Chapter 64: Alliance! Alliance!
It is hardly surprising that everyone was so shocked.
After all, this was a team that no one had favored.
Garrison fort soldiers...
They spent their days guarding remote beacon towers, hiding away the moment Tartars appeared.
What combat effectiveness could they possibly have?
They probably had never even laid eyes on a living Tartar!
Yet during yesterday's preliminaries,
these very insignificant fellows
had pierced straight through the Yanmen Garrison's elite vanguard in just a few breaths,
securing their victory with breathtaking neatness and efficiency.
Who doesn't love an underdog story?
This was the ultimate underdog!
Now, amidst the chaos of the twelve-team melee, everyone wanted to see
just how tough...
these fellows really were!
"Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong—"
The war drums thundered, and the slaughter began!
Twelve teams surged toward the center of the parade ground.
A chaotic brawl erupted instantly!
The Tiger-Brave Guard collided with the Black-Stone Guard.
Arrows rained down from the Hawk-Soaring Guard, while the Cloud-Medium Guard circled and harassed the flanks.
The Xilong Vanguard stood firm, advancing step by step with cautious deliberation.
"Arrow-head formation, charge the Hawk-Soaring Guard's flank!"
Lin Chuan shouted in a low voice!
The Hawk-Soaring Guard had just shot back a wave of charges from the Tiger-Brave Guard, leaving their formation slightly disordered.
The five men of Tielin Fort shot forward like arrows released from a taut bow, hurling themselves straight at them!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Their lime-tipped wooden spears struck out with vicious precision.
Three soldiers of the Hawk-Soaring Guard were caught off guard and struck one after another!
"Fall back!" the herald roared.
Tielin Fort had claimed the first kill!
Yet they did not pause!
Lin Chuan did not even spare a glance at his fallen opponents.
With a raise of his right hand, the five men of Tielin Fort instantly reformed their lines and retreated like a receding tide.
"Oh?"
On the viewing platform, the generals all widened their eyes.
Something was wrong!
Logically speaking, having secured the first kill while morale was high, they should have pressed their advantage in pursuit.
Yet Tielin Fort retreated without the slightest hesitation, as if the victory they had just won was entirely unremarkable.
"What are they doing?" the commander of the Cloud-Medium Guard frowned.
"Changing targets." General Chen narrowed his eyes, the corners of his mouth curling upward.
Sure enough, no sooner had the five men of Tielin Fort retreated to the edge than they executed a sharp turn.
They charged straight toward the Black-Stone Guard on the other side!
The transition from offense to defense was shockingly fast!
The Black-Stone Guard had just finished a brutal clash with the Tiger-Brave Guard.
Before their shield wall could be fully reorganized, Tielin Fort was already upon them!
"Bang! Bang!"
Hu Dayong slammed forward with his shield, forcefully battering open a breach.
Lin Chuan slashed diagonally with his wooden saber, aiming straight for the captain of the Black-Stone Guard.
That man had just raised his shield to parry a strike from a Tiger-Brave Guard's staff; his arms were numb, and his reaction was a beat too slow!
"Fall back!"
Another team went down!
The second kill!
Tielin Fort still did not stop.
The five men fell back once more like a pack of wolves, denying their opponents any chance of encirclement.
"This..."
On the viewing platform, Zhao Mingde's pupils constricted slightly.
In a chaotic brawl involving over a dozen teams, what seemed disorderly on the surface was actually the ultimate test of a unit's combat capability.
It was not merely a contest of strength and willpower.
It was a profound test of battlefield awareness and unit command...
The transition between attack and defense often happened in the blink of an eye.
And Tielin Fort evidently mastered this art to perfection!
They did not covet empty glory, nor did they overcommit to prolonged fights; they exclusively targeted scattered, battered remnants amidst the chaos.
The moment a strike succeeded, they immediately relocated, never granting their opponents a moment to catch their breath!
—This was true battlefield warfare!
"Bang!"
When the third team went down, the atmosphere across the parade ground changed completely.
Tielin Fort had successively cut down three teams!
And yet, their pace still did not stop!
"Form an alliance! Form an alliance!"
The captain of the Tiger-Brave Guard roared at the top of his lungs.
The captains of the Hawk-Soaring Guard and the Black-Stone Guard exchanged glances and nodded.
The three teams rapidly converged.
The tactical landscape shifted abruptly!
"Captain! What do we do?"
A soldier from the Xilong Guard Vanguard shouted loudly.
The vanguard captain frowned.
Before he could speak, an arrow whistled in from the flank.
Caught entirely unawares, a white chalk mark instantly appeared across his left chest. s
"Damn it!!!"
The vanguard captain threw the wooden saber in his hand to the ground in disgust.
"Fall back!" the herald shouted.
The remaining four soldiers stood in place, their expressions shifting uncertainly.
Their captain had already been eliminated.
There was no chance of winning now.
The four men remained silent for a moment, their gazes turning in unison toward the five men of Tielin Fort.
