◇ Just read — no move neededThe other ledger
兑子取势 — exchanging for position — is bookkeeping on a second ledger. Points say chariot 9, cannon 4½; position says who guards the mating squares, which files are open, whose pieces can still move. Trading a chariot for an advisor is a disaster on the first ledger and a knockout on the second. The questions to ask before any capture: after the dust settles, what has changed? Is a defender gone, a line open, a flight square covered? If the answer is nothing, decline the trade.