Volume 1: The Stormy Island in the River Chapter 6: Takeda Nobukado

  Li Xiao has been continuously practicing his martial arts and horse riding skills over the past few days. As a military general, this is his bread and butter. In addition to this, Li Xiao also made an effort to learn Japanese, allowing himself to blend in with everyday life.

  Thanks to his usual arrogant attitude as a young master, he ignored Li Xiao, who was four or five years older than him. He threw away the words of Shingen's entrustment to learn martial arts from Li Xiao.

  Xiao Ping got along well with the Shinbun father and son. Shinbun usually didn't have much free time to deal with military affairs. So Li Xiao's daily texts were all learned from Takehisa Shinbun, and his progress was extremely rapid.

  To the point where both Xin Fan and his father, Xin Feng, looked at Li Xiao with a worshiping gaze. Now Li Xiao's Japanese level is quite good, except for a few incorrect usages, simple communication is no longer a problem - thanks to years of AV education.

  Apart from studying Japanese, Li Xiao's sinology level also made Xìn Fán, who has done some research on this, praise him repeatedly.

  At that time, the aristocrats in Japan's upper class were relatively 'worshiping the West and fawning on foreigners'. The 'West' and 'foreigners' here naturally refer to China across the ocean.

  The courtiers took pride in being well-versed in Chinese studies and writing Chinese characters. Later, this trend also spread to the warrior class. In the Takeda family, for example, Shingen and Katsuchiyo both had a good command of classical Chinese.

  So sometimes Li Xiao and Shinbun this pair of teacher-disciples would often switch roles, one teaching Chinese and the other teaching Japanese.

  "Li Xiao, why do the characters you write look different from those in the Han book? Many of them have fewer strokes." Xinfeng saw that the Chinese characters Li Xiao wrote on the sand table were different from what his father had taught him, and he asked in surprise.

  Facing Takeda Nobuhiro's question, Li Xiao couldn't help but laugh. He couldn't possibly tell him that this was simplified Chinese from several hundred years later. Li Xiao explained that it was another way of writing Chinese characters, in order to make the writing more fluent.

  Anyway, this is in Japan, and he himself is so garrulous that he's not afraid of being exposed. Nobuhide apparently agreed with Xiaoli's words, and said with a face full of admiration: "You're really amazing, you actually know so many ways to write."

  Just as they were talking, someone outside the tent suddenly said: "Is there really such a Chinese character? How come I don't know?"

  Li Xiao raised his head and saw that the other party was a man in his thirties, whose appearance was very similar to Takeda Shingen and Takeda Nobushige.

  Takeda Nobukatsu saw the man and rushed forward with a shout of surprise: "Uncle."

  Listening to Takeda Nobutaka's words, Li Xiao guessed in her heart that this person was probably another brother of Takeda Shingen, Takeda Nobuyori, who later became a monk and was also known as Takeda Sanmyo-in. Because he looked similar to his older brother, he often served as a shadow warrior, acting as Shingen's substitute when going out in public.

  Xin Lian himself, although born into a military family, was very learned and talented, especially skilled in painting and sculpture. Simply put, he was the kind of general who could kill with his sword on horseback and create poetry and paintings off horseback.

  Takeda Nobuyoshi was well-known in later ages for his dual identity as a cultured man and a military commander.

  Takeda Shōryū, who was following Shin'ei, looked at Li Xiao and said: "Uncle, this is the military commander from Ming country." After introducing Takeda Shōryū, he whispered: "Hmph, I don't know if it's true or false."

  Takeda Nobuyori glanced at Shoryu, chuckled and took out a small paper fan made of bamboo from his waist. With a "whoosh" sound, he opened it, and on the surface seemed to be painted a picture of Rainy Mountain Ink Bamboo.

  If he hadn't been dressed in military attire, Li Xiao would have almost taken him for a carefree and elegant scholar of the mountains and forests.

  Li Xiao smiled and pointed at Takeda Shinren's fan, saying: "May I borrow the fan to take a look?"

  Takeda Shingen nodded and handed the fan to Li Xiao, then said: "I've heard that Ming country's people are elegant and refined, my humble work awaits your guidance."

  The other party's Chinese is also very fluent and in no way inferior to Takeda Nobukatsu, and the level of classical Chinese is also quite high.

  Seeing the other person's sincere appearance, Li Xiao had a few points of apprehension in her heart. Her own level of Chinese painting was not great, let alone commenting on this master-level figure's work.

  Takeda Shōrai also said coldly, "Uncle's paintings are sought after by the nobles in Kyoto and they are willing to pay a high price for them. If your skills are not good enough, that's fine, but don't slander my uncle's paintings."

  Li Xiao didn't care about Takeda Shori, took over the fan and looked at it. The painting skills of Takeda Nobuyoshi were indeed very high, even Li Xiao, who couldn't paint himself, could see that. This "Empty Mountain New Rain" depicted the lush growth of bamboo after a spring rain, with just a few strokes bringing it vividly to life on paper.

  Li Xiao is now in a difficult situation, he can't just make something up and say that there's a problem with the painting, not to mention that his own level of expertise wouldn't be enough to convince anyone. If he doesn't say anything and returns it, he'll be looked down upon by the Takeda family, and Shori will mock him again.

