"Chief Minister, that recommendation for Zhang Zai..." Fang Qi asked softly.
"Shall we approve it or reject it?"
Shen Duan returned to his desk, took up his brush, and dipped it in ink.
The tip hovered over the document for a long time.
"Approve it," he said, lowering his brush.
Fang Qi leaned closer to look.
"Wouldn't approving it play right into his hands..."
"If I reject him, he will take another road. If I approve him, he owes this old man a favor." Shen Duan set down his brush, his voice calm.
"In the middle game, the man who wins a stone often loses the whole board."
"Once Zhang Zai enters Shaanxi, the grain routes will be in his hands.
But Shaanxi's troops will still be in Xu Zhen's hands.
It was I who arranged this pincer formation.
If he wants to take the grain routes, he must share a boat with my Xu Zhen and weather the storm together." Shen Duan's gaze darkened.
"He thinks he has drawn in the net, but its ropes are still on shore."
Fang Qi seemed to understand only halfway. Shen Duan said nothing more.
He sat down again and ran his hand over the Seal of the Heavenly Offices.
"Only today did I learn that the fisherman's rod was in another man's hands," Shen Duan murmured.
"The heavier the Seal of the Heavenly Offices weighs in one's hand, the clearer one sees."
"Wei Zi'an..." Shen Duan raised his eyes.
"I will play this game with you to the final move."
The twenty-eighth day of the seventh month, Jinghe Year Fifteen, Shen Hour.
Wei Nisheng finished his duties and left the Ministry of Personnel. The Blue-Curtained Carriage waited at the mouth of the lane.
The curtain was half lifted, revealing half of