Volume 1: Stormy Weather in Kawajima Chapter 24: The First Gun Technique

  As the first snow of Xue fell thick and fast, it suddenly occurred to Li Xiao that he had been in Japan's Warring States period for over 40 days.

  The renovation work of Gao Yuan City had already begun several days ago. Although the mountain bandits complained for a while after hearing that they couldn't become warriors, under Li Xiao's eloquent persuasion and Yamamoto Kanetsugu's military suppression, the mountain bandits finally agreed to participate in the renovation of Gao Yuan City. At the same time, Yamamoto Kanetsugu also promised to give them a certain reward and settle their families.

  After the incident of surrendering to the mountain bandits, Yamamoto Kanosuke's attitude towards Li Xiao had slightly improved, at least he no longer rolled his eyes and ignored him as soon as they met. Okay, in fact, he still wouldn't take the initiative to greet you now.

  This point made Li Xiao from etiquette country China very unhappy.

  As the predecessor of Takeda Shingen's military advisor, Li Xiao actually wanted to chat with him, and the purpose was to dig up some secrets that were not allowed to be disclosed outside the Takeda family. The content was nothing more than which woman Takeda Shingen loved most in his life, whether Takeda Shingen really liked BL or not, and how ambiguous the relationship between Takeda Shingen and Kousaka Masanobu had been.

  Yeah, Li Xiao has never denied being a very gossipy person.

  However, Yamamoto Kanetsugu was busy dealing with various matters within the Kofu Castle territory every day and had no time to chat with people. This is true. In Li Xiao's eyes, this person was simply a Zhuge Liang who took care of everything and wasn't afraid of turning Takeda Shingen into another Liu Shan.

  Fortunately, Yamamoto Kanosuke did not give Li Xiao any new tasks in these few days.

  Li Xiao can finally find some free time to study his marksmanship and see if there's a way to maximize his improvement in preparation for the duel with Shioka Ichiya in less than three months.

  Actually, Li Xiao had thought of going to Nara Dojo to find Takakura no Okina based on the strategy he used when playing Taikou before, as his first choice for learning gun techniques.

  Taira no Munemori received guidance from Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was the abbot of Hōzōin, a sub-temple of Kōfuku-ji in Nara. As a monk, he was infatuated with martial arts and, apart from Minamoto no Yoshitsune, studied under many masters in his youth. In middle age, he mastered the art of kenjutsu and created the Hōzōin-ryū style of jujutsu, which emphasized the unity of offense and defense. His jujutsu is the famous Hōzōin-ryū in Japanese history, and has been passed down to this day.

  In this era, if we talk about swordsmanship, Tsukahara Bokuden can be considered Japan's number one, but when it comes to spearsmanship, the first place in Japan belongs to Hozoin Inei.

  Unfortunately, this plan was unrealistic. Nara was not a place that could be reached in just a few days, and as a vassal of Takeda Shingen, Li Xiao couldn't leave Kofu Castle for too long. Requesting an extended leave would have been impossible, so Li Xiao's plan to go to Nara was foiled.

  However, Li Xiao immediately thought of another way, and he set his sights on the same Gunpowder Masayoshi who was also a vassal of Takeda Katsuyori.

  The Hōjō clan, as a native powerful family of Shinano Province, has had its family name for several hundred years. When Takafu Castle still belonged to the Takaoka clan, Hōjō Masatoshi and his father Hōjō Masanori were the chief vassals of the Takaoka clan's head, Takaoka Yoritsugu.

  So the Bao family in Shinano is also a relatively well-known aristocratic family, and for Li Xiao to go as an ordinary warrior to ask for gun techniques is undoubtedly presumptuous.

  Fortunately, Li Xiao had a connection, the previous high-ranking official of Takada Town, Nishimura Heizo, happened to have some kinship with Hoshina Masayuki. Through Nishimura Heizo, Li Xiao met Hoshina Masayuki's eldest son Hoshina Masanao and third son Hoshina Masatsune.

  Hōjō Masanaga was not yet twenty years old, and had only recently come of age. Li Xiaoxin knew that this man would also become a brave general in history. After the fall of the Takeda clan, he fought for the Tokugawa clan and was granted 25,000 koku of land by Tokugawa Ieyasu. His younger brother Hōjō Masatsuki later changed his name to Naitō Masatsuki, and was adopted by Naitō Masayuki, one of the four great retainers of the Takeda clan. After Naitō Masayuki's death in the Battle of Nagashino, he succeeded as head of the Naitō family.

