Kingdom - Ch. 782 - The Path of the Supreme Commander

[MangaDex]

 

[Aztecreader]

Ok...I'm gonna need to take a break and come back after a few chapters...stuff is building up right now.

 

[gonn92]

you thought riboku was playing 5th dimensional chess but it was actually 9th dimensional checkers. all according to keikaku

 

[sebasolea]

im so fucking confused with all these names man 😭

 

[sssr]

So it turns out Riboku's current strategy is to simply leave the field and have Shibashou take charge. By doing so he had the Qin face off against his equal whom they had never encountered before, and they reacted very poorly to the change.

 

[pedantiq]

Oh wow, another big master plan that nobody expected... Who would have guessed?

 

[chabermaca]

What Zhao doesn't realize, Ousen has been doing nothing for a long while now, so his "I'll win by doing nothing" powers are at full strength. All he needs is to do nothing for just a while longer...!

 

[Amariithynar]

So it turns out Riboku's current strategy is to simply leave the field and have Shibashou take charge. By doing so he had the Qin face off against his equal whom they had never encountered before, and they reacted very poorly to the change.

While also locking down Shin, arguably the biggest wildcard on the Qin side of the field, too.

 

[lazyman26]

b

While also locking down Shin, arguably the biggest wildcard on the Qin side of the field, too.

it's too bad that the guy with the biggest plot armor around here is Ousen, not even Shin or Riboku can match that

 

[Kanami-chan]

Shibasou: "Ji Aga"
Ji Aga: "...?"
Shibasou: "Would you lose?"
Ji Aga: "Nah, I'd win"

 

[bouken]

What Zhao doesn't realize, Ousen has been doing nothing for a long while now, so his "I'll win by doing nothing" powers are at full strength. All he needs is to do nothing for just a while longer...!

he'll just borrow offscreen offscreen no mi from blackbeard and win anyway.

 

[l3arg]

Numbers wise it seems like a bad idea to attack Ousen's main army like that, but this seems to come down to Shibasou being an unstoppable force, no matter how much extra soldiers comes to Ousen's aid. All that matter is what superhuman ace Ousen has in his main army.

 

[Grimmycoffee]

Where have these people been this whole time.

 

[justanothermanganerd]

im so fucking confused with all these names man 😭

it's okay you don't need to learn them the teleporters will all die in the next couple months along with all the other new characters they're name spamming.

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

Great, pulling a guy like that out of nowhere.
Riboku must've access to ancient Chinese alibaba, where yoh can order them en masse

 

[Curly577]

I gotta say, usually I can at least agree to the strategies presented being viable but this one seems really strange. Pushing trough the active front to attack the main HQ in the rear seems way too risky and desperate for the situation they are in especially since at least nominally the Zhao army is again superior in numbers and has home turf advantage + they have the sneaky anime reinforcements with superb generals popping out the woodwork. If they made a point of showing Ousen weakening his HQ then maybe but this is the untouched Ousen main army with 50k? troops in it. I can't believe that this kind of attack would work, nor can I believe that in universe either side would believe this would work. Ousen Isn't even the type of guy that would stubbornly just die when he gets attacked. I think the natural conclusion ought to be that there's a yet revealed unit coming to join the assault but that seems bit dumb. Ganging on the Akou army seems much more like a strategy Riboku would use, focusing on exhausting the attackers manpower.

 

[sssr]

Where have these people been this whole time.

In real history, the Yuezhi Empire to the north was a far greater threat to Zhao than Qin was until around this time period. It was also similarly the biggest threat to Qin. The historical Sima Shang (Shibashou) was a Zhao general who mostly fought in the north until around the time the historical Li Mu (Riboku) dealt the Yuezhi a major defeat, ironically freeing up Qin to start their conquest of Zhao by removing this northern threat to Qin itself.

