Cursed Formation, the Players' Ordeal

Not long after.

On the hillside.

The players then saw Prefect Liu storm out of the tent, his face contorted with rage.

He addressed the players:

"Warriors, get ready!"

"They've really gone too far!"

We must wage war against them!

"The Longevity Water is in their granaries, yet they refuse to share it with us!"

"What do you all think? Should we let them do this?"

As a result, the players looked at each other in bewilderment, and no one offered a word of support.

This angered Prefect Liu.

They really are a bunch of cunning people.

Unlike the locals, who get excited easily when encouraged.

The Saint said it well: only the most intelligent and the most foolish cannot be changed.

Without saying anything more, he turned and went into the tent.

Then he had General Liu bring out a draft map and hang it in the tent.

On the map, there's a red X mark somewhere.

He then summoned several player leaders, including Wuliao, while Gao Linzhi, disguised as an Ordinary Player, sneaked over.

He saw that the map was a topographical map of the entire Haifeng Island's volcanic terrain.

The area marked with a red X is a rare plain, surrounded by two rivers.

It was clearly carved out by river erosion.

Prefect Liu addressed the several leader players:

"I have reached an agreement with Prefect Liang; the two sides will engage in a wager."

"To decide who owns the Elixir of Longevity Water."

Gambling match?

Everyone was immediately overjoyed.

"This is the Battle of Zhulu."

"According to the custom of our empire, we must fight three battles in a row."

"Each battle involves a thousand players."

"Each side has dispatched three generals and a thousand soldiers."

"At the same time, they competed in battle, arranging their troops Battle Formations."

At this moment, Wu Liao couldn't help but cup his hands in a puzzled manner and asked, "Sir, isn't it enough to just have a duel before the battle?"

"Why bother with Battle Formations? With your strength, General, a thousand soldiers are hardly of any use."

"Yes, soldiers in war are like dew; they vanish in an instant when they encounter the sun."

"That's right, it can only last two minutes at most."

Others chimed in.

The governor laughed, "What you're talking about are just scattered soldiers. Every prefecture has its own specially crafted Cursed Soldiers, which must be deployed using Battle Formations techniques."

"It can use mysterious spells to link the blood, energy, and spirit of everyone, condensing them into Cursed General for unified combat."

"Therefore, a great general must not only be strong and powerful, but also intelligent and capable of commanding troops."

Everyone was momentarily stunned; now they understood.

Gao Linzhi nodded slightly upon hearing this.

Many fantasy novels have this kind of setting.

The goal is actually to get more people involved.

In reality, there are obviously geniuses who study how to utilize the power of numerous soldiers.

Otherwise, cultivating great generals depends on luck and talent, and it's very possible that only one such person will emerge in a century.

It doesn't matter if they're just lowly soldiers; they can keep appearing like cattle and horses.

Thus, these Cursed Soldiers came into being.

"Isn't this just like the Spring and Autumn War?" a player leader remarked instinctively.

"What Spring and Autumn War?" Prefect Liu asked.

"It means that both sides designate a location and a time for combat, without resorting to trickery or deception."

"Let's play fair and square, one, two, or three matches to determine who wins and who loses."

"The winning team is not allowed to pursue the losing team; in fact, they must help the losing team escape safely," Wu Liao explained.

"Neither side sought to kill the other's prisoners of war. It was a rare time on the battlefield when morality was still upheld, because everyone was one family, and there were many barbarian tribes and vast territories to be explored, so the cruelty of fighting among their own people was much less."

Gao Linzhi nodded.

This guy is indeed a top-tier player; he's well-prepared with all this knowledge.

Upon hearing this, the player leaders all found this mode ridiculous.

The battlefield is a matter of life and death; what's the point of this kind of gamble?

The other party has countless reasons to back out, unless they completely defeat the other party, to the point that they have no way to back out.

Just like in modern warfare, they directly seized control of the enemy's high command and occupied their central command.

Do you want to back out?

I'll hang you.

However, upon closer reflection, they realized it was normal.

This was originally a conflict between subordinate vassal Feudal Lords of two dynasties.

The two sides are not hostile forces that are fighting to the death.

It was just a normal competition.

So, although the player leaders despised it in their hearts, they didn't have much of an opinion.

