Another Proposal
At the far northern edge of the continent, a fierce battle raged.
Guluudun, chieftain of the Wuhuan, ground his teeth until they nearly cracked at the spectacle unfolding before his eyes.
"Damn it! Who the hell are these bastards that we're being pushed this hard?!"
One great banner filled Guluudun's vision. Every time the flag snapped in the wind, the characters painted on it struck his eyes with perfect clarity.
Grand Commandant · General of the Agile Cavalry
Prince of Rencheng — Cao Zhang
Cao Zhang! I'd heard he was a valiant general, but to be driven this far into a corner… And what of those men under him?
One by one, the scattered tribes of the north had knelt before that same Cao Zhang. Now even the tribe Guluudun himself commanded was under attack.
Cao Zhang alone was bad enough — tearing through the battlefield, cutting down allies wherever he rode — but his personal elite unit, the Qingzhou Soldiers, pressed hard on their commander's heels and crashed into Guluudun's ranks with equal fury.
Their savagery and brutality felt like something from an entirely different plane of existence from any enemy Guluudun had ever faced.
The Wuhuan, too, were a people of the wild northern lands, strangers to fear in battle — yet even they found themselves steadily overwhelmed by the Qingzhou Soldiers' sheer momentum.
The Wuhuan cavalry tried to exploit their native horsemanship and the terrain, isolating small clusters of Qingzhou troops, surrounding them, and crushing them under pressure. Even that failed to work.
Surrounded or not, the Qingzhou Soldiers showed not the slightest sign of panic. They charged without hesitation, tore open the encirclement, and left the Wuhuan horsemen reeling in confusion.
"Brother! Cao Zhang is coming this way!"
Araban, Guluudun's younger brother, shouted the warning.
At the tip of Araban's pointing finger, Cao Zhang was sweeping Wuhuan cavalry aside like chaff as he closed the distance.
"Damn it…!"
"Brother. I'll handle him!"
Araban drew a bow and arrow from his saddle and took aim at Cao Zhang. The prince was too busy cutting down the Wuhuan riders around him to notice the man lining up a shot.
Die!
Araban's bowstring released with a heavy, elastic twang and sent the arrow flying. Even from the back of a moving horse, his skill was considerable.
Got him!
The carefully aimed strike buried itself cleanly in the target's shoulder.
Cao Zhang glanced once at the arrow lodged in his shoulder — then yanked it free without a moment's hesitation.
As the shaft came free, a spray of blood arced through the air in a half-circle and spattered across the faces of the Wuhuan riders in front of him.
Like a wounded beast, Cao Zhang began to thrash even more ferociously than before.
Damn it. What kind of monster is this man?!
While Guluudun was still reeling, a fresh uproar erupted from the rear.
"Brother! Enemy troops are coming up from behind us!"
"What?!"
While Cao Zhang hammered the enemy from the front, his deputy — the shrewd general Tian Yu — had swung a detachment around to disrupt the rear.
"Fall back! Fall back and reform the lines!"
Before they could be fully surrounded and annihilated, Guluudun and Araban managed to extract their forces from the field.
And so Cao Zhang's Wuhuan pacification campaign gathered momentum, step by relentless step.
"That, General Jin, is the formation I have been studying."
"Ah — yes, Chancellor. So that is…"
Zhuge Liang's white feather fan pointed toward the army currently arranging itself into formation.
"Indeed. The Eight Diagrams Formation."
"The Eight Diagrams Formation."
Yes. I was watching, in real time, a unit that Zhuge Liang himself was drilling.
There, a body of soldiers moved with perfect order.
Scattered among them were mid-ranking officers and standard-bearers receiving instructions by flag, while at the rear a military band stood ready to transmit orders by drum.
— Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
At the drums' beat the flags swept through the air, orders went out, and the countless soldiers moved as if they were a single body.
At times they stretched into a long, serpentine line; at others they locked into a dense, multi-layered defensive wall.
Seen from a distance, the red banners swirling like brilliant embroidery were a magnificent sight.
And at the center of it all, Jiang Wei held command.
Watching him, Zhuge Liang spoke with a smile.
"Jiang Baekyak — that was the talent you recommended, was it not? I heard His Majesty went in person to recruit him after hearing your counsel."
"I can only be moved to tears by His Majesty's grace, that he would travel himself on the word of a mere general."
Zhuge Liang laughed heartily.
"When I heard that story, it reminded me of the day Yuanzhi recommended me. His Majesty came in person then as well — to a humble thatched cottage."
"Yes. I've heard the tale. I never expected His Majesty would go himself. I worried I might have put him to needless trouble."
"Our sovereign's hunger for talent runs deep; he would not hold something like that against you. But how did you recognize a talent like Baekyak all the way from distant Jingzhou? Are the rumors true — that you were born with some divine gift of foresight?"
