"When the army in shining armor arrived at the other end of this plain with a large number of migrating people, they were filled with hope. The young general, Chi Yun, brought not conquest or slaughter, but the hope of establishing a new homeland here with those who yearned for stability. The wars in the Central Plains had lasted too long, so long that everyone had forgotten when the last period of peace had occurred. Eager to make a name for himself? Of course. No one was willing to live a mediocre life. But first, they had to survive."

"The people from the Central Plains did not know how to follow the water and grass, nor could they graze like the tribes who had lived on this land for generations, arriving at the right place on time when the rainy season came, and moving to more suitable land before the dry season brought unbearable losses to the cattle and sheep. They brought seeds, hoes and plows, and agricultural technology from the Central Plains. More importantly, they were able to dig wells so deep that they could reach the gushing water flowing under layers of rocks and soil, the clear and sweet water that seemed inexhaustible, enough to sustain them in one place without having to run after one naturally formed puddle after another."

"Finally, two different ways of life met. The Central Plains immigrants curiously watched the herdsmen, who seemed to be able to live on their beloved mounts for a lifetime, and whose lassoes seemed to extend their arms several *zhang* away. The arrows shot from the simple composite bows could accurately sweep away annoying mosquitoes and mites in the air."

"The herdsmen carefully sized up these newcomers, regarding the water drawn from the deep wells as proof that the god of the earth had allowed these people to share this land, and the crops grown in the land made them feel that these immigrants were so mysterious and great."

"However, the life that the grassland could nurture was ultimately limited. Initially, the herdsmen and Central Plains immigrants, who could friendly pat each other on the shoulder and call each other brothers, finally drew their knives at each other over trivial matters and disagreements over small pieces of land. They had no other choice; they had to fight and hope to win. On this land where barrenness and wealth coexisted, and where water and fire alternated between trampling and nourishing, only one side could become the future master."

"The young general, Chi Yun, had grown into an excellent commander. Political affairs had not dulled his keen sense of war, but had allowed him to consider the significance of each battle more steadily. He gathered those officers who were tired of war, redistributed weapons to those veterans who had become farmers, the furnace for forging weapons rose with black smoke again, and the woodworking workshop was converted into a workshop for manufacturing various huge war machines. Steel and wood were carefully placed together here in order to kill the enemy most efficiently... The barracks were rebuilt, and various drills restarted amidst the melodious military horns and drums. Watching all this, Chi Yun always galloped towards the vast horizon after handling everything, sadly looking at the distance. On the horizon, the other side's cavalry vanguard could appear at any time. They were not evil enemies. Unlike the bloody and cunning battles for the Central Plains, unlike fighting for some people's ridiculous goals, the purpose of this war was so clear. But that was precisely why it was even sadder... To be or not to be, that is the question."

Without introducing the various designs on the map in detail, and without introducing the strategies adopted by both sides at the beginning, Ye Tao explained the background of the entire war in a storytelling tone. Each map had a rough character setting for the warring parties, but these settings had never been used before. Ye Tao's simple description, however, allowed people to understand that war could be such a helpless thing.

The *guzheng* music gradually faded into silence, and the melody of the *qiangdi* began to float throughout the lecture hall.

"Under the green hills is the princess's tent,
Where the fragrance of green grass is in all seasons.
Snow mountains and glaciers have become streams flowing at the foot of the green hills,
So that the princess's manor will always have the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers.
The beautiful princess is the sun on the grassland,
Her footsteps seem to be able to make flowers bloom..."

After a few verses praising the princess's appearance and virtuous character, Ye Tao's narrative took a sharp turn and began to describe how the princess organized an army to confront General Chi Yun's army in order to resist the erosion and occupation of the herders' grasslands by Central Plains immigrants.

"You only hoped that she could grow her braids long,
But she donated her dowry.
You expected her life to be filled with songs and honey forever,
But she asked everyone to sharpen their sabers brightly.
The sons and daughters of the grassland are always so ambitious,
She said,
We will win a glorious victory
Or
Perish!"

