Edo, Kitamachi Magistrates' Office.
“There are so many people here…”
Looking at the scene in front of him, Ogata couldn't help but mutter this in a helpless tone.
At dawn today, Obuchi took the document that looked like a "candidate certificate" that he had obtained at the registration place and rushed to the gathering place for the participants of the "Imperial Examination" - the Kitamachi Bugyosho.
Edo was by far the largest city in Japan.
The total population is over one million.
Because of the large population and large area, in order to facilitate the management of this "behemoth" castle, Edo set up two town magistrates - Minami-machi-magistrate and Kitamachi-magistrate.
Historically, Edo once set up the "Nakamachi Bugyo", but the position of Nakamachi Bugyo was abolished not long after it was established.
Ogata and others turned onto a main road that led directly to the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office in Edo, and then after walking straight along the road, they arrived at a magnificent mansion.
This magnificent mansion was the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office in Edo.
The small open space in front of the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office was now crowded with people.
According to Ogata's estimation, there were nearly a hundred people gathered in this small open space.
And this number is still slowly increasing.
Without exception, all the people gathered here have signed up for the "Imperial Trial".
Some are young and handsome, exuding drive and enthusiasm.
Some of them looked old, with some white mixed in their hair and beards.
Some are well-dressed and elegantly dressed.
Some are so sloppy that their clothes are as dirty as a rag used to clean toilet floors. Some are even worse, their clothes are so tattered that they are simply ragged.
Most people come here on foot.
Of course, there were also a small number of people who came directly on horseback or in sedan chairs.
Although the people gathered on this street at this time have thousands of different appearances, they all have one thing in common - they all have the soul of the samurai stuck on their waist: the sword.
Almost everyone here, whether they look glamorous or dressed in rags, are basically warriors.
Of course there are a few exceptions.
There were also a few people who did not have knives stuck in their waists.
These people without swords on their waists are either warriors with strange personalities who do not carry swords, or they are ordinary civilians.
The latter is much more likely than the former.
The number of warriors who go out without carrying a sword is so small that they can be called "rare animals".
Ogata speculated that these commoners who came to participate in the "Imperial Examination" might just want to take part in the literary examination and try to see if they could win the prize money for the literary examination.
After all, it is unlikely that these civilians would come for the "martial arts test" that is coming up.
Looking at the crowded crowd in front of him, Ogata couldn't help but think in his heart:
——He is simply the epitome of the samurai class of this era...
This situation made Ogata unable to help but express his feelings.
Although there were a few civilians in this small clearing, the vast majority of people were samurai.
The group of warriors gathered in this small open space at this time were like a microcosm of the samurai class of this era.
Although they all have the title of "samurai", the lives they lead are very different.
Some have fine clothes and delicious food, and have horses and sedan chairs when they travel.
Some of them wore tattered clothes even worse than those of ordinary civilians. Apart from the swords on their waists, their appearance was no different from that of ordinary civilians.
After expressing this little emotion in his heart, Ogata walked to the outermost edge of the crowd, quietly waiting for the official start of the written test.
Accompanying Ogata to the Kitamachi Bugyosho were Amachi and Makimura.
Ogata didn't want to trouble Makimura to come and take him to the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office.
However, Mucun is a person who likes to join in the fun.
With such a lively occasion to attend, Mucun naturally would not miss it.
So even though Ogata advised him not to come, Makimura still insisted on following Ogata and Atachi to the Kitamachi Bugyosho.
Ogata felt helpless about Makimura's insistence on joining in the fun...
Because the main reason why Ogata didn't want Makimura to come was that he wanted to be alone with A-Machi for a long time...
Makimura and Atachi, who was wearing heavy makeup like before so that even her parents couldn't recognize her, looked at everything around them with curiosity.
This large group of warriors with different styles gathered together is a rare sight that is rarely seen in normal times.
While looking around with curiosity, Makimura tapped Ogata's shoulder and asked:
"Are you confident about this 'written test'?"
"It's okay." Ogata smiled.
