I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Edo, Kitamachi Magistrate's Office.

"There are so many people..."

Looking at the scene in front of him, Ogata couldn't help muttering in a helpless tone.

It was just dawn today, and Oo conveniently took the document that looked like a "candidate certificate" that he had obtained at the registration place before, and rushed to the gathering place for the participants of the "Imperial Examination" - Kitamachi Magistrate's Office .

Edo is currently the largest city in Japan.

The total population is over one million.

Due to the large population and large area, in order to facilitate the management of this "behemoth-shaped" city town, Edo set up two towns, Nancho and Beicho.

In history, Edo once set up a "Nakamachi Pursuit", but the post of Nakamachi Pursuit was removed shortly after it was set up.

Ogata and the others turned onto an avenue leading directly to the Kitamachi Prefectural Office in Edo, and then walked straight along this avenue, and they arrived at a magnificent mansion.

And this magnificent mansion is the Kitamachi Prefectural Office in Edo.

A small open space in front of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office was already crowded with dense crowds.

According to Ogata's estimation, nearly one hundred people had already gathered in this small open space.

And this number is still slowly increasing.

The people gathered here are, without exception, those who have signed up for the "Imperial Trial".

Some are young and handsome, exuding vigor and vigor all over their bodies.

Some looked old, with some white in their hair and beard.

Some are well-dressed and well-dressed.

Some are sloppy, and their clothes are as dirty as a rag specially used to wipe the toilet floor. What's more, their clothes are directly tattered, and they are simply ragged.

Most people come on foot.

Of course, there are also a small number of people who come directly on horseback or in sedan chairs.

Although there are thousands of styles of people gathered on this street at this time, they all have one thing in common - they all have the soul of a samurai on their waists: a sword.

Almost all the people here, whether they are glamorous in appearance,

They were still dressed in rags, mostly warriors.

Of course there are a few exceptions.

There are also very few people who do not have a knife in their waist.

These people without swords in their waists are either warriors with weird personalities who don't have swords on their bodies, or ordinary civilians.

The latter is much more likely than the former.

The number of samurai who go out without a sword is so small that they can be called "rare animals".

Ogata guessed: These civilians who came to participate in the "Imperial Examination" may just want to take part in the literary examination, to see if they can get a bonus for the literary examination.

After all, it is unlikely that these civilians will come for the "martial arts test" that will follow.

Looking at the crowded crowd in front of him, Ogata couldn't help but secretly said in his heart:

——It’s the epitome of the samurai class in this era...

With this situation, Ogata couldn't help expressing his emotions.

Although there are very few civilians in this small open space, most of them are warriors.

The group of warriors gathered in this small open space at this time is like the epitome of the warrior class of this era.

Although they all have the title of "samurai", their lives are very different from each other.

Some have rich clothes and fine food, and they have horses and sedan chairs when they travel.

Some wore tattered clothes that were not even as good as ordinary civilians. Apart from the sabers stuck in their waists, their appearance was no different from ordinary civilians.

After expressing this small emotion in his heart, Ogata walked to the outermost edge of the crowd, quietly waiting for the official start of the essay test.

Accompanying Ogata to the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office were A-machi and Makimura.

Ogata didn't want to bother Makimura to send him to the Kitamachi Magistrate.

However, Mu Cun is a person who likes to join in the fun.

With such excitement to join in, Mucun naturally wouldn't let it go.

So even though Ogata persuaded him not to come see him off, Mucun still insisted on following Ogata and Atachi to Kitamachi Magistrate's Office.

Ogata felt quite helpless for Mucun's behavior of insisting on joining in the fun...

Because the main reason why Ogata didn't want Mucun to come over was that he wanted to be alone with A-cho after a long absence...

Makimura and A-cho, who was wearing heavy makeup that even his parents couldn't recognize, looked at everything around them with curious eyes.

This kind of warriors with different styles gathered together is a spectacle that is hard to see in ordinary times.

While looking at everything around him with curious eyes, Mucun also tapped Ogata's shoulder with his hand, and asked Ogata:

"Are you confident in this 'literary test'?"

