1 month later, Border of Wei Dynasty and Shu Dynasty
15th February, 16th year of the Great Emperor Era
A Rank 2 Warrior rushed into one of the camps and met General Shu Pang. He said hurriedly, "Sir Pang, Wei Dynasty Warriors have all retreated. For some reason, all the warriors who were deployed in the defensive position have left their place and retreated back into their dynasty."
The military warriors of the Shu Dynasty deployed against the Wei Dynasty were divided into 15 units. The first 3 units had leaders at Rank 5, while the rest of each unit had leaders of Rank 4!
Shu Pang was the head general. Even though he was only a Rank 4 Warrior, even Rank 5 Warriors respected him and followed him. Shu Pang had a great ability to lead an army in an open battlefield, where the formation and positioning of the Warriors are important factors.
An open battle rarely happens and thus this field is least important in war strategies. Most of the time, a general uses the environmental factors to establish an advantage and set up traps to trap them.
This is an open battlefield, where the formation of soldiers and the number of soldiers are important factors.
The leader of Unit 2 was named Shen Lin. He said calmly, "It appears they have realized the despair. It is an important opportunity; I am willing to lead Unit 2 and launch a full-scale attack."
Shu Pang said lightly, "No need to rush. Wait and see what they are up to. It could be a trap. As long as we are in an open battlefield, we have nothing to fear, but as soon as we charge in, there is the possibility of entering enemy traps. We can't afford any risk. His Majesty wants to unify the Northern Continent."
Shen Lin glanced at Shu Pang and nodded. "What do you think we should do?"
Shu Pang said lightly, "Just wait and see for a day, send a few Warriors to scout the further areas. We will occupy them only after scouting properly."
Shen Lin nodded.
However, they didn't have to wait long. Just within 30 minutes, a warrior came and informed them.
"Sir Pang, Wei Dynasty has suddenly appeared with a few thousand Warriors as if trying to launch a full-scale war."
Shu Pang narrowed his eyes.
No one is a fool. He understood very well that this kind of act has only two meanings: either the opponent is confident to take them down with just 10,000 Warriors, or they are idiots and want to sacrifice 10,000 lives.
Shu Pang inclined to believe the first one. However, he still felt as if he was being looked down upon by the opponent. This thing was not enough to cloud his judgment. He immediately said, "Get 10 units ready. We are going for a full-scale war."
He continued, "Let the last 5 units be on hold. We are unsure about the rest of Wei's Warriors. Keep up your guard; there could be an ambush."
Shen Lin nodded. He also found it weird, but he didn't speak anything. He had the same opinion as Shu Pang. Though, he thought just using 5 units was sufficient.
Shu Pang and the whole 10 units immediately joined the battlefield. They saw a ten thousand army stationed 20 miles away from them.
Li Gang was standing on a large chariot, filled with all kinds of weapons, like bows, arrows, swords, spears, etc.
He was wearing a black mask, as he glanced at Shu Pang deeply.
He shouted, "Make the formation!"
At that moment, the 10,000 army immediately started making the formation.
A loud sound was created from the position where Li Gang was situated, which caused a huge shock even among the 10 units of the Shu Dynasty.
Shen Lin said lightly, "Using noise to bring fear to the opponents, what a pitiful tactic. Do you think our army will be discouraged by that, when we have more than 200 times the number of Warriors who are going into battle?"
Shu Pang frowned. "It's not to discourage us. Their general is not that simple. He is aware of our abilities and is trying to reduce our impact."
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Shen Lin glanced at Shu Pang and asked, "What do you mean?"
Shu Pang glanced at Shen Lin and said lightly, "Ask Ling Tong!"
Ling Tong is also a Rank 5 Warrior. He is the leader of the 3rd unit. He glanced at Shen Lin and said slowly, "I have the ability to accurately find the position of each and every soldier from 100 miles away, just based on their footsteps. You should be aware of that, shouldn't you?"
Shen Lin immediately realized. "So that's how it is. He is trying to hide the position of soldiers. Ling Tong can distinguish each footstep, even among a million footsteps, not to mention mere thousands of them. But why? We can also scout them with our secret techniques."
Shu Pang said lightly, "We have to wait and see after he finishes the formation."
