Volume 2: Dense Wind and Clouds Chapter 40: Yamamoto Kansuke's Swordsmanship

  In the fifth year of Eiroku, several days have passed since New Year's Day.

  Still immersed in the joy of New Year, Kouen Castle from top to bottom has yet to recover from that languid atmosphere. Except for the normally on-duty samurai and ashigaru, most of the other samurai and ashigaru have returned home to their wives and children in the town below the castle to celebrate the holiday.

  The high wall of the city suddenly became much quieter, and the new snow that had accumulated overnight was slow to be swept away, while the soldiers on duty at night also looked listless.

  Still in the small courtyard, Li Xiao had just finished practicing a set of gun moves and was now drenched in sweat.

  He persisted in practicing his marksmanship, which had become a daily routine for him. Every morning at 5 o'clock sharp, Li Xiao would get out of bed from the warm quilt and practice shooting for an hour before returning to the main hall for breakfast, only then starting his day.

  After finishing breakfast, if there were no further orders to drill or teach Takeda Shingen gunnery, Li Xiao would ride his horse to the lower town of Kofu Castle to find Shima Katsutake. In fact, apart from Li Xiao and Yamamoto Kanbei, most samurai and ashigaru families lived in the lower town.

  At first, Takeda Shingen was very curious when he learned that Li Xiao had taken in a subordinate. After learning about the other's bravery and martial prowess, Takeda Shingen developed a love for talent and once proposed to Li Xiao to let him take Island Iwamori as one of his close vassals.

  The attendants and small surname are both people who serve the master, accompanying him all day. The task of the small surname is mainly to take care of the master's daily life, and most of them also need to sell chrysanthemums. The attendants are responsible for protecting the master, similar to a bodyguard.

  Because the Ko-sho and Sokkin were often close to the lord, they had the highest chance of being promoted. For example, in the case of the Takeda family, famous Oku-jikicho Roku-ninshu, such as Tsuchiya Masanori, Saigusa Moritomo, Muto Yoribe, Kanai Shigetada, Sone Masayoshi and Nagasaka Hanganokoro, were all from Sokkin of Takeda Shingen and later became the great generals of the Takeda family.

  Tsuchiya Masanori, Mitsuba Moritomo was also listed among the Takeda Twenty-Four Generals.

  As for the small surname, it is none other than Kousaka Masanobu, one of the four great vassals of Takeda. The deep friendship between Takeda Shingen and Kousaka Masanobu has been passed down to this day as a wonderful story among many gay men, thanks to the exchange of love letters between the two.

  However, when Takeda Shingen recruited Shima Kiyomasa, Li Xiao had not yet spoken, and Shima Kiyomasa had already refused. In Shima Kiyomasa's eyes, the object of his service was Li Xiao, rather than Takeda Shingen himself or the Takeda family. This is not strange, as Shima Kiyomasa's thinking was also the thinking of most warriors in this era.

  Despite this, Li Xiao liked Island Victory's loyalty and bravery. When Li Xiao found Island Victory, the two often chatted together, exchanging martial arts techniques.

  Shima Kiyooki had previously traveled extensively throughout the country, serving as a foot soldier or warrior under various daimyos and participating in several battles. However, after his lord's clan was destroyed, he once again became a ronin, wandering from place to place, and often fought for justice, getting into fights being a regular occurrence.

  So Shimizu Takeshi's experience in martial arts is still quite rich. Li Xiao also gained a lot from him, and of course, Shimizu Takeshi was also very impressed with Li Xiao's marksmanship.

  The two often chatted halfway, and when they were in the mood, they would pick up their wooden guns and swords and start sparring with each other. In this way, over the past month, both Island Victory and Li Xiao's martial arts skills had made some progress. In fact, Island Victory did not have a famous teacher to guide him, most of his martial arts skills were self-taught, and he also gained experience from battles and competitions.

  A good swordsman can also accumulate experience in the mortal combat with others, and if he can survive dozens of life-and-death battles, he will naturally become a master swordsman.

  Like the later Miyamoto Musashi himself, he never learned from a master or studied any school of sword fighting in his life. Starting at 13 and continuing until he was 29 years old, he fought over sixty duels with other schools without ever being defeated once, creating his own Niten Ichi Ryu style of sword fighting, and later defeating the famous swordsman Sasaki Kojirō.

  And so, after such a half-day's trial, the two men would often feel that they had not had enough, and would go to a wine shop to buy some small dishes, food, and then drink a little wine while listening to the pipa monk in the wine shop tell stories of various places.

  Wow!

  Li Xiao let out a long, heavy sigh between his lips and nose. After his breathing calmed down, he propped up his gun with one hand, bent both legs, and sat cross-legged in the snow, closing his eyes to meditate. He had been thinking for a whole day about what he was good at and what he lacked in terms of marksmanship. Sitting in the snow was also a way for him to temper himself, to test his endurance and willpower.

  And three days later, it was the day when Li Xiao and Shi Guang had a duel!

  Li Xiao didn't know how long he had been sitting there when he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps crunching through the snow behind him. Without even thinking, he could guess who it was that made this strange gait - aside from Yamamoto Kansuke himself, who else could it be?

  "What's the snowy landscape like in Shinonsan? Lord Li Xiao." A sigh of admiration came from behind Li Xiao, from Yamamoto Kan no Suke.

  Li Xiao opened his eyes, stood up with a gun, because Yamamoto Kanbei disturbed his quiet thoughts, and his face was slightly unhappy. However, this annoyed mood only flashed through Li Xiao's heart.

  He stood up and patted the snow on his pants, looked up at a distance, in the distant mountains, the snow on the top of the mountain and the middle of the mountain were clearly gray and white, like a white mist-like cloud sea slowly rising, as if people were climbing and crossing the mountain, it was a rare beauty.

  Li Xiao suddenly felt a sense of excitement, and turned to look at Yamamoto Kansuke. Li Xiao secretly wondered why the other party would suddenly come to ask him about the snow scene. Li Xiao remembered that except for official business, Yamamoto Kansuke had never taken the initiative to find himself to chat before.

  Li Xiaoxin also guessed the intention of Yamamoto Kansei and smiled: "Very beautiful scenery."

  Yamamoto Kansuke nodded and said, "The snowy scenery in the mountains of Shinano is beautiful, but it can't compare to the snowy scenery of Mt. Fujiwara. Have you heard of Mt. Fujiwara, Lord Li Xiao?"

  Mount Fuji, Japan's iconic symbol, was renamed from "Fujisan" to its current name in the late Meiji period. It is also the only mountain in Japan that has snow on its peak all year round. Due to its snowy white appearance, resembling an upside-down jade fan suspended in mid-air, it is also known as the "Jade Fan".

  Just like the Chinese saying "One who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true hero", in Japan, it's a pity if one can't see Mt. Fuji once in their lifetime. Therefore, there are many place names in Japan that include the word "Fuji". It's not because you can actually see Mt. Fuji, but just because there's a nearby mountain similar to Mt. Fuji.

  Li Xiaoyan said: "I've heard of it but never had the chance to see it, all I know is that it's a very high mountain and there's snow on the top all year round."

  Yamamoto Kansuke nodded, took two steps forward and stood still with his hand on the hilt of his sword. In a low voice, he said: "The essence of the Takeda family's military tactics lies in the four characters 'wind, forest, fire, and mountain'. As for my own swordsmanship, it is about being as immovable as a mountain. Lord Li Xiao, do you know what '居合' (kiai) means in the way of the sword?"