Soon, Ma Chao's soldiers prepared wooden sticks and bamboo knives for practice and sent them to Li Jin and others.
Li Jin led the hundred-man personal guard to quickly select weapons, and then began to form a formation on the school field.
Ma Teng, Ma Yunlu, Zhong Yao and others stood on the high platform and looked at Cao Zhang and his men in formation, and they all felt very strange.
I saw that Cao Zhang's men were divided into nine teams, each with eleven people.
The person standing at the front is the squad leader. The two people beside him are one holding a larger long shield and the other holding a smaller shield.
The weapons in the hands of the two people following him were spears replaced by wooden sticks. They chose extra-long wooden sticks, which meant that their attack distance was the farthest and the range was the largest.
Behind the two of them, there are two spearmen each, that is, four people in total. The wooden sticks they hold are relatively shorter, but they are more flexible to use, taking care of the shield hands and spears on the left and right sides in front. soldiers.
At the back are two short sword soldiers holding bamboo swords, guarding the back of the entire team.
Each of the eleven people held different weapons, and their positions were strange. And these nine teams were combined together to form a "big formation", arranged exactly according to the position of the nine-square grid.
Cao Zhang is in the middle group with a wooden gun in his hand, which is in the center of the formation.
Although Ma Teng has been on the battlefield for a long time, he has never seen such a strange battle formation, and he looked shocked and confused.
Ma Yunlu couldn't see the mystery of this formation, so she could only look at Cao Zhang with a nervous expression, secretly worried about him. After all, she knew Ma Chao's martial prowess, and she felt that a battle formation like Cao Zhang's was simply not possible. It may block the impact of the Ma Chao cavalry.
Accompanied by the sound of war drums, the thousand-man team led by Ma Chao completed their formation at the other end of the school field and slowly advanced towards the battle formation on Cao Zhang's side.
Ma Chao, armed with a long wooden stick, a white horse on his crotch, and wearing bright armor, walked majestically at the front of the team.
The soldiers behind him were also fierce and murderous. Although they were holding wooden sticks and bamboo knives in their hands, they still showed a monstrous fighting spirit.
Seeing Ma Chao approaching, Cao Zhang felt slightly palpitated. After all, the opponent was Ma Chao, one of the Five Tiger Generals.
When I traveled back in time, apart from defeating Xu Huang by luck and working with Li Jin to kill Wang Yue, the rest I encountered were soy sauce guys like Li Li and Li Shi. Today I really have to face a top-notch general. Can I win? After all, I still feel unsure.
But Cao Zhang also understood that in order to gain a foothold in this troubled world, especially to achieve the goal of unifying the world, the battle with these super-famous generals was absolutely unavoidable.
Fortunately, today's battle with Ma Chao is just a drill, not an actual battle. There is still room for buffering, which can be used as a touchstone.
First, you can test your tactical abilities, and you can also truly feel the extent of your martial arts and have a clearer understanding.
Thinking of this, Cao Zhang calmed down and greeted Ma Chao on the opposite side loudly: "Brother Meng Qi, the battle formation has been set up, you can come and break it!"
Ma Chao heard Cao Zhang's greeting and responded loudly: "Okay, then I'll see what's so mysterious about your formation!"
Ma Chao took a closer look and found that Cao Zhang's formation was extremely ordinary. It was more like a group of usual drill teams, randomly grouped together in a nine-square grid position, and there was no mystery at all.
Ma Chao's brows stood up, and the anger on his face became even more intense. Cao Zhang claimed that he could stop his thousand-man team with such a formation. He was really overestimating his capabilities and was too arrogant.
In his understanding, with such a formation, he could break it up with just one charge, and it was simply a fantasy to think that he would be trapped for half an hour!
But Ma Chao immediately gave up the idea of leading the entire army to charge. He felt that if he defeated Cao Zhang in this way, at most it would mean that his numbers and strength were not enough to retaliate against Cao Zhang's provocation and insult to him!
A bold idea formed in Ma Chao's mind: He would break into the formation alone and then charge out. This would be the most powerful counterattack and could also prove his bravery.
