The Battle of Hetao 4

Why are the Eight Array Diagram and its derivative, the Six Flower Formation, considered representative anti-cavalry tactics?

Cavalry is largely divided into two types:

Light cavalry and heavy cavalry.

Light cavalry can usually be seen as mounted archers, and their main tactic is the so-called swarm tactic of hit-and-run.

They ride in, shoot arrows, retreat, then approach and shoot again repeatedly. If they’re skilled, they even add the Parthian shot, shooting backwards while on horseback.

But this requires two prerequisites:

The arrow attack must have enough power to inflict sufficient damage on the enemy, and at the same time, have a longer effective range than the enemy.

Swarm tactics lacking either of these lose their value.

The Six Flower Formation achieved this by blocking arrows with defensive carts like the Pian Xiang Ju, and actively using crossbows which generally have a longer range than bows.

The terror of heavy cavalry lies in their charge. However, in a structure with primary defense through carts and secondary attack from archers and crossbowmen behind the carts, it’s difficult to utilize such strengths.

This isn’t all. The Six Flower Formation also has offensive power. That is cavalry. While the Six Flower Formation is a tactic created to counter cavalry, half of it is filled with cavalry.

It’s called a defend-first, attack-later anti-cavalry tactic, but counterattacks using cavalry were also quite possible.

This high proportion of cavalry stems from the Tang dynasty’s origins as the nomadic Xianbei people.

Not the Xianbei as complete nomads, but Sinicized Xianbei who conquered the Central Plains.

The Six Flower Formation was the pinnacle of contemporary tactics, combining the infantry tactics of settled peoples and the cavalry tactics of nomadic peoples. The army led by Li Jing, the creator of the Six Flower Formation, was an undefeated rising force, and the Six Flower Formation became the paradigm of the battlefield.

In the Tang-Silla War where the Tang dynasty, the originator of the Six Flower Formation, was defeated, Silla also used the Six Flower Formation to repel the Tang army. Even considering that Silla’s crossbow manufacturing technology was surprisingly superior to Tang’s, there’s no doubt about the excellence of the Six Flower Formation.

However, now, that Six Flower Formation was shaking.

“As expected of Cao Zhang… it’s amazing. Shouldn’t we send support?”

Tuoba Pigo asked with concern.

For all his loud shouting at me, Cao Zhang came out passively. Instead of rushing straight into the central round formation, he attacked the two square formations at the rear.

‘If he dug straight into the Six Flower Formation, he’d obviously be immediately surrounded, so he must intend to attack the square formations to draw support from the center before attacking.’

If the Six Flower Formation I deployed truly matched what Li Jing created, I would have sneered at Cao Zhang’s judgment as suicidal.

However, Cao Zhang’s attack was actually having an effect. This situation arose because the current Six Flower Formation was a degraded version that couldn’t reproduce Li Jing’s original.

‘Neither the triangular formation unique to the Six Flower Formation, nor the roles of the Left and Right Yu Hou Armies that adjust the formation along with the central army, have been properly established.’

Originally, more troops were placed in the left and right Yu Hou Armies to support the left three armies and right three armies as well.

But training to that extent hadn’t been done, so currently, all six outer armies were composed of the same number of troops and types.

There were only defensive Pian Xiang Ju carts, and no offensive sword carts.

In the end, this Six Flower Formation was only half-complete. But even half-complete, it was still the Six Flower Formation.

The form of the formation dividing the army into 7 was properly achieved.

And within each army, the soldiers are again organized into 3 rows.

In the 1st row, the Zhan Feng Dui for close combat.

In the 2nd row, the Zhu Dui to provide supporting fire with bows and crossbows from behind the Pian Xiang Ju.

And in the last 3rd row, the reserve cavalry to replace the Zhan Feng Dui when they tire – this combat formation also worked properly.

The rotation firing of crossbows, shooting in turns rather than all at once to prevent crossbow fire from stopping during reload time, was also smooth.

Although the offensive power was lower, it almost fully contained the original Six Flower Formation in terms of defense.

Nevertheless, the reason we were being pushed back was that Cao Zhang and the Wei army were as strong as our army, and Fei Yi and Guo Yi’s relatively inadequate response due to their much less experience compared to other armies.

‘As they move within the basic framework of the Six Flower Formation, that difference shouldn’t be too big. Cao Zhang’s discernment is quite remarkable.’

But, does Cao Zhang know?

That I deliberately placed two people with somewhat lacking leadership skills at the rear.

To induce Cao Zhang to attack the rear, I intentionally put Fei Yi and Guo Yi there.

Showing a weak point to make the enemy move as I want. This was a tactic I had directly seen and learned from my father who often used it.

While Cao Zhang concentrated his forces on the rear, he also left soldiers in other areas to prevent our army from easily sending support.

And the opposite side furthest from Cao Zhang himself. The army positioned at the front from our perspective. They were the target I was aiming for.

“They’ve come.”

While watching Cao Zhang, I didn’t forget to check the front.

How long had I waited, believing they would return someday? Dust rose in the distance at the front. They had returned, not betraying my expectations.

