Chapter 14: The Famous General's 'One Ride Subjugation'

  The fourth battle of Kawanakajima, two military strategists who were called the dragon and tiger of Japan's Warring States period, met at this moment.

  Although the Uesugi army had been clashing with the Takeda lines all along, Kenshin still had twelve riders by his side. He himself wielded the famous two-shaku-four-sun-five-bu sword "Junkyō Nagakuni", and rode the famous horse "Hōshimogetsu". Seeing that Shingen only had a handful of attendants guarding him, he realized this was indeed the best chance to take Shingen's head.

  Takeda Shingen was known as the unparalleled military strategist of the Warring States period, but he was not a brave warrior and his martial skills were no match for Uesugi Kenshin. Uesugi Kenshin did not hesitate for a moment, riding straight to Takeda Shingen himself.

  A loyal Takeda samurai let out a loud cry and charged forward with his spear to block Uesugi Kenshin, but was struck down by the latter's sword and fell heavily to the ground.

  Breaking through the obstruction, Uesugi Kenshin clamped his legs together and let loose Mōgetsu, who lived up to his reputation as a famous steed. In the blink of an eye, they had closed in on Takeda Shingen's position, at which point the attendants beside him were scattered by the charging cavalry. With no other choice, Takeda Shingen steeled himself and took to the field personally, facing the incoming "Junkyō Nagae" as he used his right hand to parry the first blow with his commander's fan.

  Uesugi Kenshin's second slash cut off Takeda Shingen's military fan, and at this time Takeda Shingen didn't even have a weapon to block with. The third slash that followed immediately struck the right shoulder armor of Shingen, wounding his right arm.

  The Takeda army's generals were unable to arrive in time and watched as Takeda Shingen was about to be killed by Uesugi Kenshin.

  Just as Uesugi Kenshin was about to raise his sword again, a warhorse suddenly burst through the curtain of the array like a sharp knife, charging directly into Takeda Shingen's main camp, its four hooves kicking up a cloud of dust.

  "Rest and recover, milord."

  With this earth-shattering roar, the general on horseback thrust his spear directly into the buttocks of Uesugi Kenshin's beloved horse 'Hosen Mōgetsu'. Hosen Mōgetsu let out a pained whinny and bolted forward several steps uncontrollably, just enough to avoid the fourth slash.

  Uesugi Kenshin hastily regained control of 'Hojo Muneuji' and turned his head to see a samurai riding on horseback, with an extremely sturdy build. The opponent did not wear a helmet, but from the hairstyle, it was quite strange and unlike the warriors of this era, who either shaved their heads or tied their hair into a topknot.

  The warrior who saved the emperor's life was naturally Li Xiao.

  Ri Kōki rode on horseback, with Takeda Shingen protected behind him. He held his spear horizontally and said to Uesugi Kenshin: "I am Ri Kōki, a warrior of the Ming dynasty hired by the Takeda family. I will fight you to the death."

  As soon as Li Xiao's voice fell, the surrounding Takeda and Uesugi warriors were all stunned. Li Xiao actually wanted to 'single-handedly defeat' Uesugi Kenshin.

  The Japanese call a duel between two warriors on the battlefield "Ikkiuchi". In short, Ikkiuchi is a one-on-one duel where no assistance from others is allowed, and victory or defeat is decided solely by the bravery of the two warriors.

  For example, the "Three Heroes Fighting Against Lü Bu" in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is absolutely impossible to appear here. Even if one side wins by relying on numbers, they will be despised and insulted as a warrior's personality.

  This challenge between warriors is naturally something that a respondent cannot avoid, otherwise it will be considered cowardice.

  Uesugi Kenshin laughed loudly and said, "Very good, so you are a warrior from the Ming country. I am Uesugi Kagetora Terutora."

  "General, he is just a humble warrior of the Ming country, how can he be worthy to compete with the general? Let me, Nagakawa Nagatane, take on the challenge." A samurai under Uesugi Kenshin's command shouted. Just as Uesugi Kenshin was about to speak, Li Xiaodong suddenly spurred his horse and charged forward, not willing to let go of the opportunity for a 'one-on-one duel' with Uesugi Kenshin.

  Li Xiao clamped his legs tightly on the war horse, swept across with a vigorous gust of wind, and danced towards Uesugi Kenshin. Uesugi Kenshin responded calmly, using "Junkei Chokou" to counter Li Xiao's spear, and all that was heard was a clear and crisp "whooshing" sound, as the two men's moves were evenly matched in strength and momentum.

  Uesugi Kenshin blocked Li Xiao's attack and counterattacked with a slash to Li Xiao's shoulder. Li Xiao turned around, leaning back, his body hanging on the horse, and used his horizontal spear to deflect the attack again. In just one breath, the heads of their horses had already crossed each other.

  "Alright, alright!" Uesugi Kenshin shouted in praise twice. He was known as the God of War and his own martial arts skills were not weak either. In an instant, Uesugi Kenshin turned his horse around and urged it to charge forward again, arriving in a flash like thunder and lightning, striking down at Li Xiao with another slash of his sword.

  Li Xiao was still not skilled in horsemanship after all, and it took him a while to control his warhorse. By the time he urged his horse forward again to respond to the enemy, he had already fallen behind by one step.

  Uesugi Kenshin, with the momentum of his warhorse, gripped both arms and struck a blow with 'Junkyō Nagakaze', Li Xiao failed to parry and was cut down from his horse by Uesugi Kenshin.