"It's okay." Ogata smiled.

These days, Tian Xufang has been taking the time to read the Four Books and Five Classics. Review some chapters that you are a little rusty, or have forgotten most of the content.

The entire test content of the essay test is to test 100 fill-in-the-blank questions.

If you want Ogata to answer all the 100 questions correctly, then Ogata has no confidence.

But if it is said that Ogata is to meet the conditions for passing the essay test: answering half of the questions correctly, then Ogata still has some confidence.

Filling in the blanks can be regarded as an examination question with a long history.

As early as in the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty, there was a kind of examination questions called "posting scriptures".

And this "pasting scripture" is to fill in the blanks.

While Ogata waited silently for the official to take them to the examination room, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind:

"Isn't this Mashima Goro-kun?"

Upon hearing this voice, Ogata frowned immediately, then turned his head following the voice, and looked at the owner of the male voice: a well-dressed samurai.

This samurai is also an old acquaintance of Ogata...

It was the banner samurai from a prominent family: Takikawa Heiichiro.

Takigawa's attire at this time was the same as the one he saw last time at Mae Ogata, the registration place for the "Gozen Trial Match": his whole body exuded the aura of wealth.

The samurai of this era often have the family crest of the lord to whom they belong to be tattooed on their clothes.

For example: before Ogata left the feudal domain, the only few clothes he had had the family crest of "Matsudaira Hirose" tattooed on them.

And these clothes were thrown away by Ogata after he left the feudal domain.

The haori on Takigawa's upper body is also tattooed with the family crest of the lord he is loyal to - the family crest of the Tokugawa family: clover.

Not counting the ronin who no longer have a loyal lord, there is also a chain of contempt among the samurai.

At the bottom of the chain of contempt are those samurai who serve the weak foreign daimyo.

And the samurai standing at the top of the chain of contempt are those who can wear clothes with clover patterns.

Takikawa, who was well dressed, walked slowly to Ogata.

After Takikawa approached, Ogata's plain attire greatly enhanced Takikawa's magnificence.

"Guian. It's really early for you to come." After approaching Ogata, Takigawa said hello to Ogata with some innocuous words.

"Nothing." Ogata replied in a calm tone, "I'm just here too."

"How? Are you preparing well for today's essay test?" Takikawa continued to ask.

"Let's just go through those Sinology classics several times." Ogata's response was still flat.

"That's good." Takikawa nodded, and put on a strange tone, "I look forward to seeing your excellent performance."

After saying this in a strange tone, Takigawa didn't say another word to Ogata, bypassed Ogata, and walked in another direction away from Ogata.

As soon as the voice of Takigawa's words just fell, Ogata frowned slightly.

What Takigawa said just now was said in a very weird tone, so that made his sentence just now have a yin and yang tone from the beginning to the end.

However, Ogata's brows were slightly furrowed for a while, and then relaxed.

Ogata has never had a good impression of Takikawa, so he didn't even say a word to him, and he didn't bother to care about Takikawa's weird words just now.

But——Ogata can ignore Takikawa, but it doesn't mean that the rest of the people can also ignore it.

"What..." A-Machi cast his eyes on Takigawa with displeasure, "Who is that guy? Why does he speak so badly..."

Apart from A-Machi, Makimura was also looking at Takikawa's back as he was walking away with displeasure on his face.

Mucun had accompanied Ogata to the place where he registered for the "Gozen Trial" before, so he knew Takikawa.

But Machi didn't recognize Takikawa.

In order to avoid unnecessary incidents between A-Machi and Makimura, Ogata hurriedly said:

"Who is that guy, I will explain to you slowly later."

"Don't worry about that guy. Just treat that guy as one of those annoying flies that can only 'humble'."

"There's no need to cause trouble and waste time for this guy."

Hearing what Ogata said, Atachi and Makimura turned their displeased eyes away from Takikawa's back.

After briefly introducing who that Takigawa was to A-Machi, Ogata continued to wait quietly for the start of the essay test.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, finally a group of people dressed as officials came out of the execution office.