This squad of garrison fort soldiers, having just cut down three teams in succession, was currently retreating.
The Tiger-Brave Guard, the Hawk-Soaring Guard, and the Black-Stone Guard had already banded together, surging toward Tielin Fort!
Meanwhile, other teams followed closely behind, hoping to seize the opportunity to grab a share of the spoils.
"What do we do?" a soldier asked in a low voice.
"Damn it! Of course we help our own people!"
Another burly man shouted loudly, "Tielin Fort, do you need men?!"
"Vanguard! Get over here!"
Lin Chuan roared fiercely. "You two with the spears, reinforce the left flank! You, archer, stay close to Zhang Xiaonian! Big guy, take my position!"
Before the four vanguard soldiers could fully react, they were hauled straight into formation by the five men of Tielin Fort.
The burly man opened his mouth to ask about the tactics, but Hu Dayong shoved a shield into his hands:
"Shut your trap! See that scarred face from the Tiger-Brave Guard? Later, focus entirely on smashing his lower stance!"
In the blink of an eye, a nine-man formation was complete!
On the viewing platform, General Chen abruptly pushed himself up from his seat.
In the center of the parade ground, the previously scattered four vanguard soldiers had been instantly dismantled and reassembled by Tielin Fort.
Two spearmen were slotted into the flanks, perfectly covering Tielin Fort's weak points;
The archer was hauled to the rear ranks by Zhang Xiaonian, the two of them standing back-to-back to establish a crossfire zone;
The burly shield-bearer was thrust directly into the front line, forming a twin-shield assault pair with Hu Dayong.
And Lin Chuan...
Had he detached from the formation?
He was seen wandering alone along the rear flank, to God knows what purpose.
"What is the meaning of this?" The generals looked at one another in bewilderment.
General Chen was momentarily stunned.
"Could he be treating himself... as an independent raiding ambush force?"
On the battlefield,
during opposing tactical maneuvers of offense and defense,
commanders often deployed ambush units to patrol the fringes of the conflict.
They would choose when to join the fray based on shifting conditions,
either striking from the rear, hitting the flanks, or launching surprise attacks.
Yet this...
This was a parade ground!!
What tricks could one possibly pull right under the noses of several other teams?
Tielin Fort fell back swiftly.
The opposing teams rushed forward in pursuit.
However, because they had never trained together beforehand, their speeds varied wildly.
The Tiger-Brave Guard roared aggressively, charging at the very front.
Clearly, they hoped to leverage their numerical advantage to smash through in a single, unbroken charge.
"Right wing of the Tiger-Brave Guard!"
Lin Chuan suddenly bellowed, "Spears, thrust!"
Tielin Fort's retreating steps halted instantly.
They completed the transition from defense to offense in virtually a single heartbeat.
The soldiers executed the order almost by instinct.
Their spears shot out like vipers, striking true against two brawny warriors on the right flank of the Tiger-Brave Guard!
"Bang! Bang!"
"Eliminated!"
The Tiger-Brave Guard lost two more men!
Before the remaining opposing teams could react,
"Center line of the Black-Stone Guard!"
Lin Chuan gave the command once more. "Ram through them!"
Hu Dayong and the burly vanguard soldier exerted force simultaneously, their shields driving into the Black-Stone Guard's formation like siege rams!
"Bang, bang!"
"Fall back!"
The unit retreated abruptly.
With one advance and one withdrawal, they took down another two men.
"Fall back!"
Viewed from the observation platform, the entire parade ground presented a bizarre, dynamic spectacle.
A single unit was retreating.
The remaining seven units were either pursuing or attempting encirclement.
Yet this was by no means a rout; it was a meticulously choreographed rhythm.
The brawny warriors of the Tiger-Brave Guard roared as they charged, the shield wall of the Black-Stone Guard enveloped the flank, and the remnants of the Hawk-Soaring Guard prowled the perimeter, their arrows nocked and ready...
Yet, whenever an encirclement was on the verge of closing, Lin Chuan's orders would ring out sharply.
A thrust, a ram, a feint...
Every single command caused Tielin Fort's formation to shift subtly, slipping through the edges of the closing net by a hair's breadth,
while throwing the pursuing teams into disarray and mutual interference.
General Chen felt a surge of excitement within his chest.
This was no ordinary retreat; it was advancing by means of retreating, substituting offense with defense.
Lin Chuan seemed to have calculated the movements of every single team in advance.
He exploited their impatience, greed, and momentum, forcing them to check and consume one another.
He anticipated the hotheadedness of the Tiger-Brave Guard, predicted the flanking maneuvers of the Black-Stone Guard, capitalized on the opportunistic psychology of the other units, and even used the threat of the Hawk-Soaring Guard's arrows to force his own unit to constantly adjust its formation...
Every single step of the retreat was a trap!
He was not merely skirmishing with the enemies before him at all.
He was manipulating the movements of everyone on the field!