Dammit--my carefully trained men, one after another...
"Xi Bai the Spear"...
You live up to your legendary name, and while I respect your spear skills,
this time, I will defeat you.
Wang Ben, captain of the Yu Feng Force,
has arrived!
It's lovely...
I thought it suited you.
Thank you so much.
Count Zi Bai, sir!
An urgent message from the Daliang manor!
From the manor?
L-Lady Jige's wedding ceremony has taken place in Daliang!
First off, there's something I must verify with you
about your elder brother Zi Bai.
Very well.
In deference to him being a fellow Fire Dragon, I forgive all that's gone before.
Therefore, pledge to me what comes after.
Swear that you shall love me, Tai Lüci, for all eternity,
with all your body and all your heart, leaving no room for another.
I cannot.
The one and only man
I have ever and will ever love
is Zi Yǒng.
"Days of Training"
His wounds from yesterday...
My eyes have mostly adjusted to his speed...
...but this power...!
Dammit... how is his spear so fast?
Our spears are of a different nature.
Unlike mine, which demands accuracy in striking a single point,
his spear
requires the power to slay enemies with a single blow.
"Xi Bai the Spear," the best in the Middle Kingdom...
They say he'd been on bloody battlefields from a fairly young age.
Is this the strength gained from striking at swarming foes?
Zi Bai never said this was a duel!
Tch... Let's get in there!
Yeah!
D-Don't get too close!
Our numbers are low enough as it is!
L-Lord Ben!
Lord Ben...
Commander Han Chang! If this keeps up--
Tch. I told him so.
So we just repeat yesterday's failure.
True,
defeating their general, Zi Bai, is the only way for us
to break through in just half a day.
But your spear can't accomplish that, young lord.
I'm certain you learned that lesson yesterday--physically.
With no other options, our best plan right now
is to ask General Teng to abort the simultaneous triple strike,
take a moment to regroup,
and request reinforcements from Wang Jian in the north.
Wha--
Han Chang! How dare you?!
It's for the young lord's sake as well.
Right now, the army's injuries are still light.
But if we keep pushing and the triple strike ends in failure,
a Wei counterstrike would decimate the Qin army.
And as the war criminal who instigated this failure,
your name will be dragged through the mud.
Defying that danger to turn the tide of a seemingly impossible war
will but elevate my name.
Besides,
don't just assume that I'm no match for Zi Bai.
Why are you in such a hurry to die?
This is dereliction of duty, Lieutenant Fan Yang.
It's your job to keep the young lord in check.
As if I could stop him.
Lord Ben's vision is now far beyond the acumen of one such as myself,
as it was with his Zhuyong strategy.
All I can do is trust Lord Ben and support him from behind.
And you call yourself his right-hand man?
Lord Ben!
Bastard!
He's at his limit! Have the young lord withdraw, Fan Yang!
At this rate, he really will be--
All...
All troops, withd--
Not yet!
All troops! Hold position and fight!
You fools! You'd have them all die?!
They wanna go down in a blaze of glory!
Don't be ridiculous.
My journey has only just begun.
No matter what,
I will slay the great Wei general "Xi Bai the Spear"
with my own two hands
and take Zhuyong!
And then,
after that...
After that?
I don't have the time to retreat.
It's not enough to win trifling battles.
If I don't keep claiming major victories,
I'll never be a great general, leaving my mark on the Middle Kingdom!
It's no dream, no flight of fancy.
No, this...
As Wang Ben, the legitimate heir to the Wang family...
...this is my duty!
Lord Ben...
So that's how it is.
Finish him!
This... this is absurd! He's hit Xi Bai twice?!
What?
Has... has he sized it up, then,
that spear of Xi Bai's?
L-Lieutenant... did he just...
It--it can't be...
It can't be, and yet...
Lord Ben caught Zi Bai--
caught him in a pattern!
Unlike Zi Bai, who likely taught himself the spear in battle,
Lord Ben trained in orthodox spear techniques from the ground up,
building on what he learned.
These techniques include countless patterns
to be applied against any and all foes.
Patterns formulated for effective defense, countering, offense.
If he can fight within a fitting pattern,
Lord Ben may well...
Zi Bai.
Letting me get a good long look at your spear will be your downfall.
Yeah, right, you half-dead brat!
This "pattern" nonsense never works in practice!
How will wielding your spear outside battle get you anywhere at all?
It's all just a fluke!
That's right...
Putting a theoretical pattern into practice in battle
truly does require days upon days of extraordinary training.
Yet Lord Ben is achieving just that--
here, against Zi Bai!
He's bringing it all to fruition!
All those days of training, known to me alone...