It was not until the backstage sent the first page of the battle situation to the explanation stage that Ye Tao gradually began to shift from a sentimental foreshadowing to a rational explanation. However, his previous impassioned sentences had been deeply imprinted in the hearts of everyone present. When explaining the battle situation, Ye Tao also deliberately ignored the background of the chess game being played by both sides, but tried his best to introduce everyone into a real war situation.

From time to time, Ye Tao passed small notes with his instructions to Suo Zheng and others who were running up and down to convey the progress of the game, and according to his instructions, the background music constantly changed with his explanation, and as both sides alternately gained the advantage. When the two sides finally formed a relatively stable line of control and began a series of battles around the junction of the two sides' control areas, the most core equipment in the lecture hall began to take effect. The general battle line map was projected on the screen. Although the light source was not strong now, and one could not expect to have modern projectors with 800 lumens or more that could ignore the illuminance of the ambient light, there was no big problem for most people to see clearly with the current projection.

The middle screen projected a map showing the distribution of the battle lines, and the two screens on both sides showed the current strength and production resources of both sides, so that everyone present could clearly see the changes in the situation. Under the influence of deliberately strengthening the war situation, many people present also began to consider whether a series of commands from both sides were appropriate, based on the real military conquest.

However, true experts of the marching chess game could better appreciate the preciousness of this battle. This was almost a comprehensive display of discovering game loopholes, using game loopholes, and cracking game loopholes. Perhaps it was the last dialogue with Ye Tao that inspired Li Mian. Tan Weishi's team actually invested a lot of time and energy, and successively discovered various exploitable loopholes in formulas and designs. The problem in the calculation of cavalry impact that Li Mian had discovered before was a rather critical tactic. When Chi Yun discovered that his opponent repeatedly used small groups of cavalry to accumulate advantages in the multiplicative calculation of formulas for the main force's impact, Chi Yun almost immediately came up with a brilliant response. He divided each independent combat unit into three to five units, taking turns to deal with the impact of Tan Weishi's small groups of cavalry. In this way, the coefficient in the multiplicative calculation formula could never be accumulated.

Those veteran players quickly discovered this problem, and became more and more interested in the highly technical battle between the two sides. Among the players, there were certainly those who regarded the marching chess grand strategy gameplay as a simulation of real military conquest, but there were also many people who were fascinated by the ingenious design and various calculations and schemes in this game, and fascinated by pure game skills. The scene of the Forbidden Army Chi Yun team and the Tan Weishi Little Princess team fighting and killing each other from two extremes was undoubtedly able to satisfy both sides.

After cracking the loophole in the calculation formula of cavalry impact, Chi Yun discovered that Tan Weishi's subordinates had used loopholes in material mobilization to transfer a large amount of wealth to the rear, established a combined fortress behind the control line, and developed military stations and supply points centered on the fortress, controlling a series of water source supply points. As far as the warring parties were concerned, although Chi Yun, who represented the Central Plains immigrants, did not have to worry about the water source problem in his rear base, after all, it was impossible to dig deep wells at any time to replenish the water supply during marching and combat. Tan Weishi's strategy was really ruthless in this regard.

Chi Yun had no choice but to gather a large number of troops, carry a considerable number of siege weapons and begin to besiege the fortress. At this time, Tan Weishi's side assigned all the cavalry troops to the scout cavalry troops commanded by Chi Lei, using the unique mobility of the grassland cavalry to launch large-scale surprise attacks and raids. In the fortress, all that was left were expensive troops that had been gradually accumulated with great difficulty – heavy infantry.

The concept of heavy infantry had never appeared on the real battlefield in the era they lived in now. If there was anything similar, it was probably the heavily armored guards in the capital palaces of various countries, whose ceremonial function was greater than their combat function. However, in the Grand Strategy gameplay of the E-War Chess, heavy infantry was widely used by players who valued defense or loved decisive battles because of their powerful defense and ability to stabilize the battle. It was quite unexpected that the grassland cavalry was the first to establish a heavy infantry force of considerable size in such a scene.

