Watch him build a Zhulou, watch him entertain guests, watch his building collapse!
——"Peach Blossom Fan. Leaving the Pavilion Banquet with Xie Zhisha" Kong Shangren [Qing Dynasty]
…
Gao Zhan felt a shiver in his heart, wondering how Bai Fu could identify the person behind it.
…
Gao Zhan is a descendant of Gao Huan, Taizu of the Northern Qi Dynasty. He was greatly favored by the Dugu family when he was young, and he swore to repay the Dugu family. Later, when he was young, he had an opportunity and learned superb gambling skills, traveling across the north.
After Gao Zhan became famous, he devoted himself to repaying his kindness, but the Dugu family was very powerful and had no real need for money. More than ten years have passed like this, and it is difficult to repay the kindness. Gao Zhan has always kept it in his heart.
Some time ago, Gao Zhan received a letter from Dugu Xiaozhong, the legitimate daughter of the Dugu family, hoping to use Gao Zhan's help to raise military pay for her husband, King Cheng Li Chu.
On March 2, His Majesty changed the title of King Li Chu of Chu to Cheng Wang, instead of the title of Crown Prince of Jin as previously reported. On March 6, His Majesty promoted Concubine Zhang Shu to the title of Queen.
The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were greatly surprised. Some veteran officials in the court saw the clues and changed from firmly supporting Li Chu to take over the East Palace to becoming vague and uncertain.
These two things happened one after another, and Li Chu was alert. Empress Zhang's son, Prince Xing Li Yi, was three years old this year. Considering his father's favor for Empress Zhang today, the possibility of establishing him as his heir cannot be ruled out.
Li Chu secretly bribed the eunuchs and maids around Suzong, and when he inquired about it, it turned out that it was exactly what he expected. Empress Zhang intended to seize the direct heir, and repeatedly encouraged her Majesty to make Li Xing Wang the crown prince. What made Li Chu even more frightened and uneasy was——
The father did not explicitly reject Queen Zhang, but was hesitant about who to appoint as the crown prince.
The matter was so important that Li Chu found an opportunity, pretended to be drunk, and cried to Dugu Xiaozhong, hoping to use the power of the Dugu family to save the situation.
Seeing her husband in such pain and helplessness, Dugu Xiaozhong naturally could not sit idly by. She immediately asked for help from her family and wrote a letter in her own hand, entrusting someone to bring it to the gambling god Gao Zhan and other important people in the family.
When Gao Zhan saw the letter, he promised a large sum of money and rushed to Chang'an without stopping to assist King Cheng Li Chu in his fight for the crown prince's position.
…
Just now, on the Qujiang River, the white jade flute had fallen flowers, which made it so popular that it made it difficult for King Cheng Li Chu to express his feelings.
Seeing Bai Fu boarding the gambling boat of the Beihai Gang, King Cheng Li Chu had a thought in his heart and secretly ordered Gao Zhan to board the boat to kill Bai Fu's vigor.
Gao Zhan was deceived by Cheng Wang Li Chu and mistakenly believed that Bai Fu had used despicable means to take possession of the Dugu family's sacred object, the Xuantie Sword. Therefore, he had no choice but to stand up for the Dugu family and take back the Xuantie Sword.
…
Bai Fu stopped shouting and reprimanded Gao Zhan face to face for being a lackey of a certain prince.
The God of Gamblers actually sought refuge with the royal family and asked for their protection? Everyone was in an uproar...
Gao Zhan was ashamed, unable to refute, and couldn't get off the stage in front of everyone.
What a hero Gao Zhan, the God of Gamblers, is!
Since his debut, Gao Zhan has been an upright and generous person. When Gao Zhan is mentioned in the gambling world, no one will give him a thumbs up! Therefore, tens of thousands of casinos in the north have publicly promoted Gao Zhan as the God of Gambling and jointly customized a "Supreme" gold medal to give Gao Zhan
.
Gao Zhan's face was livid, and he thought to himself: "No wonder King Cheng hates this person so much. This person has some martial arts skills, but he doesn't know how high the sky is!
I wanted to just grab the Black Iron Sword and give up, but it seems that I don’t want to show him any favors because I don’t know how powerful I am! Anyway, I will teach this kid a lesson today!”
Bai Fu secretly observed Gao Zhan's face and thought: "Sun Tzu said: 'So there will be five dangers: death, which can be killed; life, which can be captured; anger, which can be insulted; integrity, which can be humiliated; loving the people,
It's troublesome. Any of these five things, if the general makes a mistake, will cause disaster in the use of troops. Overturning the army and killing the general will inevitably lead to the five dangers, so we must pay attention to them.'
