Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 132 Eight Formations
Forming a battle formation before engaging in combat is a common military strategy.

The beauty of application lies in one mind.

When the two armies were about four or five miles apart, Sima Yi climbed onto the Lishan Terrace on his right to observe the strength and weakness of the Han army's formation.

At that time, the Han army was still in square formation.

A square formation signifies an attack.

A circular formation signifies defense.

Sima Yi then returned to his formation, appointing Wei Ping and Jia Xu as the vanguard, Zhang Jing as the left wing, and Shan Jun as the right wing, leading a total of 8,000 armored soldiers in three square formations to attack them.

This is one-seventh of his available troops.

However, the Han army began to change formation when they were about three miles away from the Wei army. On the slightly undulating plain, even if Sima Yi boarded a chariot, he could not get a full view of the Han army's formation.

One can only see that the formation of the Han army is not a typical three-formation of left, center and right, nor does it resemble a five-formation with two additional formations in front and behind. Instead, it presents a wedge-shaped, stepped structure.

So, just as the front lines of the Han and Wei armies were about to clash, Sima Yi reined in his horse again and came to the Lishan Terrace on his right, where he observed the battle formations of both sides from a high vantage point.

With this glance, the entire battle formation of the Han army was finally revealed, which surprised Sima Yi for a moment.

I have never seen such a battle formation before. It is circular in shape, but in fact it is composed of nine square formations of almost equal size.

The Eight Trigrams Formation is located outside, resembling the Eight Trigrams.

A single point in the center resembles the yin and yang fish of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams).

His son, Sima Shi, immediately felt puzzled:
"Father, Zhuge Liang's formation today, in terms of its strict order and discipline, is far more chaotic than the formation Wei Yan displayed when he challenged him."

"An army that is not in formation, in formation that is not orderly, or in formation that is noisy, is an army that has no one to rely on."

"Looking at Zhuge Liang's army formation today, the formation is not orderly and the soldiers are in disarray, which shows that the training is not yet proficient."

"To fight a decisive battle with such an incomplete formation is to expose our own weaknesses."
"Could there be... a trap lying in wait?"

As the saying goes, "where there is an anomaly, there is a reason." Now is a critical moment of life and death, a moment to decide the fate of Chang'an, and even a moment to decide the destiny of the two nations.

Sima Shi couldn't understand why the Shu army wasn't playing it safe and steady today, but instead resorting to such a flashy and elaborate military formation.

Unlike his suspicion, his good-for-nothing younger brother, Sima Zhao, felt a sense of relief and almost laughed out loud:

"Although the Eight Trigrams are in line with the Way of Heaven, Zhuge Liang's forced application of them to form military formations reminds me of Wang Mang's attempt to restore the Zhou Dynasty system. Isn't using this to fight a battle a case of forcing one's feet to fit the shoes, out of step with the times, or... trying to catch fish by climbing a tree?"

Even Sima Zhao understood this principle:
In all battles, it is not the formation that is difficult, but rather the ability to command the troops.

It is not about making people capable of fighting difficulties, but about making people useful in difficult situations.

In other words, arranging formations is not some profound or mysterious matter, but rather an extremely practical and effective method.

The key lies in years of continuous training, enabling soldiers to understand flag and drum commands, comprehend formations, deploy formations, defend formations, and change formations.

Just a few days ago, Zhuge Liang was clearly able to form a solemn and orderly formation of ten thousand men, inspiring awe in those who beheld it.

But now, at this crucial juncture of life-or-death battle, Zhuge Liang has concocted a fancy Bagua formation...

This is hardly a war.

He's just a pedantic scholar who picks and chooses phrases from classical texts!
Sima Yi observed quietly for a moment, and quickly figured out some of the tricks of the trade, and roughly understood the advantages and disadvantages of these nine formations.

He then pointed in the direction of the canal:

“From the canal to this Lishan plateau, the distance is only four miles, making it difficult to deploy a large formation.”

"I only sent eight thousand soldiers as the vanguard, and this battlefield was already almost completely blocked. No more troops could be inserted, otherwise we would not be able to change formations and provide support at our leisure."

"Therefore, although Zhuge Liang's Bagua formation is not as skilled and rigorous as the previous square formation, it has the advantage of being able to form a larger force and a stronger military presence in limited terrain."

"One can use the past as the future, and one can use the future as the past."

"No matter where it is attacked, the other formations can quickly provide support."

"This is probably why Zhuge Liang dared to fight me from both sides."

"Even if the defenders of Xinfeng City were to go out to fight, they could not safely attack from behind."

Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, the two brothers, were both puzzled and looked at each other in bewilderment.

At this critical juncture, why is this General of the Cavalry, whose head was almost knocked off his feet by Zhuge Liang, still boosting the enemy's morale?

Just as the two brothers were wondering what was going on, the four generals Wei Ping, Jia Xu, Zhang Jing, and Shan Jun, who had been appointed by their father as the vanguard, led eight thousand soldiers to engage the Han army in full battle.

