I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

The door of each compartment is open, so that officials who patrol outside the door can watch the movement and scenes in the room and check whether anyone is cheating.

After taking a few deep breaths in a row, talking to himself in the bottom of my heart, and cheering himself up, Takikawa's heart that had become a little flustered by the sudden accident gradually returned to calm.

The emotional return to calmness also made Takikawa's thinking become more sensitive again.

The thoughts that were originally like a messy ball of wool have also been sorted out one by one.

After clarifying his thoughts, his experience of studying in Chunshui, a master of Sinology, turned into segments of images that flashed through his mind one by one.

Later, Takikawa was surprised to find that his master Aioi Harumi once focused on the phrase "knowing it cannot be done".

Takikawa remembered that it should have happened a year ago. Aisheng Harumi spent nearly half an hour in a certain class to explain this sentence to the disciples including Takikawa.

I also cited a lot of allusions to help everyone understand this sentence.

His master Xiangsheng Chunshui most admires Confucius, and therefore he most respects the "Analects" which integrates the words and actions of Confucius and his disciples.

Because "The Analects" is the most respected, Xiangsheng Chunshui's research on "The Analects" is the deepest.

When explaining the content of "The Analects", Xiangsheng Chunshui will also take extra care.

Takikawa also remembers nearly 90% of what Aioi Harumi said at the time.

Takikawa couldn't help but burst into joy.

Fortunately, he is a disciple of Saga Chunshui.

Fortunately, I still remember the main content that Xiangle Chunshui said when he explained this sentence.

Takikawa recalled how Sagaraku Harumi explained this sentence at the time, while organizing the language.

After finishing the draft, Takikawa picked up the pen again, dipped the nib full of ink, bent down, and began to write word by word on the test paper.

After holding the tube and writing, Takikawa only felt as if he had been assisted by ghosts and spirits.

The whole person has entered a state of selflessness, and even the footsteps of officials who are constantly pacing and patrolling in the corridor can't be heard.

Takikawa's whole body and mind are put on answering.

After writing the last word, Takikawa's body and mind slowly escaped from the examination paper.

After quickly putting down the pen in his hand, Takikawa immediately read the article he had just written impatiently.

The more I read, the more I am surprised.

Takikawa thinks this is the best article he has ever written.

When it was really Pharaoh Rizhen, there were a lot of flowers. After reading it, Takikawa couldn't help even having the illusion of "Is this really written by me?".

After reading it back and forth several times, Takikawa sat down with the test paper in his hand.

Takikawa just feels that his self-confidence is almost overflowing from his chest.

His article will surely be praised by the critics-Takikawa has full confidence in it.

Takikawa felt that after seeing him, he won the first place in the literary examination, and then he successfully let the old Nakamatsu Hiranobu know the scene of his character.

Thinking that he was very likely to be in the eyes of Matsudaira Matshinbu, Takikawa couldn't help but imagine how he would use his talents once Matsuhira Matshinbu was appreciated, and under the promotion and cultivation of Matsudari Matshinbu.

Takikawa has already begun to imagine how he would revitalize the shogunate and govern the country after he was recognized and promoted by Matsudai Masanbu.

He must first propose to Matsuba Matsuzhin the various propositions that he had painstakingly formulated before, such as "vigorously revitalizing the martial arts Tsunaki", "taking Ogata Ichitosai at all costs and beheading him to the public".

Through the "revitalization of the samurai family Tsunki", the samurai's life of corruption and depravity will be swept away.

Takikawa firmly believes that as long as his political propositions of "vigorously revitalizing the martial arts Tsunaki" and "severely punishing thieves who violate Bushido" are used, within a few years, the country's situation will be brought to the fore.

The country that was devastated by the great hunger three years ago will reinvigorate under his governance, allowing the shogunate to regain the unparalleled power of Ieyasu's life.

And he will be famous for generations like Niwa Nagahide and Maeda Geni, and will be admired by hundreds of millions of future generations.

Takikawa was so immersed in his ambitious fantasies.

Because I was so immersed in fantasy, a weird and disgusting smile appeared on Takikawa's face...

——Hurry up when it's time to hand in the paper!

Takikawa wished to hand in the paper now.

Takikawa, who was quite confident in his answer sheet, felt that he could vaguely see that the critic was surprised after seeing his test sheet, and then hurried to see whose test sheet it looked like.

...

...

Holding the pen whose ink was almost dry, Ogata stared at the examination paper on the desk in front of him.

The scene of the assassination of Genai Matsudaira a year ago and the scene of the shogunate alone three months ago were played back and forth in Ogata's mind.