These days, Xu Fang has been taking time to read the Four Books and Five Classics, reviewing some chapters that he has become a little unfamiliar with, or has forgotten most of the content.
The entire content of the written test is 100 fill-in-the-blank questions.
If Ogata were asked to answer all 100 questions correctly, he would not have much confidence.
But if Ogata needs to meet the requirement of passing the written test: answering half of the questions correctly, then he still has some confidence.
Fill-in-the-blank questions are a type of exam question with a long history.
As early as the Tang Dynasty, there was a test question called "sticking scriptures" in the imperial examination.
And this "sticking scripture" is a fill-in-the-blank question .
Just as Ogata was silently waiting for the official to take them to the examination room, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him:
"Isn't this Majima Goro-kun?"
Upon hearing the voice, Ogata's brows immediately frowned, then he turned his head and looked at the owner of the male voice: a samurai who was dressed quite brightly.
This samurai is also an old acquaintance of Ogata...
It was none other than the hatamoto samurai from a prominent family: Takigawa Heiichirō.
Takigawa's outfit at this moment was the same as the one Ogata had seen him in front of the registration site for the "Imperial Examination" last time: he exuded the aura of wealth from head to toe.
The clothes worn by samurai of this era were often engraved with the family crest of the lord they served.
For example: Before Ogata escaped from the feudal domain, the only clothes he had were all engraved with the family crest of "Hirose Matsudaira Clan".
These clothes were thrown away by Ogata after he escaped from the feudal domain.
The haori on Takigawa's body also has the family crest of the lord he is loyal to - the family crest of the Tokugawa family: the three-leaf sunflower crest.
If we don't count the ronin who no longer have a loyal lord, there is also a chain of contempt among the samurai.
At the bottom of the contempt chain are the samurai who are loyal to the weak outer daimyo.
The warriors at the top of the contempt chain are those who can wear clothes with three-leaf sunflower patterns.
Takigawa, dressed brightly and beautifully, walked slowly towards Ogata.
When Takigawa approached, Ogata's simple outfit greatly highlighted Takigawa's gorgeousness.
"Hello. You come really early." After approaching Ogata, Takigawa greeted Ogata with some meaningless words.
"Nothing." Ogata replied calmly, "I just got here."
"How is it? Are you preparing well for today's written test?" Takigawa asked.
"I have read those Chinese studies classics several times carefully." Ogata's response was still flat.
"That's good." Takigawa nodded and changed his tone to "I look forward to seeing your excellent performance."
After saying this in a strange tone, Takigawa didn't say another word to Ogata. He walked around Ogata and went in another direction away from Ogata.
As soon as Takigawa finished speaking, Ogata's brows furrowed slightly.
Takigawa said that sentence just now in a very strange tone, so his words had a weird tone from beginning to end.
However, Ogata's brows relaxed after being slightly frowned for a while.
Ogata had never had a good impression of Takigawa, so he didn't even say a word to him and didn't bother to pay attention to Takigawa's sarcastic remarks just now.
However - just because Ogata can ignore Takigawa doesn't mean that the others can ignore him too.
"What..." Atachi cast an unhappy look at Takigawa, "Who is that guy? Why does he speak so harshly..."
In addition to Atachi, Makimura was also looking at Takigawa's slowly walking away back with an unhappy look on his face.
Makimura had accompanied Ogata to the registration site for the "Gozen Examination" before, so he recognized Takigawa.
But Atachi didn't recognize Takigawa.
In order to avoid unnecessary trouble for A-Machi and Makimura, Ogata quickly spoke up:
"Who is that guy? I'll explain it to you slowly later."
"Don't worry about that guy. Just think of him as an annoying fly that only knows how to hum."
"There's no need to waste time and trouble on this guy."
After hearing what Ogata said, A-machi and Makimura withdrew their displeased gazes from Takigawa's back.
After briefly introducing who Takigawa was to Atachi, Ogata continued to wait quietly for the essay test to begin.
After waiting for an unknown amount of time, a group of people dressed as officials finally walked out of the magistrate's office.