After this group of people dressed as officials walked out of the execution office, the crowd gathered in this small open space immediately became more noisy.

Through the conversations of the people around him, Ogata learned that the leader of the group of officials who came out of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office was the current Kitamachi Magistrate of Edo: Nagase Shogo.

As soon as Nagase, who is the head of the Kitamachi, arrived at the scene, he loudly announced to everyone that the essay test was about to start, and everyone was quiet.

Nagase's voice is very loud, and his voice can perfectly cover every corner of this small open space.

After hearing Nagase telling them to be quiet, the originally noisy small open space slowly quieted down.

The common people standing outside watching the excitement also lowered their voices.

After quieting the open space, Nagase cleared his throat, and then announced the next procedure to everyone.

Nagase talked about a lot of tedious process instructions.

After removing those official words and clichés, and streamlining the remaining parts, the main content is: later they will call their names one by one, and those whose names are called come out and walk to the person who called their names. Officials, and then they will be taken to the place where the essay test will be conducted.

According to Nagase, because there has never been a similar event before, there is no special place for a large number of people to take the exam.

In order to solve the problem of the examination place, the shogunate rented several large tea houses adjacent to the Kitamachi Executive Office.

Ogata and the others will be brought to these tea houses in batches later, and will take the literary test in these tea houses.

Everyone will be taken to a separate room in the tea house for an examination.

Exams continued until noon.

Ogata was not surprised that the shogunate actually rented several teahouses as a place for the literary examination.

After all, there was no examination culture in Japan during the Edo period, and no examination activities had been held before.

In the situation where there is no such place that can accommodate a large number of people for examination, renting a tea house with a large number of independent compartments is the best choice.

After briefly explaining the procedures before and after the literary test, the officials who had just followed Nagase out of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office dispersed and started shouting at everyone involved in the "Imperial Trial" name.

After a while, Obi heard an official not far away shouting "Mashima Goro".

"Then I'll go first." Ogata smiled at Atachi and Mucun beside him, "See you in the afternoon."

"Oh!" Mucun patted Ogata's shoulder vigorously, "waiting for your good news!"

"I wish you prosperous martial arts!" A-cho cheered Ogata loudly.

"It's 'Bunun Masakaro'." After correcting what A-Machi said just now in a half-joking tone, Ogata quickly walked towards the official who just called out the name "Mashima Goro".

After walking up to the official and showing the official the document that looked like a "candidate certificate" that he had obtained from the official at the "registration place", the official nodded and let Xu Fang waited for a while.

These officials each manage a group of candidates participating in the "Imperial Examination", and after counting the candidates they are responsible for, they take these candidates to the various tea houses where the literary test is held.

After waiting for a while, the official in charge of Ogata finally counted all the candidates under his charge.

The luck of this official was pretty good. All the candidates under his charge, including Ogata, were present, and no one was absent.

After counting all the candidates he was in charge of, the official led Ogata and the others in charge, and strode towards the tea house where Ogata and the others were taking the literary test.

When following the official to a tea house not far from the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office, Ogata suddenly found four people dressed as officials standing in front of the tea house.

These 4 officials have ten hands stuck in their waists, holding thorns in their hands.

Seeing Ogata and others coming, the four officials immediately told Ogata and others in a stern tone that they wanted to check whether they were carrying any cheating equipment.

Only those who pass the inspection can enter.

Hearing the words of these four officials, Ogata couldn't help raising his eyebrows.

Ogata was neither surprised nor a little surprised that there was an "anti-cheating check".

Ogata was not surprised—it is normal for candidates to check whether they have cheating equipment before entering the examination room.

What surprised Ogata was that in Edo Japan, where the examination culture was almost zero, the officials of the shogunate knew how to prevent cheating.

Everyone will be taken to a small room in the tea house, and then checked.

Check that you are not carrying anything strange, and that there are no problems with your clothes.

Under the inspection of the officials, two guys with problems were really caught.

One of the two people wrote the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics on the inside of the kimono in tiny characters.

Another person was even more ruthless, putting the "cheat sheet" filled with the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics into the interlayer of his clothes.

These two guys who were caught in the act were directly tied up.