Being unable to bear stigma is a taboo for a general, and it is a character weakness that leads to the general's downfall.
Gao Zhan, with his Chinese character face, curly beard, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a righteous look on his face, must be someone who cherishes feathers and reputation extremely.
According to what Master Zhongji said, this kind of person cannot tolerate a single stain on his body. If you throw dirty water on him, he would rather die to prove his innocence."
Bai Fu spoke out in anger, and as expected by Master Zhongsi, Gao Zhan, who was not moved by the wealth of money, actually showed a hint of anger.
Bai Fu thought: "The God of Gamblers, once he becomes a god, can only be worshiped. If his reputation is ruined, he will fight tooth and nail. He knows it is a trick and is willing to be fooled.
As long as his mind is unstable and there is a slight crack in his gambling skills, I may be able to defeat him!"
…
Bai Fu replaced Jia Chang and the game resumed.
Bai Fu sat where Jia Chang had been, facing south as the master. Gao Zhan sat opposite Bai Fu, facing south.
Lu Zi secretly moved to the west end of the gaming table and sat upstream of Bai Fu. Zheng Lu sat at the east end of the gambling table, below Bai Fu.
On the card table, what position you take is extremely important.
Ji Qianqian took a look and saw that the three of them had joined forces to form an encirclement, trapping Bai Fu in the middle. But Bai Fu was so stupid that he didn't realize it.
Ji Qianqian was angry and angry. At this time, the curtain had been drawn, and there was no room for maneuver. Ji Qianqian ordered his confidant maid to go to Princess Qingluan, hoping to persuade Bai Fu to leave the gambling table.
Jia Qi personally brought Bai Fu chips worth a thousand taels of gold. Gao Zhan waved his hand and said, "Wait a minute! According to the contract just made by Gang Leader Jia, all the casinos under the Beihai Gang are now under my name. Without my order,
No one can advance gambling money for Bai Fu."
Everyone in the Beihai Gang yelled at him, and Jia Qi glared at Gao Zhan fiercely. Gao Zhan sneered, looking down on the others.
Li Yan was furious and ordered his attendants to get pens, ink, paper and inkstones, and personally drew the money to the casino.
Bai Fu smiled, took out a sheepskin voucher from his sleeve, put it on the gambling table, and said: "This is a voucher issued by Chang'an Dachanglong Cabinet Shop. The goods are worth a thousand taels of gold. How about it? Can I exchange it for chips?"
"
Zi Xin said: "How could a poor man carry such a huge sum of money with him? Could it be a fraud?" Regardless of his identity, he quickly grabbed the certificate and took a look. This move caused a burst of boos from the onlookers.
Lu Zi shamelessly inspected it carefully. It was found to be correct. It was indeed a calligraphy issued by Dachanglong Cabinet. It contained the payment amount, date of issuance, payee's name, signature and seal of the person who issued the calligraphy.
Lu Zi could only nod towards Gao Zhan. Gao Zhan had nothing to say and let Jia Qi hand over the thousand taels of gold chips to Bai Fu.
Jia Qi took the opportunity to whisper to Bai Fu: "Young Master Bai, this person's gambling skills are mainly based on conspiracy, supplemented by deceit. Just now, King Siqing and I tried our best to find out his cards, but my brother still suffered.
His way. You must be careful!"
Bai Fu responded with a smile and nodded.
The chime sounded and the game started.
After rolling the dice to compare the odds, Gao Zhan took the throne in the first round.
Each gambler places a front bet - one tael of gold, and the dealer places twice the front bet.
The croupier, Princess Yanguang, dealt the two hole cards face down to everyone in turn. Then she started to turn over the cards and dealt out three upright cards. The upright cards were the bench of the palace card, the red five and the red seven of the miscellaneous cards.
The first round of bidding began. Lu Zi was sitting on the bottom of the dealer's seat. His trump card was small and not optimistic. Lu Zi glanced at his next player Bai Fu, sneered, and handed over the hundred taels of gold.
Throw the chips into the card table and place your bet, which is very impressive.
Bai Fu took a look at his trump card, smiled slightly, and folded.
Ji Qianqian thought to herself: "Yes, that's it. If you're not sure, don't follow."
Zheng Lu and Gao Zhan also folded their cards in turn.
"Lu Zi wins this game!" said the croupier Princess Yanguang, passing the chips on the gaming table to Lu Zi. Lu Zi was so unhappy that he looked at Bai Fu with disdain.
Bai Fu didn't mind and responded with a smile.
…
In the next three rounds, Bai Fu did not call once and folded every hand.