“Tuoba Pigo! Dang Di! The time has come! It’s time to go meet your kinsmen!”

The round formation of the central army embodies the principle of circulation.

A form good for quickly sending support in any direction. The advance of the ethnic minority cavalry who had finished warming up by circling inside the round formation was immediate.

As soon as my order fell, Tuoba Pigo’s Xianbei and Dang Di’s Qiang rushed towards the front.

Fang De and Tuoba Yiyi, appearing behind the enemy, each struck the connection points where the Wei rear army joined with the left and right armies.

As Fang De and Tuoba Yiyi charged in, Dang Di and Tuoba Pigo also responded from the inside.

Perhaps because they were the same Qiang and Xianbei. Their coordination was perfect.

‘And I placed Wang Ping and Jiang Wei, who are familiar with the ethnic minorities, at the front. The two are also aggressive, so they’re suitable for counterattacks.’

Using the defensive power of the Six Flower Formation to tie up their main force with a small number of troops, and using cavalry forces to cut off and eliminate troops far from the enemy’s main force one by one.

After eliminating the front, cut the connection points once more with the returned cavalry and annihilate the enemy’s left or right army.

If the enemy chooses to retreat, we’ll pursue with our cavalry forces and that’s it. Ambushes are impossible in this place with only shallow hills, and they don’t have the troops for that in the first place.

If the retreating enemy turns to counterattack, we also have the option of returning to the safe Six Flower Formation, so there’s virtually no risk in pursuit.

‘This battle, we’ve won.’

The moment the Six Flower Formation endured their attack until Fang De and Tuoba Yiyi, sent outside, returned without delay, the tide of victory turned to us.

“Hold on just a little more! Victory is right in front of us!”

Seeing the encirclement surrounding Yang Xi’s army completed, I clenched my fist, sensing victory.

It’s over. A clean victory with everything going according to plan.

However, even if we capture Yang Xi’s unit, the troop superiority of the Wei army over our army won’t be reversed. With similar troop numbers, we might have been able to fight once or twice more.

Whether they retreat quickly or hold out longer will determine if there’s another battle. If the damage expands and the troop superiority reverses, there’s a high possibility there won’t be another battle.

Either way, this battle was about to conclude with our victory.

“Bai Zhan, let’s start supporting…”

“General! It’s coming!!”

As I was about to call Ma Dai to go support Fei Yi and Guo Yi, Ma Dai’s shout urgently called me.

What’s coming?

The moment I turned around with a relaxed mind.

I raised my eyebrows.

Cao Zhang was charging towards us.

§

While Cao Zhang’s heart was burning as he poured fierce attacks at the risk of taking damage, yet the square formation seemed about to break but not quite.

Cao Zhang narrowed his eyes as he saw dust clouds rising on the opposite side. They weren’t coming this way.

If they had sent them to the left or right army, a signal would have come immediately, but since there wasn’t one, it seemed they had sent them towards Yang Xi’s rear army.

Cao Zhang had also allocated more troops to the rear army than the left and right armies in preparation for divide-and-conquer tactics, as it would be difficult to send immediate support from the main army.

And Yang Xi, the Governor of Bingzhou, is by no means an easy opponent.

He had also left words for Yang Xi to keep defense in mind rather than actively attacking. If it’s him, he should be able to hold out for a while even if surrounded.

However, soon his lieutenant He Hou Yu ran to Cao Zhang, pale-faced.

“It’s a disaster, General! Flags have risen from the left and right armies! The rear army is in danger!”

“What? That’s impossible! What is Yang Xi doing?”

It wasn’t He Hou Yu who answered Cao Zhang’s question, but Han soldiers.

They kindly raised their voices with all their might, in case Cao Zhang couldn’t hear.

[An arrow shot by General of the Left Fang De has hit enemy general Yang Xi’s head!]

Fang De’s archery skills, which had hit Guan Yu’s forehead in the original history, shone here as well.

“General!”

He Hou Yu called out to Cao Zhang anxiously, unable to utter the word retreat.

However, retreat wasn’t in Cao Zhang’s mind. Until now, Cao Zhang hadn’t properly proven his worth. If he failed this time too, Cao Pi would boldly cut him out.

Given his late father Cao Cao’s last wishes, he probably wouldn’t kill him, but it would be easy for Cao Pi to strip him of all authority and positions and relegate him to some rural backwater, like Cao Zhi.

“No, this is an opportunity.”

Opportunities are often hidden within crises.

Cao Zhang didn’t panic. Rather, he was more calm than ever.

“Now that their central army has left, the pressure from the central army is no longer strong.”

Thinking that if he entered between the two square formations and failed to break through at once, he might be trapped between the central round formation and the two square formations as they closed the distance, Cao Zhang had used the second-best option of drawing out Zhang Ran.

However, now that the power of the round formation has weakened, it’s no longer unreasonable to break the round formation before they narrow their formation while pressuring the square formations.

“I’ll turn that move of yours into a blunder. Junlin! Tell the whole army! We’re launching an all-out attack! Now that they’ve let their guard down, we charge in all at once!”

The battle wasn’t over yet.

No, this was the real beginning of the battle.