After Liu Ce and more than 100 people entered the second line of defense, they were already exhausted, their faces smoked like coal, regardless of the gaze of the crowd, Liu Ce came straight to a well, drew a bucket of water and poured it on himself to relieve his scorching skin.
Liu Ce dropped the bucket and sat down on the ground with a thud, staring at the remaining soldiers scrambling to get water from the well, not knowing what to say.
The defenders in front of the second earth wall stared at the raging fire in front of them, their faces shocked. Especially several commanders, who had thought that after the first layer of earth wall was breached, the Huayi bandits would take advantage of the situation and attack their own defense line, and their troops would also be quickly broken through like the soldiers on the first earth wall. But now, Liu Ces desperate fighting method had actually blocked the crazy charge of tens of thousands of bandits, giving them time to breathe. They didnt know what to say...
"Im telling you, brothers," Liu Ce said, clearing his throat which was a bit hoarse from the smoke, "there may be more tough battles ahead, if you want to survive, listen to me, we cant keep fighting like this."
More than a hundred soldiers who escaped from the first line of defense turned their heads to look at Liu Ce, only to see him continue: "I know that each and every one of you has exceptional martial arts skills. When fighting against those bandits and refugees, which one of you cant take on ten of them? Even when facing the elite bandits, none of you are inferior. But they have too many people. As the saying goes, two fists cant defeat four hands, and a multitude of ants can kill an elephant. Dont fight individually anymore."
Everyone thought about it and felt that it made sense. Facing 7 or 8 rushing refugees, there was really no way to deal with them, and they could only rely on their bravery or brute force to resist.
"What should we do now?" asked Han Feng, who had narrowly escaped death in the flood and fire.
He glanced at Han Feng, whose face was smoked like Zhang Feis, and couldnt see any expression, only a pair of eyes filled with bloodshot. It seemed that he was still in the midst of grief over his friends death. Liu Ce nodded to Han Feng and continued: "I have an idea, everyone must work together to defeat the enemy."
Then he picked up a piece of wood from the side and drew several lines on the ground, and the crowd gradually gathered around Liu Ce to watch the simple diagram on the ground.
"Form a phalanx, with each row consisting of several men. The shields and spears are inserted between the rows, and everyone only needs to stare at their own position in front of them, killing one enemy after another. As for the bandits who attack from the side, you can only trust your comrades beside you, using your shields and spears to fill the gaps and cut down the enemies that rush through..."
A string of ideas poured out of Liu Ces mouth, suddenly overturning the group of men who had been fighting on the edge of their lives for years. In the past, battles in the army were always fought with individual bravery as the most important thing, and there was no concept of team combat at all. The commanders who led the training had never said anything about such tactical ideas, only that battles relied on blood and gas, using strong military power to make the enemy afraid, desperate until death, and being killed by the enemy could only prove that ones martial arts skills were not good enough...
In front of him, this 18-year-old youth unexpectedly had such an unconventional idea. For a moment, he couldnt adapt, but his own life was almost saved by him. Although the fire also killed many of his own people, being able to block tens of thousands of bandits outside the fortress and allowing himself to retreat safely back to the second earth wall was enough to prove that this guy was absolutely not simple.
"How about it, are you willing to believe me this time?" Liu Ce asked, looking up. The crowd looked at each other in dismay, all thinking about the feasibility of his plan...
"Is that how we can ensure our survival?" Finally, a soldier raised an objection, after all, what he said also represented what everyone else was thinking.
Liu Ce glanced at the soldier and then looked at everyone else, saying, "Cannot."
Upon hearing this response, many of the men let out a cold snort. After all that fuss, youre still going to die. Whats the point of saying so much?
"But it can keep you alive for a little longer, and give you a chance to escape!" Liu Ce said word by word. He knew that this tactic was useless in the overall situation, and the bandits would eventually capture the Thick Earth Fortress, resulting in many deaths. This tactic of arraying troops was also just based on his previous lifes online descriptions of ancient Chinese and foreign wars, and its actual effectiveness had yet to be confirmed in real combat. Moreover, these soldiers had not received systematic training in this regard, so how much combat power they could exert was an unknown quantity.
"Believe me, show your attitude. Dont believe me, go with the defending army yourself." Liu Ce threw away the wooden stick in his hand, clapped his hands, and looked at the 137 people in front of him. As long as half of them agreed, this plan could be implemented; otherwise, he would have to find an opportunity to escape on his own.
One after another, people left, unable to accept Liu Ces novel way of fighting, still traditionally believing that individual martial arts were the best means of survival. In the end, 103 people were willing to choose to believe in Liu Ce, anyway, it was a dead end, so they might as well go all out...
Many people chose to stay, and Liu Ce finally let out a sigh of relief. He said to them: "I just observed the terrain, look over there." Looking in the direction Liu Ce pointed, they saw a narrow alleyway that could barely accommodate six people passing through, which was not far from the third defensive line. This was the best place to block the bandits. Ill change the formation, with five swordsmen and shieldmen in each column, divided into three columns. Behind each column, there will be a row of long-handled gunners inserted. The responsibility of the swordsmen and shieldmen is to hold off the charging bandits, while the long-handled gunners take advantage of the opportunity to stab the bandits in front of them to death. Remember, you only need to focus on the bandits in front of you, and trust your comrades beside you...
After the instructions were given, Liu Ce and others stood up and briefly trained everyone on how to form an array. Fortunately, although these soldiers had not undergone systematic training, they had been in the army for a long time, so it didnt take long for them to learn this simple formation. Then Liu Ce led the crowd towards the alley, preparing to meet the next wave of fighting...
The defensive position of the garrison behind the second earth wall was almost one floor higher than that of the first earth wall. If there were rolling stones or other siege tools, it would have caused great harm to the bandits who were advancing. Unfortunately, the flag team had not prepared anything when they went out on expedition. There were no necessary defensive works, and they simply relied on this section of abandoned earth walls to open up a defensive line. If Liu Ce hadnt used his fire attack plan, its possible that the bandits would have been able to take the place directly in another wave of attacks.
