng. I could almost immediately feel that there was a certain relationship between this adjutant Sheng and that Nianzu Sheng. Sheng Nianzu suddenly appeared and left mysteriously, leaving only an unexplainable story. I have never heard from him since, and I will not let go of any chance to find him. That's why I asked this question. The chairman looked over at me and remained silent for a while, before he said, "Why do you ask such a question?" I said: "There are very few people with the surname Sheng. I met one a few days ago, but he disappeared. I was looking for him. I heard you mentioned the person with the surname Sheng. I thought it might be related, so I asked. " After hearing what I said, several people laughed, and one even yelled strangely: "Wesley, you are so entertaining! What the chairman said happened seven or eighty years ago, how could it be the same as the person you are looking for?" relation!" I have always been too lazy to answer this kind of self-righteous person, I just waited for the chairman's reaction. The chairman took a deep breath and sighed with great expression: "Don't say that what happened 70 or 80 years ago has nothing to do with today. Everything in the world has its own destiny. Some things seemed too small at the time. No matter how small a thing is, it can affect many people many years later!" At that time, including myself, I didn't understand why the chairman suddenly had such an exclamation, so everyone fell silent. The chairman waved his hand: "As for this point, if I go on, everyone will understand." I hurriedly said, "You haven't answered my question yet." Only then did the chairman say: "That's right, that adjutant is indeed surnamed Sheng—a very rare surname." I almost wanted to blurt out and ask him if he knows where the adjutant is now. Fortunately, after thinking about it, the adjutant was from seventy or eighty years ago, but the chairman who told his father's experience did not might know.If I had asked, I would have laughed crookedly! The chairman still looked at me: "About this adjutant, something happened to him later, which was related to that gamble, but when he was ordered to fetch the cards, he couldn't even dream of the upcoming gamble. It will have such a significant relationship with his life." He spoke very mysteriously, and for a while, I didn't understand what kind of development the matter had to do with Adjutant Sheng. The chairman paused for a while, and his expression was even more emotional. He said slowly: "That gamble has a lot to do with me. It can be said that without that gamble, I would never exist!" These words were even more mysterious, which greatly increased my interest in the gamble he was talking about, and of course I didn’t want to leave, so I gestured to him, asking him to continue talking. The rest of the people were also very interested and surrounded him, listening to him talk about the gamble. Adjutant Sheng is Commander Wang's adjutant. Commander Li told him to take the card, and he looked at Commander Wang.Commander Wang shouted: "Go! Go!" Commander Wang likes to gamble, and the mansion is full of all kinds of gambling equipment. In less than three minutes, Adjutant Sheng has brought several decks of cards, and Commander Li will choose. Commander Li picked a deck at random, opened the box, dumped a deck of cards on the table, patted the table and called, "Adjutant Sheng, come shuffle the cards, I trust you!" Commander Wang also patted the table and called, "Wait a minute! What are we betting on?" Commander Li stared: "I have a total of 13,600 officers and soldiers. If you lose, it will be all yours!" Commander Wang put on a smirk: "I have 16,000 officers and soldiers, which is about the same number, but no matter who wins or loses, it's not easy for whoever wants to command the opponent's officers and soldiers." Commander Wang has a good reason for saying this, because at that time the so-called "junior soldiers" management method was implemented. Among the officers and soldiers, they demanded foolish loyalty to their superiors and identified a person as the object of allegiance.Commander Wang wants to command the officers and soldiers under Commander Li, but those officers and soldiers may not necessarily obey orders, and vice versa. So when Commander Ji heard it, he felt it made sense, and his eyes widened: "What trick do you have?" Commander Wang sneered: "There is no way, I'm afraid you dare not agree!" At this time, a lot of people had gathered in the lobby to watch the fun, and Commander Li was a little bit drunk. Commander Wang's words made him unable to get off the stage, so he immediately yelled, "Don't dare? Who wouldn't dare? Gray grandson I dare not!" He yelled and patted himself on the neck vigorously, saying with arrogance: "At worst, I even bet my head!" Commander Wang laughed loudly: "Well said! But there is no need to risk your life - whoever loses will slap each other's buttocks and walk away. One person will go far away and never be in this world again. When the person is gone, the officers and soldiers under him will naturally join the Ming Lord !" Commander Li immediately agreed: "That's it! If you don't leave after losing, you will be a bastard, everyone's brother-in-law!" Commander Wang promised loudly: "Okay, it's a deal!" With Commander Wang's words, the crowded lobby immediately became silent. Because of this kind of gambling, not only has everyone never experienced it before, they have never even thought about it—it is not money that wins or loses, no matter how large the amount of money is, there is always a number, but now it is everything that