The Rebellious Officials and Traitors of the Late Han Dynasty

Chapter 455 Eight-door Golden Lock Formation

Teams of soldiers slowly left Moling City and, according to the deployment, set up a large formation outside the city. It was densely packed, staggered, and orderly. One could tell at first glance that this was a powerful formation.

Zhang Liao, Pang Tong and others also led the army out of the camp. Looking at the formation in front of them with solemn expressions, this was a formation of about 40,000 people, which outnumbered the Cavalry Army.

"Shi Yuan, what kind of formation is this?" Zhang Liao couldn't wait to ask when everyone returned to the camp.

A military formation is actually the mutual coordination of various arms, so as to achieve the goal of defeating the majority with the minority, defeating the strong with the weak, and reducing losses. If you don't understand the formation, not only will you fail to defeat the enemy, but you will also suffer heavy losses.

Pang Tong frowned and said, "This formation has eight entrances, dividing tens of thousands of troops into eight directions. We can roughly judge it according to the eight gates of Rest, Life, Injury, Stop, Scenery, Death, Shock, and Open. As for the situation inside the eight gates, we have no idea."

"The usual formation is to defeat the enemy with fewer troops. In a local area, you can defeat the enemy with more troops, constantly erode the enemy's strength, and finally defeat the enemy."

"But the formation in front of us is different. It is a victory of numbers over numbers. There must be other formations among these eight gates. It is not simple."

Pang Tong stroked his beard with a serious expression.

"Difficult to break?" Gan Ning asked impatiently. The warhorse he was sitting on neighed, which seemed to indicate that Gan Ning was extremely anxious at the moment.

"If an ordinary person commands this formation, it will be easy to break. It is auspicious to enter from the Shengmen, Jingmen, and Kaimen. It will be hurt if you enter from the Shangmen, Jingmen, and Xiumen. It will die if you enter from the Dumen and Simen." Pang Tong said calmly: "Therefore, attack from the southeast Shengmen and exit from the due west Jingmen."

"Then let's break the formation." Xu Sheng said impatiently.

"Shi Yuan, is there any problem here?" Zhang Liao understood that there must be other reasons behind Pang Tong's words that made him so cautious.

"If I'm not mistaken, this formation is called the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation. The general direction of the formation is not difficult to break, but it is very difficult to break the formation. It mainly depends on the opponent's general who commands the troops." Pang Tong explained.

"It was Cao Cao who was in charge personally." Zhang Liao said quickly.

"We enter from the Shengmen and exit from the Jingmen in order to disrupt the formation. As long as the formation is disrupted, our chance will come and the opponent will not be able to exert the power of the formation. But if this formation is commanded by Cao Cao, the opponent's ability is enough to make the formation run smoothly. This is Cao Cao." Pang Tong shook his head.

In ancient times, the army was commanded by means of flags, trumpets, lights, etc. The fewer the troops, the easier it was to command; the more troops, the more difficult it was to command.

The Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation has 40,000 troops divided into eight gates, and there are other formations inside. To command such a war, one must have a talented general, and Cao Cao is a rare general. Coupled with his prestige, he can command the formation as if it were his own arm and perfectly exert the strength of the formation.

In history, Cao Ren also set up this formation, but was defeated by Xu Shu in a blink of an eye. Apart from Xu Shu's ability, it was more of a problem with Cao Ren, who failed to fully utilize the power of the formation.

If Cao Cao were in command at that time, no matter how powerful Xu Shu was, he would not be able to break it easily.

The current situation was that Cao Cao was commanding personally, with clear drums and horns and flags of various colors distributed around the generals' platform, which seemed to show that he was in command well. This made Pang Tong know that he was facing a strong enemy, and a general like Cao Cao could control the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation with ease.

Pang Tong did not dare to underestimate Cao Cao. Even Qin Shou was afraid of him. Pang Tong did not think that his opponent was less capable than himself. For a person who could command thousands of troops, it was easy for him to command an eight-door golden lock formation. "How to break the formation?" Gan Ning was a little impatient. Pang Tong had said so much that he was already impatient. The most important thing at the moment was how to solve the formation in front of him.

"We need a peerless general to lead the cavalry. They will enter from Shengmen and exit from Jingmen. This is the first route. The second route is to enter from Kaimen and exit from Shengmen. The third route is to enter from Jingmen and exit from Kaimen. The main goal is to cause chaos in the formation inside."

"The second method is to defeat all enemies with force. Eight generals will lead 20,000 troops each and attack from eight gates together. They will defeat the enemy with their numbers and use their strength to bully the weak, making it difficult for Cao Cao to take care of both ends."

Pang Tong said immediately.

Zhang Liao and the others were silent after hearing this.

Pang Tong’s suggestion was very simple, which was to disrupt the enemy’s formation. In this way, the enemy would not be able to exert the power of the formation, and would eventually be defeated one by one by the cavalry, completely destroying the formation.

"If we follow Shi Yuan's first strategy, can we win?" Zhang Liao asked after pondering for a moment.

Gan Ning and others immediately looked at Pang Tong. Everyone knew that the second strategy had a greater chance of success, but when Qin Shou arrived, the military merits would be divided into several parts, and they would get very little.

If the first method was used, Cao Cao's formation could be broken, and the credit for the victory would be shared equally among several people, which would be a much greater achievement.

Pang Tong shook his head and said, "General, in fact, the first and second strategies are essentially the same, both of which are to confuse the enemy's command and make them fight on their own."

Zhang Liao immediately understood the truth and said with a wry smile: "Once we break into the large formation, the enemy will not be in chaos but in order. Then we will be the ones who are unlucky, right?"

"What the general said is very true. If the enemy is not in chaos, our troops will face a siege of tens of thousands of people, and life and death will be in jeopardy." Pang Tong said solemnly: "The enemy is Cao Cao, and it is easy for him to command tens of thousands of troops."

Everyone stopped talking immediately. Death was not the most scary thing. What was scary was that they could not ruin Cao Cao's plan and let the soldiers under their command lose their lives in vain. This was the most important thing.

"In fact, we have already won by reaching the city. Even if we cannot break the formation, Cao Cao can't do anything to us." Pang Tong saw the worry of the crowd.

"But we have already promised Cao Cao that if we fail to break the formation, we must retreat to the north bank." Zhang Liao said with a wry smile.

"Break the formation? Didn't we break it? We entered from Shengmen and exited from Jingmen. Isn't that breaking the formation?" Pang Tong said with a smile: "This Wen Po is also breaking, isn't it?"

After hearing this, Zhang Liao and others looked at Pang Tong and their mouths twitched. They didn't expect that Pang Tong would say such words, which really damaged his status.

"Did I say something wrong?" Pang Tong's ugly face showed a trace of displeasure, and he said, "Do you want the soldiers to die in battle?"

Everyone shook their heads after hearing this. They certainly didn't want such a thing to happen.

(End of this chapter)