The Third Group of Soldiers is the 692nd chapter of the Kingdom manga, written and illustrated by Yasuhisa Hara.
Summary
The Ko Chou Army's HQ is raided by multiple groups of Kan Ki soldiers. Zhao commander Chou Ritsu tries to calm his soldiers but is killed once the Zenou Clan appear before him. Ko Chou receives the report that the attackers' number around 1000 and there are still more coming. The strategists all panic, but Ko Chou calmly looks at the map. He quickly grasps the situation and understands that Kan Ki used Sun Bin's strategy. He explains that Zhao soldiers were too preoccupied by chasing Kan Ki's deserting soldiers. There was a group of soldiers hidden among the real deserters, corpses, and environment that hid themselves and waited until Zhao units would pass them. They hid among bodies or dug burrows and waited until Zhao would send 5000 to their right wing, so if Hi Shin Unit wouldn't win then this plan wouldn't work. Kan Ki didn't instruct all of fleeing former bandits, since they were real deserters. They knew exactly that so many of them would flee which is why he decided to use this strategy. Ko Chou then claims that it's possible Kan Ki had this plan in mind even before the battle started.
Ka Man then joins the meeting and says they should retreat, since they can still win as long as they survive the ambush. The advisors suggest running towards Ko Haku Kou's 5000-Man Army, since it's the closest, but Ka Man says that perhaps Kan Ki predicted it, so they should go in the opposite direction. Ko Chou agrees, but as they try to escape to the left their path is blocked by a group of cavalries led personally by Kan Ki as they ambush them.
Characters
Qin
- Hi Shin Unit
- Ri Shin mentioned
- Ou Sen Army
- Ou Sen mentioned
Zhao
- Ko Chou Army
- Ko Haku Kou mentioned
- Ko Chou
- Ka Man
Characters Introduced
- Ko Chou Army
- Chou Ritsu (death)