The tide of battle turning against the Coalition was always a long shot, but sometimes the wit of the generals does mean more than the size of the force.  Just look at the early days of the U.S. Civil War, when the Confederates won battle after battle largely thanks to the incompetence of the Union generals (starting with McClellan).  The Coalition generals as depicted in Kingdom certainly aren’t incompetent, but their Qin counterparts have gotten the better of them at every key moment – and the two moments were at the end of last week’s episode, and the beginning of this one.

As I said last week, Han Ming effectively agreeing to decide his battle with Meng Wu by single combat was a risk he absolutely did not need to take.  But he did, and after he fell the momentum of battle clearly swung to the defenders’ side.  That is, until Wa Lin’s elite force of 5000 arrived at the gate of Hangu Pass and overwhelmed the defenders.  The meaning of this was clear to everyone involved – not least Meng Wu’s father Meng Ao, who was about ready to give in to despair.  Wa Lin’s stratagem was a brilliant one, and it got the better of everyone on the Qin side.  Everyone but one, that is.

Whatever questions anyone may have had about Wang Jian’s loyalties (and not without good reason) he was the savior of the entire war – for now.  He was indeed the shield to Meng Wu’s spear.  Wa Lin outsmarted the rest, but it only took one general outsmarting her to turn the tide.  With his 10,000 men he sweeps in and saves the day, having thoroughly psyched out Wu Lu Duo into staying holed up in his captured mountain forts waiting for the other shoe to drop.  The celebrations in the capital are boisterous – with their entire 15-day plan having been derailed, Li Mu pulls the coalition armies back to their withdrawn positions.

The Chu king Kaolie is none too pleased about this turn of events, the defeat of his generals being the centerpiece of the coalition failure.  His Zhao defector Lian Po has plenty of admiration for the way Qin has conducted their defense, and fearlessly tells the furious monarch that the coalition has no easy path back from here.  But that doesn’t mean he thinks the war has lost, and he has good reason to feel that way.  As I’ve said about Kingdom before, the big possums walk late.

Xin and Diao are thinking along the same lines.  It’s interesting that when he pushes her Diao says she thinks the Coalition is “finished” – but she doesn’t contradict Xin when he says there’s something “missing” that’s nagging at him.  And that of course is the big possum Li Mu, up to this point portrayed as the greatest military genius in the warring states.  But Li Mu has left all the strategery to his underlings, seemingly offering little direction in the battle up to this point.  That’s curious to say the least, but his absence has not gone unnoticed.  And with Qin having taken the Coalition’s best shot and come out standing, Li Mu can surely no longer afford to leave the driving to others.  One suspects he’ll have had a plan all along for this eventuality, and we’re about to find out what it is.