According to the officials, all cheaters and those who intend to cheat will be sent to prison for a period of time.

Soon, it was Ogata's turn to be checked for cheating.

Ogata had no intention of cheating at all, so Ogata quickly passed the inspection.

When he walked out of this room used to check for cheating, Ogata couldn't help showing a strange expression on his face, and said with emotion in his heart:

——It's still too tender...

In Ogata's eyes, the methods used by these officials to check and cheat are too tender. They just check their clothes and body.

In ancient China, it was called a profession to check whether the imperial examination candidates had cheating methods.

Because the various cheating methods of some imperial examination candidates emerged in an endless stream, the government's cheating methods were also forced to develop by leaps and bounds.

However, the methods used by these officials to check and cheat are not mature enough, and Ogata can understand this very well.

After all, there has never been a similar activity before, and it should be the first time for these officials to check for cheating. For this sake, it is not bad.

After successfully passing the cheating check, Ogata was taken to the second floor of the tea house and entered into a small cubicle.

A table has already been set up in this compartment.

The pen, ink and inkstone are all ready on the table, as well as a teapot and teacup.

It's a pity that what the teapot pours out is not tea, but ordinary water.

Ogata sat down cross-legged in front of this table, then took off the saber at his waist and placed it on the tatami mat on the right, and then waited silently for the official start of the essay test.

While Ogata was waiting for the literary test to officially start, other people were brought up to the second floor of the tea house one after another, and then brought into different compartments.

After waiting until Ogata became a little impatient, an official finally stood in the corridor outside the cubicle and announced to Ogata and others that the essay test had begun, and those who received the test papers could start answering immediately.

Afterwards, the two officials each held a large stack of examination papers, walked into each compartment one by one, and handed the examination papers to everyone in each compartment.

After receiving the examination paper from the official who entered his room, Xu Yi quickly flipped through it.

The exam paper is full of fill-in-the-blank questions.

These fill-in-the-blank questions are lined up together, and it looks densely packed, which is a bit scary at first glance.

——100 fill-in-the-blank questions... It's still tiring to answer one by one.

Ogata, who was not in a hurry to answer immediately, flipped through the examination paper in his hand.

Because there are too many questions, there are 3 exam papers.

When he turned to the last exam paper, Ogata's pupils shrank slightly.

"How is this going……"

Looking at the last part of the examination paper, Ogata couldn't help but whispered in a low voice that only he could hear clearly, his tone full of astonishment.

At the end of the exam paper, there is another question.

This question is not a fill-in-the-blank question.

The words and phrases used in the content of the title are well-written.

If you use simple words to summarize the content of this topic, it is: Please tell us your understanding of the sentence "knowing what can't be done and doing it" in "The Analects of Confucius".

——Why are there still composition questions! It's different from what I've heard before!

Several black lines appeared on Ogata's face involuntarily.

What Ogata had heard before was that the essay test only had 100 fill-in-the-blank questions.

And the government announced to the outside world that it has always said that only 100 fill-in-the-blank questions will be tested.

Now seeing that in addition to the 100 fill-in-the-blank questions on this test paper, there is also 1 composition question, Ogata was a little dumbfounded.

Ogata is not the only one who is dumbfounded.

At this moment, almost everyone who received the test papers was dumbfounded...

...

...

Takikawa got up early today.

Because today is the day when the literary test of the "Imperial Trial" begins.

As early as a month ago, Takigawa was preparing for the literary examination of the "Imperial Trial".

Needless to say, I study diligently and recite every day, and frequently study the Four Books and Five Classics with other friends who are also determined to show their skills in the "Yuqian Trial".

After a month of serious preparation, Takikawa realized that he had really reached the state of reciting the Four Books and Five Classics fluently, which was quite different from himself a month ago.

Takikawa even thought very proudly and conceitedly: With my current ability, it is easy to get all the questions on the examination paper right!

Because he is very confident in himself, when he went out to the North Prison Office this morning, Takikawa kept a proud and confident smile on his face.

