That afternoon, Zhang Xing sat atop the raised platform and continued waging his seated war, while Zhou Xingfan stood there and commanded in his place.
As Leader Little Zhou issued order after order, dozens of red military flags on the command platform kept changing direction in unison. Directly ahead, Fan Bao of the third camp in the third row, and farther forward, Xiahou Ningyuan of the second camp and Xu Kaitong of the third camp in the second row, watched the battlefield themselves amid earthshaking battle cries while constantly glancing back. They deployed their troops according to the flags' directions, either holding fast or thrusting forward in force.
When the government troops launched their second attack and the true strength of both sides became plain, Zhang Xing immediately realized that Xue Wanbi's troops had not been especially outstanding fighters before. Clearly, one of the pair, Xue Wanbi and Wang Fubei, had been eager to prove himself, while the other had been seeking merit to atone for his offense. That was why they had differed from the other three contingents, which had merely gone through the motions.
Great Dragonhead Zhang therefore changed tactics at once, choosing to lure Xue Wanbi into his formation and surround and kill him before the government reinforcements at the rear moved out.
Sure enough, Xue Wanbi was desperate to win merit. Without waiting for the reinforcements behind him, he led his troops in pursuit of Fan Wang, riding at their head straight into an area surrounded by camps on three sides... This was no simple stretch of open ground. There were features resembling field ridges and ditches, making it look something like a defensive position. Fan Wang had even tried to reform his troops here, and that was why Fourth Xue had been deceived.
But once