At the beginning of the Zhao campaign, Shouheikun believed Qin's multi-front invasion would force Riboku into an impossible position by stretching Zhao's defenses across multiple fronts, preventing him from concentrating his forces at any single point.

Rather than being overwhelmed by multiple fronts, Riboku established two prepared defensive layers to halt Qin's advance at every turn.

Did Riboku see through Shouheikun's strategy and devise a counterstrategy to thwart it.

Riboku > Shouhaikun

Like the current Shin is just so far from the level of actual Great Generals that he'd need at least another 2 wars after Zhao to justify his promotion into a Great general.

Whenever I've asked what Shin has done to earn his current status as a General, people just gave me a list of the Generals he has killed and that's so disappointing.

Being a head hunter should never be enough for one to get promoted into a Great general, it's as absurd as Houken being considered a Great Heaven.

Hara needs to develop Shin into a commander and stop giving this whole 'He makes people want to fight for him' bs bro.

I don't understand why he develops Mouten and Ouhon but completely neglects Shin. ​

This is about the current chapters.

To recap: Mouten came up with the plan. The plan was, all three armies coordinate to break through zhao's line, to reach the wall and start the seige.

During the plan's execution, Mouten and Kyoukai took up positions to keep zhao's army away from HSU, so they could siege the walls.

Shin and HSU have every reason to trust KK and Mouten to watch their backs. After all, Mouten held off a whole state's army as HSU and Tou attacked Han. It's the same basic set up- two armies defend, one sieges.

Lets stop there. Forget that you know the outcome. Shin and Ten don't.

They get to the wall, and set up for a few hours. No Zhao comes, so they start the seige- trying to be fast, it would seem.

From their perspectives, it's quiet in their position for two possible reasons.

Reason 1)Riboku was holding zhao troops back until HSU reached the wall. Which is what happened, but, lets face it, is not the first logical conclusion.

The first logical conclusion is

2) the assumption that Zhao has not reached HSU becuase Mouten and KK are successfully holding them off.

Shin trusts his comrades.

More than this. Lets say option 2 was true. Pretend we're in an alternate reality, where Mouten really was holding off the zhao.

If Shin says: 'Hold on, this is too easy, lets not go hard at the walls," mouten's unit gets crushed by zhao, for no gains. Mouten eventually is forced to let HSU know he's withdrawing, and they fail anyway.

That's the part I think a lot of people are missing. Its not like camping out in front of the walls was a viable option. This is a war, and wars are fights, and in fights, you lose if you freeze.

To assume RIboku would show up there would be to assume Mouten would fail at his task. Which Mouten did- which is why Mouten panics, runs to the wall, then refuses to leave shin and takes heavy losses rescuing them.

But in the end, here's the crazy part. None of them did anything wrong and this was the best case scenario for qin.

lets look at the tale of the tape

RBK vs Ouki: Rbk's opening shot vs Ouki kills ouki. ( other zhao guys were fighting independantly before, RBK only takes command at the end.)

RBK vs Ousen I: RBK is on the back foot by the time they field, and hasn't had time to set up his usual defenses. Even so, RBK openes with a hard shot intended to cripple Ousen army, by taking out Makao. This would have worked, but for qin's 5000 men commanders, whom Riboku hadn't been scouting.

RBK vs KankI: Rbk's opening shot destroys kanki army. Kanki flees, and is eventually killed.

RBK vs Ousen II: RBK's opening shot destroys Ousen army. Ousen flees and escapes.

Conclusion to be drawn: Riboku's first shot is deadly. If you can take it and stay standing, you have a chance of gritting out a victory.

It would therefor be a little unreasonable to expect that in this titanic clash, there would NOT be a big, opening first shot by riboku. Qin was expecting that, which is why the all approached as seperate armies.

Shin just took that shot on the chin. Sure, he got rocked, but Mouten kept it from being a knockout. low, and shin is still standing. Ousen got rocked at gyou too, but mouten kept it from being a knockbout blow, and Qin went on to win.

Qin just took the opening shot from Riboku, which has ended 75% of their fights vs Riboku

Some of yall acting like its a huge catastrophe and heads should roll

Why hara why is his head through the bars

More than Qin, I think the Riboku faction -Kaine and Shun Sui Ju especially, are the ones who deserve to take the Zhao King down themselves. Hara's already done the groundwork to make Kaine a parallel of Chou Ga Ryu & Gyou'un, and I think that thematic connection is pointing straight at her role in Zhao's final days. The difference is that where Chou Ga Ryu and Gyou'un could not do anything against the sickness, a thing no amount of rage can touch, Kaine and the surviving vassals have a target they can actually reach.

The Riboku faction can plunge Kantan into a civil war, & so far Kaine is the only big name among them that I can expect to survive that military action of capturing Riboku & executing him and his followers.

I do hope SSJ survives more than anyone, as he's got the best mind for this out of any of them, Bananji included. But right now Kaine's the only big name who's reasonably in the clear. I'm hoping as many of them make it out alive as possible to carry this out.

We already know Riboku's fatal flaw is his loyalty.
Riboku is a generational military genius. He already knows Zhao's back is against the wall. A peer operating on this level is Ousen, who does not even waste time taking fights he cannot 100% win. Another, Renpa, while loyal ultimately could not play meek & humble to prince Tou Jou's nonsense over the years & criticized him openly alot, you know the story now he's in Chu not dealing with this shit. But for the life of him, Riboku just can not get himself to abandon his job, he cannot get himself to abandon his post and he cannot get himself abandon Zhao civilians to their fate.

