This strategy of Wa Lin’s seems remarkably straightforward given the circumstances.  Grind down the smaller Qin army little by little, then hit them with everything you’ve got.  Even with the concern of the supply lines and the wild card Qi army possibly invading their own sparse-defended countries, this is the only course than makes any sense.  It may have taken the Qin high command longer than it should have to figure it out, but in truth, what difference does it make?  They’re the ones defending their border.  If the enemy chooses to engage them in that fashion they have no choice but to meet them.

The Qin forces in the field have pretty much deduced what’s coming, and when.  Basically this means a massive battle on all fronts, but the key is going to be the struggle on Qin’s left flank between Meng Wu and the massive 120,000 man army of Chu, under the leadership of Han Ming.  Not only are the two top field commanders going head to head, but the strategic value of the land being fought over is central to the entire war.  Meng Wu, normally disdainful of strategy, decided to employ a textbook manoeuver called an echelon sweep.  In theory it’s a great tactic, but apparently in practice hardly ever works.

Meanwhile Wa Lin’s contribution to the battle is to engage Teng with her cute surprise – war elephants.  They’re a staple of this sort of story with good reason – one can imagine the terror they would instil in an enemy that had never seen one before.  And in fact they were occasional participants in Chinese warfare as far back as the 6th Century B.C., though I can find no mention that there were a part of this specific conflict.

As for Xin, he’s mildly wounded in one of the skirmishes leading up to the big day, but seems relatively close to full strength.  Bai is a prime target of the enemy, and if he gets taken down someone is going to have to take command of his army.  I have no idea what’s coming but the title of next week’s episode suggests some intriguing possibilities…