Neither the generals nor the soldiers had ever encountered such a strange battle formation before.

Without Sima Yi's military orders and without being able to see the full picture of the army formation, they could only rely on their combat instincts and each led their troops to engage the four outermost formations of the Bagua formation.

The Bagua formation set up by the Han army had a smaller inner diameter and a denser military formation, with gaps between each formation, which served as a well-connected support channel.

Through these channels, the various units of the Han army could support each other, and the support was faster and more timely than that of a normal formation.

The Wei army's eight thousand soldiers were divided into four groups, each attacking one side of the Bagua formation. Because they were on the outer edge of the battle formation, the distance between the groups was naturally amplified, making it difficult to provide support.

After two volleys of arrows, the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

The process is simple, quick, and direct.

The two thousand armored soldiers of Wei Ping's troops, positioned in the center of the Wei army's battle formation, faced the Azure Dragon Formation, which was directly to the left of the Eight Trigrams Formation, and was led by two thousand veteran soldiers and one thousand garrison soldiers under the command of Chen Shi, the Protector General of the Han Dynasty.

The forward line is very important, and the defensive line is very important.

Whichever side wins and advances the front line will boost the morale of its troops.

Therefore, whether it was the Han army or the Wei army, the hundreds of soldiers in the first few rows of the battle formation were undoubtedly the most elite and valiant soldiers.

They wore well-protected tube-sleeved inner armor and carried finely forged swords and spears.

Logically speaking, a battle between such evenly matched elite warriors should have resulted in a prolonged stalemate or tug-of-war.

Large-scale casualties are unlikely to occur until both sides' morale, courage, fighting spirit, and physical strength are significantly weakened.

However, this common sense was destined to be broken when the Bagua Formation, which combined offense and defense, appeared before the Wei army for the first time, leaving the Wei generals and officers unsure of how to deal with it.

However, before breaking this convention, the Han and Wei armies still probing each other for about half an hour.

During the probing process, although both sides exchanged blows and fought fiercely, with shouts of battle filling the air and dust billowing everywhere, no breakthroughs were found except for the loss of many swords, spears, and arrows on both sides.

Both sides suffered dozens of casualties in each battle, and their morale was roughly equal.

The front line moved back and forth, resulting in a stalemate.

The Wei generals failed to notice anything unusual about the Han army's formation, and seeing that the Han army did not send all its troops forward at once to break the stalemate with its superior numbers, they gradually relaxed and entered a normal command state.

Military strategy dictates that one engages with the orthodox and wins with the unorthodox.

They are the perfect force right now; their mission is to hold the line.

They could only wait for the Shu army to commit more troops and withstand the pressure, or for Sima Yi to push his rear guard forward, creating an opportunity for them. However, just as the Wei generals were secretly relaxing due to the lack of change in the battle situation, a loud shout suddenly erupted from the Han army ranks!
"squat!"

Between the left wing of the Dragon Formation in the west of the Bagua Formation and the right wing of the Cloud Formation in the southwest of the Bagua Formation, there is a passage thirty or forty paces wide. A crossbowman carrying a red snake flag blows a bone whistle and waves a command flag in the passage.

General Wei Ping was startled and looked in the direction of the sound.

But then they saw that the dozens of large shields that had been standing there had disappeared without a trace.

Instead, hundreds of Han crossbowmen armed with Yuanrong crossbows were deployed.

One row of people were squatting, and another row was standing.

He aimed his crossbow at the flank of the Wei army formation.

He could react to such a change, but his military orders could not be passed on.

"Fire!" The military officer carrying the red serpent flag gave another order, followed by a whistle.

More than a hundred crossbow bolts pierced the air and struck the flank of his army formation.

Whether it was light armor with two lapels or medium armor with tube sleeves, the sides were the weakest points of defense, not to mention that the Han crossbowmen were only thirty or forty paces away from the Wei army's flanks.

The repeating crossbow's destructive power was brought to its maximum under these circumstances.

A series of painful screams erupted from the Wei army's ranks, and forty or fifty men fell instantly on the flank of the formation. In their shock, the formation began to falter.

Before Wei Ping could rush forward, the first two rows of well-trained Han crossbowmen had already retreated, making room for the next two rows of crossbowmen.

"Squat!" came another command.

The crossbowmen who moved from the third row to the first row immediately crouched down to make way for the crossbowmen behind them.

"Fire!" The military officer carrying the Crimson Serpent Flag mechanically gave the order, and at the same time, a loud bone whistle sounded again.

The second volley of crossbow bolts was fired at the flank of the Wei army.

Another round of screams and cries erupted, but this time the casualties were even greater than the previous round, with nearly a hundred Wei soldiers falling.

At this point, Wei Ping successfully mobilized two hundred armored soldiers, armed with swords and crossbows, to rush towards the passage.

He repeatedly ordered the archers in the formation to shoot arrows behind the passage to cover the retreat route of the Han army.

