Kingdom - Chapter 858

Riboku trying to judge the King of Qin, and yet don’t mention that they (Zhou) made him the bottom of their entire civilization. A mere laughing stock among their commoners. And yet he is saying that Sei only looks from a high position. This goes to show that he doesn’t know all like they give him credit for, and will be his downfall. He believes from on high that he is the smartest man alive, and Qin (Shin) will use that against him. The dumbest idea will drive him insane and will result in his loss. We seen it in all of the battles that Shin fought against Zhou where Shin get’s the W. Shin would win with the most unconventional move, and it would leave Riboku speechless. Is this why he mentions searching in the middle where Shin is currently at? Shin is a general, but he is not a Great General/Great Heaven level player, though his strategies in war is at that level so he is seen as overlooked by most except for those who knows. Riboku wants to cut Shin off before he gets too strong. Shin merely represents all of the dead generals who Shin respected, with their aim at Riboku’s neck. Riboku knows that with Shin’s success, comes his death which is why we saw him finally marry his wife.

Deep down he knows this is his last war, and these strategies of getting snipers (famed no-name archer from out of nowhere) to kill off Shin is desperate. Shin is not Yotanwa. Not only does he has MC plot armor, but he also is carrying one of the series’ deepest blood vendettas against not just Riboku but all other generals who oppose Sei. That’s why Sei and Shin are like brothers, because since their first alliance they took on each other’s battles. So, Shin by default is carrying Sei’s vendetta/will as well. Underneath it all, Riboku knows even if he doesn’t know the detailed relationship of Shin and Sei, that Shin is Sei’s blade aimed at all of China through unification. If Shin goes down, then so does Sei. Masterful storytelling to be honest when you think about the deeper reason of this manga. Most won’t understand the philosophy talk about “paths” and what not. But, the way I see it is that all nations want unification from a macro and micro level. They just cannot agree on the process to do it. So, they deviate down to the micro level of each individual soldier and how they can influence the world. Most do not have the drive to actually make the hard decision like Sei and say that he would become an enemy to China to bring them all together. Instead, they would rather stay in their own tribes and fight with each other. This is more chaotic. In that sense, Riboku tries to look up high and judges the decision from the middle. His position of being high in Zhou betrays his thinking in the middle. He was not destined to be a King.

I’m sure if any of the other kings from the nations had the fortitude to go through with what Sei is doing, then they would do it in a heartbeat. They unfortunately could not see the entire picture because they were never on high, and brought low like Sei was. By that admission, Sei is the only king who can bring unification because he saw the full spectrum of society and is now a leader of a nation. If you read this wall of text, then you know what I’m getting at. Admiring the deeper meaning of a literary work that most would not understand even if they knew what it was. Most will not understand and only want to see the fights, but not know the drive behind it all. It is like a detective wanting to know the motive of a murder to fully investigate it, instead of just knowing that they were murdered with a blunt object. Sure we know the cause, but we don’t know the why. And my little diatribe is only scratching the surface of the characters in this great story.