  Li Xiao and Ho Ko were about the same age, and after a few drinks at a tavern, they became familiar with each other. After getting closer, Li Xiao mentioned that he had long admired Ho Ko's shooting skills and had always wanted to meet him in person.

  These two brothers were delighted to introduce Li Xiao after hearing him praise their father so much. Before visiting, Li Xiao also used the gold given by Takeda Shingen to buy three quite good wakizashi as a gift to give to Hoshina Masayuki to increase friendship.

  After receiving the gift, Hōjō Ujinori was overjoyed. When he heard that Li Xia had blocked Uesugi Kenshin at the Battle of Kawanakajima and saved Takeda Shingen, he was amazed. Therefore, he also looked up to Li Xia and did not treat him as an ordinary warrior.

  Li Xiao immediately asked Hoshina Masayoshi to teach him gun techniques. After a few exchanges, Li Xiao found that although Hoshina Masayoshi was already over 50 years old, his gun technique was still sharp and fierce, honed from many years of battle experience. In contrast, his sons Hoshina Masahiro and Hoshina Masatsune were not as skilled with guns, but they had the advantage of being young and full of energy.

  However, what made Li Xiao extremely disappointed was that although the gun skills of the three Baokou father and sons were considered to be renowned in Xinnong, when they fought against him, they did not show any strength superior to his own.

  On the contrary, after Li Xiao became familiar with their three-person gun technique routine, he was able to suppress them very well. This is also natural, as the gun technique that Li Xiao learned originated from China and had been refined over a long period of time, removing the dross and preserving the essence. In terms of gun technique, it was not inferior to any Japanese school of this era. Moreover, Li Xiao himself was tall and strong, young and vigorous, with a long breath, these two advantages were not possessed by them.

  Hokō Shūshun, or even twenty years younger, could have matched Li Xiao in a short duel, but at that time his marksmanship would not have been as precise as it is now. As if aware of this point, the three Hokō men were deeply impressed by Li Xiao's marksmanship.

  The Japanese are inherently worshipers of the strong, and not only do they worship, but also strive to learn from the strong. At that time, Hoshina Masayuki made his two sons, Hoshina Masanao and Hoshina Masatsune, study under Li Xiao, who naturally would not decline, which was also a foundation for establishing good relations with the Takeda family.

  After Takeda Shingen, Li Xiao came to this chaotic world and took in two more apprentices.

  The host family warmly entertained Li Xiao, who stayed for three days. When discussing gun techniques, the father and two sons of the host family all praised Li Xiao highly. Then Li Xiao also mentioned to them that he would have a duel with Shioka Ichi in three months.

  As for Shioka Ichijou's reputation, these three people had all heard of it. He was a famous swordsman from the island of Kashima, having defeated many renowned swordsmen.

  As for the mention of Tsukahara Bokuden's Kashima Shinden, Hoshina Masatoshi's expression turned grave. For Tsukahara Bokuden, Japan's greatest swordsman, his admiration had long since turned into a deep-seated fear.

  Even though Tsukahara Bokuden is now a 73-year-old old man, he is still widely recognized as Japan's number one in terms of swordsmanship. In his later years, he traveled to various countries in Japan for martial arts training, with hundreds of followers and disciples following him, just like a daimyo on the move.

  Many famous daimyos, powerful clans and military commanders asked Tsukahara Bokuden to be their teacher, hoping to receive his guidance. Takeda Shingen also once employed Tsukahara Bokuden as a martial arts instructor for the Takeda clan for a period of time, and had him instruct the sword techniques to the generals under his command.

  Hokō Shunjū also saw him once and still can't help but admire Tsukahara Bokuden's swordsmanship to this day.

  Hokō Shunjū also said that he was not skeptical of Li Xiao's marksmanship, but rather felt that his marksmanship was absolutely at the top level in Japan. However, Li Xiao's weakness was also very obvious, which was the lack of actual combat experience, which could only be honed through countless battles on the sandy field and personal life-and-death struggles.

  So in the end, Hoshino Koji told Li Xiao straightforwardly that he didn't think highly of his match against Shiina Ichika.