The Ravages of Time - Vol. 69 Ch. 537 - Ice And Charcoal In the Same Vessel

[MangaDex]

 

[rennov]

Anyone can explain the situation right now? The last time I saw Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, n the oldman is when they are trying to take down a fortress. But now, they seemed in different location altogether (n Zhao Yun meeting Sima???)

What's going on here?

 

[somuro]

@rennov Here is my understanding. Wei has been retreating since Red Cliffs. Sun Quan been taking Wei's territories. Sun Quan sent the order to kill SIma Yi because this version knows how talented he is (Ch 533 pg 8). So Wu's forces been tracking Sima YI. Both Sun Quan and Liu Bei wants to take Jing, but they are technically allies through political marriage. So Pang Tong has been using the Tiger Generals dressed up as Wei soldiers to strike at Wu. I guess they will explain it away later by saying they recaptured it? Pang Tong arrived at the fort Sima Yi escaped to at the end of Ch. 535 after capturing the other location. Hence the last quote in Ch. 535 "Can Happen Again and Again" Referencing when Zhao Yun said the tiger generals sneak attack could only happen once. This time they are attacking Wei base, so they didn't bother to dress up as Wei soldiers.

In this chapter, Sima Yi been expecting the Wu forces, and set a trap to burn the base after the Wei soldiers escaped to the basements. The Wei base has mostly wounded soldiers, but Sima Yi still wanted to defeat Wu's army and break out of this area to return to Wei instead of just escaping by himself. I'm guessing these troops will be Sima's elite/loyal troops later. Unfortunately Pang Tong showed up and messed that plan up, but Wu has showed up following Sima Yi's tracks (the thing about scout upstream) and now things are getting messy. Lu Meng will most likely figure out Shu's been taking Wu's bases. More interestingly, if you know Guan Yu's fate, I'm expecting some heated moments between the two setting that up.

 

[agtra]

@somuro
I concur
There is also the fact that apparently Sima Yi has been spreading news to Wu to lure them. The news is either Shu is there or Sima Yi is there. Either way Shu and Wu gonna have confrontation for sure. The way Zilong spare Sima Yi still hits me hard though.

 

[rennov]

@somuro

Ah, I grasp more of the situation now. Thank you very much. So if I get this right, we are already past with the event of 5 tiger generals (except the white feather boss) taking down the fortress? And now we move on to Pan Tong hunting Sima Yi (where Zhao Yun suddenly act like an assassin again show up out of nowhere in front of Sima Yi)?

If that's the case, this manga really skips a lot of things and jumping out of scene horribly - or it's just my brain cannot keep up with the convoluted history.

 

[Saybah]

My poor heart ;_;

 

[somuro]

@rennov I had to reread some chapters, because I was sure they mentioned tiger generals taking the fortress already. Ch. 535 pg 12-15. Same chapter that ends with Pang Tong arriving at Sima Yi's base. Which makes sense to me because Shu needed to strike fast before Wu catches on and retaliates which is why Pang Tong took out the supply depot first to prevent Wu from expanding much further. Yeah this series skips a lot of the fights, like Wei generals haven't been shown to do much besides 'OMG Sima Yi is a genius!' for a while now. Still this is one of my favorites to binge read because the setups and payoffs are so good.