The door of each compartment is open, so that the officers patrolling outside the door can watch the movements and scenes in the room and check whether anyone is cheating.

After taking several deep breaths and talking to himself in his heart to cheer himself up, Takigawa's heart, which had become a little flustered by the sudden accident, gradually returned to calm.

The return to calm emotions also made Takigawa's thinking become more agile again.

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

After his thoughts were sorted out, the experience of studying under his master, Xiangsheng Chunshui, a sinologist, turned into a series of images that flashed through his mind one by one.

Later, Takigawa was surprised to find that his master Xiangsheng Shunsui once emphasized the sentence "Know that you can't do something, but do it."

Takigawa remembered that it must have been a year ago. Aioi Shunsui spent nearly half an hour in a certain class explaining this sentence to all the disciples, including Takigawa.

He also cited many allusions to help everyone understand this sentence.

His master, Xiangsheng Chunshui, admired Confucius the most, and therefore he also admired the Analects of Confucius, which is a collection of the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples.

Because he admired the Analects of Confucius the most, Xiang Sheng Chun Shui studied the Analects the most deeply.

When explaining the contents of The Analects of Confucius, Xiangsheng Chunshui will also be extra attentive.

And Takigawa still remembers nearly 90% of what Aioi Shunsui said at that time.

Takichuan couldn't help but chuckle.

I am glad that I am a disciple of Shunsui Sagara.

Fortunately, I still remember the main content of what Sagara Shunsui said when explaining this sentence.

Takigawa carefully recalled how Sagara Shunsui explained this sentence at that time, and organized the language at the same time.

After finishing typing the draft, Takigawa picked up the pen again, filled the pen tip with ink, bent down, and began to write word by word on the test paper.

After holding the tube and writing, Takichuan felt as if he had been helped by gods and ghosts, and his thoughts were flowing.

The whole person entered a state of selflessness, and even the footsteps of the patrolling officers who were constantly pacing back and forth in the corridor could not be heard.

Takigawa's whole body and mind were focused on answering.

After writing the last word, Takigawa's body and mind slowly came out of the exam paper.

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

The more I read, the more surprised I am.

Takigawa thinks this is the best article he has ever written in his life.

After reading it once, Takigawa even couldn't help but have the illusion of "Is this really written by me?"

After reading it carefully several times, Takigawa finally put down the examination paper in his hand with satisfaction.

Takigawa now felt that his self-confidence was almost overflowing from his chest.

This article of his will surely make the reviewers praise it - Takigawa is fully confident in this.

Takigawa felt that after seeing him, he won the first place in the literary test, and then successfully let the old Naka Matsudaira Sadanobu know about his status.

When he thought that he was very likely to fall into the eyes of Matsudaira Sadanobu, Takigawa couldn't help but imagine how he would display his talents under the promotion and training of Matsudaira Sadanobu once he gained the appreciation of Matsudaira Sadanobu.

Takigawa had already begun to imagine how he would revitalize the shogunate and govern the country after he was recognized and promoted by Matsudaira Sadanobu.

He wanted to first put forward to Matsudaira Sadanobu the various propositions he had painstakingly formulated before, such as "vigorously revitalizing the samurai clan discipline" and "capture Ogata Ittosai at all costs and behead him in public".

Through the method of "revitalizing the samurai family discipline", we will clean up the corrupt and degenerate lifestyle of the samurai.

Takigawa firmly believed that as long as he adhered to his set of political ideas of "vigorously revitalizing samurai clan discipline" and "severely punishing bandits who violate bushido", the country's situation would be righted in one fell swoop within a few years.

This country, which was devastated by the great famine of Tenmei three years ago, will regain its strength under his governance, allowing the shogunate to regain the unparalleled strength it had when Lord Ieyasu was alive.

And he will be remembered as a generation of famous ministers like Niwa Nagahide and Maeda Genyō, and will be admired by hundreds of millions of people in future generations.

Takigawa was just immersed in his ambitious fantasy.

Because he was too immersed in fantasy, a disgusting smile appeared on Takigawa's face...

——Hurry up and it’s time to hand in the paper!

