Such Splendor!

The twenty-sixth day of the Second Month.

Early morning.

The entire Imperial Capital buzzed with noise, the snow on the branches shaken clean away until they stood bare and bald.

Yellow dogs rushed into the streets to bark madly at strangers, but the moment they saw someone bend to pick up a stone, they hurriedly tucked their tails and fled indoors.

Outside the Martial Arts Hall in the western part of the city, crowds packed together for warmth, whispering among themselves as discussion raged.

The New Year Festival had long passed, and even the Lantern Festival had ended nearly ten days ago. This should have been the time to settle one's mind and get back to work in earnest, but today was the once-every-three-years preliminary selection for the strength event of the Martial Examination! Such excitement absolutely could not be missed, or else one would be left out of everyday conversations.

Da Shun's Martial Examination had five major events.

Strength, skill, archery, strategy, and combat.

Among them, strength, strategy, and combat had the distinction of the top three ranks. Even if one performed poorly elsewhere, excelling in these three events could still provide a chance to rise.

But to common folk, ranks meant nothing. What mattered was that it looked good! That it was shocking! Thus, the only event worth watching was strength!

Strategy went without saying—writing essays, drafting plans, playing at tactics. Ordinary folk did not know a single character, at most able to write their own names. Asking them to distinguish first from second and third was truly making things difficult.

They had heard there was a craftsman's workshop in the east of the city, supported by the court, that specialized in Movable Type Printing and trained literate craftsmen. For one or two taels of silver, one could