Volume 2: Thick and Heavy Winds and Clouds Chapter 56: Gunfire

  Li Xiao used to practice shooting with a wax stick gun at the old cadre's place in the big courtyard.

  It is said that in ancient China, when a family of martial generals had a son, they would plant a white wax tree and take care of it from an early age. Whenever a lateral branch grew out, they would cut it off, leaving only a few leaves at the top. As a result, the white wax trees that grew up were all straight and straight. When the white wax tree had grown for about ten years, they would dig up the whole root of the white wax tree to make guns.

  After mastering the gun, his father began to teach him how to use it hand in hand.

  At that time, Li Xiao's white wax rod spear was too long and heavy. At that time, he was still young and didn't have enough strength to even lift it up, let alone hold it steady. He could only use a pear wood gun handle that could be used as firewood to cope with it for the time being. It wasn't until later when he went to high school and his body developed that he really practiced spear techniques with the white wax rod under an old cadre for two years.

  Unfortunately, after Li Xiao went to college later, the old cadre passed away and never had this opportunity again.

  He was used to wielding heavy white wax rod spears, so Li Xiao's three-section staff in his hand didn't count as anything.

  Li Xiaogun's spearhead hung in the air, like a giant snake lying on the ground, as if it could pounce and hurt people at any moment. At this time, Kitaoji Nagamasa was facing a great enemy, his face solemn, he took three steps to the right, his left hand controlling the gun body, his right hand grasping the gun tail, with his left hand holding the gun as the axis, slowly twisting it with his right hand.

  Then, the tip of the spear in Hōjō Tokimune's hand drew a circle around Li Xiao, and the trajectory of the spearhead covered Li Xiao's face, left shoulder, chest, and right shoulder.

  This is a rolling gun in Japanese gun art, the tip of the gun drawn by Hojo Ujiyasu's circle is similar to a feint, with the aim of making it impossible for the enemy to predict the next move.

  Li Xiao coldly smiled, if he were using a dagger or a blade shorter than Koshiro's, he would have to be on guard against this move, but now his long spear was a whole length longer than the opponent's.

  Li Xiao easily raised the gun body, and the gun head suddenly jumped up, directly towards Nitta Tadatsugu's face. Although Nitta Tadatsugu was prepared, he did not expect Li Xiao's big gun to become so agile, and he was shocked and hastily pressed the gun to block it.

  But unexpectedly, Li Xiao's gun body was like a swimming snake, borrowing the force of Hojo Nagayoshi, grasping along the opponent's gun body and thrusting straight into the opponent's right ribs.

  Hojo Ujiyasu, the first general of the Hojo clan, was not to be underestimated. With his rich experience, he knew that all techniques were useless against Li Xiao's swift and fierce attack. He decisively dropped his gun and took a step back, dodging Li Xiao's fatal blow with a slanted body. Immediately after, he hooked the gun barrel with his toes and returned it to his hand.

  No one on the scene expected that Li Xiao would force Nishio Isao to drop his gun with the first shot, but Li Xiao was regretful. The previous shot was supposed to be his fatal shot, but unexpectedly, Nishio Isao reacted quickly and dodged it unexpectedly.

  The Hojo clan's leader had just let out a sigh of relief, but he didn't expect that Li Xiao's gun was a whole room longer than his. Although Li Xiao missed with one shot, the Hojo clan's leader only saw Li Xiao's gun movements, one shot after another, chasing him down like a vengeful spirit, stabbing towards where his body was located.

  It was after a flurry of shots, the Northern General's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and Li Xiao's spearhead became increasingly unpredictable, he could hardly grasp Li Xiao's spear path, only when the spear tip reached his eyes did he barely manage to parry.

  This is too scary for the Ming people's marksmanship. At this moment, Houjou Ujiyasu and other Northern leaders also thought so, and they couldn't hide their shocked expressions.

  When the old cadre taught Li Xiao how to shoot a gun at first, he waited for Li Xiao's foundation to be roughly good before teaching him how to shake the gun.

  Spears are different from guns, spears are hard and straight, while gun rods are soft. If you learn to use a gun without learning to shake the gun, it's useless. Only by shaking the gun can the gun head follow the force and draw a circle.

  The Quanjing has the saying "staff fears nodding head, spear fears round", similar to the Hojo clan's Nagae no Toshiyuki's gun technique which also draws a circle, but it doesn't use shaking power. The real shaking power drawing a circle utilizes the elasticity of the spear body to shake and swing the spearhead wildly, making it impossible for the opponent to defend against or see the path of the spear.

