The Number of Stoves is the 691st chapter of the Kingdom manga, written and illustrated by Yasuhisa Hara.
Summary
The Ko Haku Kou Army annihilates the Kan Ki Army's central forces. One of the soldiers reports that Qin's center only has around 7000 soldiers out of original 40,000. However, they are surprised that they can't find Kan Ki despite his old HQ being found abandoned. As they move for further search Ko Haku Kou expresses his desire to carve up Kan Ki's face.
Meanwhile on the right wing, an enraged Ryuu Fu chases down and kills remaining soldiers of the Rai Do Clan adding more heads to his collection. He receives orders to split his forces and surround Qin's center. He decides to personally lead the attack on the center with 8,000 soldiers while leaving the remaining forces of the Rai Do Clan to his soldiers. However, despite the forces of Koku'Ou and Rin Gyoku being completely surrounded they still couldn't find Kan Ki.
Meanwhile in Ou Sen Army HQ, Ou Sen suddenly remembers Mou Ten's words and has a realization. He believes the only plan Kan Ki could go for is Sun Bin's strategy and adds that it's something that even he himself wouldn't go this far, calling Kan Ki insane. Ou Sen then begins to tell a story of Qi general Sun Bin and Battle of Baryou to Den Ri Mi and Sou'Ou. At the start of battle against the Wei Army, the Qi army was forced to turn back and retreat. The Wei pursued them with great contempt and morale. Sun Bin had his army abandon half the fires stoves they had on previous day, and they did the same each day as they retreated. The Wei Army counted the number of remaining stoves each time and based on that estimated how many soldiers Qi Army the enemy had. After two days they calculated that Qi should only have quarter of their original numbers. With great confidence they charged forward set on wiping them out, only to get ambushed by a large army and suffer a crushing defeat. In other words, Sun Bin won by tricking the enemy into misjudging their numbers.
Back over to Ko Chou's HQ all the officers are confident in their victory. Suddenly they get reports about multiple small groups of enemies attacking their defenses. Outside, Kan Ki is seen standing right in front of Ko Chou's HQ.
Characters
Qin
- Gaku Ka Army
- Mou Ten flashback