"Which clan are you from?"
"I am a feudal lord of the Hizen Saga Domain."
"What is your name?"
"Yamamoto Jinemon Shigesumi!"
"Yamamoto... how old are you? Ouch, you look like you are seventy years old, right? You won't be tested at such an old age."
"No, not that old. I'm only fifty-six years old!"
"Fifty-six? Who are you lying to?"
"I'm really only fifty-six..."
The one who claimed that he was only fifty-six years old was Yamamoto Shigesumi, who had just been kicked out of the house by his wife to take the "college entrance examination" - he was now desperate, and if he failed to pass the exam, he would have to commit seppuku - no more! There was no pot left at home... No, there was no pot at home. When he and his wife ran out of the house, they didn't even think of taking the pot with them.
But he never expected that the "College Entrance Examination" being held in Nagasaki Castle would set an age limit for samurai who could take the exam. If you are over sixty years old, you don't need to...and if you are over forty years old, you are not eligible to serve as a soldier. You can only take the exam to become an official in the shogunate or Nagasaki Domain - the number of places is quite limited!
Yamamoto Shigesumi was embarrassed to say that he was thirty-six, and the invigilator was not blind, so he could only say that he was fifty-six.
But the Nagasaki feudal lord in charge of registration still didn't believe it, so the two sides started arguing.
The place where the dispute occurred was the original China Guild Hall, which was built like a government office, so it is now called the Nagasaki "official office" - the "city" of Nagasaki is similar to those "cities" in Japan that are built similar to watchtowers. "It's different, it's a Chinese-style city. There is a city wall outside and bustling streets and streets inside. The "city lord" or "city representative" did not live in a high-altitude fortress, but in the yamen in the market.
However, the person sitting in the main office at the moment was not the "city lord" of Nagasaki, but Chen Yongxi, the chief examiner who was transferred by the Ministry of Rites to help Japan organize the college entrance examination.
This time Japan’s “College Entrance Examination” is different from the formal imperial examination. Instead of gathering the candidates together in an examination room first, and then handing out papers for them to answer the questions. Instead, students come to take the test in batches. If there are few people, they will take the test as they come. If there are many people, they will line up to take the test.
Moreover, the content of the exam is also divided into civil and military. The literary exam consists of dictating "The Analects of Confucius" and doing arithmetic questions.
Among them, when writing "The Analects of Confucius" silently, you should write down as much as you can remember, and then the examiner will give points based on the number of correctly written Analects.
The arithmetic questions are calculation questions plus application questions. It is very simple: "Someone commits seppuku and cuts his blood vessels. How much blood does he bleed per minute (Zhu Cixi introduced the Western minute-and-second timing standard)? Someone comes to treat him and transfuses him with blood. Every minute." Questions such as how much blood is replenished per minute, how much blood does someone have in total, when the blood is exhausted and the person dies, when does someone die..."
The martial arts test relies on spear shooting at grass targets and musket shooting.
Chen Yongxi, the chief examiner, was correcting papers in the hall. When he heard a commotion outside, he put down his writing brush, took two warriors who had "qualified" and went out to have a look.
I saw an old samurai arguing with a Nagasaki domain warrior, so I went up to interrogate him.
"Why the noise?"
"Reporting to the examiner, this old warrior looks to be seventy years old, but insists that he is only fifty-six years old and wants to take the exam."
Chen Yongxi glanced at Yamamoto. He was seventy years old, thin and small (in fact, Yamamoto is a big man, 158cm tall, quite burly). He looked like he was not full and had tears in his eyes. He must be a poor Japanese scholar. . Japan used to not hold imperial examinations, so people had no chance to take the exams. Now they finally have the chance, and they are too old...
"Let him take the exam!" Chen Yongxi's words temporarily saved Yamamoto's life.
It's just temporary... If you don't do well in the exam, you'll still have to commit seppuku!
"Old man, do you know the Analects of Confucius?" Chen Yongxi personally led Mr. Yamamoto to the examination room.
"I know, I know...I know "The Analects of Confucius" and can recite it." Old man Yamamoto can also speak Chinese. A senior samurai with 1,000 shi is still somewhat educated.
