fair.
I wish Hara dedicated a chapter or 2 to Kochou's defenses against Qin.
I'd bet money there was a lot of content cut from Eikyuu, including a Ko Chou flashback.
Is this true though? I don’t think it is. Ousen wasn’t exactly panicking when he learned Akou didn’t ask for permission before attacking Riboku. Ousen was acting like he was confident Akou could pull it off. Lol
What has materially changed since Shukai when Ou Sen declared the campaign to be a battle of wits between himself and Ri Boku? It's also just common sense.
Ou Sen is not a man to show panic, not that there was any reason to when A Kou went after Ri Boku.
Because they are now realizing that Riboku has orchestrated this exact scenario. They aren’t panicking because Ousen is under attack, they are panicking because they now understand that the man who defeated Ouki, Gekishin, and Kanki has specifically planned for Ousen to come under attack in this exact situation. They also know that Shibashou repelled Ordo and his mountain lads with a numerical disadvantage and that Shibashou is now one of the Three Great Heavens.
Their panic is 100% justified.
Concern is justified.
Panic is unacceptable, their discipline should be greater than that. It was at at Shukai, when Ou Sen had a tiny unit protecting his HQ from Ri Boku's pincer.
This "ever victorious" Ou Sen Army should be able to hold their nerve when Ou Sen has 50,000 bodies between himself and SBS, who I once again reminded you, had only just made contact.
The man who defeated all those great generals also took massive Ls to their lord, who they consider the greatest in all of China. Their behaviour is amateur hour.
Huh? Lol
Some of the men personally fighting with Shibashou have traded lives with Ousen’s, where is Shibashou’s army dying all around him? His army itself is fine. They just took a 20k pincer from Kanjou and barely flinched, and Shibashou himself is leading the charge for Ousen.
SBS came in with a lot of momentum, enough to tank the Kan Jou's assault and keep going, but now the melee is settling in and his elites are being targeted. Those 20K Gyoku Hou soldiers will get their pound of flesh and then some.
Hell, don't doubt that the HSU is going to come for them with a vengeance.
Ousen’s weakness was foreshadowed by Reiou and Houmei, by King Shou not trusting him, by Renpa calling his prioritization of his own life over Mougou’s “a huge blunder”, and by Heki remarking that Ousen doesn’t even view his own men as allies:
Ousen’s weakness is that he cares about himself and his own life over victory. Ousen would sooner watch 250k Qin men die in vein if it meant he himself survives. It’s been a while since Hara has stressed this about him but we absolutely should not forget that this is the case with him. As soon as the battle becomes unwinnable, Ousen will throw any and everyone under the bus to save his own skin.
Ou Sen values his own life more than that of his subordinates and allies because, after all, what are the deaths of mere soldiers and generals compared to that of a king?
It's not entirely right to conclude Ou Sen values his own life more than anyone else's though. Rumours are he was deeply in love with his wife, and I don't see any would-be-king that only values his own life putting up with that unless he really loved her more than anything. I don't think he has remarried or had any other children since.
His weakness is probably more nuanced that self-preservation. I think Ou Sen shares similarities with both Hou Ken and Sei in wanting to change the world but that deserves it own thread.
To summarise it: Ou Sen doesn't believe in "people" whereas Sei can only push forward with his ambitions because of that belief. That's why Ou Sen could never great a kingdom. If posed the same question by Kan Pi Shi on the nature of man, Ou Sen would probably answer evil and mean it. It actually wouldn't shock me if Ou Sen despises war and violence, but he's just so good at it that he wants to use his talent to brute force change.