Thinking of this, Ma Chao raised the wooden gun in his hand and shouted an order to his subordinates behind him: "The whole army obeys the order and stays where it is. No rash action is allowed without my order!"
When Ma Chao's subordinates heard his order, they immediately responded together: "Here!"
Ma Chao looked at Cao Zhangjun's battle formation in front of him with a contemptuous sneer at the corner of his mouth. Suddenly he clamped his legs on the horse's belly and urged the horse to rush towards Cao Zhangjun's battle formation.
Ma Teng saw Ma Chao charging towards Cao Zhang's battle formation single-handedly on the stage. His eyes widened in shock, and he instantly understood what his son was thinking. His eyes were full of worry.
When Ma Yunlu saw Ma Chao charging into the battle alone, her original worry about Cao Zhang instantly turned into worry about Ma Chao. At this time, she felt conflicted. She didn't want Cao Zhang to lose, but she also didn't want Ma Chao to be in danger.
When Cao Zhang saw Ma Chao rushing towards him single-handedly, the corner of his mouth slightly raised, showing a sly smile. He was secretly glad that his provocation method worked and Ma Chao was successfully irritated by him.
Cao Zhang proposed to fight Ma Chao with one against ten. In addition to proving that he was indeed capable of defeating the strong with the weak, there was another important reason.
Through a brief contact with Ma Chao, he has already felt that Ma Chao is a very proud and impulsive character. If he deliberately provokes him, he will most likely fall into a trap and deliberately give up his advantage in order to prove his ability.
Ma Chao's actions now just prove that Cao Zhang's plan was successful.
"Give!" Cao Zhang gave the order.
Following Cao Zhang's instructions, eight of the nine teams on the periphery began to spread out in unison, directly exposing Cao Zhang's team, facing Ma Chao.
Ma Chao became even more angry when he saw that Cao Zhang dared to face him directly. Without thinking about it, he urged his horse to draw his gun, rushed through the gap between other teams, and rushed straight towards Cao Zhang!
To capture the thief, capture the king first! If I knock Cao Zhang off his horse, I'll break the formation. Let's see how you can trap me!
In the blink of an eye, Ma Chao was about to rush to Cao Zhang's team.
Cao Zhang saw Ma Chao approaching, but did not fight him, and issued an order: "Protect!"
The team members who were originally at the back of his body quickly came forward from both sides. Two spearmen rushed out first and stabbed the horse under Ma Chao with the "spear" in their hands.
Ma Chao didn't pay attention to the two spearmen at all. He roared angrily and waved the spear in his hand. With two crisp sounds of "Dang Dang!", the two spears were deflected by Ma Chao with his gun.
Ma Chao's horse also quickly stepped forward during this gap, approaching Cao Zhang's team even more. He thrust his spear at the two spearmen, preparing to stab them down.
The weapons of the two spearmen were pushed away, and they quickly retreated to avoid Ma Chao's pursuit.
The long shield soldiers and shield soldiers protecting the spear soldiers quickly took on a defensive role.
The long shield soldier raised his shield high to resist Ma Chao's spear; while the rattan soldier held up the rattan in his left hand to protect himself, and at the same time wielded a bamboo knife with his right hand to slash Ma Chao's horse leg.
Almost at the same time, four spearmen also moved out together, stretched out their spears from the gap between the shield soldiers and the rattan soldiers, and stabbed Ma Chao on the horse.
The cooperation of several people is quite tacit, and all the details are seamless, which not only effectively protects their own people, but also poses a sufficient threat to Ma Chao.
Ma Chao obviously did not expect that the cooperation of these soldiers would be so powerful. In just a blink of an eye, not only did he neutralize his own attack, but the four spears and the daggers of the rattan soldiers had already formed fatal attacks on himself and the war horse respectively.
After all, Ma Chao is a top-notch general. Although he was shocked, he was not hurt by such an attack. He quickly drew his gun to protect him. He saw the spear waving, and quickly blocked all the attacks from the spear and the rattan soldiers.
His horse rushed forward very fast, and during this fight, it rushed to the side and rear of Cao Zhangjun's team.