Ogata has to relive the two craziest things he has done so far.

"Knowing that you can't do it"-this sentence can be regarded as one of the most famous sentences in "The Analects".

There have always been different interpretations.

One of the most widely spread and most accepted interpretations is that it does not indicate that you know you can’t do it and you want to do it, but you don’t ask if you can do something, but you should ask for it, regardless of the result, but ask for a clear conscience.

——Me, the elder Kuranaga, and Ichiro decided to assassinate Matsuhira Gennai at the time... It should be regarded as "knowing that it is impossible to do it"...

While Ogata expressed this brief emotion in his heart, he unconsciously showed a faint smile on his face.

Ogata is not a fool.

As the person involved, he knew better than anyone at that time how difficult it was to assassinate Matsuhira Genai.

If the assassination fails, you die.

If the assassination is successful, he will also be charged with "killing the master" and live a life of being wanted and hunted down by the shogunate.

Whether it is a successful assassination or a failed assassination, it is not a good result.

But knowing that the assassination was extremely difficult, and no matter how successful it was, Ogata decided to abandon everything, including life, and swing his sword at Matsuhira Genuchi.

Ogata believes that the old Kuranaga and Ichiro must have had the same mood as him at the time: facing the known tragedies, they were still moving forward.

And Ogata's mood when he attacked Nijo Castle 3 months ago was similar to the mood he had when he decided to assassinate Genou Matsudaira a year ago.

Knowing that this action was tantamount to completely offending the shogunate and Shiranui, he did not hesitate to turn back.

Ogata meticulously recalled his state of mind when he was determined to assassinate Genou Matsudaira and attack Nijo Castle, while picking up his pen and dipping it in ink, he slowly began to write on the examination paper...

Ogata merged his feelings and determination at that time into the ink of the pen tip and turned them into words...

...

...

When the sun rose to its highest point, the officials sounded the gong very punctually to inform everyone: time is up.

Ogata can also be regarded as playing a limit operation-when the gong used to tell everyone that the time is up, Ogata just finished writing the last word.

After handing the test papers to the officials who entered the room to collect the papers, Ogata let out a sigh of relief.

"It's more tiring than expected..."

Then he smiled bitterly and said in a low voice.

It's been a long time since Ogata hasn't concentrated his whole body and mind and leaned over to make papers like this, which made Ogata a little uncomfortable. After answering the papers, he only felt a little dizzy.

After kneading his right hand, which was a little sore due to long writing, Ogata took back the knife placed beside him, and quickly left the tea house where he was, and returned to the place where he and Amachi and the gourd house were living. Inside the hotel.

As soon as he returned to the hotel room, Xu Jian was immediately surrounded by A Ding and others, asking how he was doing on the literary test.

"It's okay," Ogata replied. "Most of the questions can be answered, but only a few questions are not right or wrong."

"What's more difficult is that there are some accidents in this essay..."

Ogata briefed everyone on the unexpected incident that had an extra question on the examination paper.

After leaving the tea house, Ogata paid attention to the conversations of the people around him.

So Ogata found that everyone was very surprised that there was an extra question on the exam paper.

After leaving the tea house, most people discussed with their friends why the number and types of questions on the examination paper were different from what the government had said before, or shared with friends how they answered the "composition question". of.

"I basically played that question casually." Ogata, who was sitting cross-legged on the tatami, said in a half-joking tone, "I don't know if my answer like that is considered a pass. I don't know whether the question is important... …"

"If only those who have successfully answered that question can pass the essay test, it would be a big trouble..."

"Well, be more confident, Ogata-kun." As always, Genichi, who was sitting in the corner of the room like a waste, drank wine and laughed, "This kind of thing is related to writing articles." The title depends on whether the reviewer agrees with what you have written."

"Maybe the guy who scored the paper liked your answer very much, and then decided to judge you as the first name in the essay test."

"I don't dare to think about the first name in the literary test." Ogata said grumpily, "I didn't think about the first name in the literary test from the beginning. My goal was just from the beginning. Passed the literary examination smoothly."

"Ha ha ha." Genichi let out a weird low laugh, "Ogata-kun, do you know the deepest truth I have come to realize after living for so many years?"

"That is-what happens in life is always more exaggerated and unreasonable than the stories told by the storyteller."

"So your article just fits the appetite of the reviewer, and then the reviewer decides to judge you as the first name in the essay test. It is not impossible."

Having said that, Yuanyi poured a large sip of wine into his mouth again, and then he hiccuped.