Some were even thinking of quickly showcasing the strength of their guild's players in order to gain the favor of the governor.

However, Wu Liao, Gao Linzhi, and a few other leaders also vaguely sensed that something was amiss.

But they couldn't guess what the two governors were up to.

Sure enough, as the player leader went to select his opponents, preparations for the duel began.

Prefect Liu did not employ his own people.

The other party didn't use their own people either.

In their words, "We are all well aware of each other's strengths; the only variable lies with you."

"Whoever can best utilize you, the Descenders, will be stronger."

That statement makes sense.

Soon, the players received training in Battle Formations.

Gao Linzhi also heard the game prompt again after a long time:

"You are learning the Basic March Formation. Have you grasped them?"

"Comprehend."

"You have learned the Basic March Formation. This skill has been improved, and your physical and mental attributes have also increased."

Gao Linzhi was startled when he saw this.

Immediately upgrade it to level 100.

Sure enough, both mental and physical abilities increased by 10 points.

This is a perk!

He thought he could only increase each by 5 points, but he didn't expect that all of them would increase.

It seems this skill should be prioritized for improvement.

Of course, this is painful for other players.

Because practicing and mastering this skill requires a large number of people.

The average player obviously cannot meet this requirement.

This kind of skill can easily lead players astray.

Gao Linzhi's physical and mental attributes have now reached [1347,597], and he still has 40 free attribute points to allocate.

However, the other players did not hear this notification, and their Skyfall Game was incomplete.

To learn how to Battle Formations, one must, like the indigenous people, truly learn it and be able to Battle Formations and command them on the spot.

The Battle Formations in feudal times was very complicated.

They used flags, drums, and music, and also had messengers.

Of course, the imperial court had a system of Rune Communication, but what puzzled Gao Linzhi was that the adjutant general did not use this method to train them.

"Only the most primitive methods can ignite the most primal fighting spirit!"

Using those shortcuts will only lead to a loss of strength.

This is how he explained it to everyone.

The players reluctantly believed it, after all, it was their first time encountering such a mid-to-high level skill.

After all, he had always lived in the village before, and this was the first time he had come into contact with the high-end battlefield.

Of course, veteran players should have had the opportunity to get started much earlier.

However, players have not yet participated in the imperial court's conquests on a large scale.

After all, we're still in the Anomaly Active Period of the Anomaly Calm Period.

One week later.

Players have now basically mastered Battle Formations, mainly focusing on how to hold their positions and how to follow orders.

They fielded 1000 players on their side.

On the other hand, Prefect Liang of Haifeng Island backed out beforehand, saying that he couldn't gather enough players and could only use 1,000 soldiers instead.

Prefect Liu was very angry, but he still agreed.

All the player leaders felt that it was a makeshift operation.

It was supposed to be a duel between two players, so what is this?

This day.

The sun was shining brightly, and the temperature was very high.

The thousand players were divided into 20 smaller groups of 50 each, with three players in each group serving as commanders.

They are the Vice Captain, and an Enforcement Officer.

The Enforcement Officer were also selected from among the players.

Each small formation is a square formation, divided into seven rows, with seven people in each row. The extra person is the supervisor.

The Vice Captain, one in the front row and the other in the back row.

The marching formations were quite impressive and imposing.

Seeing this, Prefect Liu couldn't help but nod in approval.

To be trained to this level in just seven days is far superior to that of the locals.

It takes locals more than six months of training to develop such imposing presence.

They came to the plain between the two rivers.

The opposing side had already set up their formation and were waiting for them.

Both are 20-man squads, with 50 players per squad.

The two sides began their duel.

This time, General Liu did not go into battle himself, but instead sent one of his Battalion Commander to fight. The opposing Red Robe Young General also did not go into battle, but instead sent one of his subordinates to fight.

The two sides began to fight on the battlefield.

One wielded a knife, the other a gun; every move drew blood.

"Ha!"

"Drink!"

As the two generals clashed, the previously silent atmosphere gradually became heated.

That's just how people are; they always prefer watching fights and battles.

"Well played!"

"One more time!"

"Smash his ear!"

"Sigh, so close!"

This time, because the opponent was relatively weak, the players could see it clearly.

One by one, they began to get excited.

Gao Linzhi noticed that an inexplicable atmosphere had appeared above the formation of a thousand people.