The Qin conquest of China was actually made possible by the collapse of the Yuezhi and the rise of the Xiongnu under their great leader Touman around 224 BCE, culminating in the founding of the Xiongnu Empire in 220, the year immediately after the founding of the unified Chinese Empire under Qinshihuang (Ei Sei). By a funny coincidence in history, Touman himself then lost his life to the Xiongnu's greatest leader Modu (Baghatur) in 209, just in time for China to again be "safely" embroiled in civil war. If Modu hadn't launched his coup then spend the next half-decade defending his claim to the Xiongnu throne, perhaps the Han Dynasty would have been crushed in infancy by a nomadic invasion.

The historical Sima Shang was in fact spending most of his time fighting the Yuezhi and Xiongnu in the north until the historical death of the historical Pang Nuan (not in a duel with Shin) and the turmoil of the Zhao succession forced Li Mu to summon him south to help fight Qin. The northern army of Zhao was historically the strongest army Zhao had, because they'd spent the entire time fighting militarily superior northern nomads rather than the qualitatively poorer peasant armies of other Chinese states.

So yeah, Shibashou the Zhao grand general is appearing in Zhao's central theater almost the way he would have in history. In history he was present much earlier, though.

 

[pdonk]

If they made a point of showing Ousen weakening his HQ then maybe but this is the untouched Ousen main army with 50k? troops in it.

in chapter 780, Ousen sends 20k troops to reinforce Akou's army. Denrimi was also baited out to join the melee in the center, and Shin was removed from the field. Shibashou's 30k seems more than a match for Ousen's remaining 30k.

 

[Curly577]

in chapter 780, Ousen sends 20k troops to reinforce Akou's army. Denrimi was also baited out to join the melee in the center, and Shin was removed from the field. Shibashou's 30k seems more than a match for Ousen's remaining 30k.

You are absolutely right, they should be at 30k now, still it should be 30k vs 30k with reinforcements cut off not very great situation to be in.

 

[pdonk]

In real history, the Yuezhi Empire to the north was a far greater threat to Zhao than Qin was until around this time period. It was also similarly the biggest threat to Qin. The historical Sima Shang (Shibashou) was a Zhao general who mostly fought in the north until around the time the historical Li Mu (Riboku) dealt the Yuezhi a major defeat, ironically freeing up Qin to start their conquest of Zhao by removing this northern threat to Qin itself.

The Qin conquest of China was actually made possible by the collapse of the Yuezhi and the rise of the Xiongnu under their great leader Touman around 224 BCE, culminating in the founding of the Xiongnu Empire in 220, the year immediately after the founding of the unified Chinese Empire under Qinshihuang (Ei Sei). By a funny coincidence in history, Touman himself then lost his life to the Xiongnu's greatest leader Modu (Baghatur) in 209, just in time for China to again be "safely" embroiled in civil war. If Modu hadn't launched his coup then spend the next half-decade defending his claim to the Xiongnu throne, perhaps the Han Dynasty would have been crushed in infancy by a nomadic invasion.

The historical Sima Shang was in fact spending most of his time fighting the Yuezhi and Xiongnu in the north until the historical death of the historical Pang Nuan (not in a duel with Shin) and the turmoil of the Zhao succession forced Li Mu to summon him south to help fight Qin. The northern army of Zhao was historically the strongest army Zhao had, because they'd spent the entire time fighting militarily superior northern nomads rather than the qualitatively poorer peasant armies of other Chinese states.

So yeah, Shibashou the Zhao grand general is appearing in Zhao's central theater almost the way he would have in history. In history he was present much earlier, though.

I'll add that in the context of the manga itself, Shibashou was first hyped up 280 chapters ago, and his lieutenants appeared 80 chapters ago. We've known they were an asset available to Zhao for a long time. The reason they didn't get involved until now is that Shibashou despises the Zhao king (who doesn't?) and refused the invitation to become one of the Three Great Heavens. That Riboku would appeal to Shibashou to help save the country in its hour of greatest need makes perfect sense.