Looking at Genichi who was drinking wine leisurely, Ogata couldn't help but complain in his heart:

——Speaking of which...it always feels like Yuan Da, since he came to Edo, he seems to have never done anything, he just nests in the corner of the room and drinks alcohol every day...

...

...

That night--

Edo, Matsudaira's residence, Matsudaira's room——

"Master Zhong, this is the final exam paper."

Matsudaira's little surname, Tachibana, placed a large stack of examination papers on the tatami mat in front of him.

"Yeah." Matsuhira Matsunobu, who was sitting not far in front of him, nodded softly, "Tachibana, thank you for your hard work."

On the tatami between Matsuhira Dingxin and Tachibana, there were piles of examination papers at this time.

These test papers are those of the participants who participated in the "Private Examination" this morning.

After all the examination papers were gathered up, Songping Dingxin immediately sent someone to start marking the papers.

Songping Dingxin sent a total of 10 people to correct these papers.

The scope of correction by these 10 people was limited to the 100 fill-in questions in the front, and the "composition question" at the back was not for them to correct.

Because these "fill-in-the-blank questions" are quite easy to correct, and the 10 corrections carefully selected by Matsuhira Dingxin are all proficient in sinology.

So it only took one afternoon for the 10 people who changed the papers to digest all the test papers.

And these exam papers that have been corrected and filled in the blanks were all sent to Songping Dingxin's residence tonight.

The reason why the 10 changers only commented on the fill-in-the-blank questions and did not comment on the following "composition question" is because - Matsudaira Dingxin specifically requested that the last question on the examination paper should be corrected by him himself.

Matsudai Dingxin put his hands around his chest, swept his gaze over the stack of examination papers in front of him, and showed a clear disappointment, and said softly:

"There are far fewer people participating in the "Prince Examination" than expected..."

According to government statistics, there were only 538 people participating in the "Private Examination".

Only 508 people attended the literary examination this morning, and 30 people were absent.

In other words, the total number of people who really came to participate in the "Private Examination" was just over 500.

Much less than Songping Dingxin expected.

When I heard that there were a large number of people from all over the world coming to Edo, Matsudaira was still very excited, thinking that there would be many people coming to participate in this "imperial test."

But who knows--until the registration deadline, the total number of people who signed up for the "Private Examination" was only in the early 500s...

Seeing disappointment on Matsuhira's face, Tachibana hurriedly explained:

"The reason why many people go to Edo is purely to watch the excitement of the'Gozen Test Combo', not to participate in the'Gozen Trial Combo'."

"There are also people who originally wanted to participate in the'Queen Test Combination', but they found that the'Private Trial Combination' was more than a literary in addition to martial arts, so they gave up."

"There are also some people who have given up participating in the'Imperial Examination' for other reasons."

As soon as Tachibana finished speaking, Matsudaira took a sigh of relief.

"Well, although the number is much smaller than expected, it is not unacceptable."

"I hope there are more people who can pass the literary test smoothly."

After all, Matsudaira puts the table aside in front of him, and then spreads the pen, ink, and inkstone on the table.

Tachibana, who knelt on one knee in front of Matsuba Matshin, looked at Matsuba Matsuri who was fiddling with the table, and asked with a wry smile while quietly asking:

"Old Master...Do you really want to go through these examination papers one by one?"

Having said that, Tachibana couldn't help but glanced at the pile of examination papers in front of him.

There are 508 people participating in the "Private Exam", which means that there are a total of 508 examination papers.

Matsudaira intends to personally correct the last question of the 508 examination papers... Tachibana just imagined the workload, and it felt like his scalp was numb.

Until Tachibana worries about what is the matter, Matsuba Dingxin smiled slightly:

"For me, who has instructed countless political affairs, this is just a trivial matter."

"And I can read words very quickly."

"I only need more than one day to read and correct this amount."

After saying this, Songping was convinced that the table and all the objects on the table had just been set up.

"Old Master, you may not know. Today, many people who participated in the "Prince Exam" complained why the questions in the literary examination papers were different from what the government had said before." Tachibana continued with a wry smile at this time. Said.

As for Matsuba Matsuri—he chuckled a few times after hearing Tachibana’s words:

"It seems that we have done a good job of confidentiality. No one knows that there is another question like this at the end of the examination paper."

"...Old Master, I still don't understand."

Tachibana's voice suddenly became much lower.

"Why do you suddenly add this question to the test paper? Why do you keep it strictly confidential, and prevent everyone from knowing that there is such a question before the literary test begins, and you still have to personally correct this question?"

