I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"Yong, this morning I got a very accurate insider tip."

"The Aizu-gun lord, who is currently staying in Edo due to the 'sankin kōtai' (a formal visit to the emperor), plans to hold a two-day swordsmanship competition in Asakusa in half a month... on April 16th!"

"The Lord of Aizu is going to hold a swordsmanship competition?" Okita was the first to exclaim in surprise.

Aizu Hou——The current feudal lord of Aizu Domain: Matsudaira Yoshiho.

Kondo and the others... including Aoto, upon hearing the term "swordsmanship competition," all focused their surprised gazes on Chiba Jutaro.

"Sankin-kotai" – simply put, it was a system implemented by the Edo Shogunate aimed at weakening the power of the daimyo in various regions.

The Edo Shogunate stipulated that the lords of each domain must travel to Edo once a year to assist the Shogun in handling government affairs for a period of time before returning to their own domains, and they must pay for their own round-trip travel expenses.

In short, it was about tormenting the daimyo from all over the country, forcing them to frequently come to Edo, the power and ruling center of the shogunate.

Ostensibly, they were tasked with helping the Shogun manage the Shogunate's affairs, but in reality, it was merely a way to consume their resources and time, and to facilitate surveillance.

Different daimyo traveled to Edo at different intervals.

Most of the feudal domains visited Edo once a year.

In some domains very close to Edo, the lords were required to remain in Edo for extended periods; these were known as "sadafu".

As for those domains located far from Edo—such as the Tsushima Domain, whose territory was Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait—the shogunate allowed its lord to visit Edo once every three years.

On average, the daimyo of the whole country usually spend only one-third of the year in their own territory, while the other two-thirds are spent either in Edo, on their way to Edo, or on their way back to their territory.

To pass the time and alleviate the boredom of being effectively "imprisoned" in Edo, many daimyo came up with various forms of entertainment.

For example, sponsoring or organizing martial arts competitions.

Some daimyo who loved martial arts would often sponsor or organize martial arts competitions when they stayed in Edo for the purpose of paying homage to the emperor, inviting martial arts masters from Edo to come and fight.

Therefore, in Edo, you could often hear that some feudal lord was preparing to hold a martial arts competition.

"The swordsmanship competition that Lord Aizu is about to hold is quite large."

Chiba Jutaro then continued.

"According to reliable sources, the swordsmanship competition hosted by the Aizu Marquis is only open to sword-making schools in Edo."

"Only beginners who have been practicing swordsmanship for less than 3 years are eligible to participate in this competition."

"so--"

Chiba Jutaro smiled and turned his gaze to Aoto.

"Hey Tachibana-kun, would you be interested in participating in this competition?"

"I heard that the Marquis of Aizu is quite generous this time. If you win, you will receive a prize of 20 taels of gold!"

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These past few days, the characters most discussed in our book club group have been Sanako and Tenshōin. Everyone has shown great enthusiasm for discussing Sanako's big bear and Tenshōin's "virgin young widow" attributes. They truly deserve to be my readers.

There are real historical photos of Miss Sanako, which I haven't shown to everyone before. I'll show them to you now. Please see the commentary on the right.

Everyone has probably heard what cameras were like in the 19th century; they produced photos that barely showed any human features. To have such a high level of beauty under the lens of a 19th-century camera, Miss Sanako truly deserves the title of "Chiba's Ghost Beauty."

The author has started a book club on Tencent! Anyone interested is welcome to join and chat about Big Bear.

Group number: 1162513690. Simply answer one question that anyone who has carefully read this book will know the answer to to join the book club.

The author occasionally appears in the group chat.

Chapter 128 Participating in the Swordplay Competition! Taking Qingdeng on a Blind Date?

20 taels of gold... Hmm, that's quite tempting, at least for Qingdeng, whose current financial situation is far from being able to treat money like dirt.

However, compared to the prize money, the participation requirements were more attractive to Qingdeng.

"A sword-fighting hall only open to Edo members? Does that mean unaffiliated individuals aren't allowed to participate?"

Chiba Jutaro nodded.

"Why are only sword novices who have been practicing for less than three years eligible to participate in the competition?" Qing Deng pressed.

"As far as I know, this is to give sword novices a chance to practice and avoid the situation in the past where the participants in every competition were the same people."

Chiba Jutaro answered slowly.

“In the past, when various feudal lords held martial arts competitions, there were often no entry requirements, and anyone could sign up to participate.”

"For most fencing schools, they naturally hope to achieve the best possible results in competitions in order to enhance their reputation."

"So this led to a consequence - each sword school only sent their strongest disciple to participate in the competition."

"As a result, whenever there is a competition, the arena is always filled with the same few people sparring, and you rarely see beginners who have not been practicing for very long participating."

"The reason why Lord Aizu restricted the competition to only beginners who have been practicing swordsmanship for less than three years in order to prevent such a phenomenon from happening again is that Lord Aizu restricted the competition to only beginners who have been practicing swordsmanship for less than three years."

"The reason why it is only open to sword-making schools in Edo and does not allow unaffiliated individuals to participate is to facilitate supervision and ensure that each participant is indeed a newcomer who has not been practicing swordsmanship for long."

After explaining, Chiba Jutaro changed the subject: "Well? Tachibana-kun, are you interested in participating in this competition? You've only been a disciple of Shieikan for less than half a year, which meets the requirements for participation."