  If someone dares to block with a gun, Li Xiao's large gun in his hand presses down along the barrel, borrowing the enemy's strength, and the gun head rushes directly to the opponent's gate, killing the opponent with one shot.

  The scene under Hojo Ujiyasu's eyes was quite embarrassing, but he was not incompetent either. Facing Li Xiao's gun again, he didn't dare to use the gun body to block it like the first shot. At this time, he could only use the gun body to hold down Li Xiao's gun body and barely listen to the "power" of Li Xiao's gun body.

  Then, relying on his years of battlefield experience, Hōjō Ujiyasu dodged every time Li Xiaoguang thrust at him with the tip of his spear.

  But it's not that easy for Hojo Shigeno to listen intently.

  As for the current Tai Chi, 24 forms and 48 forms are just a framework. In the eyes of a true Tai Chi master, the essence of Tai Chi can be summed up in two words: "listen to energy".

  Like a Tai Chi master engaging with others, they often stretch out their hand to listen for the opponent's fist strength, and then add their own strength to the opponent's, sending both hands forward, directly pushing them three or four meters away, slamming into the wall, which is commonly referred to as "hitting someone like hanging a painting".

  So Tai Chi masters only need one move to take down an opponent, with just a touch of their hand. Similarly, ancient Chinese generals who used spears on horseback, such as Zhao Zilong and Yue Fei, practiced spear techniques that allowed them to kill with a single thrust.

  For example, Japan's Aikido emphasizes the use of non-violent means to directly attack opponents, but rather uses leverage to defeat them. To do so, one must understand where their opponent's strength lies.

  As Aikido master, Tohei Koichi said, the characteristics of Aikido is to show the natural ultimate expression of physical movement. Natural movements are not fixed, but change with a thousand variations. It can be compared to the flow of water, which changes according to the surroundings. Even when encountering just one tree, the flow of wind will have countless forms.

  This principle also has some common ground with Tai Chi.

  However, Li Xiao was not very good at this, and currently, it's just a superficial skill. The old cadres didn't know much about it either, and he himself was even more of an amateur. He relied more on his eyes, like dealing with martial artists who were average in using guns and knives, which made it relatively easy. After seeing through the opponent's gun and knife moves, he would directly shoot to break through.

  But when it comes to dealing with a master, like Shioka Kazuya, who practices the art of iaijutsu and only uses one swift sword strike, by the time you figure out his moves, your head will already be rolling on the ground. Therefore, Li Xiao had to use a different method to duel Shioka Kazuya.

  Hojo Ujiyasu was also a skilled gunner. Although the battlefields of Japan's Warring States and ancient China were different, the principles of using guns are the same.

  The theory of gunjutsu in Japan's Sengoku period was not as systematic as it would be in later times, and the materials used for guns were different from those used in China, so they wouldn't use the recoil to attack. However, the idea of using the flexibility of the gun body to attack the enemy's hand was something that every samurai who held a gun knew.

  Like Kojou Shiina, a master of guns, he knew better how to conceal his gun's trajectory, so that Li Xiao couldn't see it.

  So most people on the scene thought they could see a brilliant competition, but in fact, what they saw was extremely dull. Li Xiao and Kita no Kata's battle did not have any exciting moves at all, and throughout the whole fight, all that could be seen was Li Xiao holding a large spear, chasing after Kita no Kata and stabbing wildly.

  At this moment, Li Xiao secretly admired him in her heart. He was indeed worthy of being the leader of the Kitaouji clan, and had managed to evade so many assassination attempts. If it were Li Xiao who had been stabbed multiple times with a large spear, the danger would be great.

  But at this moment, Hojo Ujiyasu also had a bitter taste in his mouth, he didn't lose because his marksmanship was inferior to Li Xiao's, but rather because his own gun was too short, facing Li Xiao's stabbing attack, he could only defend and had no power to counterattack.

  Li Xiao's spear skills had reached a very high level, and he thought that even if he took a slight breather, it would be impossible to break into Li Xiao's circle of long spears. If the two spears were of equal length, his situation would not have been as passive as it was now, and the outcome between them would still be uncertain.

  In fact, from the moment Li Xiao chose three guns, Nitta Yoshisada had already lost 80%.

  The only remaining 20% chance is now for Nitta Tadakuni to make a last-ditch effort.