The gloves are off now.  In truth this has never been merely a power struggle at court, and that’s thanks to Lu Buwei.  He has no qualms and no convictions apart from the acquisition of power for its own sake.  As such any damage he does to his own country is fine, as long as it improves the chances of his having absolute power when the dust settles.  That’s what makes a rebellion like this so insidious, because Lu Buwei’s reach inside the walls of Xianyang is pretty much unlimited.

The only drawback to Lu’s way of operating is that it inevitably cultivates an environment where everyone is keeping secrets from everybody else and looking out for their own skin.  Like Fan Wuji marching on Qin with 30,000 troops instead of the 10,000 he was supposed to show up with.  That’s not a bad thing for Lu at the moment, with the unexpected obstacle to the invasion’s success that the Fei Xin and Zheng’s secret army represent.  But when it comes time for the Ai army to take a fall for Lu Buwei, it’s not going to be as easy as he would have liked.

Lu Buwei is naturally skeptical of Zheng’s claim to have an army of 10,000 ready to defend the capital, since he presumes he has eyes everywhere.  The truth is this is the army of Zui, the last bastion against the coalition army where Zheng himself went to lead the troops in battle.  Those people, naturally, would do anything for Zheng – though the fact that many of that 10,000 are the same civilians who fought to defend their city and nation bodes ill for their chances against Fan Wuji.  Lu Buwei is displeased of course, but not obviously worried – not with 30,000 men attacking the capital.

The arrival of the Fei Xin force is obviously a Godsend for Zui’s army, but the odds still don’t favor them.  It was indeed a coded message that told Diao what was happening (I’m still unclear on why the seal was broken).  In fact Xin had to leave the Wei frontier without the permission of Long Guo – which may cause serious trouble for him later – and was able to bring only 1000 troops with him.  The rest, including Qian Lei, he had to leave behind to keep up appearances with Long Guo.  That means the army crossing the river is only 11,000 strong, about to face an army almost three times that large.

It gets worse when Fan Wuji sends Rongdi and his troops to stop the subjugation force from crossing the river.  An army crossing a river is terribly vulnerable under any circumstances, and when Rongdi’s men overwhelm the small force which has already landed things look utterly hopeless.  But Xin steps to the fore, knowing his battle-hardened troops are the only ones who have a chance to break through and create a beachhead.  Which they do, with considerable fearlessness and guile, forming their boats into a wedge formation and then bombarding the Rongdi shield brigade on the shore with arrows at close range.  When it’s all said and done the remaining Rongdi forces are routed and 9500 of the subjugation force remain standing.

I don’t know what the answer is here, even with Bi’s friend Shang Lu fortuitously on-hand (after a Xianyang booty call) to lead the Zui force.  True, those defending a city from invaders always have more motivation and desperation on their side, but this is a huge numerical disadvantage.  Xianyang has never seen a siege, thanks to Hangu Pass, and its civilian population is hugely vulnerable.  And Lu Buwei has made the ultimate betrayal, arranging for the gates to be thrown open to the invaders.  The stakes couldn’t be higher – this truly is the culmination of the great battle between the cunning old chancellor and the wily young king – and the apparent odds strongly favor the former.  Might Zheng have one more ace up his sleeve – the mountain king’s army to the rescue again, perhaps?