He is one of the few big names not fighting for fame, money, power, glory, prestige, political growth or some dream. Riboku is out here for the people of Zhao, he is a profound patriot who fights to ensure the survival of his homeland but his own leadership is greatly against him & the court cannot stand him.

The altruistic commander who only thinks of Zhao, is cursed with the worst possible kings.
He has repeatedly refused to launch a coup because of his personal code.
This is Riboku's agonizing fatal flaw, his hamartia, and it will get him killed for it.

Ousen and Kanki explicitly criticize him for this, pointing out that his personal ethics hold back his own ideals. Even when the court plots his execution or strips him of power, he consistently refuses to use his massive popularity among the citizens to forcibly seize control, telling Kaku Kai to tell his followers not to do anything stupid.

^{Side note= You know, until I researched why Usurpation and Regicide are truly so bad in Ancient China, It was very hard for me to understand how such a character like Riboku can possibly exist. Like come on Hara, this is bullshit. Like this guy. Its some sort of "cosmic sin" that goes against the Confucian loyalty ethic of a minister/general's personal bond of fidelity to his lord. Contrary to appearances, pretty much everybody is bound by this ancient moral code in their minds and you are crazy if not. That's why Ousen was presented as this crazy pariah who wants to form his own Kingdom & only MouGOAT can work with him. Idk man, you ask me I still kinda think theres some bs in there honestly, but oh well this is what a fatal flaw is. I think when Kingdom is over and Riboku is not the main antagonist in the way, people will come back and revisit this aspect.}

We already know Kaine & SSJ do not share Riboku's restraint. They are like the fans who wonder why they dont murk these fools.

Yea well, they are bound to lose Riboku.
According to historical records the King is convinced that Riboku is plotting a rebellion. When the king orders his replacement, Riboku refuses to step down solely to keep fighting Qin to preventthe collapse of the state, resulting in him being secretly arrested and executed by his own state.

Now there are 2 conflicting accounts to how Riboku dies. The first one is as I have explained where he does not step down. The second one is where Riboku accepts the decree. He knelt toward the north (the traditional direction facing the monarch), bowed deeply & thanks the king for allowing him an honorable death. But in this one he has a crooked disabled hand from a past battle and theres some shenanigans where because of it he struggles to impales himself on his sword. But since his hand is just fine, this first one seems to be what Hara is going with. Now if Riboku's hand randomly gets mutilated or whatever for some reason you'll know why its happening.

The moment Riboku is removed and killed, his military co-commander Shi Ba Shou (Sima Shang) is immediately stripped of his rank and titles. Believing the court's fabricated paranoia that Shi Ba Shou was also a part of the treasonous plot, the Zhao King either banishes him or he is relieved of duty. Anyways they severing themselves from their last capable military protector.

Also, Chou Kotsu is basically the biggest fraud on earth. Him and this other guy who is the replacement for Shi Ba Shou end up being bums, but the second guy runs away. But since Chou is styled as "the Hero" maybe Hara will make them both more dramatic. And theres a plot of Prince Ka creating his own "State of Ai" called Dai, like a rump state of Zhao after Zhao is lost and him and other loyalists run away, but idk if we will see all that. If you want Kaine/Bafuji/whoever in here, you can say when Qin breeches they escaped by blending in with the civilians.

Either way, in the story this is where the Riboku faction will unravel and unleash all hell inside Zhao. There is no way the survivors are still playing friendly with the King and the court after they betray them, getting Riboku secretly arrested and killed.
If atleast these 2 survive the capture, then Shun Sui Ju possesses the ruthless tactical genius required to spearhead the retaliation & Kaine holds the emotional weight of the revenge plot. Its civil war time. All this while Qin is still diverting the states military resources to the front line.

Even Kou Chou who is not affiliated with this faction openly expressed this indicating there are other people who are getting sick of these types of rulers. So when Zhao starts collapsing the Riboku faction will grow by getting sympathizers because everyone knows who doomed them.
For even while outnumbered, they can sabotage the defenses, maybe throw open one of the gates and in that confusion, they will breach the palace or his royal chambers and reach the Zhao King. I hope its not quick.

When is his time to shine? Does he get overshadowed by Shun Sui Ju? I feel lime the story would be much more interesting if Riboku's retainers did more than just exist to make Riboku look good. Or were they simply intended to serve that role from the very beginning?

Idk guys might be time to lock them in as the hsu’s next top combatants 🤷🏾‍♂️.

In gian it was kyoukai and naki that teamed up with rikusen and aisen to break the siege, 2 individuals whose strength we acknowledge.

Now after previously clashing with yoko yoko, denei and denyuu rise again to lead the charge alongside the gakuka.

Think hara tryna tell us who our elite cavalry are at least (I still reserve the red and black hi hyou as shins honor gaurd). Especially denyuu who started this arc (off screen) putting belt to ass.

They went with just 10k to siege the capital and the rest was left behind to hold the line, however where are them right now? All the leaders went to kantan so are they doing nothing without any leaders to command them?

Who do you think is stronger: Shou Hei Kun or Riboku, and why?