The formation was being created. 5,000 soldiers first created an outer circular structure, with shields in their hands.
2,500 soldiers created a second layer.
1,200 soldiers were present in the third layer.
600 were present in the fourth layer.
300 were in the fifth layer.
150 in the sixth layer.
75 in the seventh layer.
30 in the eighth layer.
Within the eighth layer, all the Rank 4 Warriors and Li Gang were present.
The rest of the Warriors kept moving across different layers, making up barriers between each layer. In each layer, there were openings allowing opponents to enter the inner layer. Thus, it was a circular maze-like structure.
Shu Pang glanced at the formation, which was still being formed, and said lightly, "As expected, it is a circular formation. How troublesome!"
A circular formation is one of the most troublesome formations in an open field. It's because one can't crack this formation unharmed, no matter how much army one has. This formation will always cause at least as much damage as it takes!
However, when the formation was completed, Shu Pang's frown deepened.
He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the open path in the formation. Even Shen Lin and Ling Tong were surprised.
A circular formation is completely closed from the outside, having no way to enter. But in this case, there is a clear path at the front, which allows one to enter through it. It's like inviting the enemy to enter the formation. There is a path to the core.
At the same time, as soon as the formation was completed, a huge red light flashed, which went high up.
Shu Pang said lightly, "Formation!"
Yes, it was a formation that was inscribed in the shields by Li Gang long ago. Each of those formations was a component of a large formation. Anyone inside this large formation would lose their sense of direction. They would be unable to tell where they were present in the entire formation. There was another function of this formation.
The leader of Unit 1, named Shi Bing, said slowly, "This formation has the ability to hide the inner positioning of the Warriors. It blocks Spiritual prying. I am unable to sense what is happening inside."
Shi Bing is a Rank 5 Warrior, and she is the best scout present in the Shu Dynasty.
Shu Pang's eyes narrowed. "How impressive. The opposing general is not just a master of army formation, but also a master of Formation."
Army formation is the positioning of soldiers to create the overall strategies. There are many popular ones, like:
Circular formation: The most difficult to implement, as it needs very high-class skills. It is in circular structure with various internal layers. Each warrior fights with a spear and shield, except the innermost warriors who just fire billions of arrows in the direction of enemies. This is a very strong formation, capable of taking down twice the number of enemies with half the effort. This is a balanced formation, known for attack, defense, persistence, and traps.
Sword Formation: This formation has the army aligned in a sword shape. They are known for an aggressive attack. Here the army blindly attacks the enemy without considering the consequences. It is rarely used, even though it is known as the most aggressive formation. Most of the time, it is used against a circular formation, since there is no risk for flank attacks from the sides and there is only frontal confrontation.
Eagle Formation: This is one of the most popular formations in the open battlefield. There is a consolidated center, and the army is spread in various units, forming a structure like the wings of an eagle. It is the worst nightmare of a sword formation and the main cause why sword formation is not used anymore. In this formation, the army allows enemies to infiltrate and then they make flank attacks from both sides, surrounding the enemy and trapping them from within.
In a similar way, there is a lotus formation, with multiple layers similar to the circular formation, but it is completely open from the front. There is also the snake formation, known for its flexibility as it can blend into different formations mid-battle. There are millions of formations; however, they are all derived from these major formations. The reason the Eagle formation is one of the most popular is because it has the ability to counter most of the formations, and even amongst those it fails against, it has the ability to hold its ground while being in a passive position.
Li Gang's formation is in a circular maze. It's not that a Circular Maze-like formation was never created before. In fact, a Circular Maze formation also exists. It is one of the weakest known formations, even though its history goes long in the past. One can say it is so ordinary that no one knows about it and no one even cares about it. Even Shu Pang, who has read tens of thousands of formations, was seeing this for the first time. The main reason it is not popular is because it holds no value in a battle against warriors. Warriors can easily see through the positioning of the soldiers present in the Circular Maze and can easily find their way through it. The snake formation blending into the sword formation can easily crack through it!
However, did Li Gang read about this circular maze formation? No! It is so unpopular that it is not present in any important war formation scripture. He was inspired by the Circular Formation and made changes accordingly to fit his needs. Even though it is similar to the Circular Maze formation, it is not just a Circular Maze!