Been rereading the series and forgot Yotanwa did this to Shunmen after his "Bajio announcement".

The more I read about IRL Riboku the more he amazes me. I know defending is easier than attacking but still the guy was holding Qin, Yan and Xiongnu all by himself and Qin defeated Zhao the minute he died. It’s kinda clear that he was the best general during the late warring states period (maybe Haku Ki i don’t know). But was there any generals that better than him in later periods? Is there any chinese history expert?

I’m curious, did Shin actually think he paid for them to change the wood to his old shack, or was he just trolling? To be honest, it really didn’t seem like he was trolling. Looking at the house, it’s really huge, so I assume he spent a lot on it. Like, seriously, was he really going to accept the shack if that was all there was to it?

I believe Ouki had enough to match and ultimately beat Riboku if given 2 or more chances like Ousen has had.

The only reason he lost at Bayou was Moubu being current Shin (dumb as fvck) and Riboku having horses on steroids.

If Ouki had survived Bayou he would have defeated Riboku eventually, man was a monstrous general.

Ousen fans amuse me, it's like they ignore all of Ousen's shortcomings and only remember his Gyou victory.

Kanki died because Riboku knew all he had to do was make Ousen smell a hint of a trap and he'd stay behind in Atsuyo.

Ousen just watched Riboku sweep the board in Hango and did nothing but aura ultimately losing HORRIBLY.

If Ousen were greater than Riboku then Riboku would be giving it his best to eliminate him instead he has been trying to get rid of the slave Shin because he is certain that he can deal with whatever Ousen can throw at him.

Like I honestly believe in terms of genius they are equal but Riboku is the better General.

I just hate how Ousen fans try to paint him as this peerless General which he has NEVER been at any point in the Manga.

Well, at this point shin is one of the richest man in Qin, he also probably holds many lands and some cities, it would be cool to have some panels telling about his own land, maybe a map and him having to solve a problem there. Or him visiting his city just like he visitted ouki s one at the beggining.

I got a feeling that hara wants to eliminate riboku with only political reasons. Like not being defeated on the battlefield and tactical wise but defeated by his own king and will of the gods, destiny bla bla bla... its just seems like hara really wants to portait his end like this and this is annoys me down to my bones. Like dude you can't take that away from your own main character just like that. Hara build this war between riboku and shin so long, so beautifully like don't mess this up like for the love of god. Let shin defeat riboku psychological or tactical or instincttical like whatever the way you want man but don't take that away from shin. Shin seems already just a juggernaout who knows only fight and motivational speecher a long time so just let my boy AT LEAST carry the flame of riboku coming by defeating him.

What are your thoughts on that?

Edit: I know riboku defeated just like that historically but portraiting his defaeat by only political reasons is little bit unfair of shin. I mean if only folllowing the historical accuracy why drawing this manga in the first place we have seen hara likes to add details come from his mind

🙌

is that as kingdom has gone on, 3/4 of a page are just reaction faces to an 18 page chapter where like 4 pages are covers and art pages

it's very infuriating especially post timeskip and hastening announcement where he's glossed over huge events like the natural disaster in zhao and he complains about it being a hassle to draw but he can't trim down the fucking 8 ":O" panels a page in order to give shin new armor. or some fucking scars. little details like aren't much on their own but add up when the pattern is speeding everything up but getting the same :O :O :O slop for 400+ chapters.

especially compared to the first 300 chapters where the chapters were longer had way more content per page

i remember when you couldn't criticize anything about hara or you'd get downvote nuked and now i see people finally criticizing his writing tropes and art, and i'm like, "it's about fucking time" since this issue started showing up ages ago. but it's really annoying now since chapters are now 18~ pages but more like 13 of actual content, and even less if you consider half of those pages are just dramatic faces, gawking, and people like ten looking shocked or determined.

i would've loved to have seen riboku lose his army spawner because of the natural disaster and how he worked around it, but instead we got a timeskip. and no time at all on the integration of han once they were conquered. instead we skipped serious potential for some social drama on shin learning the weight of crushing a state and how he balances being a conqueror with showing humanity to the subjugated and go straight into being outnumbered again with 30 reaction face panels to a chapter. imagine if he just cut the filler panels out, he could actually shoe in some actual introspection from shin reflecting on learning the reality of subjugation and learning how he bonded with the han army after he defeated them. you could still speed up the pace but add some meaningful intermission longer than 1-2 short chapters because the panel space would be available. instead we go war, to war, back to back, with the same tiring shonen formula with no attempt to try to compensate for it the limits of the shonen tropes. show me riboku shitting over the natural disaster knowing an invasion is imminent. draw the fucking scar riboku got from kanki, that IIRC disappeared in the SAME chapter because it represented how close he was to dying to who he considered the deadliest 6 great. hell we can't even get shin to have just a slightly different wardrobe now that he's a general. these may have been way more insignificant criticisms earlier on but now it's like throw us a bone bro. show shin having equal instinct to duke hyou to the point he can lead his army intellectually instead of ten, and if not, at least give us some cool scars to look at or some han army dynamics longer than a few panels?

like bro, mix it up. you want to lower your burden of drawing because you're old and pick up the pace? cut the fucking gawking. give us a wardrobe update, SHOW us some maturation of the characters beyond a literal few pages padded with gawking, cut the 8 panels of gawking per chapter and use that real estate. we got a lot more of that in the first 300 chapters. yeah i know it's not realistic to get 50 page chapters anymore but shit, i just wish he cut actual bloat to hasten the pace instead of just adding timeskips and keeping the formula identical but shorter. that's just sacrificing substance and potential for a faster plot but no actual panel bloat is being cut. if he stopped wasting time drawing :O:O:O:O:O:O, he could expend a similar amount of effort to draw some wrinkles or scars or spend more than 10 seconds on some social/political dynamics now that qin is actually CONQUERING the country. so much potential there now that a state has finally fallen but instead it's just ten crying and a bunch of meat shield soldiers going :O for half a page.

shit, we're just blowing past the fact that shin got cornered in the same trap that killed ouki, escaped, and several people accepted their deaths but we just breeze by it in a chapter because so much of it was :O :O :O.