After this group of people dressed as officials walked out of the magistrate's office, the crowd gathered in the small open space immediately became more noisy.
Through conversations with people around him, Ogata learned that the leader of the group of officials who walked out of the Kitamachi Bugyosho was none other than the current Kitamachi Bugyo of Edo: Nagase Masago.
As soon as Nagase, the Kitamachi magistrate, arrived, he announced loudly to everyone that the essay test was about to begin and asked everyone to be quiet.
Nagase has a loud voice, and his voice can perfectly cover every corner of this small open space.
After hearing Nagase asking them to be quiet, the originally noisy small open space slowly quieted down.
The people standing outside watching the excitement also lowered their voices.
After quieting the open space, Nagase cleared his throat and then announced the next steps to everyone.
Nagase gave a long and tedious explanation of the process.
After eliminating the official language and clichés and streamlining the remaining parts, the main content is: they will call their names one by one later, those whose names are called will step out of the line and walk to the official who called their names, and then they will be taken to the place where the written test will be conducted.
According to Nagase, since such an event had never been conducted before, there was no place specifically designed for a large number of people to take the exam.
In order to solve the problem of examination venues, the shogunate paid to rent several large teahouses adjacent to the Kitamachi Bugyosho.
Ogata and his companions will be taken to these teahouses in batches later, where they will take written tests.
Each person will be taken to a separate room in the tea house for examination.
The exam lasted until noon.
Ogata was not surprised that the shogunate actually rented several teahouses to hold the literary examination.
After all, there was no examination culture in Japan during the Edo period, and no examination activities had ever been held before.
In the situation where there is no place that can accommodate a large number of people for examinations, renting a tea house with a large number of independent compartments is the best option.
After briefly explaining the procedures before and after the literary examination, the officials who had just followed Nagase out of the Kitamachi Bugyosho dispersed and began shouting the names of each person participating in the "Imperial Examination".
After a while , Obe heard an official not far away calling "Mashima Goro".
"Then I'll be leaving first." Ogata smiled at A-Machi and Makimura beside him, "See you this afternoon."
"Oh!" Makimura patted Ogata's shoulder vigorously, "I'll wait for your good news!"
"I wish you good luck in martial arts!" Atachi cheered loudly to Ogata.
"It should be 'Literary prosperity'." After correcting what Atachi had just said in a half-joking tone, Ogata walked quickly towards the official who had just called out the name "Mashima Goro".
After walking up to the official and showing him the document that looked like a "candidate certificate" that he had received from the official at the "registration location", the official nodded and asked Ogata to wait on the side.
These officials were each in charge of a group of candidates participating in the "Imperial Examination". After calling out the names of the candidates they were responsible for, they would take them to the teahouses where the written examinations would be conducted.
After waiting for a while, the official in charge of Ogata finally called the names of all the candidates under his charge.
The official was lucky enough that all the candidates under his charge, including Ogata, were present, and no one was absent.
After calling the names of the candidates under his charge, the official led Ogata and others under his charge and strode towards the teahouse where Ogata and others were taking the written test.
Following the official to a teahouse not far from the Kitamachi Bugyosho, Ogata was shocked to find four people dressed as officials standing in front of the teahouse.
The four officers had ten spears on their waists, each holding a dagger.
Seeing Ogata and others coming, the four officers immediately told Ogata and others in a stern tone that they wanted to check whether they were carrying any cheating tools.
Only those who pass the inspection can enter.
Hearing what the four officers said, Ogata couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Ogata was both not surprised and somewhat surprised that there was an "anti-cheating check".
What Ogata was not surprised about was that it was normal to check whether candidates had any cheating equipment before entering the examination room.
What surprised Ogata was that in Edo Japan where the examination culture was almost non-existent, the officials of the shogunate actually knew how to prevent cheating.
Everyone will be taken to a small room inside the teahouse and undergo a physical examination.
Check that you don't have anything strange on you and that there are no problems with your clothing.
After the inspection by the officers, they actually caught two problematic guys.