Wrong.
Start with a right-side middle guard.
If he's taking up the spear, Fan Yang, find him a proper teacher.
Yes, sir!
He probably did it on a whim.
That's how rare it was for Wang Jian to speak to Lord Ben.
That's right...
That was the day.
That's when Lord Ben's spear training began.
All his accumulated, unceasing efforts--
and now...
Lord Ben!
H-He's muscling his way out of Lord Ben's pattern!
Lord Ben!
No--the young lord's energy will give out first.
No!
Zi Bai.
You have a weakness.
A weakness?
Zi Bai? Impossible!
You...
You are a human who rejects life!
Wha--?!
Lord Ben! What on earth...
That's what felt off: This man lacks the instinct to live.
A person instinctively, reflexively protects their vital spots.
But you, Zi Bai... for whatever reason, you don't.
It doesn't matter why.
Still,
faced with my single-point strikes,
it's a fatal weakness.
If I can only catch him in a pattern and meet him there...
Dodge on through!
A mere corpse like you
will not stand in my way!
Did they hit you again?
Another expedition?
Yes. I leave tomorrow.
Come home safe and sound, brother.
Come home safe and sound...
...brother.
At long last...
I'm going home.
Lord Ben!
"Yu"
Lord Ben!
Lord Ben of the Yu Feng Force has slain Zi Bai, Fire Dragon of Wei!
He did it!
Zi Bai!
--Count Zi Bai! --Zi Bai!
--Count Zi Bai!
Z-Zi Bai...
It can't be... Who on earth...
Who is that man?!
You really did it, young lord-- you got him.
Listen up! Captain Wang Ben has slain the enemy captain, Zi Bai!
Spread the news far and wide!
Well done... well done, Lord Ben...
But there's little time before noon.
No patching-up needed.
That's not necessary.
Onward--to Wu Fengming's main camp!
Xin!
It's hardly sophisticated.
"Fei Xin Force, Right Flank"
"Kai Meng" "Xin"
They'll have the right flank strike from the side,
trapping Kai Meng in a pincer attack with Xin's unit at the center.
That's their strategy--no doubt about it.
Hence the main muscle reinforcing the right flank.
But if we know that's coming, it'll be a cinch to defend against it.
"Fei Xin Force, Right Flank"
"Kai Meng" "Xin"
Move Kai Meng with Xin away from their right flank,
then fill the gap with troops to create a buffer.
On top of that, you've got my troops, who excel at defense.
Without that right flank, Xin and the rest at the center will be left high and dry.
That can't be how this all ends, can it?
H-He Liao Diao!
I know!
This strategy...
It's all about getting the Fei Xin Force to Wu Fengming by noon.
To do that...
Xin and his unit have to go straight into a death trap.
"Qin" "Wei"
All right. Xin and Kai Meng have shifted far enough left.
Now! Give the signal!
That's the signal, Qiang Lei!
What's this?!
I knew there had to be more.
So what's your next move, Fei Xin Force?
"Wei"
Qiang Lei!
Right flank!
All troops, halt!
Disengage at once and fall in!
Move to the right!
Make a beeline for their main camp!
Wh-What the...
"Fei Xin Force, Right Flank"
"Kai Meng" "Xin"
They made a right turn!
What?!
Their right flank--
it broke away!
The right flank's separating?
What's with them?
They left their general and split!
A feint... Are they circling around back?
No--
"Wei"
they're going straight on in.
Are they after Wu Fengming's HQ?
They really didn't get a good look at the big picture.
Even if they make it past us,
that main camp is still guarded by interlocking reserves--
thirty thousand of them, at that.
Barge on in with fewer than a thousand cavalry
and you'll get tangled up there for sure.
Send 500 horses after them, just in case.
Sir!
Still, they must know.
With their right flank gone,
every blade in our beefed-up left side
will be coming for their captain, Xin.
Circle the left-hand troops to the center!
Slaughter everyone who made it inside!
What?!
H-Here they come!
Look! The enemy's gathering in the center!
They're after the captain!
Being surrounded is bad enough, but by that many troops?
Tighten it up!
It's do-or-die!
The right flank did it-- they broke through!
Now it's our turn!
Lieutenant Yuan!
To the left! Shift left and keep fightin'!
Tian Yǒu! Long Chuan!
Fight like hell to stop the enemies from the right!
Chong Yuan, Long Yǒu! Clear a path to the left!
On it!
The Fei Xin Force is in tatters!
I'm sure you had some kind of clever plan, but boy, did it fail.
Now you know:
This is the difference in our tacticians!
"Age of Giants"
Next on Kingdom: "Age of Giants."