Where was that scorecard again?
There are weeks when the “historical” part of Kingdom’s historical battle seinen subgenre really comes to the fore. I won’t pretend to understand more than a tiny fraction of the complexities of ancient Chinese ethno-politics and military history. But the names being dropped this week are a very real part of it. Wang Ben speaks of a hundred kingdoms being winnowed down to seven, with “one” being the logical conclusion of this trend. It’s not an insight someone in his position would likely have had but he’s not wrong. What we think of as “China” today only exists because of the results of the tribal wars that dominated most of its history. Which, as you know, the winning side writes.
The Yanmen Ma Nanci refers to is often called “The First Pass of China” – part of the Great Wall now, and a frontier against the fierce Xiongnu people of the North. He name-drops it to make a point about Zheng – “more hateful even than the Xiongnu” for wanting to crush six nations under his army’s boot. The sort of single combat that takes place between Ma Nanci and Wang Ben (and eventually Ya Guong) is a bit of a dramatic conceit for Kingdom, but that it is dramatic is undeniable. Wang Ben more than holds his own but the tide of battle washes over before the pair of them can settle their score.
Xin, meanwhile, finally gets marching orders from Wang Jian. He’s to take 800 of his fastest riders – a tiny force in the context of a battle of this scale – and fly to the left flank. There, he’s to claim the head of Ji Hui – a mighty big prize indeed – and return with it. This order reflects what Wang Jian sees as the greatest strength of the Fei Xin – a quick strike unexpected by the enemy, causing maximum damage with minimum strength of numbers. We don’t see the results of this deployment yet, but next week will surely be a different story.
The bulk of this episode, however, focuses on Yang Duanhe’s battle with the Laoyang army. Her outnumbered mountain tribes are working over the flatlanders pretty good – she doesn’t even deploy Bi’s reinforcements when they arrive. But things turn when Shun Shuishu arrives to take command. After going out of his way to make sure Yang Duanhe is fully incensed, he orders a retreat of the entire Laoyang army. Bi and Duanhe’s lieutenants are aware of the danger, but the need to keep the army in sight prompts her to follow. This is exactly what Shun Shuishu wants – the “Fangs of Laoyang” await them where they’re headed.
Who are these Fangs? The Quanrong, a fierce tribe of nomads who were the scourge of the Zhou Dynasty. Shun Shuishu (who seems to have some connection to them, and can speak their language) notes that they’re descended from the Xiognu, and were given Laoyang as a means to pacify them. Their king, Lozo (Tachiki Fumihiko) states that the mountain tribes of Qin are their descendants, in fact. Lozo is none too keen to cooperate with the Zhao army and initially demands Shun’s head be taken. But the latter is able to convince him that wiping out Yang Duanhe’s army is in both their best interests.
Unsurprisingly, the Quanrong prove to be extremely formidable on the battlefield. But Yang and her tribes are no slouches themselves, to be sure. She takes an elite force and seizes a small mountain from below (no easy task – just ask Anakin Skywalker). From there she can rain down arrows on Lozo’s army, preventing them from assaulting her retreating main force with impunity. For the first time in the battle for Zhao the defenders have seized the upper hand in this skirmish, but Yang Duanhe is the mistress of defying the odds.
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