Ma Chao thought he could turn around and launch an attack, but he didn't expect that the two short sword soldiers hiding behind the pikemen would come into play at this time.
They took advantage of the moment when Ma Chao's horse passed quickly, and quickly swung their knives. Two bamboo knives slashed at the legs of Ma Chao's horse.
Fortunately, the man on the horse was Ma Chao, who had superb riding skills. He reacted quickly and urged the horse to jump, thus avoiding the attack from the ground.
In this round of fighting, Ma Chao faced Cao Zhang's team. Not only did he not get any advantage, but he was also surrounded by dangers, which surprised him.
"Surround!" Before Ma Chao could fully recover from his shock, Cao Zhang had already issued a new order.
The eight teams that had dispersed quickly retracted and formed an encirclement, surrounding Ma Chao.
What made Ma Chao even more unexpected was that these eight teams did not just surround him, but quickly moved around him and continuously launched attacks.
This time, not only did each team have a tacit understanding of cooperation, but also a new cooperation was formed between each team. They assisted each other in defense, attacked alternately, and launched a tidal wave of attacks on Ma Chao from all directions.
Ma Chao was trapped in a tight siege, facing the attacks that were coming one after another. At this time, he had no time to look for Cao Zhang's position. He could only wave his spear, control the horses under him, concentrate on defense, and resist the attacks from all directions.
Ma Teng on the high platform did not expect that in just a blink of an eye, Ma Chao would be trapped in a tight siege, and it would be so dangerous. He clenched his fists nervously.
Ma Yunlu saw his brother being surrounded by Cao Zhang's soldiers, and his face was full of worry.
Ma Chao's thousand-man team became restless when they saw Ma Chao in danger. However, Ma Chao had a clear order in advance and they were not allowed to act rashly. They could only wait and watch from a distance, hoping that Ma Chao would quickly give the order so that they could launch a charge and rescue him.
Cao Zhang stood aside with a gun and looked at Ma Chao who was surrounded. He was extremely pleased. The battle formation he secretly practiced and tried for the first time was actually able to trap Ma Chao, one of the Five Tigers. It seems that in future battles, he can be even more capable. Has been widely used.
At this time, Ma Chao was busy dealing with the attacks from the eight squads, and he felt regretful in his heart. He had never expected that Cao Zhang's battle formation was so powerful and could really trap him in it.
Ma Chao began to regret that he should not have entrusted Da Da just now, but should have directly led his men to charge together, so that he would not be in this predicament.
How did Ma Chao know that the battle formation used by Cao Zhang this time did not belong to their era, but the "Mandarin Duck Formation" that was improved and popularized by Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty, and showed great power against Japanese pirates along the coast!
The biggest feature of the Yuanyang Formation is that the members of the team are required to act in unison, reasonably match the three weapons such as spears, shields, and knives, and closely combine long and short to maximize the effectiveness of each weapon.
Through the continuous changes in formations, combinations and cooperation between multiple teams are formed, forming "two-talented formation", "three-talented formation" and other "changing mandarin duck formation" tactics.
After Cao Zhang decided to lead his troops to fight against Li Jue, in addition to studying military tactics, he also kept thinking about how to introduce more effective battle formations to enhance the damage to the enemy. Finally, he thought of the Yuanyang Formation.
This is a formation that can give full play to the melee combat capabilities of the soldiers, and can also achieve a victory over more with less.
It was just that time was tight and he didn't have time to let the entire army practice, so he had to let Li Jin lead a hundred-man personal guard to try it out. Today was the first time it was actually used, but it had miraculous effects.
Of course, Cao Zhang also knew in his heart that there was an important reason why the Yuanyang Formation was able to trap Ma Chao. This was that this was a "drill" without real swords and guns, and Ma Chao's weapons had no lethality.
Otherwise, given Ma Chao's martial prowess, no matter how clever the Yuanyang Formation was, it would be very difficult to completely trap him without being harmed.
Now that Ma Chao has successfully been trapped in the battle formation, all Cao Zhang has to do is to hold on for half an hour and prevent him from rushing out. Then he will win the final victory...
