I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

"Because Yamada Asemon has been beheading people and testing knives for generations. This is their family business. Therefore, their descendants will be trained as executioners since birth, and each of them will be a master of swordsmanship."

"Because there are so many people who come to ask for a sword test, the Yamada Asemon family often asks the younger descendants of their family to do it for them."

"The Yamada Asemon family has now reached the seventh generation. The current seventh generation Yamada Asemon is named Yamada Asemon Fumaki."

"Wen Xian has two sons. He often asks his two sons to test knives for others on his behalf."

"But it's a pity that one of Wen Xian's two sons disappeared a few years ago."

"It is said that Wen Xian's missing son has outstanding personal abilities. Since his disappearance, their family has been completely overwhelmed by the shortage of manpower."

"Now I want to invite Asemon Yamada to come to test the knife, and I often have to wait for a long time because they are too busy."

"We have invited Yamada Senemon to try out knives many days ago. But they were finally free until today."

"One of the sons is missing?" Mucun frowned, "How did he disappear? Was he killed by some enemy?"

"I don't know about that." Hachibingwei laughed a few times in embarrassment, "Wen Xian seems to keep secret about the reason for his son's disappearance. He rarely tells outsiders how and why his son disappeared. , Young Master, Makimura-sama, please look over there, that young man over there is the person who came to test the sword today, Yamada Asemon Yoshitomo."

Mucun followed the direction where Hachibei's chin was pushing: he saw a young man with an expressionless face, as petite as Shimada, walking from the corner of the courtyard to the center of the courtyard at an unhurried speed. .

Behind him were several people dressed as attendants, who were pushing a trolley on which was placed a large unidentified object wrapped in a straw mat.

"This young man is the current Yamada Asemon: Bunken's son Yoshitomo." Hachibei then introduced to Mucun and the others, "He will be in charge of testing swords for us today."

"Since one of Wen Xian's sons disappeared, Yi Chao became Wen Xian's only son."

"As long as there are no accidents, Yoshitomo will be the next Patriarch of the Yamada Asemon Clan, who will be succeeded by Yamada Asemon the Eighth Generation."

While listening carefully to Hachibei's introduction, Shimada nodded from time to time.

After Hachibei's voice fell, Shimada asked:

"Hachibei, what's in the cart pushed by the waiters behind Yoshitomo? It looks very heavy."

"On the trolley, those things wrapped in straw mats are corpses." Hachibingwei said lightly.

He ignored the surprised Shimada, and continued:

"The Yamada Asemon family is not only the imperial sword tester, but also the executioner."

"It was the Yamada Asemon family who had always been responsible for decapitating the heads of death-row prisoners who were sentenced to beheading on the execution ground and intervening for the samurai who were ordered to cut seppuku."

"The bodies of the people killed by them are basically handed over to them."

"The usable gall of these corpses will be taken out to make the famous human gall pills."

"The corpses after the guts have been taken away will be placed by Haosheng. After someone invites them to test the knife, they will take their corpses in stock to test the knife for others."

"Of course, Yamada Asemon came to the door with test knife materials, only in Edo."

"If people from outside Edo came to invite Yamada Asemon to test the sword, of course they would not be able to take the corpse to a distant place."

"That's why it's an unwritten rule for people from outside Edo to invite Yamada Asemon to test their knives, and they must bring their own corpses and other materials for the knives test."

"I've heard that the house of the Yamada Asemon family is full of dead bodies." Shimada twitched his lips, "So is this true?"

"It's true that the Yamada Asaemon family has stored a lot of corpses, but they probably wouldn't put the corpses at home." Hachibei laughed a few times, "I'm not too sure whether they put the corpses Where, but I guess they should have a special place to store dead bodies, and they don't put all the dead bodies at home."

While they were listening to Hachibei's various introductions in Mucun, Yoshitomo was already in the middle of the courtyard, ready to test the knife with his attendants.

They first used soil and other utensils to prepare the "earth altar" for placing the corpses.Then he untied the straw mat that was covering the trolley, revealing seven corpses under the straw mat.

I didn't look at it carefully just now, but after taking a closer look at Yi Chao now, Mu Cun found that this man was really young.

It seems that he is not even 20 years old, but at such a young age, he is very proficient in the process of testing the knife, making preparations for the test knife, completing the necessary ritual work, and then taking the knife handed by the attendant next to him. It is probably the treasured sword that Soichiro wanted Yamada Asemon to test its performance.

After Yoshitomo took over the treasured sword, two attendants laid a dead body on the freshly built earthen altar with extremely skillful movements.

Seeing that the knife test was about to begin, Mucun opened his eyes wide and began to look intently.