  After Li Xiao stabilized himself on the ground, Uesugi Kenshin reined in his horse and swung "Junkyō Nagakaze" down towards Li Xiao's forehead. In this critical moment, Li Xiao could only roll over like a donkey to avoid Uesugi Kenshin's slash, then targeted Uesugi Kenshin's back and struck the left shoulder with the gunstock.

  "General." The samurai of the Uesugi army saw Kenshin being hit by Xiaolong and didn't care about their warrior spirit anymore, they hastily came forward to rescue him.

  And on this side, the soldiers of Takeda's army who came to rescue also arrived, and the main generals of both sides were surrounded by their guards.

  Uesugi Kenshin was hit by Li Xiao's blow, but he didn't get hurt much. After laughing loudly towards the sky, he decisively retreated from the Takeda army's main camp on horseback.

  Li Xiao had no intention of rewriting the Battle of Kawanakajima into a "one-on-one" duel between himself and Uesugi Kenshin. His only thought was to take Uesugi Kenshin's head, but unfortunately his horsemanship was not good enough, and after chasing for a while, he could not catch up with Uesugi Kenshin's famous horse "Mōseirōgetsu". In the end, Li Xiao had no choice but to turn back and retreat to Takeda Shingen's main camp.

  After Uesugi Kenshin left, Li Xiao hastily dismounted his horse with a regretful expression of being late to protect his master, and came before Shingen, saying: "My lord, I have come too late."

  Takeda Shingen's complexion was somewhat pale, and he nodded slightly, saying: "No, you're fine. If it weren't for you, I, Takeda Shingen, would have lost my life at Oiwate Plain."

  Li Xiao saw that Takeda Yoshinobu and their subordinates, more than a dozen people, had also arrived early at Takeda Shingen's place. Coincidentally, he too witnessed Li Xiao's brave fight against Uesugi Kenshin, now standing on one side with an awkward expression.

  Takeda Shingen turned his head, looked at his eldest son, and suddenly his face sank, as if he had thought of the death of Mōri Motonari, a brave general. His mouth moved as if to scold Takeda Yoshinobu.

  Just then, the sound of horseshoes came from outside the camp. Li Xiao looked up to see that it was Yamamoto Kansuke. Li Xiao's eyes widened instantly as he recalled that in history, Yamamoto Kansuke had died in battle due to his guilt over Takeda Shingen's death and his own plan being seen through by Uesugi Kenshin, for which he apologized before charging into the enemy camp and dying.

  Could he have faked his own death? This thought flashed through Li Xiao's mind in an instant.

  Yamamoto Kan no Suketsune, though lame in one leg, sat his horse with perfect steadiness, and the great sword at his side still had blood upon it, showing that he had been engaged in a hand-to-hand combat.

  As soon as he saw Shingen was wounded, he immediately dismounted and knelt down in front of Takeda Shingen, saying: "My lord, it's all because of my strategic mistake, the plan was seen through by Uesugi Kenshin, which led to your injury and the heavy casualties among our generals. I am willing to commit seppuku to atone for my sin."

  Takeda Shingen, though pale-faced, pushed away the serving lady-in-waiting, stood up and grasped Sanada Yukimura's shoulder, saying: "No, Yukimura, my Takeda army's tenacious fighting has withstood the Echigo army's offensive, now the tide of battle has turned in our favor, your strategy is not a failure."

  Yamamoto Kanbei looked embarrassed and said: "My lord, I..."

  It seems that at this time, they noticed the situation of Shin'emon's main camp being attacked, and each of the armies fighting hard sent out a detachment to support.

  Takeda Shingen loudly declared: "Raise my banner, indicating that I am safe and sound. The whole army does not need to worry about the main camp, and must behead many of the enemy's troops."

  At this time, a scout rushed to the front line and fell off his horse, bowing down in front of Takeda Shingen, saying: "My lord, Nobusada has been seriously injured."

  As soon as these words fell, the Takeda headquarters suddenly became silent and voiceless.

  The battle of Odawara is nearing its end, Uesugi Kenshin has safely returned to the Echigo army, and the Echigo army is now retreating towards Zenkoji Temple, while the Takeda army is pursuing them.

  Li Xiao arrived on horseback when Takeda Nobuyuki, Takeda Katsuyori and Takeda Shingen were surrounding Takeda Nobushige.

  "Shinbo, how were you injured?" Li Xiao said loudly, although the contact time was short, he could feel the care and concern of Takeda Nobushige for himself, and he absolutely did not want Takeda to go like this.

  "Uncle, he was hit by a stray bullet from the iron cannon during the pursuit." Takeda Katsuyori explained, lifting his head.

  Li Xiao was shocked after hearing that. In this era, being hit by a cannonball would have a high mortality rate. It wasn't the bullet itself that was deadly, but rather the infection of the wound.

  For example, in the Battle of Sekigahara, Ii Naomasa, the "Red Devil" of the Tokugawa clan, and Matsudaira Tadayoshi, the fourth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, both died from infections caused by bullet wounds.

  Takeda Nobushige's wound was on his right shoulder, and the army doctor and pharmacist were busy removing the bullet, then cleaning and dressing the wound to prevent infection. As for what would happen to Nobushige in the future, it all depended on himself.

  The setting sun cast a bloody glow over the Yawata plain, and Li Xiao's gaze fell upon a scene of carnage: headless corpses littered the ground, broken spears and shattered shields scattered everywhere. The only words that could describe this sight were "mountains of corpses and oceans of blood".