I haven't seen much of what people are complaining about but from I did happen to hear and see is it about Shin and Ten basically reverting back into their old habits and not learning from previous battles.

If so I can understand the frustration sometimes it feels like the only people truly improving is anyone but the HSU. But so far I am enjoying the story in Han

like it has fucking no meaning for the plot or the story , his parent suddenly can heal people injured with chakra instead medic, then bro fucking became like the one killed your village and parent , you can fucking remove all that and lost nothing for the story even with that back story Houken still a character with zero deep and dev, hara waste fucking 5 page for nothing , why the fuck i care and need to know Houken origin anyway

Like I've tried to theorize possible ways Qin can beat Zhao and ultimately capture Kantan and I can't see it.

Like Riboku can foresee like ten scenarios and prepare for all of them bro Qin is cooked.

My eyes do not deceive me, Riboku is the ultimate defense general.

Shin, Ouhon and Mouten suddenly becoming great generals able to command large armies and kill Houken and other powerful Generals.

Riboku removed Makou and Akou through tactical brilliance while Ousen just sat in his HQ waiting for the trio to win the war for him which they did through incredible plot armor.

Even Ousen was honest about the reason for his victory, admitted that Riboku was tactically superior.

Locust plan and Qi supply are the only thing I give Ousen credit for in that entire campaign.

Why are a lot of people here acting like this didn't specifically happen in chapter 875??

I mean, come on, i get this can be a frustrating time, but can we stop blaming ten or acting like hara has lost the plot?

I mean, this was pretty straightforward, and although it is somewhat dumb of him, i think it's very relatable decision-making.

Seeing that Yan's armies shown so far are entirely composed of mountain clans, and that Ordo seems able to conquer more clans to replenish his force even after losing his 8,000-strong power base, coupled with the fact that Yan strongest elite troops appear to be the Quanrong, makes me wonder:

Is Yan's territory mostly or entirely composed of mountains?

One thing I don't think gets enough attention is the sheer scale of what Qin is trying to accomplish.

From the deployment maps in Chapter 852:

Central Front

• Qin's total force: -160,000
  • Ri Shin Army (Yoko Yoko) - 70k
  • Kyou Kai Army (Raku'a Shou) - 40k
  • Gakuka Army (Mouten) - 50k
    • Subtract 10k reinforcement to Yotanwa Army

They're advancing against two prepared defensive lines.

First defensive line (-160,000 Zhao):

• Chou Kotsu - 30k
• Kaine - 10k
• Futei - 30k
• Batei - 20k
• Kisui - 30k
• Kotsu Minhaku - 20k
• Bafuuji - 20k

Second defensive line (-100,000 Zhao): Chapter 872

• Positioned behind the first line as another prepared defense.

So effectively, they're attempting to penetrate a defensive fortification totaling 260,000 Zhao soldiers with only 160,000 Qin troops.

Southern Front

Qin's total force: 70,000 + 10,000 (Mouten) = 80,000

• Yotanwa Army — 70,000

They're facing Zhao's southern army.

Zhao's total force: 80,000

• Shunsuiju Army — 30,000
• Bananji Army — 40,000
• Rihaku Army — 10,000

Then you have 60,000 additional troops in the north led by General Enkan

Northern Front

Qin's total force: 200,000

• Ouhon Army — 60,000
• Heki Army — 10,000
• Ousen Army — 70,000
• Rokuomi Army — 60,000

They're facing Zhao's northern army.

Zhao's total force: 160,000 + 60,000 (Enkan) = 220,000

• Duke Rei Ju Kou Army — 40,000
• Kansaro Army — 20,000
• Shibashou Army — 30,000
• Donsari Army — 20,000
• Fuuon Army — 10,000
• Ganshu Army — 40,000

Is there another Second Line of Defense in the North?

Just how many forces does Zhao actually have?

Qin 440,000 vs Zhao 560,000 ∞

In Chapter 769, Shoukai is introduced as new recruits in the Hi Shin Unit.

We have him looking serious for a moment after a panel showing Kanto holding his spear.

In Chapter 595, Kanto was given the spear by Shousa before he died.

Is this Shoukai reacting to Kanto holding Shousa's spear? Same family name, Shou? Like Bi Hei and Bi Tou?

I see on Amazon that most of the books are a few dollars off from the original price. Today volume 9 is officially released and I was waiting for it to officially release hoping for a discount instead of the flat $15. Is there usually a certain amount of days after the release that it will appear on sale?

https://www.viz.com/manga-books/manga/kingdom-volume-9-0/product/8904

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/kingdom-vol-9?sId=9ca847f0-225f-44cb-8dde-0ffc3d98a445&ssId=99gKlGvrfAMHNN9Zq5QNi&cPos=1