Well, no – not just yet. But it’s not looking good…

One of the most interesting parts of this episode for me was hearing Zheng talk about Xin and how formidable he’d become.  It was a moment stripped of all rank and title – just one young man talking about a comrade he’d seen grow up.  It was a harsh reminder that, more than anything, war is about people dying.  And when they do, nothing else – potential, hard work, politicking, luck – makes any difference.  Dead is dead, and none of that matters any more.  I’m not expecting Xin to die here (he is the hero after all) but a lot of others will.  And some pretty familiar faces, too.

This is why I find a character like Li Mu especially insidious.  He’s not evil as compared to the other major characters – he’s a little different in being both a politician and a general, but not unique.  But he’s so efficient at the finer details of killing.  He’s a one-man war machine, passionlessly moving the pieces on the board without ever getting his hands dirty himself.  He’d probably be less disturbing if he actually betrayed a little pleasure at killing enemies, the way almost everyone else in this series does.  That ability to abstract strategy and tactics from emotion is is doubtless a major reason why he’s so good at his job, and it doesn’t mean those emotions don’t exist.  But it does make him a pretty ruthless killer.

Li Mu doesn’t hold all the cards here – he’s cut off from reinforcements, and he’s attempting a siege with minimal equipment.  But he holds most of them, and he knows it.  For Diao and the defenders the first goal is to survive the first day, and to keep the courage of their civilian army intact.  He can take his time, make moves thinking several moves ahead.  Word of what’s happening has made it’s way back to Xianyang and even Hangu Pass, but the palace is at a tense standoff waiting to see what happens at Zui.  And at the pass, the defenders’ hands are tied – if they pull troops from there to send to Zui, the main coalition army will pounce.

At Zui, even the wind is a major factor.  It’s blowing from the east, making that wall – commanded by Bi – the most vulnerable what with the wind cancelling the height advantage for their archers.  Diao – unsure of Bi due to unfamiliarity – has held a card in reserve for that side.  To wit, the remnants of Lord Biao’s army – elite fighters to begin with, but now powered by rage and grief to superhuman strength.  Biao envisions them as playing offense among the defense – jumping in wherever the invaders are most extended and exposed and wiping out as many as they can.

Li Mu is, as ever, infuriatingly patient.  He lets the civilian army celebrate by pulling his army back at sundown.  But as unconventional as it is there’s nothing saying you can’t mount a night attack, which he does.  Except it’s mostly bluff – he lets half his army (the stronger half) get some shuteye while the other mostly makes as much racket as possible to convince the castle it’s being attacked.  The result?  He can swap fresh troops in the next morning to go against the sleepless and exhausted defenders.

Among those fresh troops are Kain and Fu Di (yes, that’s Hanae Natsuki).  These two are rough parallels to Xin it seems – young commanders with big talent and big ambition.  And it soon enough becomes clear that Fu Di is both reckless (to Kain’s irritation) and a handful to deal with.  In fact he takes down both Long Chuan and Tian You with shocking ease, forcing Diao to jump in to direct the troops and Xin to engage him personally.  And he doesn’t fare much better than his giant subordinates – Fu Di seems to be simply too fast for him, which is an obvious problem both for Xin and the defending army as a whole…