There is a rather complicated process for using human body to test the knife. In order to fully grasp the performance of the knife, the corpse will be placed in various poses, and then various parts will be cut.

Yi Chao first made a vertical slash, cutting the first body in half from the chest.

The blood of this body was probably drained in advance, and not a drop of blood flowed out after being cut in half.

After Yoshitomo made the first slash, the waiter beside him immediately stepped forward to put on a new body. The new body was placed in a sitting and standing position for Yoshitomo to slash his shoulders.

They just keep repeating these steps.

The waiter adjusted the position of the body, and Yoshitomo was in charge of chopping.

Soon, it came to the last step. The waiters stacked the 7 flesh bodies they brought together, and Yoshitomo raised the treasured sword in his palm high, aimed at the stacked "mountain of meat" and slashed heavily. Down.

The knife chopped off three flesh in one breath, and stopped when the blade penetrated into the fourth flesh.

"Three trunks." Yoshitomo said softly, "Not bad knife."

Yoshitomo wiped the blade clean, put the sword back into its sheath, then bowed to Soichiro and the others, announcing the end of the sword trial to everyone with his gestures.

After Yoshitomo saluted Soichiro, the surrounding Shimada family retainers who came to watch the sword trial gave out their admiration, praising Yoshitomo's exquisite swordsmanship.

Mucun is also a swordsman, so he naturally understands the way of trying the sword.

In the eyes of people who don't understand swordsmanship, they probably only feel that Yoshitomo just slashed a few times at random.

But in the eyes of knowledgeable people like Mucun and the others, Yichao's series of knife-testing moves just now were of an extremely high standard.

Anyone who has ever swung a real knife knows how accurate a real knife is, and how difficult it is to swing such a heavy real knife to accurately chop objects.

But Yoshitomo held such a heavy knife, and there was no tremor in the sword path when he swung it. He could cut wherever he wanted, and the chest, which was very difficult to cut due to the many bones, was cut in half by his knife like tofu. .

Just judging from his incomparably precise swing of the knife and the way he can easily break bones, it is enough to see that this young man is not someone to be taken lightly.

Yoshitomo's final knife-testing action, Mucun recognized that this was a very classic way of testing the sharpness of a knife.

"Sanguan" means that it can cut off the flesh of three human beings.

It is said that the highest record so far is the "Seven Body Cut" created by Nakanishi Jurobei in the 9th year of Yanbao in 16th AD.

"Master Shimada!" Yoshitomo said loudly.

Perhaps because of his young age, Yoshitomo's voice still had a little childishness.

"As expected of Mataju Fujishima, California! It's been a long time since I cut off three human bodies so easily. It is worthy of the name of a treasured sword."

"Yamada-kun, thank you for your hard work." Soichiro also stood up with a smile at this time, "As expected of the Yamada Asemon family, it is admirable to have such superb swordsmanship at such a young age."

Soichiro stepped forward and greeted Yoshitomo for a while.Soichiro hoped that Yoshitomo would stay at their house for a while, so that they could continue to fulfill their friendship as landlords, but Yoshitomo politely declined.

Seeing that Yoshitomo had no intention of staying in their house for a long time, Soichiro didn't try to force him to stay, which was embarrassing.

Yichao said that he would prepare the appraisal certificate as soon as possible, and after sending someone to your mansion, he asked his attendants to load the body of the knife-tested body into a car and prepare to go home.

Yamada Asemon also has a "label" in Edo, that is, the service is very good.

Not only will they bring their own corpses and other knife test materials to the door, but they will also bring these materials back after the knife test.

After Yamada Asaemon has tried each knife, he will write an appraisal letter for the knife, which year, month and day will be used to appraise the knife, and how the performance of the knife will be.

With this testimonial, the owner of the sword can prove to outsiders that this sword has been tested by the "shogunate sword tester", and it is an undoubted treasure sword.

Makimura and Shimada returned to the room where they met Soichiro for the first time.

After Soichiro personally sent Yoshitomo out of their Shimada family's mansion, he led Makimura and Shimada back to this room.

In the room, there were only 3 people, Soichiro, Shimada, and Makimura.

"Okay, Katsurokuro. Let's have a good chat first." Soichiro's tone was very calm, without any emotion, "You have been away from home for nearly two years."

"Two years ago, you told me: You don't want to rely on the strength of your family, but rely on your own strength to make a name for yourself."

"It's been two years now, have you managed to make a name for yourself?"

"I haven't made any great achievements yet." Shimada said lightly.

"Then can you tell me what you have been doing outside for the past two years?"