One of the two people wrote the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics in tiny characters on the inside of his kimono.
Another person was even more outrageous. He put a "cheat sheet" filled with the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics into the interlayer of his clothes.
The two guys who were caught in the act were tied up.
According to the officers, anyone who cheats or intends to cheat will be sent to jail for a period of time.
Soon, it was Ogata's turn to be checked for cheating.
Ogata had no intention of cheating, so he passed the inspection quickly.
As he walked out of this cheating inspection room, Ogata couldn't help but reveal a strange expression on his face, and he sighed in his heart:
——It’s still too tender…
In Ogata's eyes, the methods these officials used to check for cheating were still too naive. They just checked clothes and bodies.
In ancient China, the methods used to check whether candidates for the imperial examinations had cheated were truly professional.
Because some imperial examination candidates used a variety of cheating methods, the government was forced to develop rapid methods to detect cheating.
However, the means these officials used to detect cheating were not yet mature enough, and Ogata could understand this.
After all, such activities have never been carried out before, and this should be the first time for these officials to check for cheating. Being able to achieve this is already pretty good.
After successfully passing the cheating check, Ogata was taken to the second floor of the teahouse and entered a small compartment.
A desk has been set up in this compartment.
There are pens, ink and inkstones on the table, as well as a teapot and teacups.
Unfortunately, what comes out of this teapot is not tea, but ordinary water.
Ogata sat cross-legged in front of the table, took off the sword at his waist and placed it on the tatami on the right, then silently waited for the official start of the written test.
While Ogata was waiting for the written test to officially begin, other people were brought to the second floor of the teahouse one after another and then taken into different compartments.
After Ogata had waited until he was getting a little impatient, an official finally stood in the corridor outside the compartment and announced to Ogata and others that the written test had begun, and those who had received the test papers could start answering the questions immediately.
Afterwards, two officers, each holding a large stack of test papers, walked into each compartment one by one and handed the test papers to everyone in the compartment.
After taking the test paper from the official who entered his room, Xu Fang immediately flipped through it quickly.
The test paper is filled with fill-in-the-blank questions.
These fill-in-the-blank questions are arranged together, looking so densely packed that they are a bit creepy at first glance.
——100 fill-in-the-blank questions? It’s quite tiring to answer them one by one.
Ogata was not in a hurry to answer the questions immediately, and was flipping through the test paper in his hand.
Because there are so many questions, there are 3 test papers.
When he turned to the last test paper, Ogata's pupils shrank slightly.
"What's going on..."
Looking at the last part of the test paper, Ogata couldn't help but whisper in a low voice that only he could hear, his tone full of surprise.
There is another question at the end of the test paper.
This is not a fill-in-the-blank question.
The words and phrases used in the title are very literary.
If we use simple words to summarize the content of this question, it would be: Please tell me your understanding of the sentence "knowing that it cannot be done, but doing it anyway" in "The Analects of Confucius".
——Why is there an essay topic? It’s different from what I heard before!
A few black lines appeared involuntarily on Ogata's face.
What Ogata had heard before was that the written test would only consist of 100 fill-in-the-blank questions.
The government has always announced that the test will only consist of 100 fill-in-the-blank questions.
Now, after seeing that in addition to the 100 fill-in-the-blank questions, there was also 1 composition question on the test paper, Ogata was a little dumbfounded.
And Ogata was not the only one who was dumbfounded.
At this moment, almost everyone who received the test paper was dumbfounded...
…
…
Takigawa got up very early today.
Because today is the day when the literary examination called “Imperial Examination” begins.
As early as a month ago, Takigawa had been preparing for the literary test of the "Imperial Examination".
Not only did he study and recite diligently every day, he also frequently studied the Four Books and Five Classics with other friends who were also determined to show their talents in the "Imperial Examination".
After a month of serious preparation, Takigawa felt that he had truly reached the level of being able to recite the Four Books and Five Classics by heart, which was very different from himself a month ago.
