📚 Shiqing Yaqu — the famous Ming-dynasty collection of entertaining endgame compositions
Red to move — and this time the machine has confirmed it: Red checkmates in exactly 6 moves. The two armies are nearly level, and Black still has both elephants and a pawn already across the river, so that number 6 is anything but obvious; it demands that every move land with the precision of an examination. “Examination” is the very soul of the name: “Pointing at a Deer and Calling It a Horse” was Chancellor Zhao Gao's brutal loyalty test at the Qin court, retold in the anecdote below; the position is preserved in Thích Tình Nhã Thú. On the board, too, every Black reply is an answer given under compulsion. Can you pass this six-move test without missing a single beat?
✓ Engine-verified — The Fairy-Stockfish engine (NNUE) confirms Red checkmates in 6 moves — the main line was checked move by move, every move legal. Date checked: 2026-11-03.
鹿を指して馬と言う――史上最も残酷な忠誠テスト
宰相・趙高は鹿を朝廷へ牽いてきて、皇帝に献上した。「これは馬でございます」皇帝は笑った。「宰相の間違いであろう、それは鹿だ」趙高は振り返り、朝廷全体に尋ねた。その日、各官僚の答えが自らの命を決めることになると、誰が想像しただろう。なぜこれほど馬鹿げた問いが恐ろしかったのか？ 『史記』（第6巻・秦始皇本紀、第87巻・李斯列伝）が語る。趙高は権力を奪いたかったが、朝廷が自分に従うかどうかまだ分からなかった。そこで試練を考案した。二世皇帝（胡亥）に鹿を献じて馬と呼んだのだ。皇帝は笑って問い直した。問われた官僚のうち、沈黙する者もいれば、へつらって「馬」と言う者もいれば、正直に「鹿」と言う者もいた。…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
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