What was even more unexpected was Tan Weishi's determination. Although the little princess was not familiar with the specific game, she now held the decision-making power. Li Mian, Chi Lei, Zeng Zining and others under her command would briefly report their decisions and choices to her, and then she would make the final decision. Although Tan Weishi did not know much about military affairs, at this moment, there was no doubt that the thoughts fighting in her mind were intense, and the pressure on her was equally great.

Tan Weishi was actually prepared to use the fortress to wear down Chi Yun's main force to the greatest extent, and rely on Chi Lei's entire cavalry force to completely destroy Chi Yun's rear. Perhaps the fortress would eventually be captured, and this fortress with an excellent location and the water sources around the fortress would also be out of her control, but the price that Chi Yun's side would have to pay would definitely be not small, and the time that the fortress had bought for the cavalry force was enough for Chi Lei to cause consequences that Chi Yun's side could not bear.

Tan Weishi's determination really startled Chi Yun, who understood it, into a cold sweat, and also made all the E-War Chess enthusiasts present, or those who had some understanding of military strategy, sigh with emotion. Perhaps this was just a game, but when victory or defeat represented honor or loss, represented heaven or hell, when everyone might truly immerse themselves in the smoky battlefield with the deepening of the game, no choice was so easy. Although there was no super decisive battle that would excite many people, the courage and skills of the command and decision-making demonstrated by both sides in this battle were enough to be praised by everyone.

A part of the army besieged the fortress, while the main force returned to aid. The thrilling battle of cavalry against cavalry and mobility against mobility still unfolded. After the cavalry units were dispersed, both sides tried to organize local superior forces, trying to annihilate each other's detachments in an organized manner. Because both sides had set up their formations so openly, and the reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance methods of the scouts were so exquisite, this local battle often evolved into a series of piecemeal annihilation battles and encounters of different scales in the surrounding areas... until both sides could not bear the losses and tacitly withdrew from the battle circle to look for other opportunities.

Ye Tao's explanation, accompanied by the *qiangdi* and *guzheng*, made this bloody war even more tragic and solemn. In such a war, it seemed no longer important who would survive. If such a war happened in reality, it was conceivable that when the war ended, no one would consider himself a winner. Every household would have dead and wounded, and would continue their lives full of sorrow. Was this the true color of war?

After using almost all the game loopholes that had been discovered, the weakness in strategy and tactics still made Tan Weishi's side somewhat unable to sustain. In the battle for the control of several key locations, the inability to withstand the losses and the prior withdrawal became the beginning of Tan Weishi's side's failure in the war. But Tan Weishi's side did not easily admit defeat. They used fewer and fewer troops to deal with more and more powerful enemies, constantly looking for opportunities to inflict blows on Chi Yun's troops. The commander's camp in the very rear, which had never moved since the beginning of the war, also moved with the last batch of the most elite guard cavalry battalion in the chess game, marking the princess's location. Whether it was stubbornness, or to echo the image of the kind and decisive princess depicted by Ye Tao earlier, Tan Weishi led the guard cavalry battalion into Chi Yun's central army, which was already dozens of times larger than her, like moths flying into a flame, preferring to be trampled into mud in the melee rather than surrender...

And there was no battle more suitable to mark the end of such a sorrowful war and such a wonderful chess game.

From the beginning to the end, except for a short lunch break, Ye Tao spoke on the stage for a full four hours, presenting such a wonderful chess game to everyone in its original form. In his explanation, there were not only chess games, battles, and magnificent scenes, but also the customs of the grasslands, the struggle of human nature that could only be highlighted in war, and the delicate thoughts of the generals on both sides... Old generals like Zhuo Mang could truly realize that Ye Tao's description of the struggles and pain of the generals on the battlefield when making decisions, the efforts of the bottom soldiers for victory and survival, and the complex state of that line between life and death, were so realistic. So realistic that even those who had survived one war after another were a little teary-eyed. It was like a sharp thorn that was directly stuck in the softest part of their hearts.

...Therefore, when Ye Tao announced the result of the competition in a slightly hoarse voice, and announced the end of the competition and the end of the explanation, the applause of the audience was also expected. In such a sensational applause, there was no doubt that Ye Tao was going to share a large part of it.