  Li Xiao smiled slightly and had a plan, closing the fan and handing it back with both hands, then said: "Your painting skills are indeed exceptional, leaving me nothing to criticize."

  Listening to Li Xiao say this, Takeda Nobuyoshi took the fan and nodded calmly. Li Xiao's tone changed: "But it's a bit imperfect."

  Li Xiao's words left everyone perplexed, first saying that there was nothing to criticize, and then saying that it was not perfect. Just as Takeda Shōren was about to rebuke Li Xiao, Takeda Nobuyoshi waved his hand to signal him to stop talking, and asked: "What other imperfections do you see?"

  Li Xiao said slowly, "I see that the right lower corner of your fan has a large blank space. I suppose this painting is still missing a good poem to go with it, which is why you said it's not quite perfect. As it happens, I have a poem here that can match the mood of this painting."

  Takeda Nobukado's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hastily asked him to continue saying: "Please speak quickly."

  Li Xiao nodded and walked into the camp, sighing: "Don't listen to the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, why worry about reciting poems and walking slowly? With a bamboo staff and straw sandals, I can easily outrun a horse. Who's afraid? A lifetime of wandering in the misty rain."

  Don't listen to the sound of leaves being blown away... Wada Shinren repeatedly read the words recited by Li Xiao three or four times, and suddenly slapped his thigh heavily. Wada Shinren hurriedly walked to the desk, took a deep breath, picked up the pen that Li Xiao had used to write with, and while reciting the poem, he wrote on the fan with bold and cursive strokes.

  After blowing dry the ink marks, Takeda Shingen gently folded his fan and then, as if no one was around, sang and danced to himself, jumping up a danceable tune.

  Xin Lian's movements seemed quite strange to Li Xiao, as if when Japanese people were extremely happy or sad and needed to express their emotions, they would jump up and down like a sheep with epilepsy.

  Nobunaga Oda, on the eve of the Battle of Okehazama, which would decide the fate of the Oda clan, was sleeping in his bed when he received news that Imagawa Yoshimoto's army had set up camp. He immediately got out of bed and ordered his servant to pour him a drink, drinking cup after cup until he became half-drunk. Then, standing up, he sang and danced to the famous Noh play "Atsumori" ("Fifty Years of Humanity"), and soon after led his troops into battle at night, defeating Imagawa Yoshimoto in a chaotic and confusing manner.

  The lyrics sung by Xin Lian were in Heike style, which belonged to the pronunciation of Japanese language in the Middle Ages. Li Xiao naturally couldn't understand it.

  But after the dance, he let out a long sigh, gently shook his folded fan several times, and spoke with a poet's sentiment: "Chinese culture is truly profound and vast. Compared to the great poet Su Shi's works, the subtle and mysterious realm in his poems is not something that my humble painting skills can even begin to compare to."

  Takeda Shinren's Chinese proficiency is indeed impressive, and this poem was actually written by the great poet Su Shi. The elegant and carefree atmosphere of the poem perfectly matches the scenery depicted in the painting.

  After finishing speaking, Xin Lian tied the fan to his waist and stepped out in large strides without saying a word. Meanwhile, Takeda Shōryū and Takeda Nobutaka were shocked by Li Xiaosan's words and stared wide-eyed at their uncle, who was renowned for his literary talent.

  Li Xiao simply crossed his arms over his chest, smiling proudly with a somewhat pretentious air.

  "It's all thanks to you."

  Takeda Shōryū thought for a moment and was about to leave the tent when Li Xiao suddenly called out to stop him.

  Takeda Shōrai raised an eyebrow, seemingly thinking that Li Xiao was going to give him a hard time. But Li Xiao calmly said: "I know you have prejudices against me, and I don't care how others see it, but if you approach people and things with preconceptions, your views will inevitably be biased and incomplete. Remember this."

  Takeda Shingen heard Li Xiao say this and snorted: "These great principles, no need for you to teach me."

  "No, your father asked me to instruct you in martial arts. Since that's the case, I have a responsibility to teach you. Just like in a duel, if you can't face your opponent calmly and objectively, then you'll lose without even fighting. If you're always like this, you'll be nothing but a roughneck for the rest of your life!"

  Takeda Shōryū's face turned bright red as he listened to Li Xiao's harsh words, and with a loud hum, he rushed out of the tent.

  Xinfeng spoke up at this time: "Lixiao, you said that with a tone of victory, isn't your tone a bit too heavy?"

  Li Xiao shook his head, and it was fortunate that Sanfan had mocked himself three times. He wasn't a person without temper either. His mouth still calmly told Xinfeng: "A jade stone must be carved to become a useful vessel. This will be beneficial for him in the future."

  Xinfeng hesitated and said, "But he is the master's son after all. Moreover, he is so impulsive. If he loses his head and does something rash, it will be disastrous."

  Li Xiao expressed his agreement and they both went out of the account together to ask the guard, only to find that Sheng Lai had already ridden a horse and rushed out of the camp gate.

  The two of them secretly called it bad, as this area was all Uesugi's spies and informants, and if anything happened, it would be terrible.

  Li Xiao and Xin Feng each led five or six armed cavalrymen out of the camp gate to search for Sheng Lai.