Kingdom (キングダム)

LUAN

ZHAO

L-Li Mu, sir! Thank you for coming so quickly!

I'll be off again after a short rest.

Apologies, but could my men have water and something to eat?

Yes, sir--right away!

Oh, Li Mu, sir, I do have some good news.

Zhao Bo has conquered Li and Yang in Yan,

and Wu Lu Duo's army has withdrawn from the northeast!

Now I know your name... and I'll be back,

Sima Shang.

The enemy is retreating! All troops, withdraw!

SIMA

Shall we pursue them?

We're going back to Qingge.

Sir!

Is that true, Xian Bu?

Yes!

Good work, Sima Shang.

We can finally focus solely on the Qin army.

Speaking of which, how close are they to Yè now?

W-Well... unbelievably enough, according to the birds' missives...

LIEWEI

YÈ

WUDUO

They're not heading straight for Yè, but are attacking Wuduo along the way!

They're what?

XIANYANG

But that's absurd!

Why leave Liewei?

Why abandon our plan and move on ahead?

Essentially, the allied army is now following Wang Jian's strategy.

Wang Jian's strategy...

WEAPONS OF CONQUEST

We're on a tight deadline, but we make a detour to conquer this pissant place?

What the hell is our general tryin' to accomplish?!

Let's just go inside, Xin.

FEI

Found it! Hidden in the ceiling, the bastards!

Got a real haul over here, too! Pretty rich for such a tiny place!

Dammit, those guys don't know when to quit!

Xin, wait.

Meng Tian!

Their nose for treasure is coming in handy for once.

Huh?

We found a food storehouse below the lord's residence.

Took every last crumb of the residents' hidden stores, too, of course.

Much obliged.

I can't imagine there's anything left.

You heard the man, General.

Even without an exhaustive search,

a little of the Shagui Gang's torture would have turned it all up right away.

But your strict order that all who harm civilians will be beheaded

has put quite a crimp in our men's style.

They're takin' food without killin' civilians?!

Yep.

B-But they're stealin' valuables left and right!

That was the trade-off for Huan Yi's troops to obey the order.

The provisions are what we're after.

Provisions...?

Now hang on a minute!

W-We may be increasing our stores, but only by a paltry amount.

We used a half-day's worth of rations coming here to storm this place,

and we've given the Zhao armies defending the capital region

a free half-day's worth of time!

If we really just came here to beef up our provisions,

this has to be the absolute worst, most asinine plan ever!

Diao...

He Liao Diao is absolutely right... but something strikes me as odd here.

Why would General Wang Jian go so far as to issue an order

safeguarding the civilians here?

Why would they have us all gather together?

Will they kill us in one fell swoop?

You have nothing to fear.

I, Wang Jian, commanding general of this army,

will not permit you civilians to be harmed!

Diao... was Wang Jian actually some super-righteous general all along?

It has nothing to do with being righteous.

A commanding general personally addressing defeated civilians like this

is beyond unusual.

Ben, sir... what is the master up to?

What is the meaning of this farce?

Shut up and watch.

However, this is war.

Though it pains me, we must take your provisions as well as the castle itself.

Without food, you shall have to find your way to the next town

before your stamina gives out.

Forgive me.

N-Not at all!

We're just grateful that you spared our lives!

Then leave at once. I pray your journey is a safe one.

We will! Thank you!

W-We're saved...

QIN

He's even released our troops so they can join us!

-What a kind general that Wang Jian is...

--It'll be hard for us old folks to walk to the next town.

But if we don't, we'll just end up dead.

Wh-What the hell is going on, Diao?!

Hang on! I'm thinking!

He's... he's different, to say the least.

Something about... the general...

General Wang Jian wasn't after the provisions!

Without a doubt, our real purpose for coming here...

...involved the civilians he just drove out!

But... But what did we want with them? I have no idea!

Have you gotten the process down?

Onto the next town.

Yo, General Wang Jian! Do we really have time for this?

Shouldn't we be gettin' to Yè as fast as we can?

X-Xin!

Ain't that why the mountainfolk are out there fightin', actin' as our shield?

A fool's privilege.

Saying what no one else can bring themselves to say...

Wa--

General Wang Yi's poleaxe...

From his initial position, it would have taken Li Mu at least one more day

to return to Handan.

From there, one day to take control of and deploy the capital region's troops,

and one day for them to reach Yè to defend it.

We must have our stratagem fully in place by then.

There are eight more castles between us and Yè.

WUDUO

This army will split into three

and conquer each in turn as we move east, keeping pace with one another.

Our actions are the same: take all their provisions,

WUDUO

then drive the citizens eastward.

Eastward...

Urgent message!

Liewei has fallen into the hands of the Zhao army!

About 50 thousand troops moved south along the Taihang Mountains to occupy it,

and they seem to have begun deploying troops outside as well!

ZHAO

Liewei...

O-Our way out is blocked now.

Now our only escape route is to the east.

Send a message to Yang Duanhe.

She is to move in step with the main army.

Sir!

Now we hurry.

Sir!

All troops, move out!

CHI

Following Wang Jian's precise orders,

DING

the three armies fanned out to conquer small and medium-sized cities,

XIN

thus making the swarm of refugees ever larger.

Displacin' all these civilians and movin' on without even occupyin' the castles...

What in blue blazes is he makin' us do out here?

Oh... I get it.

Ooh! What do you get, dear Miss Qiang Lei, hmmm?

They're locusts.

Locusts?

And just as the huge procession of refugees appeared in the south of the capital region,

Li Mu finally arrived in the capital city of Handan.

HANDAN

Li Mu, sir!

High Commander Li Mu!

Li Mu, sir!

We've been expecting you.

These two...

Lin Xiangru of the Three Greats-- weren't they...

While we were unable to deploy Handan's army,

we received permission to command our own personal troops.

Excellent.

Yan and Wen in the north are each sending 10 thousand troops.

They should be here shortly.

Shall we send the 20 thousand straight on to Yè?

No, that won't be necessary.

Yè is among the most highly fortified cities in the Middle Kingdom.

It can't be conquered by the Qin army.

YELLOW RIVER

HANDAN

YÈ

If they manage to make it this far,

we'll pull them in closer around Yè,

surround them with a stationary Zhao army,

and starve them out.

I can just picture those agonized Qin troops now.

I have an audience with the king.

After that, I'll assume control of all capital-region troops and--

Li Mu, sir!

Welcome back! I've been awaiting your return!

Hu Zhou!

Hu Zhou. I see you followed the instructions I sent by bird.

I-It's just that there are so many birds coming from this region, too...

What is the Qin army up to?

Sir! The main Qin forces have split further into three

and are conquering the towns along the way as they approach Yè.