"Can you do arithmetic?" Chen Yongxi asked with a smile.
Yamamoto said affirmatively: "Yes! I have been the Kansei of the Saga Domain."
Kansada Nobuhiro is the head of the Saga Domain's accounting department. Can he not know arithmetic?
While they were talking, the two of them had already arrived at the examination room.
There are no tables in the examination room. There are only tatami mats on the floor. The papers are laid on the tatami mats. All the candidates are bent over the answer papers. There is a candle on the right side of the examinee. It is not for lighting, but for timing. The candle When it's all burned out, you have to hand in your paper.
There was also a vicious Nagasaki feudal lord patrolling the examination room with a knife. If anyone found cheating, he would be kicked out immediately!
"Take the test well," Chen Yongxi encouraged Yamamoto. "After the literary test, go to the canteen to eat. After eating, take the martial arts test in the afternoon. The martial arts test tests spears and muskets... Do you know how to use them?"
"Yes! Of course I will!" Yamamoto Shigesumi's heart was filled with hope again!
Because he knows everything that will be tested in the exam! He can recite "The Analects of Confucius" backwards and forwards, he can do arithmetic, he can also use spears, and he can also play with muskets - he is a 1,000-stone great warrior, and he is still a second generation, and he has not yet reached the stage of decay.
It seems that I will be able to pass the Japanese examination this time!
If you pass the exam, you will have food to eat, and there is no need to commit seppuku!
...
Maeda Kiku held a tattered samurai sword (which she used for self-defense), guarded her son, and waited in the dilapidated hut for her old husband to be shot and killed.
She and Yamamoto agreed on a three-day deadline. If her husband did not come back, it would mean that he had not passed the exam and had committed hara-kiri in a deserted place. She no longer has to wait for Yamamoto, and can take her son to the New World... Because most of the "non-eldest men" in Japan have no chance to get married, there is a surplus of women in this country.
Basically no one would ask for a woman like Maeda Kiku with a son and no dowry. However, there is a special way of living in Nagasaki now, which is to go to the New World to get married - there is a special shortage of women in the New World. In the past, Tian Ju's With her beauty, she will definitely be popular when she gets there.
So she had already inquired about it when she went into town to sell knives two days ago. There happened to be a Pacific sailing ship (a hard sailing ship specially developed for the Pacific route) that trafficked women to the New World and was anchored in Nagasaki. As long as she is willing to board the ship, there is no charge for her. She will also be responsible for food and drink, and it will be no problem to bring the children. Moreover, she will not be sold to the New World and will be allowed to "choose her own spouse" - the captain will charge an introduction fee, which is not much, ten Just a mink skin...
Today is the third day. Maeda stayed in this dilapidated hut that leaked both wind and rain until dusk, but he did not see his husband come back. Not only did her husband not come back, but the husbands of many women living in this group of huts also didn't come back... It seems that none of them passed the examination and all committed seppuku!
The sound of crying started. First, a woman was crying, then more people started crying, and finally there was a lot of crying.
Maeda Kiku didn't cry, she just picked up her son and the katana, and whispered to her son: "Tsunachao (this name was given to his son by Yamamoto Shigesumi before taking the college entrance examination), your father has become a god, and now we are the only ones." We’re both together... Let’s go to the New World together and live well there!”
After saying that, she smiled, held her son out of the hut, and walked towards Nagasaki Port... Soon she and her son Changchao would leave Japan forever, and they would never come back!
However, Maeda Kiku never thought that her husband Yamamoto Shigesumi did not commit seppuku because he was in high school... and the reason why he did not return "home" immediately to report the news was because the Shimadzu family's army was approaching Nagasaki. The rugged peninsula.
As a "highly respected" veteran among the Nagasaki feudal lords, Yamamoto Shigesumi immediately assigned him an important task after seeing Tokugawa Takawa and Hoshina Shosei - serving as the captain of the iron artillery, together with about 100 iron artillerymen under his subordinates. Go and accept the devil training from the Ming army.
With military affairs in mind, Yamamoto Shigesumi naturally became more motivated and forgot about his wife and children... Of course, he didn't know that his wife Aju was already planning to marry far away from the United States!
