This is a topic about the manga version of Hakuki, NOT the historical general Bai Qi who was an absolute monster. But this is where my problem lies, because many people don't seem to differenciate between the two and often try to put Hakuki on a pedestal he doesn't quite deserve due to historical figure he is based on. So I'll go through few arguements I think are worth pointing out to prove my point.
1. Hakuki's Chu campaign most likely never happened in the manga.
Either that or it simply wasn't as devastating as it was in history. Bai Qi's campaign was able to conquer the capitol of Chu resulting in a massive humiliation of their state and making this portion of land a permanent region of Qin. And historically king Sho's reign already made Qin the biggest player even before Eisei took the throne. However, Kingdom manga paints a different picture. It presents state of Chu as the strongest state that covers half of the entire Central Plains with their generals often looking at other kingdoms (including Qin) as inferior. Kanmei also mentioned that excluding Oukotsu's failed invasion Chu and Qin never fought each other in the last 20-30 years. While Bai Qi's invasion technically happened before that it's hard for me to think Chu being as confident and proud as they are if they suffered such a big blow in the past plus Chu being widely considered the strongest.
2. The massacre of 400,000 war prisoners was a mistake.
I would argue that Hara presents Hakuki's massacre not only as bad from a moral standpoint, but also as a strategical blunder that in the long run became more of a problem then a benefit for Qin. We can deduce this based on Kanki's massacre which somewhat mirrors it. After Kanki kills 100,000 prisoners we see how people of Zhao are willing to go to far greater length in order to stop Qin. They develop strategies where they jump from a wall in order to take Qin soldiers with them, they poison their own wells to trap them and fight more ferociously then ever which eventually leads to Kanki's downfall. We also see that with the character of Mangoku who is a monster of Qin's own making.
3. Hakuki was countering Renpa with soft tactics.
I'm bringing this up due to some misunderstanding of quotes from the manga. Around the time of Sanyou campaign Riboku stated that no one in China can defeat Renpa in direct clash. However, prieviously we found out that Hakuki was a man that Renpa found peticularily troublesome and who was constantly countering Renpa. Which makes some people believe that due to this Hakuki is superior to everyone alive in this generation. However, the "direct clash" is an important detail, since Hakuki's style seem to focus on avoiding it and traping enemies when they are exposed or overconfident.
^nothing in this quote suggest that Hakuki was superior to Renpa in direct clash.
4. His stats.
Hakuki's statistics from guidebook 3 are as follows:
Strength: 86
Leadership: 92
Knowledge: 99
This gives a picture of a commander who was extremly talented strategist and tactician, but not as versitile as some other great generals we see in the series. His low strength suggest that using himself as a piece on the board wouldn't lead to any outstanding results even tho he can lead from the front. Leadership is a stat that is probably the most open to interpretation, but it's also surprisingly low for a commander of this caliber.
5. New Qin Six will be superior to him.
Yes, all of them. Or at least the final version of new Q6 at their peak, the one that will be responsible for finishing the conquest. This is something that people seem to forget, but the manga already gave us an answer to this as far back as Sanyou.
The theme of current generation surpassing the old was always present in the series with things like Riboku becoming the best Great Heaven in history, Gohoumei surpassing Reiou etc. But here Renpa directly states that them achieving the unification will be the definitive proof of superiority over old generation.
So with all that said, where do I think Hakuki ranks? I believe he was in fact among the best of his era, however he was not tier above his peers like Ouki, Kyou, Koshou, but more so their equal, even if he was the most acomplished of the group.
1. Hakuki's Chu campaign most likely never happened in the manga.
Either that or it simply wasn't as devastating as it was in history. Bai Qi's campaign was able to conquer the capitol of Chu resulting in a massive humiliation of their state and making this portion of land a permanent region of Qin. And historically king Sho's reign already made Qin the biggest player even before Eisei took the throne. However, Kingdom manga paints a different picture. It presents state of Chu as the strongest state that covers half of the entire Central Plains with their generals often looking at other kingdoms (including Qin) as inferior. Kanmei also mentioned that excluding Oukotsu's failed invasion Chu and Qin never fought each other in the last 20-30 years. While Bai Qi's invasion technically happened before that it's hard for me to think Chu being as confident and proud as they are if they suffered such a big blow in the past plus Chu being widely considered the strongest.
2. The massacre of 400,000 war prisoners was a mistake.
I would argue that Hara presents Hakuki's massacre not only as bad from a moral standpoint, but also as a strategical blunder that in the long run became more of a problem then a benefit for Qin. We can deduce this based on Kanki's massacre which somewhat mirrors it. After Kanki kills 100,000 prisoners we see how people of Zhao are willing to go to far greater length in order to stop Qin. They develop strategies where they jump from a wall in order to take Qin soldiers with them, they poison their own wells to trap them and fight more ferociously then ever which eventually leads to Kanki's downfall. We also see that with the character of Mangoku who is a monster of Qin's own making.
3. Hakuki was countering Renpa with soft tactics.
I'm bringing this up due to some misunderstanding of quotes from the manga. Around the time of Sanyou campaign Riboku stated that no one in China can defeat Renpa in direct clash. However, prieviously we found out that Hakuki was a man that Renpa found peticularily troublesome and who was constantly countering Renpa. Which makes some people believe that due to this Hakuki is superior to everyone alive in this generation. However, the "direct clash" is an important detail, since Hakuki's style seem to focus on avoiding it and traping enemies when they are exposed or overconfident.
^nothing in this quote suggest that Hakuki was superior to Renpa in direct clash.
4. His stats.
Hakuki's statistics from guidebook 3 are as follows:
Strength: 86
Leadership: 92
Knowledge: 99
This gives a picture of a commander who was extremly talented strategist and tactician, but not as versitile as some other great generals we see in the series. His low strength suggest that using himself as a piece on the board wouldn't lead to any outstanding results even tho he can lead from the front. Leadership is a stat that is probably the most open to interpretation, but it's also surprisingly low for a commander of this caliber.
5. New Qin Six will be superior to him.
Yes, all of them. Or at least the final version of new Q6 at their peak, the one that will be responsible for finishing the conquest. This is something that people seem to forget, but the manga already gave us an answer to this as far back as Sanyou.
The theme of current generation surpassing the old was always present in the series with things like Riboku becoming the best Great Heaven in history, Gohoumei surpassing Reiou etc. But here Renpa directly states that them achieving the unification will be the definitive proof of superiority over old generation.
So with all that said, where do I think Hakuki ranks? I believe he was in fact among the best of his era, however he was not tier above his peers like Ouki, Kyou, Koshou, but more so their equal, even if he was the most acomplished of the group.