Tachibana is Matsuhira's small family name.

Generally speaking, everyone will only choose their own cronies to be their own surnames.

Matsuba Matshin is no exception, and Tachibana is one of his cronies.

As a confidant of Matsuhira Dingxin, Tachibana naturally knows a lot of inside information.

For example-the essay examination paper really only had the 100 fill-in-the-blank questions at the beginning, not the "composition question".

It was Matsuhira Dingxin who suddenly ordered this question to be added, and required strict confidentiality. No outsider was allowed to know that there were other questions in the examination paper besides filling in the blanks.

After listening to the series of questions raised by Tachibana in silence, Matsubaru said in a calm tone:

"If everyone knows in advance that there are still this type of topic, then everyone will prepare early."

"In this way, it will not achieve the purpose I want."

"As for why we have to add more of this topic, and have to personally this topic..."

After a short silence, Songping Dingxin pulled the corners of his mouth slightly upwards, revealing a faint smile.

"There are many reasons."

"The main reason...probably just wants to see if there are like-minded people."

After saying something that made Tachibana feel in the mist, Matsuhira Dingxin waved his hand.

"Okay, you can withdraw first. I'm going to start reviewing the papers, don't bother me."

Tachibana also wanted to ask Matsuhira Dingxin what the sentence just said.

But seeing that Matsuhira Dingxin had already begun to rush people, Tachibana was inconvenient to say anything, so she quickly replied "Yes" in a loud voice, and quickly exited Matsuhira's room.

After Tachibana exited the room, Matsudaira moved the stack of examination papers closest to him to his side, and then spread the examination papers one by one on the table in front of him.

The "I can read words quickly" that Matsudaira said with Tachibana just now was not a boast.

Since he was a child, he did not release the scrolls, so he unknowingly developed the ability to accurately read the main content of the article even at a glance.

Songping Dingxin quickly looked at one by one.

The movements of his hands are fast, but the expression on Matsuba Dingxin's face has not changed much.

In this way, he flipped through the test papers blankly.

The moon outside the window keeps changing its position with the passage of time.

The oil lamp in the room was also changed once.

The expression on Matsuba Dingxin's face has finally changed.

But-it's a bad change.

The expressionless face frowned slightly at this time.

A faint unpleasant color appeared on his face.

"One or two... all are just copying the script..."

After reading another test paper and placing it aside on the top of the "hill" piled up with the test papers that had already been read, Matsudaira's impatient tone exhaled this low.

Matsubishi Dingxin rubbed his eyes that were already a little sour.

Because of his concentration on scoring, Matsudaira does not know how much time has passed since Zi Lihua left.

I can only feel it instinctively-it should be late at night now, it's already late.

Songping Dingxin opened his eyes that were still a little sour, glanced at the "hill" next to the "hill" piled up with the exam papers that he had read, and said in his heart:

——Have you read more than 50 examination papers...

In terms of results, tonight's results are quite fruitful.

After hesitating for a while between the two options of "going to bed" and "correcting the paper for a while," Matsuba Dingxin chose the latter.

After rubbing his eyes for a while, Matsubishi Dingxin felt that his sore eyes felt a little better after tears leaked from his eyes.

After regaining his spirits, Matsuhira Dingxin took another test paper from the side that he hadn't read.

Compared with all the previous examination papers, there is not much that is worth noting in this examination paper this time.

The handwriting can only be regarded as neat, not as good-looking. At first glance, you can see that it is the kind of person who has not practiced calligraphy.

Judging from the words and sentences, the person who wrote this test paper is not very literary.

Matsuhira Dingxinben holds the mentality that "it should be another boring examination paper".

However... after his gaze flicked across this line of words quickly, Songping Dingxin's expression and look, which were otherwise unwavering, gradually began to change.

More and more emotions began to surface on Songping Dingxin's face.

After reading it at the speed of one eye and ten lines, Matsudaira quickly turned his gaze back to the beginning of the article and started reading again. UU reading www.uukanshu.com

This time, Songping Dingxin read very carefully.

It is almost a word, word by word to read.

It took many times longer than the first time to read the article on the test paper, Matsuhira Dingxin quickly turned back to the first side of the test paper to see who the owner of the test paper was.

In order to make it easier to identify who each test paper belongs to, the owner’s name is written on the front of each test paper.

After swiftly returning to the first side of the test paper, Matsuhira Dingxin immediately looked at the name written on the test paper impatiently.

"Mashima... Goro..."

Then in a deep voice, he said the name in a low voice.

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It's a new month.

The author hereby wishes you all the best in the new month~~