Takigawa couldn't wait to hand in the paper now.

Takigawa, who was quite confident in his answer sheet, felt that he could vaguely see the examiner being shocked after seeing his examination paper, and then hurriedly seeing whose examination paper it was.

…

…

Ogata held the pen with the ink almost dry and stared at the examination paper on the desk in front of him.

The scene of sacrificing his life to assassinate Gennai Matsudaira a year ago, and the scene of conquering the shogunate alone three months ago, played back and forth in Ogata's mind.

This forced Ogata to repeatedly relive the two craziest things he had done so far.

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

There have always been different interpretations.

One of the most widely circulated and accepted interpretations is that it does not mean that you know you can't do it but you have to do it, but you don't ask whether you can do it, but you ask whether you should do it. No matter what the result is, you ask for a clear conscience.

——My decision to assassinate Matsudaira Gennai, the elder of the Kurunaga family, and Ichiro... should be regarded as "doing something knowing that it is impossible to do"...

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

Ogata is not an idiot.

As a person involved, he knew better than anyone at that time how difficult it was to assassinate Matsudaira Gennai.

If the assassination fails, you will die.

Even if the assassination is successful, he will be charged with "killing the lord" and live a life of being wanted and hunted by the shogunate.

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

However, knowing that the assassination was extremely difficult and that no matter whether he succeeded or failed, there would be no good results, Ogata still decided to abandon everything, including his life, and wield his sword against Matsudaira Gennai.

Ogata believed that the elders of the Kurunaga family, Ichiro and the others must have been in the same state of mind as him at that time: facing the known tragedy, they still moved forward unfailingly.

Ogata's mood when he attacked Nijo Castle three months ago was very similar to his mood when he decided to assassinate Matsudaira Gennai a year ago.

Even though he knew that this move would completely offend the shogunate and Shiranui, he still had no hesitation.

While Ogata carefully recalled his state of mind when he made up his mind to assassinate Matsudaira Gennai and attack Nijo Castle, he dipped his pen in ink and slowly started writing on the examination paper...

Ogata integrated his feelings and determination at that time into the ink at the tip of his pen, turning them into words...

…

…

When the sun rose to its highest point, the government officials sounded the gong on time to inform everyone that the time was up.

Ogata also played an extreme operation - when the gong used to inform everyone that time was ringing, Ogata just finished writing the last word.

After handing the examination paper to the officer who entered the room to collect the papers, Ogata let out a sigh of relief.

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

Then he smiled bitterly and sighed in a low voice.

It had been a long time since Ogata had concentrated his whole body and mind like this and bent over to do the paper. Ogata was not used to it. After answering the paper, he felt a little dizzy.

After kneading his right hand, which was a little sore from writing for a long time, Ogata took back the knife placed at his side, quickly left the teahouse where he was, and returned to the place where he, Omachi, and the Calabashya group lived.

Inside the hotel.

As soon as he returned to the hotel room, Oubon was immediately surrounded by Atachi and others, asking how he did in the literary test.

"It's not bad." Ogata replied, "I can answer most of the questions. There are only a few questions where I don't know whether they are right or wrong."

"What's more difficult is that there were some surprises in this essay test..."

Ogata informed everyone in a concise and concise manner about the unexpected incident that there was an extra question on the examination paper.

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

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

After most people left the teahouse, they were discussing with their friends why the number and types of questions on the test paper were different from what the government had said before, or sharing with their friends how they answered the "essay question."

of.

"I basically just acted casually on that question." 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 if that question is important...

…”

"If only those who answer that question well can pass the literary test, then we will be in big trouble..."

"Well, be more confident, Ogata-kun." Genichi, who was sitting in the corner of the room like a loser as always, laughed while drinking, "This kind of thing has to do with writing articles.

The question depends entirely on whether the examiner agrees with what you have written."

"Perhaps the guy who graded the paper particularly liked your answer and decided to give you the top spot in the essay test."

"I don't dare to think about getting first place in the literary test or something like that." Ogata said angrily, "I never thought about getting first place in the literary test from the beginning. My goal from the beginning was just '

Just passed the literary test successfully."
To be continued...