Xione, you know it pretty well that Riboku didn't had any solution or counter for Red Crane Formation. Shiryuu even got pretty close to Riboku's HQ after slaying Earl and it was Houken's appearance which made Qin offense slowed down. I hope there isn't any doubt about that.
Ousen with his formation alone got into the frontlines of Riboku’s HQ. Riboku was really shaken up there when first his Formation got destroyed and later seeing Red Crane formation. Lol
Aa for HSU or pincer from the right, it came quite later than Shiryuu's unit was forced back by Houken's appearance. Also it wasn't just Ousen depending upon pincer but Riboku as well in the form of Bananji.
Lastly how could you write "successful retreat" when he had the numerical advantage all the time but it is that "successful retreat" which costs whole campaign, fame, territory etc. ? What kind of most dangerous man he is who can't formulate a strategy or had back up plan to counter such kind of situations ? While in Sai, he even guessed that they might be expecting a reinforcement (somewhere around 5th or 6th night).
He had the fucking elites of all great nations. He came with 40k around while got around 30k in the form of elites from other nations on 3rd day and even had Houken but the goat-G couldn't think of a way after regrouping to counter around 30k of mountain monkies but you say he did formulated a successful retreat !!
- My guy his and Ousen's battle literally ended up in a stalemate, after the Red Crane Formation. So it's pointless to act like he didn't counter Ousen's tactics. Fact is both were on par after Ousen countered him and met up. After they met up, neither had the advantage and it was an even battle.
After that the big gal yes, was gaining momentum where Kaine was worried she'd get to the HQ. But did Riboku show the slightest worry about that? No. Did Hara show Riboku's reaction to the girl coming towards their HQ? No. Simply because Houken came there which resulted in the slow down, doesn't mean Riboku needed Houken in that situation lol. We don't know what Riboku would've done to counter that, but that doesn't change the reality that Riboku was worried or in danger from the big gal.
- Yes Ousen countered a formation of Riboku's, and after which both stalemated. But "Shaken up" is an exaggeration. Surprised? Yes, because Ousen exceeded Riboku's expectations.
- Did you forget that just like Shiryuu, Futei later tore through all the Ousen army that was attacking and reached the Ousen HQ to do the pincer with Bananji? What did Ousen do against Futei's advance? Nothing. Riboku's pincer came as a counter to Ousen, because Riboku had predicted the pincer from HSU would come, hence he spoke to Houken about Shin, hence Hara never bothers drawing "!" "?!" for Riboku when HSU hits him with the pincer. Did Ousen see Riboku's pincer coming? No sir he did not. Then Riboku's forces manage to reach Ousen and have him on death's row, before Qin could get to Riboku.. and Ousen even gets saved from death at the hands of Bananji and Futei by Ouhon and Mouten.. all before Qin could reach Riboku's HQ. And funny thing? Both Mouten & Ousen knew Riboku would escape successfully no matter what lmao.
But yea only after Ouhon & Mouten save Ousen from being less than 5 minutes away from death... does his lil "reforming" of the army come.
- Uhhh Riboku going that path was the back up plan? Since the main plan failed with Kanmei's death. And no he had 0 ideas about reinforcements, because he knew Qin didn't have a single force that could serve as reinforcement to Sai. That was the end all be all for Qin, and he was right in that. It took SHK's information lockdown of alliance with the mountain people (much like the info lockdown Boku pulled to make the Ouki situation happen) to pull off the surprise attack on Riboku, aka it took a whole different entity outside of Qin to save Qin. And of course Yotanwa being a Qin 6 level individual herself with an OP army.
- Riboku's forces weren't 40k+30k elites. It was 40k Zhao soldiers + 5k elite soldiers in total (1k from each state), who were there from day 1 of the battle at Sai. So in total Riboku had 45k, that had seiged the city for 6 days and conquered it on the 7th day, with Riboku wanting to save as much manpower as he could for Kanyou (since they also had to cross a river along the way lol, and I don't need to tell you how tough crossing a river is in Kingdom).
Riboku's forces over those 7 days had been cut down a bit from the 45k he originally had to around a similar number to that of Yotanwa. Yotanwa brought in 30k mfs, who were insanely strong vs your average Zhao soldier, which is what made up the bulk of Riboku's army. Riboku was confident that he could deal with them, by losing half his numbers, so he would have around 15k-20k left (Assuming Riboku lost 5k-10k soldiers over the 7 days of seiging). And for him those numbers were too little to go conquer Kanyou with, as that would be another siege + as mentioned the river.
If you think somebody with 30k-40k army after 7 days of sieging, is then going to take on Yotanwa + 30k of her army, and then be able to siege Kanyou successfully.. you're underestimating Yotanwa and the mountain people. He did the smart thing and pulled off a retreat instead of being an idiot and continue the fight. So yea a successful retreat.