"I simply gathered a great deal of information ahead of the Northern Expedition. I learned in advance that Jiang Wei had ability but had not yet been given a proper post."
It wasn't a lie. As a Romance of the Three Kingdoms enthusiast, I had pored over not only the novel but all manner of historical records.
"Hahaha. Unlike me — whom His Majesty had to visit three times — Baekyak is said to have followed him after a single call. In a way, that is fortunate."
Zhuge Liang lingered a moment in old memories, then lifted his gaze to Jiang Wei, who was shouting orders and directing the troops at the center of the field. His face was full of the quiet satisfaction of a man watching a cherished disciple.
"Because both His Majesty and you had taken personal notice of him, I met him myself. He proved even more gifted than I had imagined. That is why I am teaching him the Eight Diagrams Formation and various other arts with my own hands."
"I'm glad you hold him in such high regard, Chancellor. Under your instruction, he will grow even greater."
In the original history as well, Zhuge Liang had highly valued Jiang Wei after bringing him back from the first Northern Expedition. He had praised him as outstanding in both ability and character, and had even entrusted him with training the imperial guard infantry.
Compared to that history, Jiang Wei was starting from far better conditions. I looked forward to how he would grow from here.
"And what is your impression, having seen the Eight Diagrams Formation for yourself?"
"It's excellent. But to use it properly, the difficulty seems extremely high. The discipline of command would have to be ironclad as well."
"Precisely. With anything less than considerable ability, the formation would tangle itself before it ever took shape. Only someone of Baekyak's caliber can command it to that degree."
The Eight Diagrams Formation was famous for its rich variety of movements and its endless capacity for change. That same versatility made it fiendishly difficult to operate and demanded thoroughly trained soldiers.
In fact, the wagon defensive formation we had used during the Jingzhou campaign was said to have been a form of Eight Diagrams tactics as well.
I had even imitated it once myself, when I fought Cao Pi.
A method of using wagons to block enemy cavalry from closing, then cutting them down with long spears and Strong Crossbows.
If we could add repeating crossbows or even the Yuanrong Crossbow to that, the tactic would become still more formidable.
Still, it was a tactic that assumed the enemy struck first. Strong against a frontal assault, it could be vulnerable to attacks from the flanks.
That was why Guan Yu, Liu Feng, and others had formed separate detachments to reinforce both wings.
According to Zhuge Liang's explanation, the Eight Diagrams Formation did not end there. There were methods for reinforcing the left and right flanks, and even forms that could be used on a mountainside. Learning all of it would take no ordinary effort.
"What do you say, General Jin? I have another proposal for you."
He turned to look at me, eyes gleaming.
The light in those eyes — which only moments before had shone with the brilliance of a master strategist — had shifted into something entirely different. This felt… different.
"How would you like to research the Eight Diagrams Formation with me?"
"Ah. You mean studying the Eight Diagrams…?"
It was the look of a professor scouting a promising graduate student. Or perhaps the look of a man about to dump one more enormous project onto someone's plate.
"Indeed. I heard you used a similar tactic when you fought Cao Pi. That you managed that much in actual combat by eye alone, without systematic training, speaks to real aptitude. Not that you would lack for aptitude even without it."
I'm already busy enough with weapons development alone, and now this…
The excuse of being busy with weapons development would never work on Zhuge Liang. He was handling several times that workload himself.
Still, it wasn't as if I had no desire to properly master the Eight Diagrams Formation. If I learned it thoroughly, I could refine it further and adapt it to my own purposes.
As various thoughts crossed through my mind, Zhuge Liang casually tossed out a few more pieces of bait.
"If you learn the Eight Diagrams, it will put wings on every tactic you use from now on. And there is one more thing. Jiang Baekyak."
"Jiang Baekyak?"
"Yes. That young talent currently learning the Eight Diagrams from me. He is studying under me for now, but he is not a man meant to remain forever in the rear. Sooner or later he will want to go to the front and display his abilities."
"Yes. I think so as well."
"But he came over from the other side, and he is still young. Entrusting him with an independent command right away would be premature. He will begin instead as deputy to some capable general. Yet a man of Jiang Wei's gifts would not suit serving under just any officer. He needs a superior of matching ability."
That was true enough. Which meant…?
"If you study formations here alongside Jiang Wei now, you will later be able to take him under your command as a deputy and work together in perfect concert. What do you say?"
Mmm. The Eight Diagrams Formation, and Jiang Wei on top of it. These baits floating right in front of me are far too sweet.
In the end, knowing full well it was Kongming's trap, I had no choice but to take the bait.
"Very well. In that case, I will learn the Eight Diagrams Formation as well."
Zhuge Liang laughed again, full and bright.
"Good, good. I knew you would say that."
And so my workload has grown again. Just like that, I found myself sharing two projects with Zhuge Liang: weapons development, and the study of formations.