Seeing the Wei army charging forward, the military officer carrying the red snake flag immediately waved the command flag, directing the crossbowmen to retreat.

The crossbowman, who had successfully mounted the crossbow, retreated while pulling the trigger again to fire another arrow.

Meanwhile, the shield bearers who had previously retreated to the rear also stepped forward to provide cover under the command of the military commander.

The retreat was inevitably chaotic, and the rain of arrows from crossbows resulted in the deaths and injuries of more than a dozen people.

But compared to the nearly 10% casualties they inflicted on the enemy ranks, it was clearly worthwhile.

It should be noted that causing nearly 10% casualties in such a short time is quite significant.

If two more rounds of such attrition were to occur, the Wei army's formation could very well collapse.

A moment later, Wei Ping's hundred or so troops rushed to the entrance of the passage between the dragon formation and the cloud formation, but the Han army in the passage had all retreated.

The Han army's large shields once again blocked the passage, making it difficult to see what was behind them.

Just as these Wei soldiers hesitated, the sound of arrows piercing the air came from above them.

The same thing happened in the three formations led by Jia Xu, Shan Jun, and Zhang Jing.

Taking advantage of the cover provided by the battle formation and the superiority of their bows and crossbows, the Han army constantly moved back and forth through the passages left by each formation, providing fire support.

Screams and wails echoed continuously from the Wei army's ranks.

The generals and officers of the Wei army were almost powerless in the face of this unprecedented and unheard-of Eight Formations.

They could only adopt a defensive posture and kept sending their personal guards to consult with Sima Yi.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the morale of the Wei army's vanguard was severely damaged, and their formation quickly went from loose to chaotic.

If it weren't for the order to cut down the enemy from the rear, there would likely have been a rout.

Sima Yi had returned from the Lishan Plateau to the main force, which still had more than 40,000 troops yet to go into battle. After receiving news from Wei Ping's generals, he carefully observed the situation from the general's platform and then successively dispatched 10,000 soldiers to meet Wei Ping's generals.

At the center of the Bagua formation, on the general's platform, the banner of the Han Dynasty prime minister jingled in the wind.

Generals Wei Yan, Wu Ban, Chen Shi, and Meng Yan watched the retreating Wei army lines with expressions that were both serious and excited.

They have been leading the practice of these eight formations for about two or three years, so they naturally have confidence; otherwise, they wouldn't have put so much effort into the practice.

However, since the Prime Minister's Northern Expedition, their main force has never engaged in a single open-field battle with the Wei army.

Therefore, this method of the Eight Formations never underwent any real-world testing.

Now that the battle formation has finally been set up, and it has indeed produced the effect expected during previous drills, the generals are clearly excited.

To be fair, the reason why the Han army used the Bagua Formation, which had never been used in actual combat, in the decisive battle was, as Sima Yi said, due to the dual limitations of the battlefield width and the fact that they were attacked from both sides.

After careful consideration, the generals all agreed that this Bagua formation was indeed more suitable than the traditional square formation.

However, contrary to what Sima Yi had just said, the army formation appeared disorganized and chaotic, not because the soldiers were unfamiliar with battle formations.

Rather, the Eight Formations appear chaotic on the surface, as if a disorganized army is fighting blindly, but in reality, the soldiers are in disarray while the formation itself remains orderly.

The reason is that, compared with the traditional square formation, the essence of this formation lies in its variation.

To have more variety, the troop composition in each battle must be diversified.

Bows, crossbows, swords, spears, shields, chariots, cavalry—all types of troops were mixed together, naturally making it look chaotic.

Commanding such a chaotic military formation requires a high level of command ability from the general.

The stronger the general's command ability, the more flexible and complex the Bagua Formation becomes.

In addition to requiring high command skills, this formation also demands even higher skills from the soldiers in the battle.

Conversely, soldiers who can adapt to such complex formations possess a comprehensive quality far superior to those who can only comprehend square formations.

This formation was improved and created by the Prime Minister, and it has been passed down for hundreds of years. It became the most practical and popular battle formation in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and even the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It was recognized by people such as Sima Zhao, Sima Yan, Ma Long, and Gao Chuang. Even the Six Flower Formation of the God of War Li Jing was improved from the Bagua Formation. It is only reasonable that it has a dimensional reduction effect on the traditional square formations of this era.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

With Sima Yi sending 10,000 reinforcements in succession, the military strength of the Han and Wei armies being roughly equal, and the Han army also intending to conserve its strength, the two sides finally entered a brief stalemate.

Sima Yi reined in his horse and climbed onto the platform again, silently assessing the strength of the Han army in the Bagua Formation and sensing the wind direction.

Soon after, the imperial guards issued an order, commanding five generals—Zhou Tai, Sun Li, Wang Guan, Jia Kai, and Jiao Bo—to lead 10,000 troops from the Jing and Yu regions, each carrying dry grass and oil, to the Han army's camp on the Lishan Plateau.

(End of this chapter)