is being gambled! Not only that, but whoever wins the round has a personal relationship with all the people in the lobby, so they are extremely nervous, and everyone's nerves are like a taut bowstring. Adjutant Sheng was standing by the table, shuffling the cards, but now he seemed to be frozen, at a loss. On the contrary, the two people who directly participated in the gambling acted nonchalantly and shouted loudly: "Bring the wine!" A small orderly tremblingly came over to pour wine, and the adjutant asked for a bowl, and drank it in one gulp. When the smell of wine rose, he could move his hands and continue to shuffle the cards. After he had shuffled and folded the cards, Commander Li called, "Sixth from the left for third from the right!" Commander Wang also called: "The seventh from the right is replaced by the second from the left!" What they call is to change the order of the cards that have been built at will, so as to prevent the people who build the cards from cheating.After each of them called five or six times, the palms of the adjutant's hands holding the two dice were already covered with cold sweat. Commander Wang spoke first: "I am the master, and I am the villager." Commander Li had no objection: "Okay, I am Tianmen." The way of Pai Gow betting is to distribute four decks of cards, and the Tianmen is opposite to the dealer.Although it was a two-person bet, after the dice were rolled, according to the rules, four decks of cards were still dealt, and each took the card in the position it had determined in advance. After the two confirmed their location, Commander Wang stretched out his hand to Adjutant Sheng, and Adjutant Sheng wiped off the dice that were wet with sweat, and handed it to Commander Wang. Commander Wang blew a breath on the dice in his hand, and threw it out with a wave of his hand.The two dice were spinning on the table. Before the dice stopped, Commander Li yelled again: "Add two points!" That is to prevent the person who rolls the dice from tampering, so it is the power of the non-banker to increase or decrease the points of the dice. When the dice stopped, it was seven points, two points were added, and it became nine points, and the next door was opened—the first card was taken from the next door. Although they didn't have an agreement in advance, they didn't need to say anything, they knew that they were betting on "Little Pai Gow" - each player only took two cards, without any change, and after taking the cards, the winner or loser was already decided.This kind of gambling method is the most straightforward, called "one turn and two stares", there is absolutely no room for turning around. Small Pai Gow will definitely determine the winner or loser, unlike the big Pai Gow where each player takes four cards and divides them into two sets, with the possibility of a draw. So betting on Pai Gow is extremely exciting. At that moment, Adjutant Sheng took the card for the lower door and put it on the table. As soon as Commander Li stretched out his hand, he took the two cards belonging to Tianmen, and the adjutant Sheng removed the card for the upper door. The two cards are fetched. He slapped the two cards hard, made a "beep" sound, flipped his wrist, and opened a card. The card was full of ideas. Those who know how to play Pai Gow can tell that there are twelve cards in total. Point──That is a "natural card". The rules of Pai Gow gambling are very strange. Basically, the points are used to compare the size, but there are various "pairs", all of which are based on the points. But there is no absolute proportional relationship.For example, a pair of two points, compared with a pair of eight points, is not a pair of eight points, but a pair of two points. Calling a card as "a pair of two points" or "a pair of eight points" will make people who know Pai Gow smile crookedly, because the card with two points has a special name called "land card".And the one at eight o'clock is called the "human card".The one at twelve o'clock is called the "Tian Pai". After they are paired, their sizes are arranged in the order of heaven, earth, and people. As for who created this rule, it is impossible to test. Anyway, from Guangzhou in the south to Harbin in the north, everyone follows this rule. At this time, everyone in the hall held their breath, just one sky card, the size of the whole deck cannot be seen. Commander Wang didn't open the second card, but just touched it with his fingers. At this time, Commander Li also turned over a card, but it was a three-dot card—the arrangement of the dots on the card was one dot on the top and two dots on the bottom. This card itself has no effect, but when it meets another specific card, it is very important. It can make up the biggest pair in the whole deck of Pai Gow, called "Supreme", also known as "Supreme Treasure". , invincible, can take all. People who are used to playing Pai Gow don't need to look at the cards, but just touch them with their hands, and they can figure out what card it is from the recessed spots on the card. Commander Wang had obviously found another card at this time. His eyes were wide open, he let out a strange cry, and his expression was extremely excited. Following the strange call, he flipped his hand over, and with a thump, dropped the card. A card is slapped on the table. In an instant, everyone in the lobby shouted, the sound was deafening, and the crowd was sensational.Among the more than one hundred people, only Commander Li and seven or eight of his subordinates were pale and silent. The second card that Commander Wang turned over was also a natural card.His card is "natural pair".Among the Pai Gow, this set of cards is extremely large—the second largest, second only to Supreme Treasure. And the card that Commander Li has opened is three dots. Although adding a six dots arranged in threes and fours can make up the Supreme Treasure, the chance rate is only a few tenths. And that was Commander Li's only chance to win. He stretched out his hand to hold down the unopened card, and suddenly lost all strength, even losing the strength to turn over the cards. Commander Wang has already won ninety-nine percent of the time, he was convinced of Commander Li, he laughed three times in a row, high-spirited: "You are willing to admit defeat, I can let you go, and all the banknotes on the table belong to the banknotes. Everything you have is my money to send you away!" At this time, the exact amount of Ocean banknotes on the table is unknown, but the gross estimate is more than 10,000 yuan. In this era, this amount of money can already be regarded as a rich man. Commander Li's face became even more ugly, and he even got angry.He swallowed dryly, staring at Commander Wang's pair of sky cards, his eyes moved slowly, and then looked at the ocean banknotes on the face, without making a sound. The hall fell silent again, everyone was waiting for Commander Li's decision. Commander Li had a very small chance of winning, and with the money on the table, he could spend the rest of his life comfortably, which was better than losing everything. In the silence, many people believed that Commander Li would definitely accept Commander Wang's conditions and surrender. Commander Li himself could not make up his mind. Beads of sweat began to ooze from his forehead. The sweat dripped down quickly and landed on the table. How quiet is it! Seeing Commander Li's situation, Commander Wang was even more elated. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, staring at Commander Li like a cat playing with a mouse. Commander Li's vision began to blur due to the increasing amount of sweat, and he raised his hand to wipe the sweat with all his strength.He had already made a decision in his heart. After wiping off his sweat, he accepted Commander Wang's conditions, surrendered, and just took the money on the stage. But at that time, not only was he sweating profusely due to nervousness, but his palms were also sweaty. He kept pressing the card with his hand, and when he lifted it up, the sweat stuck to the card, so he naturally turned the card over. . At that moment, Commander Li seemed to have fallen into icy water—he thought that he had lost even the chance to surrender. His vision was blurred, and he didn't see clearly what the card he had inadvertently turned over. He could only hear a loud bang in his ears, which was the result of everyone in the hall involuntarily calling out with all their strength. The first thing Commander Li saw was that Commander Wang, who was standing opposite him, suddenly fell short, and then he saw clearly that the card that was turned over by the sweatband in his hand, and the first card that was opened, just made up a pair. supreme treasure. He won! What is life from a desperate situation?This is called life from a desperate situation! Commander Li only felt that the blood all over his body was rushing upwards, as if it was going to come out of his body together with sweat. He also felt his body shaking. He put his hands on the table hard to stabilize his body and looked at Commander Wang. I saw that Commander Wang, who had just sat down on the chair all of a sudden, had to support the armrests of the chair with his hands before he could stand up slowly. Just as Commander Wang stood up slowly, all the voices in the hall suddenly disappeared. Everyone, including Commander Li, could see Commander Wang's face, which was extremely ugly. Not only was his face ugly, but the muscles on his face were constantly throbbing and twitching, looking extremely terrifying—that was truly terrifying. Because everyone in the lobby knew that once Commander Wang had such an expression on his face, it meant that he had a big murderous intention in his heart, and he was about to kill. More importantly, everyone knew that Commander Wang had a reason to kill. He lost! According to the prior agreement, if he loses, he will lose everything, and he can only leave alone, changing from a powerful man with a heavy army in his hands and occupying one side to nothing! If Commander Li lost, there would not be such a tense atmosphere in the lobby today.The reason is very simple, because this is the territory of Commander Wang! When Commander Li came, he never expected such a situation to arise—even if he had thought of it, it would be impossible for him to bring all his men with him. So now although he has guards around him, the number is limited.If Army Commander Wang turns his back on him and refuses to admit it, Commander Li will have no choice but to suffer from being dumb obediently.There is a huge disparity in strength between the two sides, if he argues with reason, the result may be bad. What chilled Commander Li at this time was that Commander Wang's murderous intentions had already begun. As long as he gave an order, Commander Li and the guards he brought would definitely die without a place to bury them! Of course, it was a bloody scene, and it had something to do with everyone in the lobby, so the atmosphere was so tense. Commander Wang's movements were very slow, in sharp contrast to the rapid twitching of the muscles on his face, which looked particularly strange. After what seemed like a hundred years, Commander Wang finally opened his mouth.