The gazes of some mysterious beings began to fall upon them.

Is it weird?

It seems that this method of Battle Formations conforms to some strange rules, attracting their attention.

He already knew that strange powers could be harnessed.

The Great Elder of East Wolf Village also wanted to use strange powers to strip him of his talent.

If violating the bizarre rules means death, then what about conforming to the other party's rules?

Obviously, one can gain some benefits from it.

Even rules that only involve killing can be used to deal with enemies or to maintain balance within the court.

As the duel began, both sides suffered heavy losses before turning their horses back to their positions.

At this moment, General Liu the messenger to go and deliver the order, while waving the flag and beating the drum.

The beating of drums signifies an impending march.

But which phase of the campaign will be launched depends on the banner.

Of course, the most direct way is to listen to the messenger.

But messengers are very easy to kill in battle.

Therefore, we still need to look at the flag raised by the central army.

Therefore, in feudal times, lower and middle-ranking officers were particularly important in warfare.

Once most of the lower-ranking officers in a unit are dead, that unit loses its fighting capacity.

Because there's no one to command or supervise the battle, the soldiers won't fight desperately, and even if they wanted to, they wouldn't know how or where to fight.

Gao Linzhi looked up.

The flags that were raised were one Red Flag and two Green Flag.

This means that the second unit in the first row will fight.

This is represented by a red-green combination, which is actually a code.

Of course, this is just the simple version; there are much more complex ones.

Therefore, military officers were very valuable in ancient times, even more so than in modern times, and it was not easy to train one.

It's already difficult for a regular soldier to know left and right, let alone distinguish between these flags.

This knowledge is often passed down through families, and there are no martial arts schools to teach it.

Feudal dynasties were private empires, so they naturally placed great importance on Military Authority.

The imperial court will not train a large number of people in these military affairs; it will only train a small number.

The purpose was to minimize opportunities for ordinary people to learn about military affairs.

Most junior officers are trained and promoted by their respective generals.

This is how Private Soldiers and Generals are trained. The troops that a general leads from the ranks of lowly soldiers are often more effective in combat because the general is the teacher of these junior officers.

The drawback of this is significant: once lost, it is very difficult to replenish on a large scale.

Therefore, it is common to see the imperial court collapse after losing 100,000 elite troops, which puzzles some people, since they could obviously conscript hundreds of thousands more.

It's because it's easy to recruit low-ranking soldiers, but it's difficult to train qualified mid- to low-ranking generals in a short period of time.

The second team soon began their battle.

They carried shields and held spears.

The forty-odd players inside were a little excited, but also a little flustered.

Fortunately, there was one free revival as a backup.

Otherwise, they probably wouldn't have gone to this battlefield at all.

On the other side, a group of soldiers wearing Leather Armor and carrying shields and Quick Saber were approaching.

Is this a turn-based war?

"Why not try a flanking maneuver to surround them from both sides?"

The players even had the leisure to whisper among themselves.

The soldiers on the other side looked extremely tense.

A fierce battle finally broke out as the two sides closed in on each other.

"Maintain formation!"

"Don't fall behind!"

"Go forward, watch carefully and then chop!"

"Block it with your shield, slash it with your knife!"

The officer opposite kept shouting loudly and repeatedly.

This has made players feel a little uncomfortable.

But they soon found it very useful.

Because their player officers were inexperienced and didn't know how to shout, many players were at a loss and just mechanically moved forward.

As the two sides approached, the opposing formation immediately closed in.

Several of the strongest soldiers used their shields to push this side first.

Several players stumbled and were then hacked down by several knives.

"Thrust with the spear!" At this moment, the Captain seemed to wake from a dream and hurriedly shouted.

Some players had already drawn their spears early on.

However, they were pushed aside by the enemy's shields, and then several warriors rushed into the formation and began to fight.

The formation was very well-organized at first, but it fell into disarray when the fighting actually started.

Because the soldiers were unable to maintain their formation while fighting.

In fact, the Spear Formation is relatively easy to maintain.

They just need to thrust forward together to form a line of spears.

Whoever charges ahead will be stabbed to death.

Finally, it's a matter of both sides slapping and piercing each other; whoever lacks the strength is finished.

Their Spear Formation was poorly commanded, which led to it being broken by the enemy's Shield and Saber Formation.