The break was not long, and Li Zhen announced the second round of the fight.

The number of participants in this round of fighting was a little smaller, but it was more cruel and fierce, because they passed the first round of primaries, and this time the participants were elite. It was only a four-person fight, but it took half an hour. At the end of this round, two of the four people sent by Yoshida Shoin died, and one of the remaining two was injured and the other was intact.

One of the four members of the royal family died, the other two won outright, and one won miserably, but only two people were left in combat strength. After this round, the literati gradually got used to it, but they still couldn't bear it.

In the third round of the competition, Yoshida Shoin sent the two strongest men under his command to kill the warriors under the command of Emperor Komei.

The martial arts struggle between the two sides ended with the complete defeat of the royal family. Judging from the situation of the competition, the imperial family was obviously not fully prepared and lost to the samurai under Yoshida Shoin, so they could only hope for the next literary test in the hope of turning the situation around. Otherwise, after two consecutive defeats, Li Zhen supported the reformers, not the shogunate headed by the imperial family.

Li Zhen said with a smile: "The next literary test will be held, and the location is also here." Come on, prepare the pen and ink on the desk! ”

Immediately, the soldiers brought twenty tables and chairs and placed them in the place where the bloody contest had just taken place, and even most of the tables were placed in the place where there were blood stains just now. Even though the blood on the ground had been cleaned up, there was still a smell of blood, which made the faces of most of the scholars present change slightly. After these people sat down, they sniffed lightly, and they smelled a smell of blood, and the scene of the bloody killing just now echoed in their minds, and their mood was difficult to calm down.

However, there are exceptions. Yoshida Shoin's disciples participated, and Ito Hirobumi, Takasugi Shinsaku, Inoue Shin and others remained unchanged and calm.

Li Zhen made a move, and Zhao Liewen immediately distributed the prepared test papers.

The test questions of these test papers have been translated into Japanese by Li Zhen and then printed. After the test papers were distributed, Li Zhen said: "The answering time is two hours, and all the papers will be handed in after two hours, and I will judge!" ”

A bell rings and the time is counted.

When the person holding the test paper looks at the questions on the test paper, some people frown, some people frown, and the expressions on their faces are different. Emperor Xiaoming's gaze swept over the scribes under his command, and when he saw that everyone frowned, a bad premonition rose in his heart. Especially looking at Yoshida Shoin's disciple's calm demeanor, he felt that this time the situation was not good.

Yoshida Shoin didn't participate, he sat cross-legged, the corners of his mouth hooked into a smile.

In fact, Yoshida Shoin was most worried about the contest between the warriors, and no one could predict who would be under the emperor's command. But when it comes to the literary exam, he has absolute confidence in his disciples, and this time he has won a game, and he has already won the next battle.

Two hours, in the blink of an eye.

"Rewind!"

Zhao Liewen shouted, and the soldiers immediately put away all the test papers.

"No, I'm not done yet, wait, wait!" A scholar who participated under the command of Emperor Xiaoming said.

"Haha, come on, I'll hand in the papers!" Hirobumi Ito took the initiative to say.

Immediately afterwards, Takasugi Shinsaku, Inoue Shin and others handed in their papers one after another, and most of the scholars who were clamoring for not completing the test papers were all people under the command of Emperor Xiaomei, and they could only submit the test papers helplessly, after all, this was an exam in front of everyone, and it could not be denied.

Li Zhen put away the twenty test papers, looked at Emperor Xiaomei and Yoshida Songyin, and said with a serious expression: "The test papers on both sides have been collected, I will mark all the test papers today, and then announce the results tomorrow." At the same time, I will also declare which side I support. Go back and wait for my news. ”

Yoshida Matsu**: "Annoying the South King of the Town!" ”

Li Zhen smiled slightly and nodded.

Emperor Xiaoming's expression was very unnatural, but he still said: "Hard work Zhennan King! ”

Li Zhen nodded, smiling.

Yoshida Shoin said again: "Your Excellency the Emperor, in my opinion, the shogunate you support is really too bad and not strong enough!" Look at the literati who participated in the exam, they all became pustules. Their results must be a mess. ”

Takasugi Shinsaku echoed: "I just saw a piece of space above someone's scroll, and I can't answer!" ”

Hirobumi Ito continued, "I also saw a person's paper full of blanks! ”

The people under Yoshida Shoin spoke one after another, like a sharp knife piercing into the heart of Emperor Xiaomei. Emperor Xiaoming's face was gloomy, and his face became more and more ugly. He spared no effort to support the shogunate, but the results he got were very unsatisfactory, and he even vaguely felt that the result of this competition would definitely end in his failure, and his mood was even more unhappy.

Emperor Xiaoming flicked his sleeves and turned around and left Li Zhen's residence, followed by Noda Yoo, An Ren and others, all leaving dejectedly. All of them vaguely guessed the result in their hearts.

Yoshida Shoin said respectfully: "King Zhennan, our cooperation will go further!" ”

Li Zhen said: "What the end is, it will come out tomorrow." However, I look forward to continuing to work with you. ”

Yoshida Shoin smiled slightly, turned around and led the people away.

Li Zhen returned to the study, and Zhao Liewen then brought someone over the test papers, and said, "Lord Wang, I will find someone to translate, and then mark the test papers one by one." ”

After a pause, Zhao Liewen asked, "Do you want to participate in the marking in person?" ”

Li Zhen shook his head and said, "No need, it's up to you to deal with it." Just hand me the answer sheet that you think is the best, and the test papers of Hirobumi Ito, Shinsaku Takasugi and others will be brought to me to see. Remember, the final result was that Shoin Yoshida won, and no surprises were allowed. ”

"Yes!"

Zhao Liewen's heart sank and he agreed.

Next, Zhao Liewen began to mark the papers. In less than an hour, all the results were counted, and all the disciples under Yoshida Shoin were in the forefront, occupying the top three, and eight of the top ten people were from Yoshida Shoin. In particular, Ito's answer sheet had very few errors, and his score was the highest, ranking first.

Li Zhen read the translated test papers, but he was not interested, and he could no longer arouse his interest. Even though Ito Hirobumi, Takasugi Shinsaku and others had already mentioned that they wanted to learn the advanced methods of the West, they were only scratching the surface after all, and did not form concrete thoughts, so after Li Zhen read the two paper scrolls, he had no interest in continuing to read.

On the second day, Li Zhen asked people to announce the results.

This result was not unexpected, after Emperor Komei got the news, he did not linger anymore, and left Nagasaki with his people and rushed to Kyoto, while Yoo Noda stayed to mediate. Yoshida Shoyin and his disciples all gathered at Li Zhen's residence, looking very happy, and finally waited for this day.

Yoshida Shoin sat upright and said respectfully: "Next, we will definitely have a battle with the shogunate, and I implore the king of Jinnan to mobilize his army and march towards Kyoto to take the Tokugawa shogunate." ”

ps: first update;