"Being able to spar with people from various sword-making schools in Edo is a very rare opportunity. Fighting with swordsmen from different schools will be very beneficial to your future training."

"A competition only for beginners..." Qing Deng murmured, "If it's only open to the various kendo schools in Edo... does that mean I'll be competing against newcomers from all the kendo schools in Edo..."

"Jutaro," Kondo asked at this moment, "how many people can each fencing club send to participate in this competition?"

“Well… I’m not quite sure either.” Chiba Jutaro shook his head. “This swordsmanship competition hasn’t been widely announced yet. I only found out about the Aizu-no-Kou’s competition through connections.”

"I'm not very clear about many details of this match either."

"After a few days, once the people of Aizu Prefecture start promoting this competition, we should be able to find out how many people each sword club can send to participate."

"Ha, the Aizu Domain truly lives up to its reputation as the 'pillar of the nation' that the shogunate relies on most." Hijikata said with a forced smile. "The winner gets 20 ryo gold... If it weren't for the fact that I've been practicing swordsmanship for more than three years, I would have been tempted to participate myself."

Okita, standing to the side, tapped his head, indicating his agreement with Hijikata's words.

"Only the winner can receive the prize money?" Qing Deng, who had been pondering, interjected.

"Yes, that's right, it seems so. Only the winner can receive the prize money." Jutaro smiled. "It seems that this was also done intentionally by Lord Aizu. Only the winner can receive the prize money, to encourage everyone to strive for first place."

"Just like in the Warring States period, only the one who 'first to charge' into battle would receive a generous reward."

"So, Tachibana-kun, are you interested in participating in this competition?"

"If I were you, I would participate without hesitation! It's been a while since a major lord has funded a competition, it would be such a shame to miss it!"

Seeing Chiba Jutaro staring at him with eyes that shone with a fiery light, Aoto couldn't help but frown.

I wonder if it was just his imagination...

He had a feeling... that Chiba Jutaro had been urging him to participate in the competition ever since...

But Qing Deng didn't think much about this issue.

After thinking for a moment, he smiled and nodded: "I am quite interested in this competition. If I have the opportunity to represent Shieikan in the competition, I will definitely participate."

—It's hard for me to refuse such a great opportunity to replicate my talent.

Qingdeng silently added this in his mind.

It would be a real shame to miss such a great opportunity to learn from the talents of swordsmen from various sword schools!

Other sword schools... especially large sword schools like the Academy and Training Hall, certainly have no shortage of brilliant young talents.

Participating in this competition, which is only open to newcomers, might allow you to discover a few more useful talents.

Moreover, as Chiba Jutaro just said, sparring with people from various sword-making schools in Edo and fighting with swordsmen from different schools will greatly benefit one's swordsmanship training by allowing one to experience the distinct fighting styles of each school.

Seeing that Qing Deng nodded to indicate his willingness to participate in the competition, a happy smile bloomed on Chiba Jutaro's face.

"Haha, Tachibana-kun, I knew you'd want to participate in this competition!"

After saying that, Chiba Jutaro paused for a moment.

Then, in a voice only he could hear, he murmured in a relieved tone:

"It's good that you're willing to participate...it's good that you're willing to participate..."

……

……

Chiba Jutaro's sudden visit to Shieikan was solely to inform them that "Lord Aizu is going to fund a swordsmanship competition."

So after finishing the business and exchanging a few more casual words, Chiba Jutaro picked up his sword and took his leave.

Kondo politely asked Chiba Jutaro to stay for lunch, but Chiba Jutaro declined, saying that "lunch has already been prepared at home."

Aoto, along with Kondo, Okita, and others, escorted Chiba Jutaro to the main gate of the Shieikan.

Watching Chiba Jutaro's departing figure, Okita suddenly muttered:

"That Aizu is actually going to hold a swordsmanship competition... That's really rare. I don't remember the Lord of Aizu ever holding a swordsmanship competition in Edo before."

“Since it’s a swordsmanship competition held in Aizu…” Hijikata crossed his hands and slipped them into the sleeves of his haori, “that means the Aizu lord, Matsudaira Katamori, is very likely to show up at the competition…”

"I definitely have to go and watch this competition."

"I've long wanted to see what this young lord, who is known for his wisdom, looks like."

Aizu... a domain whose name is famous throughout the world.

The Aizu Domain was a daimyo clan located in the Tohoku region, which was a branch of the Tokugawa clan that was enfeoffed to various places by the Tokugawa shogunate.

With a total yield of 23 koku, the Aizu Domain was not particularly outstanding among the domains in terms of financial resources alone.

However, Aizu made a name for itself in Japan by virtue of its formidable military strength.

Due to the fierce local customs and other reasons, the Aizu army was known for its formidable fighting power.

The Northeast region is one of the regions with the most foreign names.

There are 31 vassal states in the northeastern region, and most of these 31 vassal states are foreign daimyo.

Despite having many daimyo, this region has remained relatively stable and has never experienced any major upheavals—the Aizu Domain deserves much credit for this achievement.

Aizu can be considered the front line against the many tozama daimyo in the Tohoku region. It was originally a "nail" planted in the Tohoku region by the Edo Shogunate with the aim of "deterring the tozama daimyo".