At the beginning of the fifth game, Gao Zhan was the banker again, and Lu Zi was the first to call.
The croupier, Princess Yanguang, dealt the hole cards to everyone in turn. Then she started to turn over the cards and dealt out three upright cards. The upturned cards were the heaven card of the palace card, the human card and the bronze hammer of the unitary card.
Lu Zi took a look at his trump card and bet a hundred taels of gold. Seeing that Bai Fu was about to fold again, Lu Zi glanced at Zheng Lu.
Zheng Lu understood this and deliberately ran against Bai Fu, shouting: "Do you know how to play? Just give up and give up!"
Hearing this, Bai Fu took back the hand that was about to discard the cards, nodded and said: "That's right. If you keep playing like this, there is no point in winning against the God of Gamblers." After that, Bai Fu also pushed the one hundred taels of gold chips into the center of the gambling table.
Ji Qianqian said anxiously: "Young Master Bai, please don't fall into the trap of provoking generals."
The dealer Princess Yanguang's face darkened and she shouted to Ji Qianqian: "If you yell again, I will expel you."
Li Yan secretly said: "Something is going wrong. I thought that Princess Yanguang would take a stand for the sake of her two brothers. Now it seems that she is probably on the side of the God of Gamblers."
Seeing that his plan was successful, Zheng Lu laughed and followed suit.
The god of gambling Gao Zhan stared at Bai Fu, trying to guess Bai Fu's trump card from Bai Fu's expression. After pondering for a moment, Gao Zhan took the initiative to discard his cards.
Gao Zhan actually folded? There was a commotion on the court.
Bai Fu thought to himself: "He is indeed the God of Gambling. Although he was humiliated by me and knew that I was an unknown person in the gambling world, he was not careless at all. With this caution, it is no wonder that he is invincible in every battle."
The dealer, Princess Yanguang, started to turn the cards and dealt the fourth bright card - the land card.
Lu Zi frowned and looked at Bai Fu again. Seeing that Bai Fu was also thinking deeply, he felt relieved. Lu Zi smiled boldly and bet another hundred taels of gold.
Bai Fu pondered for a moment and finally called. Gao Zhan's mind moved and he was thoughtful.
When Zheng Lu saw Lu Zi placing a bet, he continued to follow without hesitation.
The dealer, Princess Yanguang, saw that no one was discarding her cards, so she started the river card and continued to deal the fifth bright card - Bend Eight.
Lu Zi was unsure now and secretly glanced at Gao Zhan. Gao Zhan used a subtle movement that almost no one could detect, signaling Lu Zi to wait until the end to try to see Bai Fu's trump card.
Lu Zi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the five hundred taels of gold chips into the card table! Then he looked down at Bai Fu, trying to scare Bai Fu away.
Gao Zhan secretly cursed: "Idiot, just put down a hundred taels of chips. If Bai Fu is frightened and folds his cards on his own initiative, it will be difficult to discover his cards."
Bai Fu looked at the bright cards in the center of the card table, and then at his hole cards, his eyes rolling around. He waited for a long time before taking action, and pushed the five hundred taels of gold chips next to him into the card table.
Seeing this, Gao Zhan already guessed the cards in Bai Fu's hand and snorted in his heart: "Pretend to be a pig and eat the tiger! Let me see what you will do next?!"
Zheng Lu didn't notice the change in everyone's expressions at the poker table at all, but still followed the established strategy, saw Lu Zi place his bet, and continued to follow.
Gao Zhan cursed secretly again: "Stupid pig, don't you even look at the cards? Bai Fu, a rookie, dares to follow the bet with five hundred taels of gold, and the cards will definitely not be too bad. If you two lose, you will be given a thousand taels of gold out of thin air.
Giving it to him also makes it more difficult for me to win over him."
"Open the cards!" the croupier, Princess Yanguang, said to the three of them.
Zheng Lu turned over his trump card, and a pair of threes came out.
Lu Zi also turned over his hole cards. There was a human card and a copper hammer, which together with the bright card formed a double pair, two pairs of copper hammers.
Bai Fu turned over amidst high expectations, a sky card and a land card, which together with the bright card formed two pairs of high cards, double sky and double land.
The field immediately exploded with boos and applause.
"Big double in the sky, double hammer in the double ground. The front team wins, the back team wins - Bai Fu wins!" the croupier, Princess Yanguang, announced reluctantly.
In this round, a total of one thousand taels of gold was lost. Lu Zi and Zheng Lu were very upset, but Gao Zhan, the God of Gamblers, had a sneer on his lips - as long as he knew Bai Fu's cards, it would be easy to win all the chips in his hand.