After arriving at the North Enforcement Office with bold steps, Takigawa was surprised to find that he saw the Mashima Goro who made him lose face in front of so many prostitutes before.

However, Takikawa was not too surprised that he saw this Mashima Goro again.

After all, everyone is here to participate in the "Imperial Trial", and it is a high probability event to meet again in this gathering place.

After seeing Mashima Goro again this time, Takikawa was not angry at seeing this guy who made him lose face again.

Because he felt that he would be able to easily answer all the questions in the essay test, Takigawa was in a good mood now.

So in a good mood, after seeing Goro Mashima, not only did Takikawa not feel angry, but he also took the initiative to say hello to Goro Mashima.

Although this Mashima Goro can speak very fluent Chinese and seems to have a certain understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics, but in Takikawa's eyes, this Mashima Goro's attainments in the Four Books and Five Classics are definitely not as deep as his.

Convinced that Mashima Goro's performance in the essay test was definitely not as impressive as his, Takikawa, after greeting Mashima Goro, couldn't help but mocked Mashima Goro in a weird tone.

After putting down a mocking remark in front of Mashima Goro, Takigawa leisurely waited for the essay test to begin.

After spending a lot of time, Takigawa finally entered a compartment of a certain tea house, and then waited until the literary examination officially started and received the examination paper.

After receiving the examination paper, Takigawa couldn't wait to flip through the examination paper in his hand.

After seeing the questions on the examination paper, a smug smile appeared on Takikawa's face.

Among these questions, some questions are very easy, and some questions are slightly difficult.

But whether it is a simple question or a difficult one, Takikawa can answer it.

Looking at the questions that he knew how to answer, the smile on Takikawa's face became more and more full of pride and excitement.

Until... Takikawa saw the last part of the examination paper.

After seeing the "composition question" at the end of the examination paper, the smile on Takikawa's face froze.

The pupils of the eyes are full of unbelievable colors.

"what is this……"

Then he murmured in a surprised tone.

...

...

Ogata answered the previous 100 fill-in-the-blank questions as quickly as possible.

These 100 fill-in-the-blank questions range from difficult to easy.

Most of the questions can be answered by Xufang.

However, there are also a small number of questions that although Oufang can fill in the content, he does not know whether the answer is correct.

"Mae Ogata" received a complete Sinology education in the temple house, and studied the Four Books and Five Classics assiduously, and Ogata himself also studied the Four Books and Five Classics before traveling. However, despite the memory of "Mae Ogata" and my own memory, I haven't read the Four Books and Five Classics for a long time, so some of the content is already unfamiliar.

But Ogata didn't care about it, after all, his goal from the beginning to the end was not to answer all the questions on the test paper correctly and get the first place in the essay test.

From the very beginning, his goal was just to "pass the civil examination safely, and then enter the following military examination smoothly".

After answering the previous 100 fill-in-the-blank questions, Xu Fang looked at the last "composition question" with a wry smile.

While answering the previous fill-in-the-blank questions, Ogata was thinking about what he should write about this "composition question" while answering the questions.

——"Do it when you know what you can't do"...

As for what this sentence means, different people have always had different interpretations.

For some reason, when he repeated this sentence in his heart, various memories and images that had been buried in the depths of Ogata's mind emerged one by one.

Memories of when I resolutely attacked Nijo Castle 3 months ago...

And... 1 year ago, memories of when I charged alone against Matsudaira Gennai, which was protected by hundreds of samurai...

...

...

Takigawa took a few deep breaths, and forced his heart, which was beating wildly due to restlessness, to slowly return to its usual beating speed.

At this time, Takikawa also finished the previous 100 fill-in-the-blank questions.

I am preparing to launch an "offensive" on this last topic.

The topics in the essay test were completely different from what he had heard before, and the astonishment in Takikawa's heart has not dissipated until now.

——Calm down... Takigawa Heiichiro.

Takikawa was talking to himself in his heart.

——You are a disciple of the masters of Sinology.

——Even if there is another question in the examination paper, it will not trouble you!

After cheering himself up a few times in his heart, Takigawa took a deep breath again, and then looked at the question at the end of the examination paper.

*****

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