I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

In the northern suburbs of Wakamatsu Castle, there is a temporary arena where the highly anticipated "Oyu Tournament" will be held.

The land here was first trampled down by a herd of horses, and then covered with fine, rounded white sand and gravel.

The area was surrounded by white curtains, and inside the curtains was the arena, which covered an area of ​​about two hundred square meters.

Qingdeng was the initiator of this trial cooperation and also the person with the highest status.

Therefore, logically speaking, these curtains should be embroidered with Qingdeng's family crest, the "Gentian Leaf".

However, due to time constraints, there was simply no time to produce such a compliant curtain.

Left with no other choice, Yokoyama tax collector had to take out stock from the government treasury that was embroidered with "Aizu Mitsuba" to make up the difference.

For this, Yokoyama, the head tax collector, specifically apologized to Aoto.

Qingdeng didn't care about such trivial formalities at all, so he wasn't angry and generously forgave Yokoyama Shusui's "mistake".

A high platform was erected on the north side of the arena—this was the "VIP seat," where Qing Deng and the feudal lords would sit.

Qingdeng naturally sat in the main seat.

The eight lords who arrived at Wakamatsu Castle earlier, including the lords of Morioka and Kuroishi, sat on the left and right sides of Aoto in order of their rank and status.

Outside the arena, crowds of people who had come to join the excitement had gathered.

As time went by, the number of onlookers increased at a visible rate.

When Qing Deng appeared, the scene immediately caused quite a stir.

Many people who missed seeing Qingdeng's face yesterday showed great enthusiasm.

Cheers, throngs... produced wave after wave of commotion.

Fortunately, Yokoyama tax collectors had made preparations in advance and deployed a large number of security personnel, which helped maintain order.

Of course, security personnel could stop ordinary people, but they couldn't stop the feudal lords.

After Aoto moved to the "VIP seats," the Morioka lord and others immediately rushed forward, vying to greet him with "General Tachibana, greetings!"

Compared to last night, the lords' attitudes are now relatively peaceful.

Last night, when Yokoyama no Kizaru arranged a welcome banquet for Aoto, all the feudal lords acted as if they were pursuing a goddess, eager to show their faces and become familiar with Aoto.

Although currying favor with high-ranking officials and nobles is not shameful, the "enthusiasm" of the lords still left Qing Deng both amused and exasperated.

This is understandable, given that Seito was already the de facto "number one person in the shogunate".

Any feudal lord who wants to maintain a good relationship with the shogunate will try to curry favor with Seito.

While skillfully dealing with the lords' attempts to curry favor, Qing Deng silently waited for the trial to begin.

In fact, anyone with discerning eyes can see the true purpose of this trial cooperation.

The claims of "promoting martial arts exchange" and "deepening friendship" are all just a pretext.

The main purpose of Aoto's holding of the "Oyu Trial" was to demonstrate the absolute military strength of the Shinsengumi!

Since they couldn't directly demonstrate the Shinsengumi's strength through "war," they had to settle for "martial arts competitions."

Therefore, the Qingdeng tournament does not have a complicated competition system such as "group stage", "knockout stage", "semi-finals" and "finals".

Under his arrangement, the format of this trial was very simple—anyone from the Ōu Domain could send someone to take turns challenging the captains of the Shinsengumi!

Whoever can defeat his captains will receive a generous reward!

*******

*******

Readers with monthly passes, please vote for this book! (Crying leopard head.jpg)

Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets! (Leopard crying.jpg)

P.S.: Hot springs! Hot springs! Hot springs! A story about Japan can't be complete without hot springs! (Leopard.jpg)

Chapter 1007 Complete Domination! The Shinsengumi's Terrifying Suppression! [4400]

As the sun climbed higher, the sky became a little brighter.

Before I knew it, the hour hand of the clock pointed to "8"—it was almost time.

Qing Deng swept his gaze around the scene.

Several days ago, the news that "Niou will be holding the 'Ou Shiai'" had spread throughout the entire town of Wakamatsu.

In recent days, from the outskirts to the town center, wherever you go in Wakamatsu Town, you can hear the townspeople enthusiastically discussing the upcoming grand competition.

As we all know, sex and violence are two of humanity's eternal passions.

Therefore, unless there is a mutation in human genes, it is impossible for a "martial arts competition" to lack an audience.