After a moment of silence, Shimada shook his head: "I'm sorry, please allow me to keep this a secret. The only thing I can tell you is that I have never let go of my self-improvement."

"Don't you want to tell me?"

Soichiro took a serious look at Shimada's eyes: "It doesn't look like you're talking big. Your eyes have become a little sharper than before."

"What are you looking for me this time?"

"It's just to see my father whom I haven't seen for a long time." Shimada replied, "To be honest: If someone persuaded me to come back, I actually didn't plan to come back."

"Is that so?" Soichiro smiled a few times, "Then what are your plans for the future?"

"Afterwards, I will continue to walk my own path." Shimada's tone was sonorous and forceful, "Do not rely on the power of the family, only rely on my personal struggle to make great achievements. My original intention has never changed. Pass."

"That's it." Soichiro nodded lightly, "Then you should work hard."

After saying that, Soichiro turned his head and looked out the window.

Then he asked a question that had nothing to do with the topic just now:

"It's almost noon now, do you want to stay for lunch?"

Shimada didn't expect Soichiro to ask such a question, and after a while, he replied, "No. I don't intend to stay for lunch."

"Are you going to leave before noon?"

"Well. That's what I planned."

"" Soichiro nodded after being silent for a while, "Alright then. Since you want to leave, I won't keep you either."

"Katsurokuro, I don't care about what you are doing outside. As long as you don't do anything outrageous."

"Then" Soichiro paused after saying this, and after hesitating for a while, he continued, "If you are tired from wandering outside, come back."

Shimada looked at his father in front of him with surprise and astonishment.

After a while, he came back to his senses.

"Well I will."

Shimada and Makimura walked out of the Shimada mansion side by side.

As soon as he stepped out of the mansion, Mucun couldn't wait to say to Shimada:

"I always thought that the relationship between you and your father was very bad, that's why you resisted going home."

"But now, it doesn't seem to be the case. I always feel that your father didn't treat you too badly."

"To be honest, I was also taken aback." Shimada turned his head to look at the Shimada mansion behind him, "My father 2 years ago was not so easy to talk to."

"Two years ago, I had a big fight with my father."

"When I told my father that I wanted to go out and start a career without relying on the power of the family, my father scolded me a lot."

"Say it is impossible for me to succeed at all, let me stay at home honestly and prepare for inheriting the Shimada family business in the future."

"At that time, my father and I had such a quarrel that we were about to use a knife. In the end, I escaped from the house in a way that was almost forced."

"Do you want to make a name for yourself with your own strength?" Mucun grinned, "Although I knew you had such a goal when you first joined us, but I never asked you why you wanted to do this. Have you ever been stimulated by something, so you decided to break away from the protection and support of your family?"

"There is no particularly complicated reason." Shimada raised his hand and scratched his hair. "Many people have had such an idea. They want to rely on their own strength instead of relying on the power of the family to make great achievements."

"And I am not only a part of this kind of people, but I also happen to have a special ability to act. When others only dare to think, I have let go. Then 2 years ago, I explained to my father I had this ambition, and then I had a big fight with my father, and then I ignored my father's dissuasion, left home, and started my own journey."

"You are also a person with a lot of personal experience." Mucun shrugged, "Do you want to rely on your own strength to make a name for yourself? Haha, this should be a trouble that only rich kids like you have."

"Don't call me a kid from a rich family." Shimada said angrily, "You should know, I don't like that name."

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Mucun laughed, "But do you really want to leave like this? At least you should stay and have lunch with your father after a long absence."

Shimada shook his head: "Two years ago, after I left home, I swore to myself: If I don't make a name for myself and let my father who asserts that I can't succeed take a good look at it, I will never go home, and I will never use the 2 meters at home .”

"If the lord hadn't persuaded me to go home, I wouldn't have planned to come back today."

"Why did you make such a troublesome oath?" Mu Cun said in a helpless tone.

Shimada turned his head again, and glanced at the Shimada family mansion that had almost disappeared from behind.

"Actually, when I think about the me two years ago, I was too reckless when I decided to leave home." Shimada smiled wryly. "In order to show my determination not to rely on the family, I left home without a penny bring."

"After recklessly leaving Edo, he quickly encountered the dilemma of having no money to eat."

"I was also lucky. When I was so hungry that I was about to pick up garbage to eat, I ran into the lord who happened to be coming to Edo to do business."

"My lord did not give me money or food directly."

"Instead, I asked me to help her with her luggage. As long as I help her transport her luggage to Edo, I will be paid 100 Wen."

"I remember very clearly that I ended up using the 100 Wen to buy 2 red bean paste buns, which were the most delicious red bean paste buns I have ever eaten in my life."