Takigawa even thought very proudly and conceitedly: With my current ability, it will be easy to answer all the questions on the test paper correctly!
Because he was very confident in himself, Takigawa had a smug and confident smile on his face when he went out to the Kita Bugyoso this morning.
After arriving at the Kita-Bugyosu with heroic steps, Takigawa was surprised to find that he had met Majima Goro again, the man who had embarrassed him in front of so many prostitutes before.
However, Takigawa was not too surprised to see Goro Majima again.
After all, everyone came here to participate in the "Imperial Trial", and it is highly likely that they will meet again in this gathering place.
After meeting Goro Majima again this time, Takigawa did not feel angry about seeing the guy who made him lose face again.
Takigawa is in a good mood now because he feels that he can easily answer all the questions in the written test.
So in a good mood, after meeting Goro Majima, Takigawa not only did not feel angry, but also took the initiative to step forward and greet Goro Majima.
Although this Majima Goro could speak fluent Chinese and seemed to have a certain understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics, in Takigawa's eyes, this Majima Goro's attainments in the Four Books and Five Classics were definitely not as deep as his.
Takigawa was convinced that Goro Majima's performance in the literary test was definitely not as impressive as his. After greeting Goro Majima, he couldn't help but mock him in a sarcastic tone.
After making a sarcastic remark in front of Majima Goro, Takigawa leisurely waited for the essay test to begin.
After wasting a lot of time, Takigawa finally entered a compartment in a teahouse, waited for the written test to officially begin, and received the test paper.
After receiving the test paper, Takigawa couldn't wait to look through the test paper in his hand.
After seeing the questions on the test paper, a smug smile appeared on Takigawa's face.
Among these questions, some are very simple, and some are slightly difficult.
But whether it is an easy question or a difficult one, Takigawa can answer it.
Looking at the questions that he could answer, the smile on Takigawa's face became more and more proud and excited.
Until... Takigawa saw the last part of the test paper.
After seeing the last "composition question" on the test paper, the smile on Takigawa's face froze.
His eyes were filled with disbelief.
"What's this……"
Then he murmured in a surprised tone.
…
…
Ogata finished answering the first 100 fill-in-the-blank questions as quickly as possible.
These 100 fill-in-the-blank questions are of varying difficulty and ease.
Most of the questions can be answered.
However, there are a small number of questions where, although you can fill in the content, you don’t know whether the answer is correct.
"Former Ogata" had received a complete Chinese education in Terakoya and had studied the Four Books and Five Classics diligently, and Ogata himself had also studied the Four Books and Five Classics well before traveling through time. However, despite the memory of "Former Ogata" and his own memory, it has been quite a long time since he last read the Four Books and Five Classics, so some of the content has become unfamiliar.
However, Ogata did not care about this. 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 written test.
His goal from the very beginning was just to "pass the written test safely and then smoothly proceed to the next martial arts test."
After answering the first 100 fill-in-the-blank questions, Xu 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 for this "composition question".
——“Knowing it is impossible but still doing it”…
Different people have always had different interpretations of what this sentence means.
For some reason, as he repeated these words in his heart, all kinds of memories that had been buried deep in Ogata's mind came to his mind one by one.
Memories of the resolute attack on Nijo Castle three months ago...
And... the memory of charging alone against Matsudaira Gennai who was protected by hundreds of samurai one year ago...
…
…
Takigawa took a few deep breaths, forcing his heart, which was beating wildly due to his lack of calmness, to slowly return to its normal pace.
At this time, Takigawa had also finished the previous 100 fill-in-the-blank questions.
I was just about to launch an "attack" on this last question.
The questions in the written test were completely different from what he had heard before, and until now, the astonishment in Takigawa's heart had not dissipated.
——Calm down...Takigawa Heiichiro.
Takigawa muttered to himself in his heart.
——You are a disciple of the sinologist Xiang Shengchun|Shui.
——Even if there is an extra question on the test paper, it won’t be difficult for you!
After encouraging himself several times in his heart, Takigawa took another deep breath and looked at the question at the end of the test paper.