Influenced by samurai culture, "martial arts tournaments" were very common in the Edo period.

However, most duels between samurai were conducted in private and rarely displayed in public.

Today, the fact that there is such a large-scale martial arts competition that doesn't even require tickets has naturally ignited the enthusiasm of the people.

As a result, the public's enthusiasm far exceeded Qingdeng's expectations.

At this moment, an exaggerated crowd had gathered outside the arena; the phrase "shoulder to shoulder" was no more accurate than this.

Such a grand scene made it seem as if almost half of the townspeople of Wakamatsu had come to join in the fun.

Even farmers from neighboring villages were attracted by this rare spectacle.

In fact, the feudal lords around Qingdeng were equally interested.

A martial arts tournament in which all forty domains of Oshu participated... Such a large-scale event was truly unprecedented.

Even the feudal lords, who were used to martial arts competitions, were full of anticipation for this unprecedented "Oyu Tournament".

Qingdeng took out his pocket watch and glanced at the time.

Seeing that it was almost time, he slowly got up and moved to the edge of the platform.

Instantly, beams of gaze swept over him and focused on him.

As everyone realized the match was about to begin, they held their breath, and the noise gradually subsided.

"Gentlemen! I won't waste any more words!"

With the blessing of the talent "Piercing Clouds and Splitting Stones +3", Qingdeng's voice carried far and wide, covering most of the arena.

"As you can see, this is a unique competition."

"The competition is very simple—whoever can defeat my captain will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold!"

"A reward of one thousand taels of gold for each captain defeated! There is no upper limit!"

"A thousand taels of gold"—the moment these words were uttered, a series of gasps and horrifying exclamations erupted from the crowd.

"A thousand taels?!"

"A thousand taels of gold! That's a huge sum of money, enough for me to play with courtesans until I'm tired of it!"

"Even if I worked for ten lifetimes, I still wouldn't earn a thousand taels of gold..."

"Lord Ren-wang is so generous! He's given out a thousand taels of gold as a reward!"

The crowd's emotions had not yet calmed down... At this moment, Qingdeng made another move—

He waved his hand, and then two servants carried a large lacquered box up to the platform.

They moved to Qingdeng's side, opened the box, and turned it upside down—and with a clatter, gold coins slid out, piling up into a small mountain in the blink of an eye!

A thousand taels of gold... saying it a hundred or a thousand times is not as good as actually seeing it once.

The mountain of gold, made up of a thousand taels of gold, with its dazzling golden luster, instantly captivated the attention of countless viewers!

The sound of swallowing saliva was immediately heard.

If it weren't for the fact that this was an incredibly difficult competition to "challenge the Shinsengumi," countless people would probably have entered the competition at the last minute just to win the prize money!

As the saying goes, "A generous reward will surely bring forth brave men."

The reason Qingdeng offered such a generous prize and even made sure to reveal this huge sum was to motivate participants and attract more people to compete.

He wasn't afraid of too many or too strong participants; he was afraid that the Shinsengumi's reputation would be so great that it would deter everyone from participating.

If there are too few participants, his plan to "showcase the absolute strength of the Shinsengumi through a martial arts tournament" will be impossible.

He had just confiscated the property of Mito's retainers and was quite wealthy.

He could take out a huge sum of money, even a thousand taels of gold, without batting an eye.

Qingdeng turned slightly to the side so that everyone could more easily see the mountain of gold that was enough to drive countless people crazy.

"This is a rare opportunity, so please give it your all and don't leave any regrets."

That's all I wanted to say.

"Now, let us admire the heroic figures of the martial artists together!"

After delivering his concise opening remarks, Qingdeng returned to his seat.

The Olympic Games officially begin!

……

……

The captains of the Shinsengumi take turns facing off against the samurai of the Ou Reihan – this is the format of this tournament, simple and easy to understand.

The leader of the Shinsengumi was Saito Hajime.

Kondo Isami and others engaged in a fierce debate over who should lead the charge.

They both wanted to be the first to go, so neither of them would give way to the other.

Ultimately, they used the traditional method of drawing lots to determine the order of appearance.

And so, Saito Hajime was very fortunate to win the honor of being the "first to go".

Saito Hajime, carrying a bamboo sword, arrived at the east side of the arena.

At the same time, his opponent was already waiting on the west side of the arena.